The needlework of Zhang Dehe, from Jianchuan, Dali Bai autonomous prefecture, Yunnan province, is so famous that some of her pieces are now in the provincial museum. Photos by Yang Wanli / China Daily

A 98-year-old master of needlework is still going strong and producing traditional handicrafts from Yunnan province. Yang Wanli and Li Yingqing report.

Zhang Dehe has had a love affair with needlework all her life and is still passionate about her craft at the grand old age of 98. Her work represents Yunnan province's cultural heritage nationwide and includes perfumed pouches filled with Chinese herbs, embroidered shoes and hats, among other handicrafts.

Born in Jianchuan, Dali Bai autonomous prefecture in northwestern Yunnan, Zhang started learning needlework aged 7, making quilt covers, slippers and cloth shoes.

"I fell in love with needlework as a child, so much so I threw away the chance to go to school," Zhang says.

She married at 22 and moved into her husband's house, when she met her "teacher", a 70-year-old lady who lived next door.

"I went to her every day and often stayed at her house for the whole day, imitating her needlework," she says. "Maybe I showed talent because I could quickly make whatever she did after I watched her making it."

It is a Jianchan tradition for the women to take around with them perfume pouches filled with fragrant Chinese herbs, that are decorated with elaborate patterns such as fish, flowers and symbols representing good fortune.

Zhang further developed her skills by making cloth animals, such as butterflies and birds and it wasn't long before her reputation spread.

Zhang's husband died when she was 36, leaving her with three daughters and a son.

"That was the hardest time for me. No one could help and my children were so young. The whole family depended on me," Zhang says.

Zhang supported the family by selling embroidered shoes.

Zhang's hand-made baby shoes, embroidered in vivid colors with zodiac animals.

"I did farm work with the four children during the day and made shoes at night. A pair of shoes took a whole night to finish. As we had no electricity I used an oil lamp for light. It was often early in the morning when I finished a pair of shoes, and my eyes kept shedding tears due to the weak light," she says.

The hard times came to an end in the 1980s, when she started attracting clients from Shanghai, Beijing and Taiwan.

In 2005, she made 12 pairs of 7-cm long baby shoes, embroidered in vivid colors with zodiac animals. It took her six months to complete them but they fetched 4,200 yuan ($646).

Recently she has been working on an embroidered hat for her granddaughter, in which the lotuses appear to be three-dimensional.

Some of her other works are now museum pieces, after Zhang donated 40 articles to the provincial culture museum in 1993. Six years later, she was made Master of Ethnic Folk Arts by Yunnan Provincial Culture Department.

She has also taught her craft, for free. By the end of 2003, more than 60 students had been trained by her and now she wants to pass on her skills to her two grandsons' wives and her granddaughter.

"Granny is very nice and tolerant, but very strict when it comes to needlework," says 32-year-old Li Ying, Zhang's eldest grandson's wife. "She will ask us to unravel some pieces we make and do them again if there is the slightest problem with them."

For 21-year-old Duan Yulan, Zhang's younger grandson's wife, needlework is a good career choice, though it is not fashionable among some of her peers.

"Many of my friends have small businesses or work outside the county. I admire them sometimes for the modern things they do," Duan says. "But needlework is more important to me. Since fewer people now learn the craft, I feel I have the mission to carry on the legacy."