Guizhou Mountain Embroiderers: One Sews, One Livestreams, Exploring New Paths for Intangible Cultural Heritage

中新网贵州雷山6月4日电 题：贵州大山里的绣娘：一个绣一个直播 探出非遗新路

中新网记者 周燕玲

初夏时节，位于贵州省雷山县羊排易地搬迁安置点的阿榜就业帮扶车间，侯昌菊和绣娘们忙个不停；十多公里外的村寨，另一位苗族绣娘杨树桢正对着手机镜头，用普通话讲解刺绣小包的针法。两个苗家女人，一个埋头做苗绣，一个对着屏幕卖货，隔空搭档，一年卖出数百万元的苗绣产品。

图为侯昌菊展示绣娘制作的苗绣系列产品。吴勇 摄

几年前，她们都还是围着灶台和孩子转的农村妇女，如今一个成了管理百名工人的服装厂厂长，一个靠直播带货年入百万元。改变来自友成企业家乡村发展基金会(以下简称：友成基金会)帮她们补设计、补营销、补财务管理、补AI技术，让大山里的苗绣走出了深山，也走出了传统生计的困境。

Miao embroidery is known as "history worn on the body" and was inscribed on the first batch of the national intangible cultural heritage list in 2006. Hou Changju, who was once impoverished, learned embroidery from her mother since childhood. After moving from the mountains to the city in 2018, she saw many relocated women "having nothing to do" and suddenly had an idea: "We've known how to embroider since we were young, can we find employment through this?" For this, she called her husband back from a garment factory in Fujian and opened a 50-square-meter small workshop.

"At that time, I couldn't find orders, and I didn't know the sales channels," Hou Changju recalled. After half a year of hard work, after paying the workers' wages, only 5,000 yuan was left. "It was not as good as working outside, and I even thought about giving up."

With the help of the Youcheng Foundation, Hou Changju joined the "Xiangcheng Mama" project. Through four consecutive systematic courses, she learned to use computers, market marketing, intangible cultural heritage product design, and branding. She, who couldn't even speak fluent Mandarin before, later flew to Hangzhou alone to record a program and even entered Tsinghua University to share her entrepreneurial story. "I was so nervous before going on stage that I went off-script and spontaneously sang a Lei Shan Miao folk song, which was well received."

图为在侯昌菊服装车间工作的苗族妇女。记者 周燕玲 摄

Currently, Hou Changju's garment factory has more than 100 employees. Production and sales follow two routes: one is customized Miao embroidery products, and the other is mass production of clothing orders for export to the Middle East and Africa. In 2026, it is expected to export 500,000 sets of clothing.

"We are now cooperating with universities in Shanghai to develop school uniforms with Miao embroidery elements, and mass production has already been achieved," Hou Changju said. In 2025, the expenditure on employee salaries alone will exceed one million yuan.

In Leishan County, Yang Shuzhen's story follows a different trajectory. She has been doing Miao embroidery for more than 30 years. She returned from elsewhere to take care of the children left behind in her hometown. However, she faced the same problem: she didn't understand sales, the offline venue was small, and the customer base was limited.

Having joined the "Xiangcheng Mama" project, Yang Shuzhen signed up to learn short video shooting and live streaming, starting from scratch to systematically master live streaming operations and e-commerce skills. "The teacher taught us to shoot short videos. At first, I only posted finished products. It took a week to embroider a flower, and the updates were too slow. The teacher told me to shoot the production process and close-ups of details." She did as she was told, and the videos unexpectedly became popular, making her the well-known "Teacher Miao Xiu Yang" in Leishan.

图为杨树桢介绍绣娘制作的苗族盛装。吴勇 摄

After accumulating a certain number of fans, Yang Shuzhen started live streaming for sales. Now, almost all her orders come from online. "After the customer selects the product style, I cooperate with Hou Changju. Through online live streaming, four Miao wedding dresses worth tens of thousands of yuan have been sold, and I still have three orders pending delivery."

From double-needle embroidered small bags to silk scarves, Miao embroidery car air fresheners... The two Miao women, who were originally exploring on their own, have now become the best partners. Yang Shuzhen is responsible for live streaming sales and receiving orders, while Hou Changju, who is good at organizing production, leads more than 100 embroiderers to undertake bulk orders. Each plays to their strengths, complementing each other's resources to form a complete industry chain.

"Many embroiderers in the mountains are not short of skills, but lack good design and market-oriented marketing," said Hou Changju. (End)