The San Du County government actively promotes the commercialization of Horsetail embroidery, utilizing this intangible cultural heritage to help lift residents out of poverty.
In Snowflake Lake village, a newly built settlement for impoverished residents, Shi, along with the other twenty embroiderers working in a poverty alleviation workshop, is busy catching up on the orders for the Horsetail embroidered apparels.
“In the past, I could only labor in terraced fields and didn’t earn much money since I had minimal schooling and no employment. Now, I come here every day to perform Horsetail embroidery. With a two-hour lunch break, I start work at 8:30 am and finish at 6:30 pm. I never imagined that I would work for a living,” Shi said with joy, “Thanks to e-commerce, I can also receive and catch up with my Horsetail embroidery orders at home, and now my life is extremely satisfying. It’s much easier than performing agricultural labor before, and I make at least 2,000 yuan a month.
Being a Shui ethnic herself, Pan, who is in charge of the poverty alleviation workshop, has a natural affinity for Horsetail embroidery. Nowadays, this skill is widely mastered among Shui women. By establishing this small workshop for poverty alleviation, Pan managed to bring the Shui sisters together and achieve two goals at once - promoting their ethnic culture through Horsetail embroidery and earning themselves a decent living. Till now, the workshop has been operational for over six months, and the income it generates has given everyone hope of marching boldly from poverty to a prosperous future. “Although opening garment factories in other locations has its benefits, I am happier to create wealth for people in my hometown and promote the employment of Shui women. Currently, the number of orders is overwhelming the supply, to meet the demand, the workshop is to be expanded and more workers will be hired “ said Pan.
The Pan Poverty Alleviation Workshop has so far managed to employ over 20 individuals, pay them through a piecework system thus increasing their per-person income to over 2200 yuan.
Shi and Pan’s stories exemplify the positive impact of poverty alleviation efforts through Horsetail embroidery, which extends far beyond individual cases.
To provide accurate and effective support to Horsetail embroidery craftspersons like Shi, the Chinese government has implemented a comprehensive county-wide census of Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) projects and inheritors, aimed at further funding the industry. Up to now, the county has a total of 2 national ICH inheritors, 5 provincial ICH inheritors, 25 state-level ICH inheritors, and 400 county-level ICH inheritors. Financial support was given for inheritors to further carry out apprenticeship, display, research, and publication.
Collaborating with the government, enterprises have undertaken training programs for inheritors, encompassing cultural, technical, and market aspects, thus facilitating the commercialization of Horsetail embroidery. The national and provincial ICH inheritors and senior craftspersons are invited to teach embroiderers their skills in drawing, color matching, and production techniques. The companies have also organized lectures to explain the market rules to cultivate the embroiderers’ sense of innovation and market awareness.
Local governments have introduced tax incentives for tourism products and implemented policies to attract foreign investment, creating an environment conducive to the growth of the industry. Various fairs, exhibitions, and ethnic festivals are organized. Additionally, practitioners of Horsetail embroidery are actively utilizing the Internet as a platform to promote this art form, further expanding its reach and influence.
Currently, in Sandu County, there are two Horsetail embroidery associations, five training centers, over 80 SMEs and more than 20,000 Horsetail embroidery workers involved in the production and development of Horsetail embroidery. More than 1,000 Horsetail embroidery handicraft practitioners are being trained annually, including approximately 500 archived women.
