Guangxi Intangible Cultural Heritage Guangxi Embroidery Embroiders "Romantic Industry"

In Jiuzhou Street, Xinjing Town, Jingxi City, Guangxi Province, residents can be seen everywhere making hydrangeas outside their homes. The embroidery ball making skills of the Zhuang nationality in Jingxi have been inherited and developed from generation to generation in the hands of embroiderers. Now, it has become a "romantic industry" that spreads the culture of the Zhuang nationality and helps residents increase their income.

On October 6, the lecture hall of the Hong Kong Shatin Rural Affairs Committee was packed with people. The learning and making of hydrangea, which was originally allowed only 100 people to sign up for, exceeded dozens of people. These people were watching intently as Wang Xiufen, the inheritor of the intangible cultural heritage of Jingxi Embroidery and the image spokesperson of Jingxi Embroidery, told about the culture of Guangxi Embroidery and demonstrated the production of Embroidery Balls. Then, the people on the scene picked up tools to make their own Embroidery Balls.

Wang Xiufen told reporters that she was invited to Hong Kong this National Day to participate in the "Embroidery Workshop" of Guangxi's intangible cultural heritage and the New Territories traditional culture exhibition. She went to local communities, high schools, junior high schools and other places to tell the masses about the culture of Guangxi's Embroidery. She had to run three or four times a day, which was "super crowded".

While Wang Xiufen went to Hong Kong to show the charm of the intangible cultural heritage of Jingxi Embroidery, Jiuzhou Street, Jingxi City, Guangxi also held a number of embroidery production activities on the National Day. Bright cloth, strong silk thread and elegant silk ribbon were placed on the street table one by one. When visitors come here, they can make hydrangea under the guidance of local hydrangea producers and have a "dialogue" with Jingxi hydrangea culture.

During the National Day holiday, visitors walked into Jiuzhou Street, Xinjing Town, located in Jingxi, a small city on the border between China and Vietnam, and the scene of sewing hydrangeas by every household was unforgettable. Zhao Bin, secretary of the party branch of Jiuzhou Street, said that more than 500 households in Jiuzhou Street, from children of several years old to people of seventy years old, mostly make hydrangeas. When the weather is sunny, these young or old embroiderers will come out of the house, sit at their own door, and take advantage of the sun to sew embroidery balls. Looking around, the streets are full of skillful hands interwoven with needle and thread, and the colorful ribbons floating in the wind, jointly weaving the unique "romantic industry" of Jingxi.

Inheritance Crisis of Embroidery Skills

"I used to worry that one day, such beautiful hydrangea will no longer be made, and the craftsmanship will also be lost," said Zhao Bin.

According to records, Jingxi Embroidery has a history of more than 800 years. It is said that in ancient times, hydrangea was not hydrangea, but a hunting tool used to shoot prey. Later, it gradually evolved into a token of love between men and women. Jingxi Embroidery Ball is generally composed of 12 petals, each of which is embroidered with patterns of different shapes and colors. In addition to expressing good friendship, it also symbolizes the unity of the 12 ethnic groups in Guangxi.

The craftsmanship of hydrangea production is generally inherited in the family, with the old passing on the young and the big passing on the small. Therefore, Jingxi often has a family of four generations, and each generation will make hydrangea. However, even the embroidery ball making process, which has a history of more than 800 years, is woven by every family and passed down from generation to generation, has almost disappeared in the long river of history.

"About 20 years ago, with the rapid economic development in coastal areas, labor forces from all over the country poured into Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and other places to work. The young and middle-aged people from Guangxi were also among them, rushing to neighboring Guangdong," said Zhao Bin.

The production of hydrangea is extremely complicated. It requires both skills to thread the needle and strength to close. It needs 8 steps, namely, pulp cloth plate making, cutting embroidery pieces, painting patterns, manual embroidery, lining production, filling and sewing, beading production, and combination molding. An ordinary embroiderer can only make one or two embroiderers a day with traditional techniques. At that time, one hydrangea was worth more than ten yuan in the market. Even if two hydrangeas were made, they could only earn twenty or thirty yuan. However, when working in Guangdong, they could earn 100 yuan a day.

The income of migrant workers is higher than the income of making hydrangea, and a large number of embroiderers are lost. People no longer attach importance to the inheritance of the handicraft of making hydrangea. Every family once knew the handicraft of making hydrangea, and even young people only knew about it but could not make it.

"Young people don't want to learn, so it's useless if we want to teach them." Huang Xiaoqin, the representative successor of the embroidery skills of the Zhuang nationality in Jingxi, said that fewer and fewer young people were willing to learn how to make embroidery balls. She was worried but had no good way.

Why Embroidery Industry Can Drive on the "Fast Track"

"How can no one attach importance to such a good craftsmanship?" In 2009, Wang Xiufen, a girl from Shandong, came to Jingxi with her husband who worked in industrial and mining enterprises, and was deeply attracted by the beauty of embroidery balls when she visited Jiuzhou Ancient Town Scenic Area. When she learned that many local young people were unwilling to learn how to make hydrangea, she felt too sorry.

Wang Xiufen couldn't bear to lose her embroidery skills. She spent three years visiting more than 100 embroidery women in Jingxi streets and remote villages to learn the production process and culture behind Jingxi embroidery balls. The deeper the contact with hydrangea, the more Wang Xiufen felt the urgency of protecting the inheritance of hydrangea technology.

"People have the right to pursue high income. The reason why young people do not do embroidery is not because embroidery is not good, but because the industry of embroidery has not developed." Wang Xiufen said that most of the embroidery women she met in the local area are old people in their fifties and sixties. Without young blood, the embroidery craft will die sooner or later.

In order to let people participate in the production of hydrangea and expand the hydrangea industry, we must find ways to increase the income of the hydrangea industry. To this end, Wang Xiufen founded Jingxi Embroidery Yunfang Embroidery Culture Co., Ltd. to put the embroidery ball on the e-commerce platform, so that the intangible cultural heritage embroidery ball can go to the online market. At the same time, she combined the embroidery ball production skills she learned, improved and innovated the technology, and taught it to the local embroidery women.

Luo Ruixian, the embroidering mother, has learned to make embroidery balls since she was in primary school in 2007. However, forced to make a living, she also went to Guangdong to work in an electronics factory. In 2015, in order to take care of children, she returned to her hometown, Jiuzhou. After learning new manufacturing skills at Xiuyun Shop, she could only make two or three pure hand-made embroidery balls a day, but now she can make about 10.

The reporter learned during the interview at Xiuyunfang that there are still 15 embroiderers like Luo Ruixian. They will make embroidery ball samples according to the customer's order demand, and then go to each village to carry out business training for home employment embroiderers, and check the embroidery balls made by these embroiderers.

"When they do embroidery balls, we buy them. If they don't do well, we teach them." Wang Xiufen told reporters that for more than 10 years, Xiuyun Shop has carried out more than 2000 compulsory training courses for embroidery ball production, training more than 20000 embroidery women, and driving more than 680 women in more than 20 villages to find jobs at home, with an annual income increase of more than 10000 yuan per person, "Let the villagers carry babies, embroider flowers, support the elderly and care about their homes".

As more and more young people return to their hometown from other places to become embroiderers, the embroiderer of Xiuyun Shop has gradually changed from 50 to 60 years old to about 40 years old, and now to about 30 years old.

In addition to the efforts of embroidery lovers like Wang Xiufen from the private sector, Jingxi Municipal Government has also invested a lot of manpower and material resources to expand the embroidery market. In recent years, Jingxi has been committed to the inheritance and development of the Zhuang embroidery ball making skills. In 2013, the Guangxi Zhuang embroidery ball making skills and the Zhuang embroidery ball throwing custom were included in the fourth batch of autonomous region level intangible cultural heritage representative projects. Since 2014, Jingxi has held five "Qixi Embroidery Ball Festival", Through policy and financial support, Jiuzhou Street will be built into an autonomous region level demonstration base of intangible cultural heritage industry. By deeply implementing the cultural tourism co creation project and declaring the "hometown of Guangxi embroidery ball" and "hometown of China embroidery ball", the development of Jingxi's embroidery ball industry has now been on the "fast track".

Give youth vitality to the hydrangea industry

With the market and employment, the hydrangea has come back to life. This small ball, which has accompanied dozens of generations of Jingxi people and witnessed countless happy marriages of Jingxi people, returned to the life of Jingxi people in another way after a short silence, bringing more happiness to Jingxi people.

"But just to expand the market without innovation will not last long." Wang Xiufen said that in order to make the old hydrangea catch up with the trend of the times, fresh elements should be incorporated into the hydrangea.

In order to cater to young people's preferences, Wang Xiufen used the internationally popular Morandi color system to color hydrangea in addition to the traditional bright colors; Embroidery balls are transformed into key chains, schoolbag pendants and other accessories, so that they can be applied to more life scenes; Integrate elements such as hydrangea and Zhuang brocade, and launch new hydrangea with sports culture, game culture, corporate culture and other themes.

Slowly, the embroidery ball has changed from an old traditional handicraft to a fashionable accessory that young people like. The "love token" attribute of hydrangea has also gradually evolved into a gift for people to express their blessings to each other.

In addition, with the expansion of the hydrangea market, the production process of the company's order placement and Xiuniang's home production has slowly failed to keep pace. Wang Xiufen introduced and improved the automatic embroidery machine, automatic laser cutting machine and other equipment to improve the production efficiency of hydrangea with mechanization and intelligence.

In addition to buying hydrangea, more and more young people also like making hydrangea. Liang Weiying, a 23-year-old native of Wuzhou, Guangxi, studied tourism management at Guangxi City Vocational University. In 2022, when she was writing her graduation thesis on intangible cultural heritage in handicrafts, she conducted a field survey. After coming to Jingxi, she found herself interested in embroidery balls. After graduation, I stayed in Jingxi with my boyfriend and joined the embroidery industry.

"At the beginning, I heard that there was an embroidery lady who could persist in making embroidery balls for decades. I felt that there must be something attractive about embroidery balls, so I returned to Jingxi. I found it really difficult to make embroidery balls myself. I could only make one a day, and I was often pricked by needles." Liang Weiying said that making embroidery balls was like challenging myself to complete a work of art, When I succeed in making an embroidery ball, I feel that everything is worth it.

There are still many young people like Liang Weiying. "Now I don't have to chase young people to learn how to make embroidery balls. Many young people from other places come to Jingxi to learn how to make embroidery balls from me.". The 82 year old inheritor of intangible cultural heritage, Huang Xiaoqin, who was awarded the title of "Chinese Skilled Woman" by the All China Women's Federation, told the reporter that with the popularity of the embroidery culture, people often came to learn from her, and even received apprentices from Guangzhou and Liaoning. Under her guidance, her daughter-in-law Zhao Jinyu grew up to be a representative inheritor of the embroidery production skills of the Zhuang nationality in Jingxi. During the summer vacation this year, Zhao Jinyu's nieces and granddaughters from primary schools also came to learn the skills of making hydrangeas. Intangible cultural heritage has been passed on from generation to generation.

It is reported that from January to the middle of August this year, Jiuzhou received more than 190000 tourists, with a tourism income of 2.85 million yuan. In 2023, Jingxi will receive more than 9 million tourists, with a total tourism income of 9.49 billion yuan, about 500000 hydrangeas produced, and an output value of more than 20 million yuan. Jingxi Hydrangea is not only sold all over the country, but also exported to the United States, Japan, Australia, Singapore, South Korea and other countries. (Reporter Xie Yang intern Jiang Chang)

(Source: China Youth Daily)