Female embroiderers are practicing sewing Miao embroidery, a traditional stitch-work skill of the Miao ethnic group, aiming to inherit the traditional and valuable skill, in Songtao Miao Autonomous County, Tongren City, southwest China's Guizhou Province, June 14, 2021. /CFP

Miao embroidery of Songtao has a long history and the earliest record of it dates back to Warring States Period (475-221 B.C.). The embroidery with ethnic characteristics integrates multiple crafts such as spinning and weaving, cross-stitch works and paper-cutting. The skill has been handed down from generation to generation among Miao women. /CFP

In May 2021, Miao Embroidery of Songtao was officially listed as one of the national intangible cultural heritages by the State Council of the People's Republic of China. /CFP

For over 20 years, more than 4,000 embroiderers at Songtao have been trained and given the opportunities to work under the guidance of Shi Liping, an NPC deputy of Guizhou Province, who is also an inheritor of the Miao embroidery herself.

Most of the embroiderers she trained are laid-off female workers, returning farmers, and women who were left at home while their husbands worked outside. The Miao embroidery products they made are exported to 67 countries and regions around the world. Thanks to Miao embroidery, people at Songtao were lift out of poverty. /CFP