With the People: How Xi Jinping promotes traditional culture

Xingren City, nestled in the lush mountains of southwest China's Guizhou Province, has something special each year. On the 8th day of the eighth month of the Chinese lunar calendar, a festival celebrating local ethnic embroidery takes place in the county of the Qianxinan Buyi and Miao Autonomous Prefecture. On this day, the Miao women dress in their finest attire and compete in creating exquisite embroidery garments, ornaments and other traditional crafts.

Miao embroidery, with its time-honored history, is more than just a folk craft; it is an "unwritten history book" worn on one's body. Since the Miao ethnic group does not have a writing system, they have used needle and thread as a means to preserve their mythology, history of migration and cultural memory. In 2006, Miao embroidery was included in the first batch of China's intangible cultural heritage list.

Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Guizhou from February 3 to 5, 2021. During his visit to a Miao embroidery workshop in Huawu Village, Bijie City, he praised the use of Miao embroidery to pass down ethnic and traditional culture, remarking, "What's traditional is also fashionable."

These words deeply resonated with Yang Wenli, head of the Miao embroidery workshop, inspiring her to excel in cultural preservation and innovation. Born in 1995, Yang has had a passion for embroidery since childhood and has mastered the art of Miao embroidery. In recent years, Yang and her design team have creatively fused traditional Miao embroidery with modern designs, producing a variety of cultural products such as embroidered pillows, sachets, pendants and key chains. By selling these products both online and offline, they have introduced Miao embroidery to a broader audience of consumers and embroidery enthusiasts.