Abstract: In recent years, traditional folk handicraft cooperatives have been emerging and expanding in Horqin Zuoyi Rear Banner, Tongliao City, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, which have resulted in new opportunities for women who live in the area and enabled them to increase their incomes.

Main Body

A shelf showcasing products made by members of the Chayirima Huaxiang Hand Embroidery Cooperative, the second handicraft cooperative established in Horqin Zuoyi Rear Banner, Tongliao City, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region

In recent years, traditional folk handicraft cooperatives have been emerging and expanding in Horqin Zuoyi Rear Banner, Tongliao City, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, which have resulted in new opportunities for women who live in the area and enabled them to increase their incomes.

Customers examine products made by a member of the Chayirima Huaxiang Hand Embroidery Professional Cooperative.

The second to be established in the banner, the Chayirima Huaxiang ("Floral Fragrance") Hand Embroidery Cooperative was officially launched on March 24, 2020, in Agula Township. Mongolian for “milky iris,” "Chayirima" is also an idiom expressing the idea that people can only achieve wealth and happiness through kindness and hard work.

Chayirima Huaxiang Hand Embroidery Cooperative members working on handicrafts.

Its members combine modern sewing techniques with traditional craftsmanship and produce hand embroidery, cloth shoes, Mongolian boots and robes, and other high-quality ethnic handicrafts. The cultural inheritance that occurs and the innovations that are being made have piqued the interest of women who live in the area and led to some of them joining the organisation.

Chayirima Huaxiang Hand Embroidery Cooperative members prepare for an online sales promotion event.

"Problems such as limited circulation and marketing reach, craftspeople switching to other industries, and minimal existence of customer groups made it difficult to sell traditional handicrafts and develop the industry in the past," Chayirima Huaxiang manager Shuhong mentioned shortly after the cooperative opened. "The market environment has changed dramatically though. The internet and other new technologies make it easier for cooperatives that produce traditional handicrafts to gradually engage in marketisation and commercialisation and scale up, making it possible for more women to obtain flexible employment near their homes and increase their incomes while inheriting and carrying forward traditional handicrafts, including some who were impoverished prior to getting involved.”

A handicraft cooperative member making hand embroidery

A well-known Agula embroiderer, Qiyue has been fond of the artform since her youth. Beautiful designs that she has created involving elements such as colourful flowers and auspicious clouds can be found on Mongolian robes and boots, saddles, and other items. She noted that she never thought that people would be able to use these potentially forgotten skills to increase their incomes.

An embroidery training class

Shuhong believes that good examples play an important role in the inheritance of traditional handicraft culture, so she invited skilled and experienced craftswomen like Qiyue, Baolan, and Meihua to join the cooperative when it was established. The hands-on instruction that they provide transmits traditional cutting, sewing, and embroidery skills to other members, which has helped form a good foundation for the cooperative and its development and expansion.

People and organisations that want to use traditional handicrafts and e-commerce to reduce poverty may benefit from the experience that Horqin Zuoyi Rear Banner has had in this area.

Source: http://grassland.china.com.cn/2020-04/15/content_41125526.html

For more information, please contact WFP China COE (wfpcn.coe@wfp.org)