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A unique cultural feature of Qingyang City with thousands of years of history, scented sachets and embroidery adorn its streets and alleys on occasions such as the Dragon Boat Festival holiday period, contributing to an immersive festive atmosphere. China's Ministry of Culture recognized the importance of the handicraft in 2006 and included it in the first group of items on the country's National List of Intangible Cultural Heritage. In recent years, concerted efforts made by the government, in-tangible cultural heritage inheritors, and companies engaged in manufacturing and marketing have resulted in the delicate and charming products becoming more popular and gaining better access to consumers in other parts of China and abroad, thereby unleashing their considerable nascent economic benefits and making it possible for approximately 100,000 women in Qingyang to increase their incomes.

“I admired my mother very much when I saw her embroider-ing patterns shaped like leaves and petals in a short amount of time,” Qingyang native Liu Lanfang mentioned in 2022. “Memories  of her embroidering shoes and socks under an oil lamp have been burned into my mind.”

Liu (center, front row) poses for a photo with Gansu In-tangible Heritage Workshop staff

Scented sachets and other embroidered creations made by Liu were very popular at the first Scented Sachet and Embroidery Culture and Art Festival in 2002. Sensing a business opportunity, she immediately registered a company, setting forth on her entrepreneurial journey, and established a scented sachet and embroidery workshop in her hometown not long after.

“My dream is to help people around me become more prosperous,” she noted. “The women who get involved can earn stable incomes without having to work outside of their local areas and help pass on the craft.”

Liu has developed around 300 product series with her team, such as those themed on and known as the Silk Road, Ancient Elephants of the Yellow River, and Hundreds of Birds Singing in Homage to the Phoenix, some of which have been exported to the United States, Japan, Italy, and other places, and had helped 20,000 Qingyang women learn how to make scented sachets and embroidery as of summer 2022.

Liu has introduced the Qingyang scented sachet and embroidery production process and told both traditional Chinese stories full of fantastic ideas and Chinese women's contemporary entrepreneurial stories at overseas cultural exchange activities, which she has participated in many times. Full of wisdom and sincere emotion, her delicate creations have won acclaim around the world and even been collected by foreign institutions, such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York.

Related Link:

Qingyang Scented Sachets: Ancient Handicraft Becomes Modern Industry

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