NPC deputy: Spinning bamboo into gold

Yang Changqin, middle, teaches trainees techniques of bamboo weaving at the training center in Chishui, Southwest China's Guizhou province, in May 2020. [Photo by Wang Hong/provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

NPC deputy Yang Changqin, an inheritor of Chishui bamboo weaving, an intangible cultural heritage (ICH), proposes tapping distinctive local resources as a shot in the arm for rural vitalization.

What Yang, a member of the Miao ethnic group from Chishui, Southwest China's Guizhou province, has been doing over the past decade is exactly in line with her proposal.

Supported by the local government, Yang founded her bamboo weaving company in 2012 and named it "Hand in Hand" in the hopes she could hold more locals' hands, pull them out of poverty and help them get rich.

Founded with only four employees, the company now has more than 100 full-time employees, mostly "left-behind" women from poor households, Yang said.

Delicate and creative bamboo products including vessel covers, bags and paintings, are sold under the brand Absolute Bamboo through physical stores, expos and e-commerce platforms.

"Last year, our company's sales exceeded six million yuan ($843,063), two million ($281,021) more than that in 2018," Yang said, adding 60 percent of her company's products were sold overseas.