Yang Huazhen has dedicated her life to displaying the charm of Tibet-style embroideries. [CNSPHOTO/Ma Mingyan]

For more than a millennium, the area now known as Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, in Southwest China's Sichuan Province, has been known for its exquisite, gaily colored Tibet-style embroideries. The items embody the unique culture and aesthetic value of the Tibetan people. To protect and promote the time-honored craft of making Tibet-style embroideries, China in 2011 added the craft to the list of the country's items of intangible cultural heritage. Given the tremendous efforts of the prefecture's government to promote the art form globally, many embroiderers' exquisite works have captured the hearts of numerous art enthusiasts — from around the world.

The craft, which originated in the ninth century, is one of the major art forms of Tibetan Buddhism. The craft, which has integrated the characteristics of embroideries and other art forms of China's Central Plains (the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River) and Central and West Asia, has become a unique art form on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. It is one of the representative schools of embroideries of China's minority groups.

During past millennium, numerous craftspeople have used bright-colored silk threads to create Tibet-style embroideries, and those embroideries have vividly depicted various patterns (including figures, flowers, birds, fish, insects and other animals, natural views and scenes in common people's lives). Many of the embroideries, which are classically elegant, are of high artistic and practical value. Some people use the artworks to decorate their houses, and many art collectors take delight in keeping the embroideries.

Tibetans usually wear traditional attire decorated with various embroidered patterns. Rural Tibetan women make the clothes during slack seasons. Almost every Tibetan woman begins learning, from her grandmother or mother, the skills needed to make embroideries at an early age. As a result, the ancient art form has been well preserved.

According to the prefecture's customs, a bride's embroideries are displayed in the hall of the groom's house during her wedding ceremony, so both guests and in-laws can judge whether she has a lively mind and a  quick hand.

In the past, most of the women in the prefecture grew vegetables and/or bred poultry. The local women's federation in recent years has put a lot of effort into promoting the development of Tibet-style embroideries, so more women can find jobs near their homes and/or start a business. The federation has arranged for poverty-stricken women to attend lectures on the skills of creating the embroideries. The federation has also organized women to make embroidered products, so the women can increase their families' incomes.

Yang Huazhen, who was born in the prefecture in 1960, has become known far and wide in recent years. Why? Yang, a State-level inheritor of the craft of making Tibet-style embroideries, has dedicated her life to pursuing her dream — displaying the unique charm of the embroideries. Given her efforts to promote traditional Chinese crafts, she has been named a Sichuan provincial master of arts and crafts, and a member of the International Organization of Folk Art, under the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

The magnitude-8 Wenchuan (a county in the prefecture) Earthquake changed Yang's fate. The earthquake razed large areas of Sichuan Province on May 12, 2008. As she witnessed many deaths related to the earthquake, Yang realized she had to do something to help the quake victims overcome the disaster and rebuild their homes. In August 2008, she used a large portion of her meager savings to establish an association, to help residents of Wenchuan improve their skills of making Tibet-style embroideries and handwoven products.

On May 12, 2009, the first anniversary of the Wenchuan Earthquake, Yang established a studio (in Chengdu, capital of Sichuan Province) to produce and sell Tibet- and Qiang-style embroideries. Later that year, Yang led a dozen 60-something Tibetan and Qiang craftswomen during a special trip to Chengdu, to sell their embroideries. As they were inexperienced, the women sold few items. Although she lacked capital to develop her business during the first year, Yang did not give up on her dream of promoting the traditional craft throughout the world. 

As they developed their business, orders for their embroideries flooded in from all over the world. To fulfill the orders on time, Yang employed some young residents in her village to make embroideries.

Tibet-style embroideries capture the hearts of art enthusiasts from around the world. [CNSPHOTO/Ma Mingyan]

Yang in recent years has put a lot of effort into improving and innovating embroidering techniques, to add beauty to her artworks. Many of the young art designers in her studio have designed fashionable clothes, adornments and other items, integrated with the cultural elements of the traditional crafts.

The vigorous development of the studio's embroideries caught the attention of the prefecture's government, which enhanced its support for the promotion of the craft's development. 

In 2011, China added the craft to the list of the country's items of intangible cultural heritage. Also that year, in recognition of her contributions to the promotion of the craft, the China Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Center presented Yang with the Award for Promoting the Intangible Cultural Heritage in China.

During the past decade, Yang has put much effort into cultivating inheritors of the traditional Chinese craft, so the art form will not be lost. Yang in recent years has accepted 150 young people, including rural women and youths with a master's degree in design, as her apprentices. She has encouraged her apprentices to integrate modern artistic elements in their designs. With Yang's patience and guidance, several of her apprentices have become promising craftspeople.

During the past 12 years, Yang has established various organizations — including a studio (in Chengdu) to produce and sell the Tibet- and Qiang-style embroideries, and a center (in Wenchuan) for teaching the residents the skills of making Tibet- and Qiangstyle embroideries — in different regions of Sichuan Province to promote the crafts. The organizations have provided training to university students, and rural and urban residents, to help them improve their embroidery skills. As a result, many women, who have received the training, have attained wealth by creating embroideries at home.

In August 2012, Yang established Chengdu Huazhen Tibetan and Qiang Culture Museum, to promote the traditional crafts of the Tibetan and Qiang ethnic groups. Many of the works, which have been displayed in the museum, have amazed people with their charm and unique artistic beauty. In 2014, China's Ministry of Culture included the museum on the list of the country's experimental bases to protect intangible cultural heritage.

In 2015, Yang registered a brand name — Moerduo — for the Tibet-style embroideries made by her art studio, so it would be easier to expand her business. During the past few years, her studio has established business ties with several international enterprises that produce the most well-recognized, brand-name beauty products in the world. 

"I'll try my best to keep the traditional Chinese cultural heritage alive," says Yang. "Only when young people inherit and develop the traditional crafts will the crafts become popular worldwide."

(Women of China English Monthly October 2020 issue)