"I feel so happy when I walk into the Great Hall of the People, during the Two Sessions, wearing the ethnic attire made by my mother," says Li Li, a deputy to the 14th National People's Congress. 

Li, an inheritor of Bouyei ethnic attire, in Qinglong, a county in Qianxinan Bouyei and Miao Autonomous Prefecture, in southwest China's Guizhou Province, is president of Guizhou Bouyeiyao Cultural Development Co., Ltd. Her proposal, during this year's NPC session, focused on the protection, inheritance and innovative use of representative items of intangible cultural heritage. "My business is not only to make costumes, but to also inherit and spread the fine culture of the Bouyei ethnic group," Li says.

Li learned, from her mother, how to dye clothes and produce attire when she was a child. In 2015, Li started her business in her home county, Qinglong. She researched traditional crafts, such as embroidering and batik making, and she designed products that reflected both Bouyei ethnic and modern styles. Her efforts have helped promote ethnic cultural products, and her company has provided job opportunities to local women, and helped them increase their incomes. 

Li takes pride in helping cultivate young embroiderers and clothes makers. "We often invite professional craftspeople and livestreamers to train women in ethnic minority areas, based on their situations, and we organize online training to facilitate women's learning," says Li.

Li's company has broadened the channels used to promote cultural and agricultural products, especially through e-commerce platforms, and has injected vitality to the development of ethnic culture in the new era. 

Video and photos from interviewee

(Women of China)

Editor: Lei Yang