Zhang Lan: Helping Miao Women Use Fingertips to Achieve Prosperity

"I am very excited to be elected a delegate to the 13th National Women's Congress of China. I will promote the guiding principles of the women's congress, and the spirit of self-reliance, to craftswomen in my hometown. We will work together, to contribute our strength to creating a better future," says Zhang Lan.

Zhang was born into an ethnic Miao family, in a village in Anshun, a city in Southwest China's Guizhou Province. In 2003, she opened her first clothing shop. In 2010, she established her own clothing brand, which focused on customized clothes, with Chinese-style elements, especially cheongsam with embroidered patterns.

"We have trained hundreds of women embroiderers in Guizhou. The brand's clothes are decorated with their hand-sewn embroidering. I hope to do my bit to advance rural revitalization," says Zhang.

During the China Women's Handicraft Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition, in 2019, the project created by Zhang's team won the excellence award.

In an interview with Women of China during the congress, Zhang said, "We have combined traditional skills with modern elements. We attach equal importance to cultural inheritance and expanding the market. I hope to make traditional Miao embroideries fashionable, and to help the Miao embroidering industry continue to prosper in the changing times. In the future, I will continue to innovate and diversify design styles, integrate elements of traditional Miao embroidering into the designs, and develop more products with cultural value. I will also promote Miao embroideries through online and offline platforms, inherit the embroidering skills, and lead women embroiderers in using their fingertips to achieve prosperity."

Zhang's embroidery training base includes an embroidery exhibition zone, an embroidery production line, and an embroidery research and development center. The base produces 10,000 hand-sewn embroideries annually, and it provides 500 positions to women embroiderers. Zhang helps women embroiderers find employment in their hometown, and encourages women to achieve prosperity through hard work.

(Women of China)