Xinyu, Jiangxi: Millennial Intangible Cultural Heritage Gives Birth To Flowers On The "Silent World" Chaff

The picture shows Gao Yucui embroidering summer cloth. Photographed by Zhu Ying

Thread management, needle threading, needle dropping... between the fingers, the needle and thread in Gao Yucui's hands are like flowing clouds and flowing water. Deep embroidery and shallow embroidery create flowers in the summer cloth. From the outside, Gao Yucui, 27, is no different from other embroidery women, but in fact, she is deaf and mute.

"I used to work in a clothing factory, an electronics factory, an interior designer, and a manicurist. Because of communication difficulties, I can't do these jobs." Gao Yucui told reporters on the 5th that she learned summer cloth embroidery for nearly a year through Xinyu Disabled Persons' Federation, "I was deeply touched by the exquisite techniques of summer cloth embroidery. The process of embroidery made me feel peaceful, and the inheritance of intangible cultural heritage skills made me feel full of achievement".

Xiabu embroidery, commonly known as "linen embroidery", originated in the Northern Song Dynasty and has been popular for thousands of years. Xiabu Embroidery takes the "hometown of Chinese Xiabu" - the rich Xiabu in Xinyu, Jiangxi Province as the embroidery site. It is a kind of embroidery named after the material quality and is one of the national intangible cultural heritage.

Yan Shiwen, secretary of the Party Leadership Group and chairman of the board of directors of Xinyu Disabled Persons' Federation, told reporters that, in view of the characteristics of different types of disabled people, the city has explored the "intangible cultural heritage+employment" model, constantly explored jobs suitable for the disabled, and created employment and entrepreneurship bases for the disabled.

The picture shows Gao Yucui's embroidery piece "The Painting of Maple Falling over the Wujiang River", which has been studying summer cloth embroidery for half a year. Courtesy of Xiabu Embroidery Museum

"We invited inheritors of intangible cultural heritage to teach intangible cultural heritage skills to the disabled, and carried out order training and pre job training of intangible cultural heritage handicraft skills for the disabled, which not only solved the employment problems of the disabled, but also achieved a win-win situation for the inheritance and protection of intangible cultural heritage," said Yan Shiwen.

In October last year, the Xinyu Disabled Persons' Federation set up a training base for the employment of the disabled in Xiabu Embroidery at the Museum of Zhangxiaohong, the intangible cultural successor of Xiabu Embroidery, to make Xiabu Embroidery a "new highlight" for the employment of the disabled. Gao Yucui is one of the first disabled people to learn summer cloth embroidery after the establishment of the base.

Yang Qiong, deputy director of the Xia Bu Embroidery Art Research Institute, told the reporter that at first, she was worried about communication problems. During the process of getting along, Gao Yucui communicated more smoothly with her teachers by typing or writing on her mobile phone. "After nearly a year of hard study, she is savvy and has made rapid progress. At present, she has preliminarily mastered the embroidery technology of Xia Bu Embroidery, which is a very good cultivation seedling.".

"I cherish my present job opportunity very much, and will make more efforts to improve my skill level of summer cloth embroidery." In the lonely world where Gao Yucui's words are silent, green trees are thick, and summer days are long, she uses hemp as paper, needle as pen, and thread as ink, keeping the shadow of time of a thousand years of intangible cultural heritage.

"We will combine the characteristics of the disabled, take advantage of local resources and market demand, find out the inheritance projects of intangible cultural heritage suitable for the employment of the disabled, and truly make the" intangible cultural heritage+employment "model an important channel for the disabled to achieve employment income increase," Yan Shiwen said.

(Source: China News Network)

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