Love for embroidery has Miao villagers in stitches 苗族刺绣中蔓延的爱

杜泽瑞

苗族刺繡多以动物、植物构图，如“小鸟含花”或“花团锦簇”等的吉祥图案，这集中反映了苗族人民渴望美好生活。

A group of grandmothers sit in front of a traditional-style dwelling deftly sewing col- ored thread into a piece of blue cloth and occasionally bursting into peals of laughter. Such is the scene in Hejiayan Village， Youyang Tujia and Miao Autonomous County， Chongqing， where elderly people are continuing their age-old cultural tradition of embroidery.

These women learned the craft as children， but they never expected that it would bring them together in old age， injecting some fun into their twilight years—not to mention an additional income stream.

This local resurgence of the craft started in 2013 when Chen Guotao， 48， opened her first Miao embroidery shop in Youyang. Having been raised in a rural area， Chen was keen to help fuel China，s rural revitalization， and in 2016， she set up the first of several embroi - dery workshops. They offered job opportunities to unemployed female villagers.

Chen now has four Miao embroidery workshops. But the workshops are more than just workplaces. They are also social clubs for local senior citizens， most of whom would lead rather dull lives otherwise， sitting at home with little social interaction.

Ran Guoxian， 76， lives halfway up the hill. She is allowed to do her embroidery at home， but she prefers to get out of the house.“The workshop fills my life with happiness. I finally have something to do and have someone to talk to， ”says Ran.