Hubei Role Model：37 Year Old Transforms from a Housewife to an Entrepreneur
2022-06-29 14:57
Through Embroidery, SheHasLedHer Female Folks Towardsa Better Life
Xie Rong embroidering
JIMUNews
Reporter: Li Xiaomeng
Correspondent: Wang Tiantian
Translators: Yao Minjie, Yang Shaopeng, and Song Ting(Hubei University)
“Good life is achieved through hard work!” When one walksinto the Wormwood-leaf HandmadeEmbroidery Base in the Three Gorgesarea, this phrase leaps to their eye. Xie Rong, walkingtowards the JIMU journalists with a big smile, said that “I want to inspire women from my hometown and myself to work hard with these words. I believe that endeavortodaybringsa better tomorrow.”
Over the past 10 years, Xie Rong has experienced a transformation from an innocent housewife into an entrepreneur. With her skillful hands, she has passed the traditional Qianhua Embroidery in the Three Gorges down and developed it into an industry. In addition, she has also “embroidered” the lives of the Three Gorges migrants with the help of over 300 women into one full of beauty. Recently, Xie Rong was awarded as the 2022 Jingchu Model in March and April.
Embroiderer fromthe Three Gorges of the Yangtze River
Projects a beautiful shadow on the lake
Attracting thousands of women here.
Skillful hands as spring wind cut
Madethe twelve peaks of Wushan Mountain.
“HandmadeEmbroidery plusWormwood”
Promoting Women's Employment
Born in 1975, Xie Rong was one of the first migrants of the Three Gorges Project, and her new villageofXujiachong is called “the First Village of the dam and reservoir area”. Ten years ago, like other women in immigrant villages, she spent her days at home cooking and caring for herchildren, and at night dancingoutdoors (to exercise)with her girlfriends.
“Once life wascomfortable, I would feel less fulfilled.” Xie Rong recalls that in 2012, she set up a cooperative association to sell cross-stitch, but it did not sell well. Then,she began to think about whether she could incorporate Three Gorges-relatedelements into the cross-stitch. Xie Rong learned the art of Qianhua Embroideryfrom local embroiderer Fu Chengxiangand after that, she incorporatedit into all kinds of embroideries, and as expected itwasvery popular among customers.
“Why not replace the stuffing in the sachets and throw pillows with wormwoodleaves?” In this way, relying on the ecological cultural concept of “HandmadeEmbroidery + Wormwood leaf”, Xie Rong's cooperative association developed a series of handcrafts, and also registered “Xiajiang seamstress” and other trademarks built on the characteristics of the Three Gorges.
Suchafine embroidery craft should be known to more people. Only a few “qualified seamstresses” in the local area wereinvited by Xie Rong to join the cooperative, and taughtwomen to learn “Qianhuaembroidery” skills forfree. Withthe model of “Company + Peasant households”, six inheritorsof thisintangible cultural heritageand nearly 800 migrant women with qualified skills have been trained in the Three Gorges Dam area, enabling hundreds of left-behind women to attain a flexible employment.
Theme Homestay Hotel
Creating Business Boom
In 2015, a large number of visitors flocked to the Three Gorges Dam scenic area during aticket-freeevent. At that time, a bold idea came to Xie's mind: “Could we attract the tourists visiting the village to have a meal and stay overnight?”The billboard “Haveimmigrants' meals, stay in immigrants' homes, and see the most beautiful night view of the Three Gorges” was just put out, and before Xie Rong could leave, her phone was buzzingwith tourists asking for booking. She quickly found a villager whose family had built a new house and took the gueststo the villager's home for dinner and lodging, which cost 100 yuan a day for a room. “From October 3 to October 7, villagers earned 2,000 yuan within only five days.” Xie Rong said that at that time the villagers actually did not have a sense of service, and she had to be the first one to play an exemplary role.
In this way, Xie took the lead in the village to build the “Three Gorges Wormwood” theme homestayhotel. The homestaybegan trial operations in 2017, and soon got the favor of tourists.In this way, led by Xie Rong's demonstration, Xu Jiachong village soon set offon anEnterprising rush. Sincethe opening of the first farmhouse and family hotel in the village, the number of hotelshasincreased to 38 now.In addition, homestay tourism service is gradually becoming a new way for immigrants in the Three Gorges Dam area to start a business and build their wealth.
Taking the Initiative to Reach out to E-Commerce Businesses
DeliveringThousands of Goods Daily
In 2018, the sales of Xie Rong's embroidery products reached 2 million yuan, which is mainly offline. In order to expand sales and drive more women to obtain employment, Xie Rong tried her best to sell “Qianhuaembroidery”to the person in charge of an e-commerce company. After investigation and negotiation, both sides reached anagreement, and aseries of her goods began to sell online. In 2019, the totalsales of embroidery products approached 20 million yuan. “It was nearly 10 times as before. I was shocked because I didn't expect the Internet to be that powerful. Prior I never believed it would be so successful ”,saidXie Rong.
In May 2014, “Qianhua Embroidery”was successfully declared as the fourth batch of Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Projects in Yichang city. In 2016, it was officially listed as the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Yiling District. Now, it is catching people's attention as a beautiful cultureand innovationbrand of Yichang City. In 2018, Xie Rong also established Xu Jiachong Research Base featuring the manual baseof intangible cultural heritage, developed relevantintangible cultural heritage cultural experience programs, education courses on the history of revolution, etc., for whichvarious research travel teams in and out of the province came to visit.
Now, through continuous exploration and innovation, the “Three Gorges-Wormwood”products are derivedfrom simple handmade products and extend to fieldsof homestay tourismand healthywormwoodfood, which has become a window for the world to understand the spirit of Three Gorges immigrants, and appreciatethe charm of Xiajiang culture.
