On February 15, 2022, He Qifeng, a "post-80s" Longyuan skillful hand, demonstrated her weaving skills, and in her eyes, "everything can be woven". (Data map) Xu Xue photo
Lanzhou, March 26 (Reporter Xu Xue) "Post-80s" Longyuan skillful Hand He Qifeng micro hook skill, in her eyes "everything can be woven." Through her skillful hands, animals, flowers, and figures have become exquisite works of art, some of which are even the size of fingernails.
He Qifeng was born in a remote mountain village in Anding District, Dingxi City, Gansu Province, and his childhood was poor, and his rare new clothes were made by his mother and grandmother. In her memory, hand weaving is very magical, you can weave clothes, gloves, socks, etc., which also arouses He Qifeng's interest in learning, at the age of 7, she will use old wool to knit simple patterns.
In order to subsidize his family, He Qifeng walked out of the mountains and went to Beijing to work. During her four years in the big city, she went from being a shy and introverted girl to being cheerful and talkative, and learned some weaving skills on the recommendation of the locals.
Returning to Dingxi again, He Qifeng, who had already started a family, settled with her husband in Longxi County, Dingxi City, and the clothes she knitted for her children in her spare time unexpectedly won the favor of her neighbors. Realizing that this was a way to make money, He Qifeng began to practice and study the weaving technique, and combined with the popular patterns to innovate, more and more customers came to the door.
Through He Qifeng's skillful hands, animals, flowers, plants, and figures have become exquisite works of art. (Data map) Xu Xue photo
In 2018, He Qifeng registered the trademark "Mother's Body Temperature", which originated from the hand-knitted clothes she wore as a child, "The sweaters that her mother knitted were lukewarm and lukewarm on the body, just right." ”
The talent in this area was quickly stimulated by He Qifeng, who used her free time to study on the Internet, and when she went out, she observed the morphological colors of flowers, birds, plants, etc., and repeatedly pondered the color matching and weaving method.
He Qifeng said that after 20 years of continuous learning, now everything she can see can be knitted by hand. At the same time, with the help of the local women's federation, it applied for a micro-hook appearance patent and illustration protection for the new products created, and also set up points in every village in the county to teach and distribute needle and thread free of charge to interested women, driving them to increase their income through craftsmanship.
Today, He Qifeng has 200 people in the local weaving team, most of whom are rural women. Among them, Li Jing's experience made He Qifeng very impressed, and she was also happy to be able to help Li Jing.
Li Jing, a disabled person, has been trying to find ways to increase her income. After finding He Qifeng to learn the craft, she went out to set up a stall every day and often exchanged experiences with He Qifeng. Nowadays, Li Jing's business is not only becoming more and more prosperous, she has also led some women.
On February 15, 2022, the Gansu Provincial Women's Federation held the "Longyuan Qiao Hand New Year Market". (Data map) Xu Xue photo
Li Lihong, a "post-90s" in Qiaojiaping Village, Longxi County, was unable to make ends meet due to the successive illnesses of her family. After being exposed to hand-knitting, she took care of her family during the day and stayed up late at night to make handicrafts, and after hard work, she also paid off and gradually got through the difficulties.
He Qifeng put Li Lihong in charge of the relevant work in Qiaojiaping Village, and Li Lihong could earn a stable income of 4,000 yuan per month. "The stories of the sisters around me often inspire me to keep doing it and help more people." He Qifeng said.
Wang Fang, member of the party leading group and vice chairman of the Gansu Provincial Women's Federation, said that the "Longyuan Skillful Hand" industry has the advantages of low investment, low resource consumption, abundant raw materials, high added value, green environmental protection, and flexible production methods, which can not only meet the dual needs of rural women to take care of their families and increase their income, consolidate and expand the results of poverty alleviation, but also alleviate the employment of rural left-behind women and the care of left-behind children, and can also leave female talents in the countryside, which can inherit the excellent cultural skills and historical memory of rural traditions.
The Gansu Provincial Women's Federation has incorporated the "Longyuan Skillful Hand" project into the important task of the "Rural Revitalization Action". Non-hereditary inheritors, industry leaders, female college students who have returned to their hometowns to start a business... With the addition of more and more entrepreneurs, they have changed the original model of women's handicraft "passed down from generation to generation, individual-oriented", seized the policy opportunity of consolidating the effective connection between poverty alleviation and rural revitalization, combined with the market, used modern marketing models to form entrepreneurial teams, organized processing with market demand and orders, and the development of women's handicraft industry has shown a new atmosphere of succession. (End)