Projects specific to women's craft industry are flourishing across China. From Guangxi's Bagui Qiaoniang, Gansu's Longyuan Qiaoshou, and Shaanxi's Sanqin Qiaoniang to Sichuan's Women's Revitalization Workshops, women's federations, at all levels, have tapped into local specialties and traditional crafts to promote skills training, build brands and match production and sales channels. The federations have created platforms to help women start businesses and/or find employment close to their homes.
The All-China Women's Federation has implemented the Action for Women's Employment and Entrepreneurship, to help women achieve high-quality full employment. Across China, women's federations have guided women as they have engaged in embroidering, paper-cutting, weaving and/or other crafts, which have suited their local traditions, so the women can turn their "fingertip skills" into a vibrant "fingertip economy," which in turn has boosted the women's incomes.
This article focuses on the Longyuan Qiaoshou brand, developed by Gansu Women's Federation.
Countless women in northwest China's Gansu Province are skilled at making crafts, including scented sachets, hemp shoes and paper cuts. Thanks to the Longyuan Qiaoshou brand, developed by Gansu Women's Federation, the millennia-old crafts have become "golden keys" for local women to increase their incomes, pursue prosperity and fulfill their personal potential.
Empowering Skilled Hands
The provincial women's federation established Longyuan Qiaoshou Alliance in 2015. The alliance operates under the "enterprise/association + base + agent + women" model, which integrates more than 280 enterprises, skilled artisans and inheritors of intangible-cultural-heritage items. The alliance also unites more than 350 production and business entities. The federation has simultaneously nurtured distinctive women's craft industries, and it has helped transform the crafts into competitive products.
In recent years, the federation has trained exemplary women entrepreneurs, and it has empowered women to find jobs or start their own businesses in the craft industry. During the past three years, a specialized training camp has been held annually; it has been attended by successful women entrepreneurs, inheritors of intangible-cultural-heritage items, and role models in the cultural and creative industries. The camps — which have covered a range of topics, from heritage preservation and creative design to livestream e-commerce, short-video production and AI (artificial intelligence) applications — have trained more than 300 highly skilled artisans.
The federation has also organized various provincial-level competitions, including craft entrepreneurship and -innovation contests. The events have provided a platform for local artisans to hone their skills, and to showcase their talents. Through these events, a group of highly skilled, and innovative, artisans have emerged, and they have breathed new life into the Longyuan Qiaoshou brand.
Women's federations, across Gansu Province, have rolled out targeted training for local women — especially rural women, low-income families and mothers who moved to town with their school-age children — near their homes. The initiative enables them to increase their incomes, by making crafts, while also caring for their families.
To date, Longyuan Qiaoshou has trained 158,000 women, fostered more than 8,000 agents and entrepreneurial leaders, and provided flexible jobs to 70,000 women. The project has become a key driver boosting women's incomes, and it has helped empower women and advance rural revitalization.
Embroidering Better Lives
Scented sachets are a cultural emblem of Qingyang, a city in Gansu Province. Liu Lanfang, a provincial-level representative inheritor of Qingyang's craft of scented-sachet embroidering, has taken her "Liu Lanfang Scented Sachet" brand to more than a dozen countries or regions. In recent years, Zhang Yuyao, Liu's daughter and a municipal-level representative inheritor of the craft, has dedicated herself to turning the time-honored tradition into a thriving business.
Zhang has developed a range of products featuring sachets, including bracelets, key chains and phone accessories. These products give the sachets a contemporary aesthetic appeal. Zhang also promotes sachet culture; to boost sales, she demonstrates the process of embroidering sachets on short-video platforms.
Zhang has helped other rural women learn sachet-embroidering skills, so they can earn a living from the craft in their homes. To date, more than 4,000 women have obtained employment by making sachets, increasing their average annual income by nearly 20,000 yuan (US $2,941).
Weaving a Path to Prosperity
Several exemplary craft companies in Gansu Province have emerged as key drivers of women's employment. Gansu Yaluren Hemp Handicraft Development Company, in Gangu, a county in Tianshui, a city in Gansu Province, is a prime example.
Guo Juan, the company's general manager, and a representative inheritor of Gangu's craft of weaving hemp shoes, is dedicated to promoting the craft as a way to bring prosperity to local women. She has established 19 hemp-shoe workshops across rural Gansu, and those workshops have provided flexible employment, to allow women to earn a living at home. "I'm not just selling hemp shoes," Guo says. "I want to help rural women build their confidence, to show them they can realize their dreams through hard work."
The company has provided employment opportunities to more than 3,000 rural women. Niu Junxia, a villager from Xinxing, a town in Gangu, is one of those women. "In the past, I had to work away from home, and with an unstable income. Now, I weave hemp shoes for Yaluren, and I earn at least 3,000 yuan (US $441) per month," Niu says. She has encouraged more than 60 women, in her village, to weave hemp shoes.
The company has trained more than 10 women to be "team leaders," like Niu. "Many local women have mastered the basic skills of weaving hemp shoes. The team leaders train the women in more professional techniques, to help them earn a living at home, and to increase their average annual income by nearly 4,500 yuan (US $662)," says Guo.
She plans to do everything she can to help women, across the province, master the weaving techniques. "During the next five years, we will help polish the Longyuan Qiaoshou brand even brighter. We will help more women live better lives, through their 'fingertip skills,' and contribute their strength to rural revitalization," Guo concludes.
Photos from Interviewees
(Women of China English Monthly June 2026)
Editor: Wang Shasha
