Zhuang brocade products add diversity, vitality to market before Spring Festival

Li Suying demonstrates Zhuang brocade weaving techniques during a live-streaming session. (People’s Daily Online/Wei Huan)

During a live-streaming session, Li Suying, the fifth-generation inheritor of Zhuang brocade in Jinlong township, Longzhou county, south China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, was weaving brocade in front of a wooden weaving machine. Her demonstration drew a crowd of viewers to the live-steaming session, eager to purchase her handiworks for the upcoming Spring Festival, or Chinese New Year, People’s Daily Online.  

Li’s booth was packed with Zhuang brocade products, including scarves, bags, coasters and others. These beautifully crafted and creatively designed Zhuang brocade products became a hot ticket item on the market.

In preparation for upcoming Spring Festival, Li has been designing new Zhuang brocade products – creating small yet exquisite decorative paintings that are both popular and heartfelt.

“Making one entire handcrafted Zhuang brocade piece is time-consuming and relatively expensive,” she explained. Therefore, she cuts the Zhuang brocade into small pieces, frames them, and transforms them into affordable and delicate little gifts.

Zhuang brocade, along with Yun brocade, Shu brocade, and Song brocade, is renowned as one of China’s four famous brocades. In 2006, Zhuang brocade weaving skills were included in the national intangible cultural heritage list.

“To enhance the appeal of intangible cultural heritage, it must be integrated into modern life,” said Li. She infuses the cultural elements of Zhuang brocade into various creative cultural products, continually developing new colors, patterns, and fabric styles.

Adjacent to Li’s booth, a cross-border live-streaming session targeting Vietnam was in full swing. “Vietnam and Guangxi share many similar cultural elements, and Zhuang brocade products are highly favored by the Vietnamese,” said Huang Yunying, executive chairman of the cross-border e-commerce association of Pingxiang city of Guangxi.

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