Yang Jiheng and his wife Lv Hongwei are making embroidery shoes at home on Thursday, October 25, 2007. [Photo:hb.chinanews.com.cn]
Embroidery is no longer just a pastime for people of the Tujia Ethnic Group in Enshi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture in Hubei Province; nor is it just for the girls.
The local news website hb.chinanews.com.cn reported on Friday that two sisters Chen Yongfeng and Chen Meisheng in the Mahe village of Xianfeng County have made embroidery a profitable business, attracting over 2,000 women and even some men to join them.
Inspired by Tujia minority's traditional craftsmanship, the Chen sisters started to make embroidery shoes and put them on sale since they had been laid-off from work in 2004.
Their business turned out to be successful as hand-made embroidery shoes are gaining increasing popularity in the market.
The embroidery company they found has an annual production value of over three millions, with their products exported to overseas countries such as the United Kingdom, the United States, South Korea and France.
Yang Jiheng and his wife Lv Hongwei are making embroidery shoes at home on Thursday, October 25, 2007.
