Jin Xiaoli is one of the managers of Zhejiang Yayun Culture and Tourism Co., Ltd., in Yunlong (a village in Haining, a city in East China's Zhejiang Province). As a native of Yunlong, Jin is pleased her home village's custom of growing mulberry trees and breeding silkworms is an important representative project of China's sericulture and silk craftsmanship, which in 2009 was added to UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization)'s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
Influenced by her family, Jin developed an interest in silk craftsmanship during her early childhood. She was impressed by the golden cocoons, which looked different from the normal white cocoons, when she first saw them, at Yunlong's sericulture base, in 2020.
In early 2021, she joined the company's members in promoting the base's development. Since then, Jin has devoted herself to promoting Yunlong's sericulture industry.
In addition to being responsible for the construction, operation and daily management of the base, she has put much effort into popularizing sericulture, and also into operating and managing the company's online-marketing platform.
Popularizing Sericulture
"As a traditional industry with a long history, sericulture needs to be inherited and promoted. More importantly, greater efforts should be made to innovate the technical skills needed to promote the development of the industry," says Jin.
During the past two years, Jin has led her team in developing many sericulture-related courses. Several primary schools and children's activity centers (in Shanghai, Hangzhou and other cities) have invited the team to provide the courses in various schools and centers. The activities have been well received, by both the children and their parents.
The team has conducted various activities, such as adopting silkworm babies, in kindergartens and primary schools in more than 30 of China's provinces (municipalities or autonomous regions) during the past two years. More than 100,000 students have participated in the activities.
The team has also conducted activities to help children better understand sericulture and silk craftsmanship. The activities have promoted fine traditional Chinese culture.
Jin has led her team in developing creative cultural products, made from silkworm cocoons, as souvenirs for visitors to Yunlong. The company has employed many villagers to produce the items.
The team has been using livestreaming platforms to broadcast the customs of Yunlong, and the historical development of the village's sericulture, and especially to help rural residents sell their agricultural products.
"All of the members of our team are natives of my village. We often brainstorm (to develop) good ideas to promote the development of our company, and to help farmers live better lives," says Jin. "I hope more young residents, who have left home to work elsewhere, will return home to join us in popularizing our hometown's culture, which, in turn, will promote rural revitalization."
Ambitious Goal
Jin has won various awards during craft entrepreneurship and innovation contests, at the provincial and municipal levels, in recent years. However, she is not content to rest on her laurels. As an agricultural worker, she has set an ambitious goal: To try her best to protect and promote her hometown's sericulture industry.
"To help visitors better understand sericulture, Yunlong's sericulture base and China National Silk Museum established Xiaoyunlong Sericulture Park in our village in 2019," says Jin.
Several years ago, the park employed Xu Lihua, a resident of Yunlong, as a cleaner. Encouraged by Jin, Xu learned how to make creative cultural products (knickknacks made from silkworm cocoons) and helped increase her family's income, simply by creating various products. Many customers have offered positive comments about her creations.
Yunlong during the past few years has developed many sericulture-related tourism products. As a result, more than 80 job opportunities have been created for residents. The products, combined, have generated more than 1.6 million yuan (US $225,352) in annual revenues during the past several years.
"I hope, through our creative cultural products, more people will learn about Yunlong, so we can have more business partners to promote the development of our hometown's sericulture industry," says Jin. She vows to make greater efforts to help rural residents get rich by selling their products made from silkworm cocoons.
Photos from Interviewee
(Women of China English Monthly May 2024)
Editor: Wang Shasha
