In 2016, Chen Guotao brought Miao embroidery works to various European countries for the first time to participate in a tour exhibition. It was winter, and I found that locals liked to wear windbreakers. Even old ladies would wear high heels and expose their ankles, which was very fashionable. The Miao embroidery I brought with me at that time was traditional bright colors such as red, yellow, pink, etc. The artists there told me that there could be more stable color works that were suitable for daily wear. "After returning to China, Chen Guotao immediately invested in research and development. The "Blue Series" Miao embroidery jewelry born from this has always been watched and often sold out. Recently, when a reporter from China Youth Daily and China Youth Net met Chen Guotao at an intangible cultural heritage exhibition, she was surrounded tightly by audience members holding mobile phones to scan and pay. This blue color is our exclusive invention and contains ingredients from Miao medicine. As it is handmade, there may be slight differences in the blue color of different batches, which is also the charm of intangible cultural heritage. In 2019, the Youzhou Miao Embroidery Intangible Cultural Heritage Workshop in Youyang Tujia and Miao Autonomous County, Chongqing, was established based on the Youzhou Miao Embroidery, a representative project of intangible cultural heritage at the municipal level in Chongqing. As the leader of the intangible cultural heritage workshop, Chen Guotao said, "We have a team of designers born in the 1990s, consisting of over 30 designers. The person in charge was born in 1993. Young people design products based on their aesthetic preferences, which can better win the love of young consumers." Nowadays, the workshop's Miao embroidery products have gone to more than 80 countries. Traditional crafts are an important category of intangible cultural heritage, involving multiple fields such as clothing, food, housing, and transportation. The reporter learned from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism that more than 9100 intangible cultural heritage workshops have been built in various regions so far, with more than 3000 directly built in villages, involving 1721 counties, directly absorbing more than 270000 poverty-stricken people for employment, and per capita annual income exceeding 36000 yuan. Young people take over the craft, and intangible cultural heritage workshops promote employment and income growth. "Niejiazhuang, facing the south gate, every household makes clay figurines," this catchphrase refers to the national level intangible cultural heritage representative project Niejiazhuang clay sculpture originating from Gaomi City, Shandong Province. Nie Peng, a young man born in the 1990s, is one of the "clay figurine makers". Nie Peng is a native of Niejiazhuang. "From the perspective of the inheritors of the entire Niejiazhuang clay sculpture, I am the 22nd generation, and from the perspective of my family, I am already the 6th generation. He grew up playing with mud with his father and surrounded by clay sculpture, but his family once opposed him making clay sculpture a career for a very direct reason - he didn't make money. "At that time, there were no young people in the village doing this," he said. But when young people love it, they have to do it. In 2010, Nie Peng decided to work full-time in clay sculpture. He used the idle Niejiazhuang Primary School building to establish his own clay sculpture workshop, starting with a monthly income of 700 yuan. In 2021, he established Changsheng Clay Sculpture Intangible Cultural Heritage Workshop, creating a comprehensive base for clay sculpture industry university research, and attracting more than 120 craftsmen. "Villagers can work full-time in the workshop or bring clay sculptures home to make, which is very flexible, and each person can increase their income by 20000 to 30000 yuan per year. In 2022, based on the national representative project of intangible cultural heritage, Shengzhou Bamboo Weaving, a Shengzhou Bamboo Weaving Intangible Cultural Heritage Workshop was established in Shaoxing City, Zhejiang Province. The workshop leader, Lv Shuang, is a post-95s. "My grandfather was a famous bamboo weaver in the local area, and my father followed him to make bamboo weaving. By the time I was the third generation," he said. Lv Shuang admitted that the intangible cultural heritage industry generally faces the problem of older practitioners. "Our workshop has more than 40 people, most of whom are around 60 years old. In recent years, when we recruit from the society, we tend to lean towards young people. As long as you are willing to join, the intangible cultural heritage workshop provides training and a "guaranteed" salary, and skilled workers who exceed the "guaranteed" salary will be paid piece rate. At present, the workshop directly or indirectly drives more than 200 nearby residents to find employment, with an average annual income of over 50000 yuan per person. Recently, the on-site meeting for high-quality inheritance and development of traditional crafts and intangible cultural heritage to support rural revitalization was held in Yongding District, Longyan City, Fujian Province. At the meeting, Chu Xiaoyan, Deputy Director of the Department of Culture, Radio, Television and Tourism of Zhejiang Province, introduced that as of November 2024, there were 1338 recognized intangible cultural heritage workshops in Zhejiang Province, including 458 workshops located in rural areas. In Zhejiang, intangible cultural heritage workshops promote employment and income growth, such as the "Linhai Grass Weaving" intangible cultural heritage workshop, which will drive nearly 100000 idle laborers to engage in hat weaving production in 2023; The "Tangqi Hundred Craftsmen" intangible cultural heritage workshop gathers more than 80 local veteran artists, creating an annual output value of over 50 million yuan; The "Cangnan Hundred Arts" traditional craft workstation has gathered 38 intangible cultural heritage workshops, forming an industrial chain. By 2023, the output value of related industries will exceed 1 billion yuan. Innovating intangible cultural heritage products and developing intangible cultural heritage research, the "mud calling tiger" is a classic work of Niejiazhuang clay sculpture with a history of more than 400 years. The head of the mud tiger is equipped with a reed whistle, and the soft connection between the head and tail is made of leather. When squeezed, it will make a sound. To this day, the little tiger that pinches and barks still speaks loudly at various intangible cultural heritage exhibitions, attracting audiences to consume. Intangible cultural heritage products should be integrated with contemporary life and able to be used in daily life. For example, in the past, mud called tigers were just ornaments, but in the future, we will use this classic IP to develop more application scenarios Nie Peng introduced that the Intangible Cultural Heritage Workshop has collaborated with universities such as Tsinghua University School of Fine Arts and Liaocheng University to launch intangible cultural and creative works that are more suitable for young people. For example, DIY handmade experience bags, canvas bags, mouse pads are also endowed with beautiful meanings, such as "touching the tail of a tiger, perfection, touching the head of a tiger, good luck without worry". Shengzhou bamboo weaving was once exported in large quantities to Japan, Europe, and America, mainly featuring animal and human ornaments with exquisite craftsmanship. In the generation of Lv Shuang, she turned her attention to the domestic market and daily life. We use bamboo weaving to make tea ceremonies and household items, which not only expands the application scenarios of intangible cultural heritage, but also adds cultural flavor to life. In order to cater to the tea drinking trend, the workshop has developed more than 40 tea series products such as bamboo woven tea tables, tea trays, and tea set storage boxes; In order to adapt to the minimalist decoration style, we have launched more than 30 types of furniture series products such as bamboo screens and chairs, which are "uninhabitable without bamboo". These intangible cultural heritage products are popular in the market, with an annual output value exceeding 7 million yuan. In addition to selling products, intangible cultural heritage workshops also sell experiences. The former stimulates the curiosity of the audience to understand "what intangible cultural heritage is", while the latter makes intangible cultural heritage more deeply rooted in people's hearts and further promotes industrial development. In 2018, Lv Shuang returned to Shengzhou after graduating from university, and studying was still a niche field at that time. Starting from attracting sporadic customers to experience bamboo weaving techniques in their own workshops, now there are more and more group customers, as well as Taiwanese customers who come from afar. Combining "bringing in" and "going out", Lv Shuang's team has also entered campuses from kindergarten to university, passing on non genetic knowledge to the next generation. "Now we can hold 4-5 study abroad activities every month, with more during summer vacation. Changsheng Clay Sculpture Intangible Cultural Heritage Workshop has a dedicated research team, relying on the entire Niejiazhuang clay sculpture to establish an intangible cultural heritage experience base in the local area, which can accommodate 1000 people at the same time to experience various aspects of clay sculpture. Nie Peng revealed, "Business is good. The peak season every year is from March to May and from September to November, and we can receive about 6000 people per month." Ethnic embroidery is global, and Peng Yi, the leader of the original color related intangible cultural heritage workshop in Qianxi City, Guizhou Province, could always see Miao costumes drying in every household in the village when he was a child. She started learning wax embroidery at the age of 8 and has been doing so for over 30 years now. Exquisite handmade embroidery and wax printing have had a profound impact on her choice of life path. At first, I learned from my master and 'imitated the gourd and painted the gourd', embroidering according to the original style. Slowly, I realized that if wax embroidery was only used for Miao ethnic clothing, the consumer group would be very limited, the economic benefits would be low, and development would be difficult Peng Yi said. Later, she was admitted to the Master's program in Folk Art at the School of Fine Arts, Guizhou University for Nationalities, and contemplated the future of Miao embroidery with a broader perspective. Peng Yi spent over 10 years traveling through Miao villages in Guizhou, visiting more than 1000 elderly Miao people to learn about the stories behind Miao embroidery and wax printing patterns, as well as their lives. How to transform ethnic culture into fashionable cultural and creative products? How to make Miao embroidery break through the mountains, enter thousands of households, and integrate into modern life? Peng Yi believes that both design and sales need to be grasped. In terms of design, she led a team to develop and innovate more than 100 creative Miao embroidery products such as clothing, office supplies, and home accessories, and carried out industry university research cooperation with Guizhou University for Nationalities, Qianxi Miao Embroidery Industrial Park, and others; In terms of sales, a diversified sales system of "offline stores+online platforms+channel sales" has been established, with products entering 13 offline stores and joining multiple online platforms. The intangible cultural heritage of the people is enjoyed by the people. We create a 'three delivery' service model of delivering technology, equipment, and orders; Establish 108 Miao embroidery micro workshops to lead women from Miao villages to work and earn income at their doorstep Peng Yi said that in the past three years, the workshop has directly created employment for 115 people, indirectly created employment for more than 3300 people, and trained more than 5000 talents. The Youzhou Miao Embroidery Intangible Cultural Heritage Workshop conducts training in villages and rural areas, adopting the "five no's" principle of not paying tuition fees, regardless of age, gender, distance, and physical fitness. At present, a total of 600 intangible cultural heritage skills training sessions have been carried out, driving employment and income growth for more than 370 people, with a monthly income increase of 1500 to 5000 yuan; The annual number of orders is over 57000, and the workshop's revenue is over 8.6 million yuan. Since 2016, Chen Guotao and her team have participated in the Canton Fair every year. This year, they just signed orders with merchants from countries such as the United States and Dubai. "A customer from Dubai said it's too hot there, and seeing blue is like seeing a lake in the desert, which makes them feel very comfortable. They even bought up all the props we used for display, such as plates and shelves," they said. Many people suggest that Chen Guotao give a louder name to the 'Blue Series', and she is currently considering it (New Society)