Patterns of success

In 2015, two years after the Jinxiu Plan was launched, Yang invested 50,000 yuan and established a cooperative with four other people.

It seemed to be a reasonable investment for Yang, especially when she learned that the provincial government would provide a special fund of 15 million yuan to support the plan every year. The China Women Development Foundation participated in the plan, which serves as the bridge between e-commerce enterprises from bigger cities and craftswomen who live in rural areas.

"Those companies show us the fashion trends, and we create the products as they want. They provide modern tastes, and we offer fine craft," Yang says.

So far, the cooperative has hired more than 300 needleworkers, including over 100 people who are regarded as poverty-stricken. The oldest is aged 69, and the youngest, who often offers help, is Yang's 8-year-old daughter.

"In our town, more than half of the males work elsewhere for a higher and more stable income. They only come back during holidays, or for funerals, which can only be hosted by men according to local custom," Yang says. "Before the Jinxiu Plan, most women, especially those over 50, earned little money by selling herbs that they had gathered on the mountain at street markets."

She adds that the changeable weather and daunting terrain makes collecting herbs very difficult and dangerous.

There are currently 67 professional cooperatives operating in Zhijin county, employing 3,500 women, including 2,200 people who have emerged from poverty as a result.

Yang reveals that the needleworkers can make between 2,000 and 4,000 yuan a month, and an increasing number of young women of their families are willing to work in their hometowns at jobs which offer a fair wage, and leave them plenty of time and energy to take care of family.