Weaving magic through determination

During the 2017 Qinghai Tibetan Carpet Exhibition, staff of Shengyuan took a photo of a German merchant. An hour later, the visitor received a special gift－a carpet with his portrait on it.

"In fact, we implemented a smart manufacturing project, which allows personalized customization, in 2017. It has proved that finishing the production of personalized carpets within an hour is no longer a myth," said the vice-president of the company, Liu Shengmin, earlier in an interview with gmw.cn. The company also won the "outstanding enterprise" award in China Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition with this project that year.

Xue always dreamed of being an entrepreneur since she was a little girl.

In 1993, when she was 9, her father Xue Yuming established a company, which imported and exported metals and minerals.

With a proud tone, Xue Ting says that many employees worked with her father for more than 20 years, some for 30, out of respect and trust. She saw one's responsibility for family and society from Xue Yuming. She felt fully prepared to become an entrepreneur herself before graduation.

"Since I was a child, my father has been telling me that I should strive to realize my own value," Xue Ting says.

Her success wasn't easy.

"Find a way when there is no way," Xue Ting says. "Sometimes people are forced to succeed."

In the early stage, Xue Ting often faced rejection by potential customers, for various reasons, including that the design was not innovative or the color combination was not harmonious. She didn't give up but spent more time learning from pattern designers and peers.

In 2014, Xue Ting packed her bag and went to New York for design classes, including pattern design, fabric design and even graphic design.

Thanks to Xue's unremitting efforts, the company's products have been sold in more than 40 countries and regions now, including Italy, Germany, France, the United States, Austria and the Middle East. It has received recognition from internationally renowned hotel groups such as Marriott, Hyatt, Shangri-La and Disney.

Xue Ting says she believes that the greater the ability, the greater the responsibility. She shares her wealth with society.

Over the years, Xue Ting organized more than 60 charity activities, involving more than 2,000 participants, and helped out 400 people in need with the donation of 5.7 million yuan. After the pandemic outbreak last year, she donated 102,000 yuan to frontline medical workers on behalf of Shengyuan.

"Give people fish and you feed them for one day, teach them how to fish and you feed them for a lifetime," Xue Ting says, referring to the old Chinese saying.

To carry out targeted poverty alleviation work, Xue Ting set up a training center and two more factories in Haibei and Guoluo Tibetan prefectures in Qinghai in 2018, approached more than 50 Tibetan carpet craftsmen from poverty-stricken areas, taught them mechanized weaving skill and offered them jobs.

This year, the poverty alleviation project has involved more than 30 talented people.

"In the past, herders had to weave rugs by hand, it cost more time and brought little income," Xue Ting says, "I want them to have another choice when it comes to weaving and infinite possibilities when it comes to life."