Man weaves a promising future for ethnic brocade

With great efforts, Huang made rapid progress and even won some awards in this field.

In 2019, he was admitted to a college in the provincial capital Haikou to study business administration. But his passion for Li brocade soared.

He kept practicing during his college years and tried to reinvent the traditional brocade patterns. For instance, the colors of traditional Li brocade are mainly red and black. Huang combined green, pink and yellow in the brocade to bring out better visual effects.

Currently, Huang is busy weaving a traditional dress for a customer from Harbin, capital of Heilongjiang province on the other end of the country. It is his first commercial order that he has spent over half a year on.

Huang cherishes every piece of Li brocade he weaves by hand. "My brocades are just like my own children," he says. He is reluctant to sell any of them, "unless the clients appreciate and understand the works and Li culture".

In June, Huang will graduate from college. He has opened a clothing store with his elder sister, Huang Xueling, in Wuzhishan.

"I hope he sticks to his passion and ignores what others say," says the sister.

This year, Huang plans to weave a shirt with a tiger pattern on it to celebrate the Year of the Tiger, and he dreams of traveling to different places to learn about weaving skills from different cultures.

"I hope I can bring Li ethnic culture to more parts of the world by weaving brocade," he says.

Xinhua