Ding Lanying: Helping Yi women embroider bright future

"In the future, I will inherit the embroidering skills, and I will help more women embroiderers get jobs and/or start their businesses. We will use our fingertips to create happy, prosperous lives," says Ding Lanying, a delegate to the 13th National Women's Congress of China.

Ding was born into an ethnic Yi family in Hongtupo, a town in Nanhua, a county in Chuxiong Yi Autonomous Prefecture, in Southwest China's Yunnan Province. She learned to embroider, from her mother, at an early age. "Yi women are able to use needles and make embroideries when we are young. The embroidering skills are in our blood," says Ding.

In 2014, Ding opened an embroidery workshop. In 2021, she established Nanhua Qicai Yi Embroidery Cultural Communication Co., Ltd. During the past couple of years, the company's Yi embroideries have been exported to many countries and regions. In September 2023, some creations featuring Yi embroidery, produced by Ding's company, wowed spectators during Milan Fashion Week, in Italy.

Ding for years has led villagers in using their fingertips to achieve prosperity. She offers Yi embroidery training sessions to women in Nanhua. She also helps rural women find jobs, and achieve prosperity by making embroideries.

In 2014, China added Yi costumes to the list of the country's items of intangible cultural heritage. Ding is a provincial-level inheritor of Yi costumes. She encourages people to inherit the embroidering skills.