China Culture and Development Partnership Framework

Baseline Survey Report

Business Management and Marketing of Ethnical Handicrafts

Deng Di 2009-9-6

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CURRENCY EQUIVALENTS
Currency Units Chinese Yuan Yuan 1.00 = $ 0.1465 $ 1.00 = Yuan 6.8263

ABBREVIATIONS
UNIDO - United Nations Industrial Development Organization SEAC - State Ethnic Affairs Council MSE - Micro and Small Enterprises CCP- Communist Party of China

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Foreword
This report provides a baseline for Output 2.3 of the Project, Business Management and Marketing of Ethnic Handicrafts. Basically it is a summary and analysis on the observations and data collected from an on-site study, which lasted from August 4 to 24 of 2009, in 2 counties of Guizhou Province, Leishan and Congjiang, and other 2 of Yunnan Province, Longchuan and Luxi. It is consisted of three parts: Steps and Methods, Findings, Conclusions and Recommendations.

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1. STEPS AND METHODS

The baseline study was processed in 2 steps. Step 1, the preparation stage, lasted from middle May, while the agreement with UNIDO was signed, to early August 2009. Jobs included were as follows: Preliminary Data Collecting Collecting and sifting materials about the handicraft industries and their traditions of the 4 particular counties, in order to preliminarily identify several representative handicraft categories of each county, learn their history and cultural background, and find if any typical Micro and Small enterprises (MSE), or self-employed practitioners existed. Planning for on-site research Building a plan for the on-site investigations, guided by the State Ethnic Affairs Council (SEAC), with full details of supposed arrangements: target groups, questionnaires, and when, where and how to process interviews, etc. Step 2, the on-site investigation stage, lasted from August 4 to 24, 2009. Jobs of this step were as follows: Survey of Craftsmen Major purposes of craftsmens survey were, firstly, to comprehend the current situation of their fundamental management and marketing elements, which include: producing organizations and technologies, distribution channels and targeted customers, products structure, promotion mix, pricing strategy, etc, and secondly, to understand their training needs and development expectations. Actually the survey was processed in three forms: firstly, holding conversations with craftsmen, secondly, requesting them to complete questionnaire under guidance, and thirdly, on-spot observing of production and distribution. Survey of Distributors, Local Government, and other stakeholders Major purposes of the surveys on distributors, local government agencies, and other stakeholders were, firstly, to comprehend market demand of the handicraft products, secondly, to access to related data of macro economy and industry
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policies, and thirdly, to sense the competition order of local market. Training for stakeholders Main content of the this primary training program covered: the meaning of history, culture and ethnic features to the market value of a handicraft product, the marketing mix of product, price, place and promotion, known as 4Ps, and its adoption in the marketing practice of ethnic handicrafts, a primary market analysis of one or two typical local handicrafts, an introduction of the SEAL certification of UNESCO, the necessity to establishing business organizations. The form of training was traditional class teaching and interaction.

2. FINDINGS
With time sequencing of the on-site investigation, the four sections of this chapter describe the baseline findings at four particular counties. There is a general information part in the beginning of every section, which demonstrates macro economic data and general situation of this countys handicraft business. What follows is detailed descriptions and analysis on each most important and typical handicraft business of this county. In this report, the most important and typical handicraft businesses of each county were selected according to the principles listed below: I. They must be ethnically-identified and authentic II. Craftsmen are professional and their production is market-oriented, at least to some extent. III. They have a growing market potential IV. Their developments are sustainable and environmental-friendly Its easy to find that the principles above are fundamentally consistent to those of SEAL certification. Hence its reasonable to understand why some relatively big handicraft businesses were excluded from the scope of this research. For example, there do exist some very successful firms of root carving and wood carving in Leishan, Luxi and Longchuan. However, typically those products express very few ethnic cultural elements of local
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minority nationality, and some important business owners or investors are even not native-born residents. In addition, a number of products are made of specific rare and endangered plants, what is obviously contradictory to Principle IV. So it is reasonable that we ruled out such categories. 2.1 Leishan County, Guizhou Province 2.1.1 Overview With an area of 1,218.5 square kilometers and a population of 150,000, 80.7% of which is of minority races, Leishan County is famous for her culture of Miao, the minority race with the biggest population. Within Leishan, the Xijiang (west river) village, where there are totally more than 1,100 households, is the largest fortified mountain village of Miao nationality in the world.
County Economic Profile and Industrial Statistics of Leishan Per Capita Annual Income (yuan Telephone per 100 households Mobile per 100 persons Living Conditions Internet users proportion in total population Rate of internet access Rate of villages accessible by road Largest industry in the county Pillar Industry Gross output of the industry in 2008 (million yuan) Particular Handicraft business Gross outputmillion yuan Employed population 18 780 Category 1 Name 285 Metal onaments 2.9% 10% 100% Tourism

2257 34 22

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Recent trends Name Gross outputmillion yuan Category 2 Employed population Recent trends Companies Number Average turnover million yuan Handcraft guild

Upward Embroidery 5.8

Upward 10 0.1 None

- Local Rural Credit Cooperatives and branches of Chian Agricultural Bank offer a mortage loan from 50,000 to 100,000 yuan on favourable terms. Industrial Policies - Craftsmen who want to open a shop at Xijiang Village or the Handicraft Shopping Street of the county town would be offered one year free-rental-period or favourable price term

Being honored as the Center of Miao Nationality, Leishan enjoys very rich tourism resources, such as traditional architectures, dresses, customs, musics and dances, musical instruments, and handicrafts of Miao. Even the newly built brick concrete houses in the county town are with vivid ethnic cultural elements, and very different from usual looking buildings of most China cities and towns. Handicrafts businesses of Leishan are comparatively well developed. Silver ornament of Miao, embroidery of Miao, and Lusheng, a special bamboo instruments that is very popular among the minority peoples living in southwest China for hundreds of years, are the most prominent representatives.

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Entertainment programs at Xijiang Qianhu Miao Village attracted so many tourists.

2.1.2 Miao Silver Jewelry Cultural Background Among the various sorts of silver jewelries widely distributed in the minority ethnic areas of southwest China, those made by Miao people are the most well-known category. In Chinese language, Miao Silver is the only one specially given and widely recognized phrase that refers to a kind of minority ethnic ornament. Images of Miao women wearing gorgeous silver headdress, necklace, bracelets and splendid attire appeared in the most popular TV advertisements and movies, for example, the advertising film of Jin Liu Fu, a famous Chinese liquor brand, and If You Are the One, a very successful comedy movie in 2008. The making of silver jewelries by the Miao Nationality in Guizhou originated approximately in the Ming Dynasty. Guizhou Province was formally established in 1413 (the 11th year of the rein of Emperor Yongle in Ming Dynasty), when the trading form in silver-based currency gradually entered the isolated and rugged Miao-inhabited areas, offering possible opportunity for the making of silver jewelries. As recorded in historical books, the Miao Nationality started to wear silver jewelries from the Ming Dynasty. According to Guo Zhizhangs Qianji
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(Record of Guizhou Province), Rich people always wear gold or silver earrings, and some may even wear five or six ones, seeming like a chain of rings.

A Miao singer wearing traditional silver headdres

In Guizhou province, Qian Dongnan Autonomous Prefecture is the area where the most plentiful and wonderful Miao silver ornament are produced. Especially Kongbai, Maliao, and Wugao, three villages of Xijiang town, Leishan County, and 2 other adjacent villages, Jiubai and Tanglong of Taijiang county, are all well known as silver craftsman village. Traditionally, raw materials sources of Miao silver jewelries in Leishan are various, and as a result, purity of products is also different from each other. Some products have a silver content of 30 to 40 percent, and some others made from 89.1 percent pure yuan Big Head4. And there exist jewelries with 95% silver and a small content of gold, which are called Luoluo Silver. Because Miao silver jewelries are various in quality and styles, Miao people themselves do not give their jewelries a common name. The popular phrase Miao Silver actually was formed among the cosumers of Han and other Chinese peoples.

4 silver coins minted in the early years of the Republic of China with the head of yuan Shihkai on the obverse side 139

Scale and Trend In Leishan, there are around 780 craftsmen making silver ornament, most of them are native residents of the 3 famous Silver Craftsman Village. Annual turnover of the silver ornament industry amounts to 18 million yuan. And the sales revenue of the largest firm is close to 1 million. According to historic records and official statistics, the scale of Leishan silver jewelries business has been continuously growing since 1980s. For instance, there were only about 100 craftsmen living in Kongbai village in 1980s, but in 1990s, more than 200, and currently, more than 400, although most of them do not physically resident in the village now. As a matter of fact, a very important trend of this business in the recent decade is that the craftsmen choose to leave their mountain villages, where the traffic infrastructures are still poor, to explore the markets outside. Most of them are likely to develop their business in neighboring towns and cities of Leishan. Silver craftsmen from the 3 famous villages can be found in every county of the Qian Dongnan Autonomous Prefecture. Another group of their countrymen manage to distribute silver jewelries in metropolises like Beijing and Guangzhou. Actually, there is very few craftsmen stay at their home villages now. The outmigration of the craftsmen perhaps is not good news for the local government, who expects a growing contribution of handicraft industry to the local GDP. But it benefits the business development and technique communication of Miao silver jewelries In 2 counties Liping and Rongjiang of Qian Dongnan, for example, the silver headdress and necklace of local Dong ethnic groups have very similar style as that of Miao silver jewelries in Leishan. Production Organization and Technology Only 10 Silver craftsmen of Leishan officially registered, while hundreds of others did not. And even as to the registered ones, related government offices such as Industrial and Commercial Bureau and Taxation Bureau hardly can get access to the accurate data of their production and sales revenue. Production procedure of Leishan Miao Silver includes a number of steps, such as fusion-casting, wire drawing, die-casting, engraving, welding, cleaning, etc.
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Producing organization for most craftsmen is their family workshop. In Leishan, there are only very few craftsmen, like Mr. Gu Yongchong and Mr. Mu Niying, who have registered limited companies, establish their own shops, and primarily formed a professional team of workers. Raw materials of Leishan Miao silver jewelries are high-content silver, usually 98.7% or 92.5%, known as silver for jewelry making, purchased from Hunan with a current price around 3,700 yuan per kilogram. As to the quality of raw materials of silver jewelries, an important trend happened in the recent decades has been the popular adoption of the so-called white brass, an alloy of copper which looks like silver. Even full sets of traditional Miao attire made of white brass can be found in the local market. Analysis on Sales and Marketing Compared with most other minority ethnic handicrafts, silver jewelry business in Leishan is deeply commercialized. It managed to develop various distribution channels, such as retailing through specialty store, customizing and wholesaling. Leishan craftsmen usually locate their self-owned stores in the Xijiang Qianhu Miao village, county town of Leishan, and Kaili, the capital city of Qian Dongnan. And people can also find Leishan vendors selling silver jewelries at some distributing centers of handicraft in the metropolis of China, like Panjiayuan of Beijing. The target customers of local craft stores mostly are tourists or foreign visitors. As a result, jewelries which are easy for them to carry and valuable for their practical use, such as bracelet, necklace, brooch, pendant, ring, are among the best-selling list. However, in most of time, the heavy, big-sized and elaborate headdresses and collars are only exhibited as samples, demonstrating workmanship and ethnic culture. The silver craftsmen are used to applying a cost-plus pricing strategy. For the low-grade decorated products, such as some solid bracelets with simple sculpture, raw-material cost may accounts for about 60% of their retail prices. Presently, the retail price of Leishan silver jewelries with average processing difficulty and complexity ranges from 5.5 to 7 yuan per gram, while the wholesale price ranges from 4.5 to 5. And the prices of products always change along with the silver price,
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what waves a lot during last 3 years. In 2006, it ever bottomed to around 3,000 yuan per kilograms, and in March 2008, peaked to 5,050 yuan. But it seems the waving cost rarely bring any impacts on the market concentration rate of Leishan silver jewelry industry. Because there is no player in this market who is big enough to make use of this cost change, and get a negotiation power against silver suppliers. Every one has to follow the price wave. Until now only very few Leishan silver craftsmen are sensitive of branding. Outstanding players like Mr. Gu and Mr. Mu have registered or plan to register a product name. However, the brand characteristics of the products are not obvious. For example, Mr. Gu just put a personal stamp to the inner side of his bracelets. No definite differences appear in the design style, product line, and price level from each other player. And generally speaking, branding awareness of particular craftsman or company is still weak among the targeted customers. Being honored as the Successor of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Guizhou Province, Mr. Gu enjoyed a relatively strong personal brand recognition, which, however, does not come up with that of his Yunnan counterpart, Mr. Cun Fabiao, a famous silver craftsman of Bai nationality. Another serious challenge for Leishan Miao Silver is that many craftsmen and other practitioners of this business are used to calling the white grass jewelries Miao Silver, in order to distinguish them from pure silver. As more and more consumers get to know the true content of those products, they may feel cheated. And the price information system of the whole market is likely to be disordered, because white grass is only one tenth as expensive as silver. MSE Cases Case AGu Yongchong, a good-sized business owner 41-year-old and middle school educated Gu Yongchong is from Wugao, one of the three famous Silver Craftsman Village. He started his silver jewelry business from 14, and since then, like most of his countrymen fellows, he had moved to neighboring counties such as Rongjiang, Danzhai and Congjiang to do door-to-door service. Every year he made more than 10 thousands of products, which are favored by his customers. Now Mr. Gu has invested 200,000 yuan to establish his Leishan Ethnic Silver Jewelry Co., Ltd in Leishan county town, and
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owns the biggest silver jewelry store of Xijiang Qianhu Miao village, the popular tourist spot. He is also planning to open the second store at the Handicraft Shopping Street of Leishan. Currently there are around 20 full-time employees working in Mr. Gus company. To accomplish big orders he may need some part-time workers or appeal to out-souring. Annual turnover of the company exceeded 1 million yuan, and its estimated gross profit was more than 300,000. During Beijing Olympic Games in 2008, selected by the provincial government, Mr. Gu participated the activities of exhibiting China ethnic handicrafts in the China Story Xiangyun Huts. The greatest work of art he has accomplished is a silver made micro Miao style Diaojiao Lou (stilted building), weighing more than 10 kilograms.

Case B: Li Zhengwen, a small-sized business owner 50-year-old Mr. Li Zhengwen was born in Kongbai, the biggest Silver Craftsman Village. He started his silver jewelry business in 1978, and insisted on it during the past 3 decades, except a 4 years interruption since 1990, for being elected as the accountant of the Village Administrative Committee. Currently he runs a workshop made up of 6 family members, and in 2008 it realized sales revenue of 200,000 yuan and gross profit of 65,000 yuan. He owns 2 stores, one in Leishan
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county town, and the other in Xijiang Qianhu Miao Village. Besides, in some cases he supplies products to wholesalers. He has no brand.

Description of Outside Competitors Compared with any other handicraft businesses we surveyed in the four counties, silver jewelry business of Leishan is obviously more developed and commercialized. Because the market definition of Miao Silver has been already very clear, its possible and necessary to take notice of the most powerful competitors outside of Leishan. Surrounding the Kaili Stadium there is the biggest handicraft distributing center of Qian Dongnan. A number of companies in this industry, with relatively big scale and marketing power, have set up their outlets here, and the store of Yang Asha is an outstanding one. Founded in 2003 and headquartered in Kaili, the Yang Asha Co., Ltd always focuses on Miao silver jewelry business and. Among the 60 employed craftsmen of Yang Asha, 15 are from the famous silver craftsman village, like Kongbai and Shidong. With a turnover of 6.8 million yuan in 2008, Yang Asha proudly claims the largest supplier of pure Miao silver crafts in China. Yang Asha enjoys some definite advantages over her rivals in Leishan, for instance, grand outlets, professionally designed website (gzyas.com), an established brand name with Miao ethic characteristics5, and very valuable experiences of winning and fulfilling big customized orders for high-end clients, such as China Southern Airline, China Eastern Airline, and Chongqing Municipal Government. 2.1.3 Miao Embroidery There are several typical subjects in the Miao Embroidery works, such as dragon, birds, fish, brass drum, and Miao peoples fairy tales, which makes them honored as a history book for wearing. Miao peoples embroidery is obviously distinguished from that of Han. Even to present same object, for example, dragon, the pattern found in a Miao embroidery work will be much different from that in the works of typical

Yang Asha is named after a fairy of Miao 144

Han styles, such as the famous Hunan Embroidery or Sichuan Embroidery. Generally speaking, there are 12 Miao Embroidery skills, including Ping Xiu (plain embroidery), Dui Xiu (barbola embroidery), Tiao Hua (stitch embroidery), Dazi Xiu (seed-stitch embroidery), etc. Counties of Qian Dongnan are the most developed areas of Miao embroidery, and Taijiang, a neighboring county of Leishan is the most famous one among them. In Leishan, the densely populated Xijiang village is recognized as a representative.

Traditional Miao attires with elegant Miao embroidery pattern

Scale and Trend Business scale of Leishan Miao embroidery is quite small. According to the official statistics, the total sales revenue of the whole industry only amounted to 5.8 million yuan. The number of labors involved in this business is difficult to count, because most Miao women are only part-time embroidery workers. The scale of enterprise or production unit is obviously smaller than that of the silver jewelry industry. Even of the biggest enterprise in this business, the annual turnover only reached 150,000 yuan. An important and dangerous trend of Miao embroidery is that, among young Miao women, the want to learn embroidery skills is getting weaker. While the practitioners we contacted in Leishan had expressed such a perceptual recognition,
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a group of data offered by CCP Committee of Taijiang County in 2008 provided some more concrete evidence: in this county, only 20 percent of women aged from 20 to 25 learned embroidery, but among the female population older than 40, this proportion reached 80 percent. Production organization and technology Until now there are still a part of Miao embroidery production is not market oriented. In other words, the producer is self-sufficiency. And as to those embroidery products entering into the market, most of them are produced through a so-called company plus peasants model, which was initiated in breeding industry and farming industry of China rural areas, and became prevalent in a number of minority ethnic handicraft industries. In a detailed explanation, company plus peasants means that firstly, one or several people those who have marketing skills and organizing and coordinating ability found a company, and obtain orders in the market, and afterwards, the company set up a production plan and products standard based on the customers demand, and then subcontract to a number of peasant households with only personal trust or plus a simple written agreement. Main advantage of this model is obvious: low fixed cost. But on the other hand, the possible shortcoming is obvious as well: low professional level, and uncertain quality, punctuality, payments, etc. In Leishan, usually the Miao embroidery is pure handwork. However, there are some enterprises, for example, Miss Pan Shichuns company, that have introduced electric machines already. Analysis on sales and marketing Basically, the customers of Leishan Miao Embroidery can be divided into 2 groups. Group one is made up of local women of Miao or other minority ethnics, whose favorite products are Miao style clothes, headdress, and other daily wearing, what is applicable to their rural life. Their tastes are influenced by the Han peoples culture, which makes them prefer pop patterns like red blossoms and green leaves, dragon and phoenix, etc. The other separate group is tourists, whose favorite products are small-sized daily
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use articles for their urban life, for example, cell phone pouch, and small-sized ornaments like embroidery cushions. And its interesting that those foreigners appreciate the works featured with typical Miao culture elements, like the stories of Butterfly Mama or Jiang Yang creating human. In sum, the small-sized articles take the biggest share in the embroidery consuming structure. A researcher named Zhang Jianchun counted the whole day sales record of embroidery products in Xijiang village on November 12, 2004. And he found that, small pouches priced from 10 to 50 yuan, and small panels priced from 100 to 300 yuan are the best-selling categories, 350 and 100 pieces sold respectively. And the sale record of table cloth, priced from 100 to 150, and cloth screens, priced from 500 to 700, was obviously in the shade, only 70 and 20 pieces respectively. Meanwhile, according to Zhangs report, only 5 full-set Miao attires were sold out through the whole day. Compared with that of silver jewelry business, raw materials of embroidery accounts for a much smaller part (usually lower than 20%) of total cost, which results in more flexibility for pricing and less stability of gross profit. Its worth noting that there is another part of story in the Miao embroidery business: local people collect old Miao attires, some of which were handed down since hundreds years ago, from their countryman fellows, and resell the attires to tourists or foreign collectors with much higher price. Meanwhile, newly made Miao attires are poorly demanded in the market. Major distribution channel of Leishan Miao embroidery is the stores located in local tourism zones like Xijiang Qianhu Miao village. A few of progressive occasionally receive relatively big orders from wholesalers or big corporations, even local government. For instance, recently Yang Ani and her Ani Embroidery received a 300-piece order from a Nanjing wholesaler. MSE Case As a graduate of vocational high school, Yang Ani founded the Leishan Ani Embroidery Co., Ltd in 2006, when she was 30. She learned embroidery skills from her mother since childhood, and received further training at Foshan of Guangdong Province in 2004. In her company there are 7 full-time employees,
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herself included. Meanwhile the number of part-time workers is bigger than 20. Main distribution channel for Miss Yang is a rented store at Xijiang village. Turnover of Ani Embroidery in 2008 amounted to 150,000 yuan. Its product line includes: small panels, attire, scarf (brocade), tie and big-sized decorative panel. Yang expressed very strong will to learn more skills, especially those of marketing and design, and to expand her business.

Yang Anis store at Xijiang village

2.1.4 Lusheng Culture background Lusheng is a very popular wind instrument of the minority ethic groups living in southwestern China, especially Miao, Dong and Yi nationalities. It plays a very important role within the traditional entertainments performance happening on festivals, wedding ceremony, inauguration ceremony, etc. There is old saying that Miao people never leave Lusheng. The Lusheng production is concentrated in Paika, a small village 3 kilometers away from the Leishan country town. Paika is proud of her history of making Lusheng for longer than 4 centuries. In Miao language, the name of the village is pronounced as beya kha, while beya means slope, kha means Lusheng.
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Actually, Paika is such a village that standing on a slope and being well-known for making Lusheng.

Mo Ynaxue is playing a professional-class Lusheng

Scale and Trend Among the total 80 households of Paika, 15 are making and selling Lusheng. In 2008 the total sales volume was around 10,000, according to local press, and the turnover amounted to 300,000 yuan. But its hard to find concrete evidence proving an upward or downward trend of production scale during recent years. Production technology and organization Lusheng production units in Paika village are all family workshops, and it seems the family units are becoming smaller and smaller. For example, Mr. Mo Yanxue, the National Successor of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Lusheng making, and his two brothers families is independent from each other. Even in Mo Yanxues family, he, his wife and their daughter together is a separate unit, while his two sons each independently run a business. Lusheng making is a process of pure handwork in Paika, and all tools are self-made. The most important material, white bamboo, usually is purchased from the door-to-door vendors from Guangxi. And another key part, leaf spring, was
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made from the brass of abandoned gongs. Total cost of raw materials only represents less than ten percent of retailing price. 21-year-old Mo Ming, the younger son of Mo Yanxue, is a junior student of the Art School of Guizhou University, majored in Lusheng performance. Now he becomes the most important talent of innovation and R&D for Lusheng making in Paika village. He has not only successfully expanded Lushengs tone limit by upgrading the traditional 6-pipe-Lusheng to professional 26-pipe-Lusheng, but also managed to improve the outlooks of Lusheng by, for example, adding stainless steel loops surrounding the tone pipes and resonance pipes, what let them look more delicate.

Tools for making Lusheng

Analysis on Sales and Marketing In terms of the nature of targeted customer group and their consuming purpose, the Lusheng market can be segmented into 3 types as follow: Type A: small-sized 6-pipe-Lusheng. The tone pipe and the bottom cylinder of this type of products are both shorter than 40 centimeters, which means its convenient to carry. And their prices range from 15 to 20 yuan, which means its attractive for impulse shopping. So the targeted customer group of Type A products mainly is tourists, although they might be passed through wholesaler or other distributors before they finally arrived at their consumers hand. Mo Yanxue and his brother,
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the Secretary of CCCP Branch of Paika, claimed that the small-sized 6-pipe Lusheng is definitely their best-selling category. Generally speaking, one craftsman one day can make 5 Lushengs of Type A, and earn a net income of about 60 yuan.

A 6-pipe-Lusheng for tourism market

Type B: 6-pipe-Lusheng for unprofessional performance. Most products of this type are sold to local minority ethnic groups with a price around 50 yuan, and used in the performances during traditional festivals and important ceremonies. Usually the purchasers pay a visit to the craftsmans house for booking an order. Type C: Big-sized Professional Lusheng, The selling price may amount to 2,000 yuan or even higher. Major buyers are professional orchestra, including the Ethic Culture Palace of Guizhou Province and a Hong Kong orchestra. And the typical purchasing behavior is setting a customized order. During recent years, big official or civil entertainment organizations became an important profit source and driving force for the development of Lusheng business. In 1997, the year when the Long Dong Bao Airport of Guiyang came into service, craftsmen of Paika village received the historically largest order: 7,000 sets. To accomplish this assignment in time, all labors of the village were motivated to join the production activities. And Mr. Mo Yanxue acted as a general coach, teaching his
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countrymen the Lusheng making skills. In this June, he received an order of 300 6-pipe-Lushengs from Luzhou, a Sichuan city. And then in August, he received a high-end order of making 33 Lusheng and Mangguan (another type of wind instruments) with various specifications. A serious imbalance is found among the 15 Lusheng makers. Master Mo Yanxue and his family members are always too busy to fulfill their orders, especially when approaching year end or some significant festivals. Meanwhile, some other family workshops rarely win orders. None of Paika Lusheng makers registered a brand name. However, the village and Master Mo posses virtual branding power. 58-year-old Mo have quite a lot social experiences like participating in big ceremony activities or being interviewed by media reporters. And like the silver jewelry craftsman Gu Yong Chong, Mr. Mo also participated the activities of exhibiting China ethnic handicrafts in the China Story Xiangyun Huts, within the period of 2008 Olympic Games. Through the most powerful search engine, Google.com, 112 pages mentioned his name could be found. Now Mr. Mo has begun to put a stamp with the content of his personal information, especially the item National Successor of Intangible Cultural Heritage, on the bodies of his Lusheng. 2.2 Congjiang County, Guizhou Province 2.2.1 Overview Congjiang lies in south-eastern Qian Dongnan Autonomous Prefecture of Guizhou Province, adjacent to Liuzhou in Guangxi Province. With a land area of 3,244 square kilometers and a population of 312,610, the county has 7 towns and 14 villages, where 299,200 are arming population. The ethnic minorities of Miao, Dong, Zhuang, Yao, and Shui account for 94% in the total population. Congjiang is one of the counties on the most-poverty relief list in China.
County Economic Profile and Industrial Statistics of Congjiang Living Conditions Per Capita Annual Income (yuan Telephone per 100 households

2425

46

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Mobile per 100 persons Internet users proportion in total population Rate of internet access Rate of villages accessible by road Largest industry in the county Pillar Industry Gross output of the industry in 2008 (million yuan) Name Gross outputmillion yuan Category 1 Employed population Recent trends Name Particular Handicraft Businesses Category 2 Employed population Recent trend Companies Number Average turnover million yuan Handcraft guild Industrial Policies ? Gross outputmillion yuan

50

3.34%

4.67%

81.84%

Agriculture

539.47

None

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Among the four involved counties in the baseline survey, Congjiang has the weakest foundation in handcraft industry. This conclusion meets to the judgment given by the government sectors like tourist office, bureau of ethnic & religious affairs, and economic and trade office. Congjiang has hardly any professional manufacturing capability or commercial practice in their handcraft industry. The diagnosis also tallies with the facts collected from Congjiang, and two Dong villages, Zhanli and Yintan. It almost becomes an impossible mission to find a handcraft shop or stall in the market. Handcrafts are not rare for the residents in these villages, and they even are already daily used ornaments for them, however, their costumes and tools are still going in a self-sufficiency way, let alone the commercialization. Artisans in Li Ping and other places who are asked to make the metal jewelries are the exception. As a matter of fact, Congjiang put its priority to the large-scale farming like Jiang ponkan and breeding like Jiang Xiang pig. Dong musical and Yao medicated bath are also highlights in their tourism planning. 2.2.2 Liang (Bright) Clothes of Dong Cultural Background Su Ling, a researcher from Beijing Institute of Clothing Technology concluded in her essay Liang Cloth of Dong that the cloth material has a close link with the surroundings and the ordinary and working life in Dongs long farming history. Dong minority lives in the mountainous area in Southwest China with heavy humidity and torridity. The dyed indigo cloth is the best weapon to resist diseases and ulcers. It is also used for making Liang cloth, which has a strong resistance to optical rays and a fair fastness. More importantly, the indigo dye has antibacterial and antivirus function, meanwhile vaporizing the sweat.

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