In Longshan County of Xiangxi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture in Hunan Province, more than 1,500 women staying in the countryside are taking care of their leisure time outside of the young and old. They knit all kinds of woolen fabrics with needles and threads in their hands. They are called "weaver girls" by the locals.
These woolen fabrics include car decorations, handbags, clothes scarves, etc. The products are exported to Southeast Asia and Europe.
Despite the impact of the epidemic in 2020, this handwork has produced more than 55 million in turnover.
The leader is Tan Yanlin, 36 years old this year.
She said that although one stitch and one thread is hard, it can also lead the villagers to use their hands to weave a better life with labor.
As the New Year's Eve is approaching, the market in Zhaoshi Town, Longshan County is extremely lively.
When the fellow villagers go to the market, they will drop by Tan Yanlin's poverty alleviation workshop to deliver goods and collect their wages.
Tan Yanlin was also busy receiving the last batch of goods before the New Year holidays and sending the wool as soon as possible.
In Longshan, Tan Yanlin opened a total of 26 poverty alleviation workshops, spurring more than 1,500 weaver girls to work flexibly.
The older ones are in their 70s and the younger ones are in their early 20s. Almost all of them stay at home with at least one child.
Li Yuping, a villager in Zhaoshi Township, Longshan County, Xiangxi Prefecture: We are going to take our children, and after we go back, we will do it as soon as we have time at night, anyway.
Put the child to fall asleep, and then do this again, (do it) after 12 o'clock, and 1 o'clock.
Get up at 6 o'clock in the morning and start again.
"Weaver Girls" were trapped in their homes due to the epidemic, Tan Yanlin delivered the woolen yarn to every household, and then guided everyone through the "cloud" to make orders.
The finished fabrics are still paid per piece as usual to prevent the folks who have finally gotten out of poverty from returning to poverty.
However, what the fellow villagers didn't know was that Tan Yanlin carried the pressure that they couldn't feel.
The greater impact of the epidemic was the cancellation of several million foreign trade orders in the first quarter.
Tan Yanlin: Those few days were like ants on a hot pot. Even though it was during the Chinese New Year, I didn’t have the mind to eat or what to do. I thought I would not cancel tomorrow. I bought all the original materials and prepared to do it. On the phone, he said sister, sorry, our customer cancelled the order because it was affected by the epidemic.
Then this call is not over yet, the next call comes again.
Tan Yanlin, who was in desperate situation, calmed down, researched and ran around, seized the path of global tourism, and opened 5 stores in scenic spots such as Jinan and Fenghuang; on the other hand, she was also constantly learning to develop new products and was busy from the beginning. To the end of the year.
Tan Yanlin: Then here is our Maverick, which is the Ox series of the Year of the Ox.
This is a pair of Mavericks' car ornaments.
This is one of our mask caps and a mask on top.
Reporter: Why do you allow your products to be updated so quickly and so many ideas?
Tan Yanlin: There are more than 1,000 sisters behind me, and they need this job.
I have to make consumers like my things, and I have to make consumers willing to pay for our things.
In this way, our more than 1,000 sisters can do something steadily for a long time.
Starting a business is not easy, the sun is always after the storm
In design, production, and sales, Tan Yanlin carried both ends by herself. Last year, she had a lot of white hair.
She has never had insomnia in the past, but there have been countless sleepless nights this year.
Tan Yanlin has a "notebook in the middle of the night". She writes and draws in the notebook late at night when she can't sleep. This is how some new designs sparks are born. At most, she can produce 20 or 30 new fabrics a month by herself. Model.
In this way, Tan Yanlin staggered and brought more than 1,000 sisters behind him out of the epidemic, and even set a turnover of more than 55 million in 2020.
Her courage and perseverance did not come to the fore in this year. In fact, 10 years ago, when she quit her high-paying job in Guangdong and returned to her hometown to start a business, she already had such courage.
Many things are like this, and there is certainly no lack of chance. Xiao Tan's decision to return to his hometown was also an accident that happened to her family.
Tan Yanlin's number one employee is his aunt Tan Jingui.
In 2000, my aunt took 15-year-old Tan Yanlin to work in Guangdong and spent many years loving her mother and daughter.
In 2009, my aunt accidentally fell from a height, paralyzed from a height, and collapsed.
Tan Yanlin: I hope she can rekindle the hope of life.
I told her, I said I wanted a cross stitch.
Originally, my aunt would pick flowers from the Tujia family. She said that this is the same as the flower picks from the Tujia family. She came to do the flower picking and cross stitch, and helped me embroider a picture of the eight horses. In fact, I took this picture of the eight horses and gave it to me. My customer got it, I lied to her, I said I sold it for 800 yuan.
Tan Yanlin's aunt Tan Jingui: I am a person who can't move earn 800 yuan, and I am so happy.
Do something that feels like you are still useful.
Seeing the aunt who was getting better, she had just married and had children. After discussing with her husband, Tan Yanlin returned to her hometown with the 100,000 yuan saved by working.
In 2009, e-commerce was just emerging.
Tan Yanlin saw a purchase order for fabrics worth more than 90,000 yuan on the Internet.
I spent a few nights with my aunt, took samples and sent them to customers, and waited anxiously for a reply.
Tan Yanlin: The customer looks at the sample, which is exactly what she wants.
Then she came over and came to our side. At that time, I had no factory, no workshop, no internet, nothing, what should I do if I came.
I will definitely be yellow when I receive this client. It would be better if she does not come.
She wants to see the factory and see nothing, my family is in my mother's house, just a private house.
At that time, I found the leader of our township government. I told him if I could borrow your venue to receive customers.
They also gave this guest a reassurance, saying that this child looked like he grew up, and it was very real and could endure hardships, so you can give her the order without worry.
With the help of the government, the order was accepted.
But in a month, we need to weave tens of thousands of dolls, no one has no space, how to start?
Tan Yanlin: My father wrote "Job Fair" with a brush and red paper.
Then hung it between this tree and that tree in the village, using a very thin thread to hang there, and then using the big horn in the village to call "Now we are recruiting hand weavers, please come to my house", and how to recruit workers What? More than 50 rural women came here at once.
Tan Yanlin's mother Yang Guixiang: As long as they are willing to come to our house, I will provide them with a meal to keep them.
No matter how big or small, I give them noodles and eat them at our house. I said it doesn’t matter, you don’t go back.
As long as they don't go back, we will stick to it.
In front of the house, in the house, the production of the first order was finally trembling on the road.
Unexpectedly, everyone's eager fighting spirit drove Tan Yanlin's newly budding hopes to pieces.
Tan Yanlin: These are the first batch of goods.
Like this style, it is actually a style customized by the customer. This is their innovation. The style has not changed. She has increased you.
I can understand it as it gets bigger, and there are still some things you can't imagine.
She changed you to this style. She thinks the ball should be made in red, so she can make the red one for you.
You can't understand this even more. What people want is this model. She said that someone hangs the ball in front of him, and it is inconvenient to do things.
The fellow villagers don't know what standardization is, nor have they worked on the assembly line. They all think they are "super-level". The fabrics come out in all kinds of weirdness, and they can't meet the customer's standards. The delivery time is getting closer, and Tan Yanlin is once again suffering.
Tan Yanlin: If I accept it, I will definitely lose money. If I don't accept it, I feel sorry for these people because they all do it one by one.
Several of them didn't sleep all night, just thinking about what to do and how to solve this problem.
Later, we thought we still accepted it, because it couldn't hurt their confidence.
Once they don't accept it, they will not only be desperate and lose confidence in manual work forever, but they will also lose confidence in me and feel that what I have done is a lie.
Almost all of my savings from working alone are posted here, so this is not called the first pot of gold, it is the first pot of gold spilled.
Since then, Tan Yanlin has broken down each product into multiple processes as much as possible, and taught her master to lead his students to let everyone do only one process, which not only improves efficiency and makes more money, but also ensures that standardized products can be sold. go with.
With his experience in foreign trade while working, Tan Yanlin's fabrics are gradually being sold overseas.
In 2020, the average annual income of each Zhinv will increase by 5,000 yuan.
The common hope keeps children from staying behind
Tan Yanlin, who didn't earn her first pot of gold and even dropped a pot of gold, didn't stop. Why?
Longshan County is a large labor exporting county in Hunan Province. Among the 600,000 population, 170,000 go out to work every year, accounting for more than half of the labor force.
Many of them are husband and wife going out together, and the children of these migrant workers have to be kept in Longshan.
It was her aunt who brought Tan Yanlin back to her hometown, but what allowed her to take root was the fact that countless children were forced to be separated from their parents and could only stay behind.
Tan Yanlin herself was a left-behind child herself. She said that her biggest wish now is to let the child no longer stay behind.
In 1997, when his parents went out to work, Tan Yanlin, who was over 11 years old, stayed at home with his younger siblings.
Tan Yanlin: My brother hasn’t read yet. I will take one day to study, and my sister will take one day to study.
What we read, what did the younger brother read, the younger brother did not read (book), (but) all of our texts can be remembered.
The most difficult thing in staying behind is missing.
At that meeting in 1997, it took three days and two nights for the parents to return home. There was no internet or telephone, so they could only contact them by letter.
Tan Yanlin: This photo is because my parents are working outside. I haven't seen us for a long time. I missed us. I took my brother and sister from home to the county town to take such a picture on the weekend. I was wearing a pair of leather shoes. When there was mud, I washed it a dozen or so times on the road, and then washed it with a little water, but the leather shoes were glued there. Really, this is a fact.
At that time, I just wanted to take this photo, so that Mom and Dad could see us clean, so our three sisters all changed into clean clothes and went to take pictures.
After the photo was taken, Tan Yanlin wrote a letter and sent it to her parents in Guangdong.
Tan Yanlin’s mother Yang Guixiang: She’s doing housework in the house, she doesn’t let her younger brothers and sisters go to the street, and tells us to do it outside with peace of mind. It was sent in 1997, and it’s coming to 1998. She said she had enough money. Mom and Dad are back.
It was heartache and crying.
The three children are very pitiful. I told her father that I would not go out to work anymore, and I would not go looking for gold outside. I would take care of the children at home.
As a result, during the Spring Festival of 1998, the parents who were not planning to go home for the New Year really returned home early one morning.
Tan Yanlin: It's very cold in winter. My mother called me by my name, Yanlin, Yanlin in the middle of the night.
I heard it, I thought it was an illusion.
After a while, my sister said that it seemed like her mother was at home, and I said don't make a noise. I thought that my sister might also be an illusion, so I said don't make a noise and woke up my brother later.
I knocked on the door in a while. At that time, my parents opened the door and came in. We all thought it was a dream.
That kind of happiness is really unspeakable happiness.
So I am worried that my children will be like us again, so I will not go out to work after I get married. I don't want my children to be left-behind children.
Tan Yanlin: I hope I can make money at the door of my house, and I hope my family can be reunited and have peace and beauty.
I hope that there will be no more left-behind children. I think this is our common hope.
Stay and weave a beautiful childhood for your children
No parents are willing to let their children become left-behind children, and they are more helpless in the face of life.
To reduce the number of left-behind children, either let the children follow their parents into the city, or let their parents work at home.
There are two roads, one requires the city to leave hope and space for migrant workers, and the other requires a way to create employment at home.
Tan Yanlin posted money for training, getting orders, learning creativity, managing logistics, opening an online shop... With her own efforts, she brought more than 1,000 sisters to earn money at home, and helped these more than 1,000 sisters follow the path behind.
And every sister is a family.
It was Tan Yanlin's wish when she was a child to keep her parents by her side. When she grew up, with her own efforts, she fulfilled her promise of not letting her children be left-behind children, and made children from more than 1,000 families no longer left-behind children.
And these more than 1,000 pairs of hard-working hands are weaving handicrafts, family happiness, and weaving beautiful childhoods one after another.