Traditional Tibetan carpets improve villagers’ lives in NW China’s Qinghai

Photo shows that Yang Yongliang is working on a piece of Tibetan carpet in front of a wooden weaving machine. (Photo/Xinhua)

Thanks to preferential policies from the government, Jiaya Tibetan carpet, a national intangible cultural heritage item, has helped bring wealth to local people in Jiaya village, Huangzhong district of Xining city in northwest China’s Qinghai Province.

In 2013, a Jiaya Tibetan carpet weaving workshop was established in the village, where many residents had previously made a living in handicrafts but quit due to the introduction of weaving machines.

Yang Yongliang is an inheritor of Jiaya Tibetan carpet weaving skills in the workshop, and has been in the trade for over four decades. His carpets have been displayed at museums, scenic spots and hotels, attracting many tourists to place orders with the workshop. As orders pour in, Yang distributes some to other villagers or hires local people to produce carpets.

Villager Yang Qihua earns 130 yuan each day in the workshop. “The flexible work schedule allows me to take care of my children while making money,” she said with satisfaction.

“More and more villagers have begun to weave carpets at their homes in the past two years,” Yang Yongliang said excitedly.

In addition to helping residents in Jiaya increase their incomes, relevant departments in Xining have launched training courses to cultivate more talents, promote the development of the Jiaya Tibetan carpet industry, a featured industry in Qinghai, through innovation, and boost rural vitalization in recent years.

This year, Huangzhong district held two training sessions to enable 35 farmers to weave Tibetan carpets on their own, according to Mao Yingxia, an official of the district.

Seizing the opportunities provided by these policies, Yang Yongliang has tried to combine traditional Jiaya Tibetan carpets with rich culture and modern design concepts, recruiting apprentices from companies that produce Tibetan carpets. After receiving training, they have now integrated traditional crafts and machine weaving techniques.

Thanks to their diversified weaving techniques, Yang’s Tibetan carpets can meet the customized demands of the market. Yang has established a professional design team to make innovations in the design of the carpets so as to make them more attractive to customers.

The revival of traditional Tibetan carpet weaving skills has encouraged more and more young people to join the trade, which will benefit more farmers and herders.