The science of saving tradition

Tang Feiyang grew up watching his grandmother and mother embroider.

Every afternoon in Taijiang county, deep in the mountains of southwestern Guizhou province, the women in his family would sit where the sunlight fell best, drawing threads through soapberries to stiffen them before stitching intricate patterns onto cloth.

"We didn't pay much attention to it," Tang recalls.

"It was just something they did — like cooking or washing clothes."

As a child, he never thought of embroidery as art, heritage or business. During festivals, when women appeared in elaborate silver headdresses and densely embroidered garments, he and the other children were more interested in snacks and fireworks than needlework.

After graduating in 2012 with a degree in biochemistry, Tang worked briefly in a lab in Shenzhen in South China's Guangdong province, before moving into sales. A year later, he returned to Guizhou and opened an art gallery.

He noticed that decorative paintings that sold cheaply in Shenzhen could find a ready market in his home province. Soon, he expanded into Taijiang's old county center, where small workshops producing embroidery and silver ornaments lined the streets.

Something he had once overlooked suddenly looked different.

"After traveling to other cities, I suddenly realized that our local people still make and wear clothing like this, keeping such elaborate traditions in daily life," he says.

The feeling deepened during the annual Sisters' Meal Festival, one of the Miao ethnic group's biggest celebrations. Every spring, tourists carrying cameras poured into Taijiang to photograph the embroidered costumes and silver ornaments.

Watching the crowds, Tang began to sense the market potential behind the tradition.

"I've always been sensitive to business opportunities. I thought maybe this could become something larger," he says.

In 2015, Tang founded a company focused on Miao embroidery and plant-dyeing techniques. But he was never interested in simply reproducing traditional crafts for souvenir markets. He wanted to redesign the system behind them.