Scot Fang interviews the founder of MinYiYuan, a company that is bringing prosperity to a rural region of China by connecting local handicraft traditions with a broader market for folk arts.

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China’s emergence as an economic powerhouse is not exactly news, but millions of Chinese in the countryside still face the challenge of rural poverty. Much of China’s rural population is migrating to the cities in order to earn better income as low-skilled laborers, but many (especially women and children) are often left behind in the countryside with little means to earn sustainable income. Against this backdrop, Cai Tingfen saw an opportunity for sustainable growth and poverty alleviation in the handicraft skills of the minority-ethnic population of Liupanshui City (Guizhou Province). In December of 2005, Cai founded Minyiyuan Ltd as a handicraft enterprise that would integrate minority communities in low-income regions into the economy while preserving their folk culture.

Minyiyuan’s de-centralized “company + base + peasant households” production strategy sets them apart from other handicraft companies. First, the company purchases raw and supplementary materials from nearby villages as per product design requirements established by the base. Next, local laborers conduct non-workshop production from their own homes by manually crafting their art in the traditional folk way. Finally, the finished goods are purchased back from these producers by the company. This environmentally-friendly strategy induces locals to generate raw materials by planting economic crops for handicraft-making such as cotton, hemp, and Chinese herbs, discouraging forms of income that involve excessive deforestation. In addition, non-workshop production does not rely heavily on energy sources such as water or electricity, and creates goods that integrate traditional folk techniques with market-driven production models.

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