-Beauty Workshop- gives birth to the cause of beauty, Yiyang, Hunan supports disabled women’s dream of employment
On October 14, during her visit to the Yiyang disabled persons’ care service center in Hunan Province, we had the opportunity to speak with a remarkable individual named A-Xia (a pseudonym), who has transformed ordinary yarn into extraordinary creations. With her skilled hands, she adeptly crochets dolls, flowers, and decorative items, significantly increasing their value. In just two days, she can crochet a palm-sized bunny doll.
A-Xia, now 38, faces multiple challenges, including speech, hearing, and cognitive disabilities. Despite these hurdles, the quality of her crocheted dolls is outstanding, capturing vibrant details and expressions. Seven years ago, she began her journey at the “Beautiful Workshop,” a program at the care center, where she learned the art of crochet. Initially, her parents didn’t believe it was possible for their daughter, who had never attended school and couldn’t write, to master this craft.
To help A-Xia gain skills, the care center enlisted a sign language teacher, recognizing her comprehension difficulties, and the instructor patiently broke down every step, demonstrating crochet techniques until the processes became familiar. Through consistent practice, A-Xia has now mastered over ten types of crochet crafts. Her colleagues affectionately call her the “Bunny Queen” due to her exceptional ability to create these small bunnies.
“Her observational skills are remarkable; she can replicate any finished product she sees,” said Zhou Mei, an employment counselor at the care center. “Though the sizes may vary, that’s part of her unique gift.” A-Xia now enjoys a stable monthly income of around 2,000 yuan. Her father, Nie Renxiao, who is in his 80s, often reflects on how profound this change is: “Before she turned 30, A-Xia was always at home. I never imagined she could earn money. Now, she’s able to support us in our old age, something we could never have dreamed of!”
The program “Beautiful Workshop” aims to improve the situation of disabled women, who often face severe employment challenges compared to their male counterparts. Initiated in November 2022 by the Yiyang Disabled Persons’ Federation in collaboration with the municipal Women’s Federation, the project was designed to provide dignity and better circumstances for disabled women through job creation, skill training, and support for entrepreneurship.
Given that handcrafting requires minimal investment and offers flexible working conditions with quick returns, the “Beautiful Workshop” has focused on handicrafts. It blends techniques like crochet, Hunan embroidery, bamboo weaving, and wood carving with local cultural elements to develop a series of innovative cultural products, successfully launching the “Douliang Accessories” brand.
Further enhancing their effectiveness, the “Beautiful Workshop” has established stable partnerships with several local universities, including Changsha University of Science and Technology and Hunan University of Arts and Design, providing both online and offline training. To date, they have trained over 300 skilled disabled women, whose crochet and embroidery products have garnered awards at provincial competitions.
Since its inception, the Yiyang Beautiful Workshop has opened eight branch locations across various counties and has trained over 2,000 individuals for free, enabling more than 1,200 disabled women and those facing employment challenges to achieve flexible employment. Their products have gained international attention, being sold in countries like Canada and the USA, with many items enjoying popularity across China. Recently, Yiyang’s “Beautiful Workshop” received an offer to collaborate with a similar initiative in Beijing, which could lead to ongoing partnerships and more opportunities for these talented artisans.