MKsport Southwest China's Guizhou Province, in August 2024. Photo: Courtesy of Yang Chunlin" src="https://www.globaltimes.cn/Portals/0/attachment/2025/2025-03-27/21994bda-5f57-4a0e-96a4-5333d3a2b5d3.jpeg" />

A child model walks on the stage in Kaili city, Southwest China's Guizhou Province, in August 2024. Photo: Courtesy of Yang Chunlin

Dressed in elaborate ethnic attire adorned with local silver accessories, 45 children from Southwest China's Guizhou Province took the stage at China Fashion Week, showcasing the rich artistry of Miao embroidery and batik.

Unlike professional models, these young participants embodied the spirit of the "Village Fashion Show," a grassroots initiative from Guizhou designed to celebrate the rich local cultural heritage.

The decision to feature children instead of seasoned runway models was intentional. 

"The future of ethnic heritage lies in the eyes of children," designer Yang Chunlin, the creative force behind this fashion show and the founder of the "Village Fashion Show," told the Global Times. 

"Their innocence and authenticity allow them to better express the raw beauty of traditional attire, while also symbolizing the new generation carrying forward our cultural legacy," he said. 

According to Yang, the pieces displayed on the runway integrate age-old embroidery techniques with modern design elements, such as contemporary silhouettes and trending color palettes. 

This fusion of tradition and modernity breathing new life into ethnic fashion and intangible cultural heritage, is also one of his core design principles. 

Grassroots fashion initiative

The "Village Fashion Show" was founded by Yang in July 2024 as a public-benefit project. 

Every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday evening, an ethnic folk park in Kaili city, Guizhou Province, transforms into a vibrant runway. 

From infants cradled in their parents' arms to elders in their 90s, hundreds of locals take to the stage under the glow of neon lights, with some even carrying farming tools or other unconventional props.

Since its debut in mid-2024, the local fashion show has been held more than 430 times, showcasing traditional clothing from over 40 ethnic groups, featuring over 30,000 participants in total, and amassing nearly 100 million online views, according to Yang. 

"The village fashion show was born from a simple yet ambitious idea - to bring the intangible cultural heritage of our mountainous villages to the world," said Yang, who grew up in Jiangkou village, Kaili, where fabric dyeing and embroidery were parts of daily life. 

Since childhood, he watched his grandmother sell embroidery at a local market to supplement the family income. The clothes he wore were always adorned with patterns embroidered by his mother and grandmother. 

Yang has witnessed firsthand the exquisite craftsmanship of Miao embroidery and batik, yet these traditions struggle to survive due to a lack of exposure and generational disconnect. 

Meanwhile, many women in the village possess extraordinary skills but lack a platform to showcase their artistry. 

Determined to change that, Yang launched the initiative to merge traditional craftsmanship with contemporary fashion. 

His goal was to create a sustainable path for ethnic craftsmanship, giving rural artisans a new stage - China Fashion Week. For Yang, the "Village Fashion Show" serves as a model for "revitalizing intangible cultural heritage while promoting rural development."

Cheng Hao works on new patterns of batik fabrics in Danzhai county, Guizhou Province. Photo: VCG

Tradition meets innovation

To keep intangible cultural heritage like Miao embroidery shining today, striking the right balance between tradition and modernity is crucial, he said. 

"We must respect the cultural depth and historical significance behind each craft. The patterns, color combinations, and techniques used in Miao embroidery and batik are cultural treasures that cannot be arbitrarily altered."

At the same time, innovation is necessary for cultural heritage to remain relevant. "By integrating contemporary aesthetics and modern applications, we can ensure that traditional craftsmanship continues to thrive," he said. 

For example, incorporating Miao embroidery and batik elements into trendy apparel can make them more appealing to younger consumers. Expanding the application of these techniques beyond clothing - to home decor, accessories, and lifestyle products - can also help bring heritage crafts into everyday life.

To bring Miao embroidery and other traditional cultural elements to a wider, global audience, "innovation in design is key." Yang noted "integrating international fashion trends can make these crafts more appealing to modern tastes. Strengthening international collaborations through fashion weeks and cultural exhibitions will further enhance their global recognition and influence."

"Ethnic embroidery provides an ideal medium for introducing Chinese culture internationally, especially because of an increasing momentum for traditional Chinese intangible cultural heritage on global fashion platforms," Niu Hongjuan, an expert of Chinese fashion history, told the Global Times. 

Yang is not alone in his pursuit. Other designers, like Cheng Hao, an inheritor of batik technique, also showcased his creative designs. Cheng also participated in this year's China Fashion Week.

Inspired by the theme Nie Pan, also known as "Nirvana," his works artfully combine the Miao ethnic group's bird totems with contemporary garment sculpting methods. Such designs blend Asian cross-cutting techniques with Western three-dimensional tailoring to create a distinctly modern East-meets-West aesthetic.

While drawing on Western fashion design methods, Cheng's creations remain firmly rooted in the elegance of traditional Miao embroidery. Dominated by indigo and white hues, his collections reflect the Miao people's ancestral reverence for natural landscapes and cultural traditions.

Interestingly, the Chinese designer's creativity also reveals Chinese designers' dedication to sustainable fashion - a trend widely promoted in international fashion. 

For his pieces, Cheng uses natural indigo dye to reduce chemical pollution, developing biodegradable wool-blend fabrics, and adopting a "multi-dip dyeing" technique to minimize water consumption. 

"Such green design methods are rooted in generations of Miao craftsmanship," Niu told the Global Times, emphasizing this reflects the Chinese wisdom in addressing challenges within the fashion industry. "Clothing should serve as mobile embers of civilization, rekindling millennia-old intangible [cultural] heritage within urban contexts," Cheng remarked.