英语新闻写作练习

Jilin Women Beating Poverty with Straw-woven Products

Abstract: Women’s federations in northeast China’s Jilin Province help local rural women develop straw weaving industries to boost their income. Now the straw-woven products not only sell well in China but are exported to foreign countries and regions. Women’s federations in northeast China’s Jilin Province help local rural women develop straw weaving industries to boost their income. Now the straw-woven shoes, handbags and other handicrafts not only sell well in China’s markets but also enjoy high popularity in foreign countries, which lifts a great number of rural women out of poverty.

Setting an Example

Liu Xiulan, a rural woman living in a remote village of Yushu City in northeast China’s Jilin Province, was attracted by a TV advertisement about straw-weaving training in 2008, and registered for the training classes the following day.

Liu came back her hometown after she finished the training. She was so thrilled that the first batch of her straw-woven shoes and handbags were quickly snapped up by city customers and earned more than 1000 yuan (US$164).

Yushu has over 240,000 hectares of corn plantation and the abundant resource and low cost of straw weaving inspired her to develop straw weaving into a new income-generating opportunity for villagers.

With the help of local women’s federation and government departments, Li and Nongguang School jointly started straw-weaving classes and have so far trained over 500 female villagers. Now nearly all female villagers in her hometown are engaged themselves to straw weaving.

Liu established a straw-weaving association and it currently has over 500 members from surrounding villages and towns. The association not only gives instructions on the technics and design of straw-women products but has already set up some marketing channels covering many big cities like Beijing, Tianjin, Haerbin, Changchun and even some foreign countries. Straw-woven products have been a new economic growth point and generate over 8 million yuan (US$1.312 million) every year.

Li’s straw-woven works were collected by China agriculture museum in 2010.

Industrialized Operation

Li set a good example for others to shake off poverty and women’s federation in Jilin organized women to vigorously promote straw-weaving industry to boost income.

Wome n’s federations in Jilin organize local women’s handicrafts association and Jilin Women’s Federation registered a unified trademark for these associations-‘Jilin Qiaojie’.

All these handicrafts associations adopted unified brand, symbol and assessment system, which laid a solid foundation for the market-oriented management and industrialized operation for straw-woven products.

Due to the low benefits caused by decentralized operation, the handicrafts associations cooperated with local big enterprises to set up ‘Jilin Qiaojie’ handicrafts bases, which formed integrated marketing mode including unified training, processing, recycling and selling.

Jilin Women’s Federation took advantage of these bases to conducted different training courses for different learner, including beginners courses, advanced courses and design courses. Up to now, more than 67,000 rural women received straw-weaving training and made straw-woven products at their homes. Government Guidance