Source: Yuncheng Urban and Rural Collective Industrial Association 
Updated: July 22, 2020  15:44
Ye Juying, female, representative inheritor of the intangible cultural heritage of Shanxi Province, is a master of arts and crafts in Yuncheng City. She currently is the chairman of Wenxi Straw Craft Association, the general manager of Wenxi Pengli Straw Professional Cooperative, and the director of the National Women's Hand Weaving Association.

YE Juying, who grew up in a small mountain village, was warm-hearted and easy-going. Under the influence of her grandfather, she learned and mastered the art of hand-knitting. According to the "Wenxi County Chronicles", in the early 1980s, her family, as the heirs of intangible cultural heritage, led to establish the first purely handmade Straw weaving factory, which was a shocking news back then. Unfortunately, the factory went bankrupt due to the acceleration of industrialization and the shrinking of the market. However, YE Juying did not give up. She persisted and developed the straw-woven variety from simple crafts such as backpacks and cushions to more than 200 varieties of 1000 patterns, such as paintings, figures, plaques, and insoles. Moreover, over 10,000 people in 153 villages, 68 towns, 39 cities and counties from 7 provinces received straw weaving training.

In 2015, the hand-knitting technique was rated as Yuncheng-level intangible cultural heritage project, and in 2017, it was rated as Shanxi provincial-level intangible cultural heritage project. In 2016, the fourth-generation heirs YE Juying, Ye Xiaoju, and the fifth-generation heir YE Xiandou were recruited by the National Women’s Federation as “Members of the National Women’s  Hand Knitting Association”. In 2018, the provincial inheritor YE Juying was appointed as a director of the National Women’s Federation Handicraft Knitting Association. In the same year, the products of the Pengli Straw Professional Cooperative in Wenxi County won the "Best Creative Award" and "Most Popular Tourist Handicraft Award" from Shanxi Women's Federation Sanjin Qiaojie. In 2016, she won the silver prize of Yuncheng Intangible Cultural Heritage Traditional Skills Exhibition. In 2017, she participated in the Shanxi Province "Sanjin Qiaojie" Skilled Hand Poverty Alleviation Special Training Program, and won the Silver Award of the "Sanjin Qiaojie" Handicraft Exhibition and Sales Activity. In 2018, she won the gold, silver and bronze prizes of the "Five Small Enterprises in Yuncheng City (Bright Stars) Industrial Expo". In 2019, the Pengli straw woven cooperative was rated as "Excellent Industrial and Artistic Enterprise" by the Yuncheng Urban Collective Industrial Association, and won the "Excellence Award" in the Hedong Qiaojie Handicraft Competition.

YE Juying’s story was reported by dozens of news media including People’s Daily, China Central Television, People’s Daily Online, China Net, Shanxi TV, Shanxi Daily, Shanxi Farmers News, Yellow River Morning News and other news media. Master YE Juying is leading sisters to weave the beautiful dream and future of life with full of enthusiasm and tenacity!