The “Harbin Ingenious Women” Arts and Crafts Association was founded at Harbin Women’s Training School on the morning of Aug 2. More than 130 representatives of handicraft dealers and craftswomen attended the founding ceremony.

The Harbin women’s federation has taken the lead in establishing the “Harbin Ingenious Women” Arts and Crafts Association since 2012. It has recruited 160 craftswomen from all social sectors, covering handicraft skills ranging from snow embroidery (embroidery that imitates ice and snow scenery), fish skin painting, wheat straw painting, wood carving, calabash painting, fabric collage, matryoshka doll, paper-cutting and pyrography. The participants are managers of related enterprises, heads of factories, principals of workshops, individual operators, and arts and crafts lovers. They are not only outstanding representatives of Harbin folk arts, but leaders who have created jobs for many local women.

During the preparation of the association, nine craftswomen bringing nearly 100 works joined the 2012 Hongbo International Fashion Week. The displays won acclaim from experts, visitors and consumers and saw a good return. In this year’s research and survey led by the All-China Women’s Federation, Ma Wenxia’s wheat straw painting, Sun Ming’s fish skin painting and Wang Wei’s snow embroidery were highly praised. The Harbin women’s federation selected Zhou Yongqin’s wooden works to take part in the 2013 Shenzhen International Cultural Industries Fair. It is the first time that handicrafts from women in Harbin will enter the cultural industries fair. It marks a good beginning for their works to be internationalized.

The establishment of the “Harbin Ingenious Women” Arts and Crafts Association provides a platform for cooperation and exchange of women’s handicrafts in tourism, entrepreneurship and urban development. It will help bring expert advice to female handicraft creative design and will play an important role in promoting the development of the Harbin handicraft industry, creating jobs for women and carrying on Chinese traditional handicrafts.