Miao ethnic craftsman Wan Yuan makes batik at an intangible heritage market in the city of Kaili in Qiandongnan Miao and Dong Autonomous Prefecture in southwest China's Guizhou Province, Jan. 9, 2025. (Xinhua/Wu Si)

GUIYANG, Feb. 8 (Xinhua) -- Wan Yuan, 45, dips a knife into melted wax and makes a few strokes with it, resulting in a vivid butterfly pattern appearing on a piece of cloth.

This Miao ethnic craftsman from Qiaohai Village, Qiandongnan Miao and Dong Autonomous Prefecture in southwest China's Guizhou Province, watched his mother make batik when he was a child. Wan practiced and gradually mastered this craft.

Via his skilled hands, an ordinary piece of cloth is transformed into a unique blue-and-white batik work, following multiple processes including wax painting, dyeing, dewaxing, washing and drying.

Wan used to earn a living by working on construction sites and in factories far away from home. However, thanks to his strong interest and excellent skills, he was later able to focus on the batik industry and has now been involved in this field for more than 20 years.

In a stall measuring over 10 square meters at the intangible heritage market in the city of Kaili in Qiandongnan, his batik works are turned into products like clothes, bags and tea mats -- which are welcomed by customers. In 2024, his creations generated sales worth 150,000 yuan (about 20,923 U.S. dollars).

The market in Kaili opened to the public in September 2023, featuring hundreds of stalls run by local craftspeople. Items on sale there cover nearly 10 categories, involving more than 6,000 kinds of handicrafts such as embroidery, batik and silver ornaments.

During the recent Spring Festival holiday, which ran from Jan. 28 to Feb. 4, many craftspeople at the market welcomed an increased number of customers. According to Meituan Travel, a major online platform focused on tourism consumption in China, the search volume of "Spring Festival travel" has since January surged by 328 percent year on year, while that of "intangible cultural heritage" has increased by 174 percent compared with the same period in 2024.

The Spring Festival itself, a social practice of the Chinese people in celebration of the traditional new year, was added to its intangible cultural heritage list by UNESCO in December last year.

Pan Yuzhen, a 79-year-old embroiderer from Taijiang County, also part of Qiandongnan, opened her stall on the first day of the Chinese New Year. The highest daily sales value achieved by her stall during the holiday was 1,600 yuan.

Pan started learning embroidery from her mother at the age of five and has since been engaged in the industry. Thanks to her exquisite skills, Pan has been invited to five countries -- including France, Britain and the United States. She has on many occasions worn her own embroidery costumes for catwalk shows on international stages, while her works have graced the stages of major global fashion weeks.

At her stall, Pan always patiently introduces the cultural implications of her chosen patterns. She hopes that what tourists take away is not only commodities, but also insights into such profound ethnic culture.

"The recognition and love of our handicrafts by domestic and foreign tourists has brought me great confidence," said Pan.

For both craftspeople and tourists, this market is not merely a space for commodity trading. Instead, it serves as a stage for cultural exchanges -- thereby allowing traditional crafts to be inherited and ethnic culture to shine brightly.

A 36-year-old fashion designer from the bustling southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, surnamed Fu, learned about this market online and without any hesitation decided to visit Kaili. She ended up strolling around the market for two days before the eve of the Spring Festival.

Fu shuttled among the stalls and bought handicrafts such as skirts and trousers featuring batik. "Here I can relax myself and learn traditional crafts, while I have gained a lot of design inspiration. It's really a worthwhile trip," she said.

A visitor selects artworks at an intangible heritage market in the city of Kaili in Qiandongnan Miao and Dong Autonomous Prefecture in southwest China's Guizhou Province, Jan. 9, 2025. (Xinhua/Wu Si)