Golden threads in a new ancient town

When it's gold you're looking for, it's El Dorado you go to, and it seems that Wang Xiatong and others have found their little El Dorado in Central China.

That treasure comes in the form of accessories for traditional hanfu clothing that Wang, 24, makes in Xiuwu county, in the northwest of Henan province.

In fact the town itself seems to have realized it is sitting on a huge pot of gold, in the form of its environmental and cultural riches that it can show off to young tourists eager to get a break from big cities.

Wang opened her shop in November in the town of Yuntai in the county, in a building characteristic of historic architecture that have elements from the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties.

Her shop offers hanfu rental, makeup and photography services.

"I have always been into things from the past, like hanfu," says Wang, who studied fashion design in college.

Hanfu generally refers to clothing of the Han people before the Manchus reigned in the Qing Dynasty. The traditional costume often features a long flowing robe with long loose sleeves and a waist belt.

Wang has been in the Han costume making business in Zhejiang and Shaanxi provinces since she graduated in 2018.

She settled down in Xiuwu after she heard that the local government was developing an industry based on hanfu.

"It was close to my hometown Anyang (city)," Wang says, adding that the local government's incentives for businesses strengthened her resolve to move her hanfu undertakings to the town.

"For example, they don't charge for rental, instead taking a cut of the turnover. That can ease a bit of the pressure, especially from the start."

Wang livestreams the process of designing and making her hanfu wares on the short-video platform Douyin, and she has more than 30,000 followers.

She can sense the rise in public enthusiasm for hanfu, she says.

"I haven't seen many people wearing Han attire in the north of the country, except in places such as Hangzhou," she says.

But now many travelers, especially those between 20 and 30, are turning up in hanfu at the resort.

The number of hanfu fans is expected to reach 6.89 million this year, and market sales at least 10.16 billion yuan ($1.58 billion), the market consultancy iiMedia Research says.

A report from the business media outlet Yicai and Tmall said that in 2019 females born after 1995 accounted for 80 percent of those spending money on hanfu.

Forward (Qianzhan) Intelligence, a financial research services provider, says a little more than 60 percent of people buy hanfu for amusement or for travel, and the rest buy it for cultural events or portrait photos.

Popular television dramas and social media influencers have contributed to the hanfu craze.

Many scenic spots have caught up with the trend and offer related services to tourists, Xiuwu being one of them.

"Xiuwu is an underdeveloped county with a small population and relatively weak industry base, and the mountainous area takes up half of the place," says Guo Peng, the Party secretary of Xiuwu.

"So its biggest strength is its cultural and ecological resources."

Last year local authorities called for investment and recreated Yuntai as an ancient town, with the idea of promoting an "aesthetic economy".

It was then that the idea of using hanfu to promote the town was put forward.

The Hanfu Huazhao Festival staged in Yuntai Mountain, a drive of about 30 minutes from the new ancient town, has managed to draw visitors from around the country.

The scenic spot boasts splendid natural beauty, including rugged peaks, canyons and waterfalls. In spring it becomes an ocean of flowers, visitors being able to enjoy twittering birds and warm spring breezes from March.

"We tried small time to adjust our customer structure in March 2018," says Wu Peimeng, marketing director with the mountain getaway.

Young people accounted for less than 10 percent of all visitors before, but the festival managed to generate a buzz among them.

The scenic spot started to pour a big effort into looking at hanfu culture and scale up the festival by seeking the advice of professionals.

Hanfu parades and performances that were associated with the mountain's landscape scenery, history and legends were put in place at the March festival, and it attracted young travelers in droves.

Now visitors under the age of 30 or so account for 30 percent of visitors, Wu says.

The success of Yuntai Mountain has encouraged Xiuwu to step up its efforts in pursuing hanfu development.

Incentives such as ticket discounts have been offered to visitors dressed in hanfu, and hanfu producers are being encouraged to complement the industry chain.

Chen Hongli set up her hanfu making business in March in the industry zone of Xiuwu, about 10-minute drive from the Yuntai ancient town.

"I came here mainly because Xiuwu is very supportive of the hanfu industry and I do need to come,"Chen says.

"With the government endorsement we could get more resources from peers in the industry and communicate with them."

Chen built her own hanfu factory in a village in Pingdingshan city of Henan in 2017, and the value of sales totaled 7-8 million yuan ($1.1-1.2 million) the next year, she says. In both 2019 and last year the value of sales totaled 20 million yuan, she says.

Chen's factory regularly produces new designs and receives presales orders. Then, it takes about 45 days to produce the ordered numbers.

"Our daily sales record is 8 million yuan," she says.

At the moment Chen is still recruiting workers in Xiuwu to meet the increasing market demand for hanfu.

A walk of about 10 minutes from Chen's place, Cong Jian is tapping into hanfu's potential for modern utility at his workshop.

As time moves on, the patterns, forms and functions of hanfu can be changed to better fit in with modern life, Cong says.

For example, the big sleeves can be taken in for better mobility and labor, while the trimming can be more flexible for human body structure, he says.

"The key includes establishing aesthetic standards and building relevant database," Cong says.

He and his team are experimenting with possible forms of hanfu in modern styles, and he says all the costumes coming out in the process will be valuable materials as data for future references and display.

In addition to completing the industry chain, Xiuwu plans to build a hanfu culture center and a hanfu themed area that includes a museum.

"Design work on the cultural center is already complete," says Fan Yongjiang, deputy director of the natural resources bureau of Xiuwu.

It will include exhibition space and allow for catering services.

The center will put the essence of traditional culture in a contemporary context and will combine art, design, fashion and the aesthetic taste of the younger generation, Fan says.