Nach 56 Jahren, in denen sie als "Kleines Mädchen" genannt wurde, hat sie die Chance, ihren eigenen Namen zu schreiben.

Over the 11 years of entrepreneurship, Huang Jiayu has been interviewed many times and told the story of founding "Xiaohuang Banana Hand - Hooked" on various occasions.

The story began in 2014. Due to a sharp decline in orders for her father's factory, Huang Jiayu, who graduated from university that year, was "forced" to take over the factory and start her own business. She went south to Dali alone with some wool, set up a small stall on the street of the ancient city. While knitting small items with a crochet hook to earn a living, she also opened a Taobao store, trying to find a way out for the family business on the verge of collapse.

After becoming popular offline, the Taobao store of Xiaohuang Banana was opened that year.

As the business got on track, Huang Jiayu returned to Qiuxi Village in Chaozhou with trendy designs. She led a group of aunts with an average age of 50 to turn the traditional Chaoshan handicraft of "crochet lace", which every household in the village knew, into trendy artworks. When the first suspender design was unveiled, the aunts were full of confusion: "How can you wear this out?"

They could hardly imagine that this crochet - lace handicraft, which had been used by generations to pass the time, could be sold overseas and become a well - known intangible cultural heritage brand on Taobao. The youthful expression of intangible cultural heritage on Taobao has made Xiaohuang Banana a new favorite in young people's shopping carts. Huang Jiayu introduced that currently, Taobao accounts for 80% of Xiaohuang Banana's sales.

The signature cards hidden in each work have become the most touching footnote for Chaoshan crochet lace. "Handmade for you by Aunt Shunxiang", "The heartfelt gift from Aunt Chuchun"... These cards with names like "Yueqin", "Shunxiang", "Chuchun", and "Yanzhen" have made the names of rural women cross mountains and seas and be remembered by young people in the city.

Photo | Aunt Yueqin in the comment section and Aunt Yueqin herself holding her own business card

Because of this contrast, many people often ask Huang Jiayu repeatedly in interviews, "Why did you think of making small cards for the aunts?" and "Were the aunts finally able to accept the suspenders?"

The spotlight has always been on Huang Jiayu alone. Few people really go to Qiuxi Village to talk to the aunts whose names are signed on the cards, such as "Shunxiang", "Chuchun", "Yanzhen", "Sister Yue", and "Xiaomei". Why are they willing to sign their names? What changes have taken place in their lives after their names are seen by young people living in the city thousands of miles away?

In this issue of the Micro - Story, we will get to know the aunts behind "Xiaohuang Banana Hand - Hooked" and explore the real story after their "names" are seen.

In this story, what we see is not only the efforts of a 90 - s Chaoshan girl to change the living conditions of rural women, but also the process of a group of rural women of different ages gradually finding their "names" and shaping their "selves".

The following is a true story that happened in Qiuxi Village, Chaozhou:

The Woman with a Mysterious Name

It's hard to believe that the name of 56 - year - old Aunt "Xiaomei" is a mystery in Qiuxi Village if you haven't experienced it yourself.

Aunt "Xiaomei" is a native of Qiuxi Village. "Xiaomei" is not her real name. Since she is the youngest among five siblings, her family and neighbors are used to calling her "Xiaomei". Over time, this nickname has gradually covered her real name and become the only way people address her.

Photo | Aunt "Xiaomei" (in the middle) is communicating with Huang Jiayu (on the left)

Yanzhen, a fellow villager, recalled: "When I married into the village 20 years ago, people were already calling her 'Aunt Xiaomei'."

Now, when people ask the villagers about Aunt "Xiaomei"'s real name, no one can remember it clearly. Even Boss Huang, who was her boss for many years, or Chen Qiuyue, who has always been responsible for paying her wages, only know that 'Xiaomei is the daughter of the Chen family' and have no idea about her real name.

It was not until they met Aunt "Xiaomei" herself that the grandmother - to - be mentioned her name for the first time: Chen Yuhua. Since no one had ever been curious about her name, besides introducing her own name, Aunt "Xiaomei" also carefully wrote down the names of her five siblings in order of the ages of the male and female family members on a piece of paper, repeatedly emphasizing: "These were all given to us by my father."

As for why the names of the five siblings don't share the same character and whether there are any special meanings behind them, Aunt Xiaomei shook her head and said, "I don't know either."

Photo | During the interview, Aunt "Xiaomei" wrote down her name: Chen Yuhua. She said that hardly anyone ever called her by her real name.

In the context of rural areas, it is normal for women's names to be "hidden". In China's rural society, blood - related relationships are intricate. People are more used to addressing each other from the perspective of kinship terms to strengthen their sense of belonging. For example, names like "the one from the Chen family", "Sister X", and "Aunt X" are very common.

This is even more obvious in Qiuxi Village, where "blood relationship" is highly emphasized.

Qiuxi Village is a typical Chaoshan rural village. Among the more than 2,600 households in the village, most of them have the surnames of Chen, Huang, and Xie. They have close relationships with each other. Coupled with the traditional lifestyle of "men work outside and women stay at home", people are more used to addressing each other with a single character followed by "Aunt", "Auntie", or "Sister".

Women like Chen Yuhua, who have lived here for a long time, actually prefer affectionate names like "Xiaomei".

This has also led to the fact that after "Xiaohuang Banana Hand - Hooked" became well - known to the public through its Taobao store and stepped out of the Chaoshan rural area, the contributions of the women behind it have been greatly underestimated.

Take Chen Qiuyue as an example. Due to the general name of "Sister Yue", she has long been ignored by the outside world. In the past 11 years, people who follow "Xiaohuang Banana Hand - Hooked" only know that "Sister Yue" is Huang Jiayu's mother. Few people know that Chen Qiuyue has played an indispensable role in enabling Huang Jiayu to maintain continuous inspiration and stable business during her 11 - year entrepreneurship.

Photo | Chen Qiuyue is on the left.

Chen Qiuyue, 57, was born into a typical Chaoshan rural family and is the second - born. Since she didn't want to repeat her parents' work of "facing the loess with their backs to the sky" since childhood, she started working as a foreman in the village at the age of 16. At that time, the textile industry in Shantou was booming and often recruited left - behind women from surrounding villages to work piece - rate. Chen Qiuyue took on orders at a price of 1 yuan per piece and then subcontracted them to villagers at a price of 0.5 yuan per piece.

Since most of the orders from Shantou were for foreign trade and each factory required different patterns, as a foreman, Chen Qiuyue not only had to be responsible for "distributing orders", but also had to learn the techniques from the factory and then teach them to other women in the village. At the same time, she was also in charge of quality inspection and acceptance. After a long time, she became very familiar with the craftsmanship of various handmade textiles and could "tell what was going on just by taking a look".

In the 1990s, when Boss Huang started his factory and took on clothing accessory orders across the country, Chen Qiuyue took on the heavy responsibility of factory operation - disassembling samples, teaching production, contacting workers, setting wages, and reviewing finished products, taking care of every detail. Thanks to Chen Qiuyue's "mentoring", Boss Huang's factory could achieve an annual revenue of 15 million yuan at its peak.

According to Chen Yuhua, "Xiaomei", "At that time, the factory business was booming. Every afternoon, after the women in the village finished their work, they would come to the Huang's yard to learn from Sister Yue and take orders. The line was very long."

Chen Qiuyue was the woman behind Boss Huang. After her daughter Huang Jiayu started her business, she became the woman behind "Xiaohuang".

In 2014, when Huang Jiayu decided to start her business, "Sister Yue" became the first employee of "Xiaohuang Banana Hand - Hooked". At first, when Huang Jiayu was busy setting up a stall in Dali, Chen Qiuyue crocheted lace in the Chaozhou countryside according to her daughter's design drawings. Later, when the production couldn't keep up with the sales, she played the role of a "foreman" at home, helping her daughter contact the aunts in the village to produce, teaching them the design techniques hand - in - hand, and being responsible for the acceptance of finished products. She quickly set up a production line in her hometown.

Photo | Huang Jiayu would teach the aunts these products through "Sister Yue".

When Huang Jiayu and her younger brother Huang Junliang decided to operate "Xiaohuang Banana Hand - Hooked" as a company, the two young people with no work experience neither knew how to calculate the performance of the aunts nor how to calculate their wages. It was Chen Qiuyue who, with her ability to "calculate the cost and working hours just by looking at the materials and the difficulty of the craftsmanship", helped them solve the pricing problem. Even now, she is still in charge of calculating and distributing the monthly wages of the aunts.

When Huang Jiayu came up with the idea of making signature cards for the aunts, Chen Qiuyue was the first to support her daughter and solemnly wrote her name "Qiuyue" on the card...

Photo | Chen Qiuyue is signing her name.

It can be said that without the support of Chen Qiuyue, it would be difficult for "Xiaohuang Banana Hand - Hooked" to operate smoothly for 11 years.

That's why when we followed Huang Jiayu to the Chaoshan rural area and learned the real stories of "Sister Yue" and "Xiaomei" behind the signature cards, we really understood why she insisted on making such a card.

"They should be seen and recorded," Huang Jiayu said.

Photo | Besides designing the cards, Huang Jiayu also set up a photo wall at the company entrance, recording the hands of the aunts deformed by labor.

"I Also Want to Sign"

Actually, at first, the aunts were very confused about the matter of "signing".

Due to objective limitations, most of the aunts have a low level of education, and many of them dropped out of school in primary school. "Having no education and not being able to write" is the concern they repeatedly emphasized. Some of them even forget how to write a character as soon as they pick up a pen. For example, when Aunt "Xiaomei" was enthusiastically introducing her family, she couldn't remember how to write the character "Jiao" in her sister's name for a moment.

"So when I first heard about signing, my first reaction was to refuse," she admitted.

Some other aunts thought that "it's useless to write". Many of the aunts living in Qiuxi Village have never traveled far. They can't understand the meaning of "signing" and "brand", and can't figure out "what's the use of having their names known by outsiders".

Traditional concepts also play a role. In the Chaoshan area, the taboo of "not writing names with a red pen" is still retained. Some aunts firmly believe that "having their names known by others with ulterior motives will cause trouble" and are even more afraid of being gossiped about as "wanting to be famous" for "showing off".

Aunt Yanzhen was very resistant to writing her name at first: "Crochet - lace is just a job to earn money. Isn't it enough to do the job well? Why do I have to write my name here?"

Photo | Yanzhen is working at home.

Even Boss Huang, who has run a factory for a lifetime, didn't understand.

But he finally gave in to his daughter: "She understands young people. Since she says it's meaningful, let it be."

This cognitive difference has run through Huang Jiayu's entrepreneurial journey. As a 90 - s, she pays attention to aesthetics and emotional value and emphasizes "self - expression".