The colorful clothes we wear today are made by machines. But what did ancient people do if they wanted to wear something colorful? Tie-dye（扎染）was a way to do this.

More than 1,000 years ago, the Bai people in Yunnan used tie-dye to dye their clothes. Then this skill became so popular that people gave tie-dye clothes to the emperor as gifts.

To tie-dye, you need to first use tools to tie, sew（缝制）, or clip（夹住）your cloth（布料）. The folded cloth is then put in dye. The Bai people usually make blue dye from a plant.

As the cloth is folded, some parts become dark blue, while other parts have a lighter color. When you unfold the cloth, you will see beautiful patterns.

In the 1960s, tie-dye became a fashion trend in the US. People tie-dyed T-shirts and jeans in imaginative ways. Many children in the US still learn tie-dye in their art classes.

At a recent famous fashion show, an Italian designer surprised people with tie-dye dresses, is like an experiment（实验）. People cannot imagine the patterns of the cloth if they don’t see them. It’s a surprise, the designer said. There is no doubt that the tie-dye trend has never really gone away.

Li Mei loves wearing embroidered (刺绣的) clothes. She is talking with her grandma now.

Li Mei: Has your mother or grandmother ever made embroidered clothes for you?

Grandma: Sure. In the past, Chinese people often embroidered on hats, shoes and dresses to show the beauty of nature or the best wishes to others. Some girls would even embroider on a sachet (香囊) as a gift for their lovers.

Li Mei: I know that Shu embroidery comes from Sichuan.

Grandma: Yes. It is said that Shu embroidery is the oldest kind of embroidery in China. People began to make it during the Han Dynasty (朝代). They sold it to other countries such as ancient Rome. Shu embroidery takes time. It might take as long as a whole day to finish just 10 cm. Embroidery workers need to divide each silk thread (丝线) into more than 10 or even 30 smaller threads. Each smaller thread is thinner than a human hair.

Li Mei: Oh, it’s unbelievable. Do we have inheritors (传承人)?

Grandma: Of course. Meng Dezhi, a national-level inheritor of this skill, has been making Shu embroidery for 40 years. She loves this form of art and wants more people to try it, so she gives lessons in universities. She said, “Although the work is hard, Shu embroidery stands for thousands of years of Sichuan culture. It is a symbol of Chinese culture as well.”

Lihn, a Vietnamese woman, recently became a big fan of Chinese actor Zhao Youting, who acts in the Chinese TV series To the Sky Kingdom. She even bought the same clothes as Zhao wears in the TV series. This shows Vietnamese people’s love for Chinese TV dramas.

According to a study, since 2012, more than 1,600 Chinese films and TV shows have been played in more than 100 countries and translated into 36 languages, including English, French and Russian. Most of them go to Asian countries such as Japan, South Korea and other countries with similar culture.

Chinese costurne dramas（古装剧）have always been the most popular among foreigners. For example, Nirvana in Fire, which caught fire in China in 2016, successfully broke into the markets in Japan and South Korea. A South Korean travel company even designed a tour themed on the drama.

Also, family dramas have been hot in recent years in both neighbouring countries and Africa. Africans, like us, value their family a lot. It is very common to see generations（世代）living together in Africa. Many situations in Chinese family dramas resonate（共鸣）with African women. They wonder how women in other countries would deal with similar headaches in everyday life. The dramas work as an important window for them to understand Chinese culture.