Jin Ruirui, 33, from Yunnan tried to develop the local Yi embroider (彝绣) industry and promote (促进) women’s employment (就业).

Jin was among the first group of college students in her village, but instead of working in big cities, she chose to come back to her hometown to set up her own Yi embroidery company (公司). “My mother raised me with the money she made as an embroiderer (刺绣工). I want to carry on her skills and help more embroiderers who are just like my mother—they might not get much education, but they know well about our local culture,” said Jin.

Jin found that there were many left-behind children with their parents working far away in big cities. “Think about how good it will be if embroidery can bring them enough money so that they can work at home and stay together with their children,” Jin said That’s why she started her career (事业).

With the support from the local government and the hard work of people like Jin, ▲ . They train embroiderers and hire(雇佣) designers to make the embroidery pieces more trendy (时髦的). They hold fashion shows to promote Yi costumes in big cities like Beijing and Shanghai and do business with other provinces and even foreign countries. Jin just got an export (出口) order of 6, 500 Yi embroidered costumes (服装) to the UK last month.

During the past 10 years, more than 60, 000 Yi women in Chuxiong have taken part in the local Yi embroidery industry. Their average (平均) income (收入) grew from about 500 yuan to around 3, 000 yuan a month. Jin Ruirui added. “We have made our lives better with our traditional culture and skills.”

From hanfu to museum book marks, we can see the rise of China chic, which is also known as guochao. What is guochao? It means stories behind Chinese culture and history get retold. 【小题1】

Some artists add fun to traditional Chinese culture. Artist Jing Zhihao is among them. Jing created a set of cute brooches (胸针) according to what he saw in the Longmen Grottoes. 【小题2】 For example, one brooch was named as “Better to hug Buddha’s foot than do nothing at all”, which means making an effort at the last minute instead of simply giving up.

Some artists use traditional art styles to tell stories of modern people. The Scroll of Ten Years is an example. The work is created in traditional Chinese painting style. And it has four parts, each of which talks about different subjects. The artists put modern heroes like Zhong Nanshan and Yuan Longping in the pictures. In their eyes, 【小题3】

Some young people, like Liu Jiayu and Tang Ziwei, are even taking their “made-in-China” cultural products abroad.

【小题4】 On Ebay, a popular online shopping app, Tang Ziwei’s T-shirts with pictures of the Chinese aircraft carrier (航空母舰). Shandong became the latest favorite among fans.

Who likes guochao best? According to a report, 【小题5】 Young people today are more interested in traditional Chinese culture. They are also proud of our country.

Chinese culture has great attraction for people both at home and abroad. We have seen many people from around the world express their love for Chinese culture in different forms. A growing number of foreigners have even chosen to live in China for its culture.

Interested in Chinese classical literature, Canadian artist Brandon Collins-Green or Lin Buran in Chinese expresses his understanding of A Dream of the Red Chamber by Cao Xueqin and Chinese poems through thousands of paintings. Often painting throughout the night, he has created more than 4,200 works. Living alone in the center of Nanchang, he has come a long way since he first came here in 2015 to study ancient Chinese literature.

Brandon loves learning about the lifestyle of ancient Chinese people. “So far, I have read the novel three times, translated most of its poems, songs, lantern riddles (谜语), and dialogues into English, and completed over 1 million words of articles and 2,000 related paintings during my PhD studies,” said Brandon with pride and satisfaction.

Timur Kuvatov, director-general and editor-in-chief of the Kazakhstan Today News Agency, is a Chinese kung fu fan. He has won kung fu championships a lot of times and also served as a coach for the Kazakhstan kung fu team. “Chinese kung fu is a treasure of Chinese culture. It is not just a sport but also reflects the Chinese way of dealing with people, their understanding of life, nature, and the world,” he said.

Vincent Cazeneuve, known as Wensen Qi in Chinese, is a French artist devoted to lacquer (漆器) creation. He came to live in Chongqing in 2009. His works have been shown in art institutions both in and outside of China, and his fans have even collected some of them.

What is the charm of Chinese culture that attracts these people? It lies in its richness and openness. Also its cultural background differences make foreigners curious about the lifestyles, way of thinking, and values of the country.