From cotton to quilting, success keeps coming

Li Shuang and her husband have sold more than 10,000 handmade quilts since 2018, when they decided to end their migrating for work and returned home to a rural village in Hebei province.

Li, 28, is a resident of Nanxintou in Guantao county, Handan, about 400 kilometers southwest of Beijing.

She and her husband Wu Qingwei used travel to big cities for work in all kinds of jobs, from security guard in Beijing to selling small merchandise at market stalls, a report in Hebei Daily said.

"My daughter needed me back," Li told the newspaper. In early 2018, her daughter, cared for by grandparents, was accidentally scalded by boiling water.

That's what made the difference. The migrant life would come to an end, and she would settle down in her hometown

Li blamed herself for the accident and wanted to care for her child herself.

Wu, her husband, said he got the idea for the quilt business from online videos.

"When I was a security guard in Beijing, I often saw short videos online showing agricultural activities in rural areas," he said, adding the videos had many viewers and helped to sell agricultural products.

Li encouraged him to try making similar videos, and perhaps they could figure out a way to make a living at home.

They bought a camera in March 2018 and began shooting videos. They recorded their activities, including watering farm fields, planting vegetables and picking fruit.

The videos took off, gaining wide popularity after only one month. Some of them were viewed more than 2 million times — a big hit by any standard. The one that changed everything showed Li picking cotton.

"One of the viewers asked me if we could make a few quilts with our newly picked cotton," Li said.

After that, a few more people sent the same request, which got Li thinking about opening an online store.

In September 2018, the store went live, and its sales volume has grown ever since. The couple sold more than 800 pieces quilts during the Double Eleven shopping spree on Nov 11.

Rising demand has kept them busy. They hired local women to make quilts together. Each quilter can earn more than 100 yuan ($14) each day, Li said. They've hired 20 workers so far, including six poverty-stricken villagers.

Most of the women were left behind by husbands who migrated to big cities to work. Most didn't have stable jobs in their hometown and needed to take care of their families. The quilting work created a sort of community within a community.

Li is planning to attend some training courses on e-commerce and product design to improve her business.

"I have a sense of achievement for creating opportunities to earn money," Li said, "not only for ourselves but also for other villagers."