Handmade silk umbrellas open up new business path

In a three-level residential building in Hengyang, Hunan province, 13 workers are busy making silk umbrellas, which will be sold around the country and abroad.

Following a process that involves making the umbrella rib, drawing on the silk, pasting the silk on the rib, and detailed polishing, the workers can create about 1,200 umbrellas in a day.

Back in the 1990s, Kang Guodong started this umbrella workshop, whose products were sold at nearby tourist sites such as Hengshan.

"The workshop relied heavily on human work; low pricing was our core competitiveness, and the choice of patterns was limited," Kang said.

Recently, Kang's son took over the workshop from him.

"His idea is in total contrast with mine. I think about reducing the cost but his idea is to produce high-quality and value-added products."

Bamboo umbrella ribs were replaced by solid wood to improve the quality of the umbrellas.

Li Bing, Kang's daughter-in-law, said that they were working hard on the patterns on the silk, which incorporate traditional Chinese elements and market needs, such as flowers, birds, mountains and rivers. Overseas clients from Brazil and Singapore saw their product video online and made orders.

The workshop can produce a total of 400,000 umbrellas annually, with 90 percent of them sold online and 20 percent overseas.

More silk umbrella workshops have opened in recent years, providing 300 job vacancies. The expected income per month can reach 3,000 yuan ($450) at the highest.