湖南湘西十八洞村，一位年輕姑娘正坐在火塘旁料理柴火，她穿着鮮豔的苗服，袖子和褲子上搭配着粉色和綠色的精緻刺繡。在她嫺熟的動作下，火光變得越發明亮。

The young woman is dressed in striking local ethnic attire, with matching embroidered pink-green sleeves and pants. She sits next to a traditional huotang open hearth, feeding it generously with firewood to keep the flames burning bright.

“火塘是我們的保暖方式，同時我們還用它來製作臘肉(即中國燻肉)。”她邊說邊指着正掛在爐火上熏製的鹹豬肉，令人垂涎不已。

"This is our way of keeping warm. The huotang can be used to make larou (Chinese bacon) at the same time," she said, pointing to the mouthwatering strips of salted pork hung over the fire for smoking.

十八洞村返鄉創業的第一代大學生施林嬌(右)在4月23日的現場直播中向觀衆展示了湘西臘肉製作方法。圖片來源：新華社

24歲的施林嬌正在向遊客介紹當地美食，這只是她拍攝的湘西土家族苗族自治州的一個苗族村落——十八洞村視頻中的一幕。十八洞村以該村的18個天然洞穴命名。

Shi Linjiao, 24, is not just introducing a local delicacy to visitors. She is part of a scene in a video being shot at Shibadong, a village of the Miao ethnic group in the Xiangxi Tujia and Miao autonomous prefecture, Central China's Hunan province. Shibadong is named after the village's 18 natural caves.

去年，她從位於浙江杭州的浙江音樂學院畢業後，去了湖南省縣級市瀏陽工作。但幾個月後，她辭去工作回到家鄉十八洞村。

Shi returned to Shibadong after she graduated last year from the Zhejiang Conservatory of Music in Hangzhou, capital of East China's Zhejiang province, and had a job at Liuyang, a county-level city in Hunan. She quit the job several months later to go back to her hometown.

該視頻是她宣傳家鄉系列視頻中的一部分。施林嬌負責出鏡，另外2名返鄉大學生施志春、施康則分別負責節目策劃和視頻剪輯。

The video is part of a series used to promote her hometown. Shi herself is tasked with appearing on camera, while other village returnees Shi Zhichun plans the programs and Shi Kang edits the clips.

施志春在長沙中南大學讀的英語專業，2017年獲得湘西土家族苗族自治州吉首大學研究生學位，畢業後選擇離開城市回到家鄉十八洞村。

Shi Zhichun, who earned a graduate degree at Jishou University in Jishou, Xiangxi Tujia and Miao autonomous prefecture after majoring in English as an undergraduate at the Central South University in Changsha, chose to leave the city to return to Shibadong following his studies in 2017.

施康曾經在湖南長沙從事新媒體領域的工作，之後受到施志春的啓發和鼓勵, 也萌生了回家鄉創業的想法。

Shi Kang once worked in the field of new media in Changsha, capital of Hunan, before he was inspired by Shi Zhichun's idea of starting their own business at their hometown last year.

從2017年起三人在各自的院校畢業後從城市回到家鄉，一回來後他們便決定攜手合作，利用現代傳播渠道將家鄉向外界推廣。

The trio returned from cities after graduating from their respective colleges since 2017. Once back home, they decided to work together, promoting their hometown to the outside world through modern communication channels.

像全國許多其他貧困偏遠地區一樣，十八洞村位於山水秀美的武陵山區之中，但交通不便、基礎設施不全。

Like many other impoverished remote areas in the country, the village is located amid the highlands, in the Wuling Mountains endowed with breathtaking scenery and clean water, but having inadequate transportation and other infrastructure.

村民們過去只能依靠幾畝薄田種植糧食餬口，收入甚微。

Villagers used to rely on the little income they could reap from crops, including corn and rice, planted on scattered farmland.

　　5月14日，湖南省湘西土家族苗族自治州花垣縣十八洞村的景色。

圖片來源：中國日報

90後返鄉大學生爲村民直播賣貨出圈

31歲的施志春說：“我想讓我的家鄉在世界其他地方廣爲人知，這樣就可以吸引遊客，還可以更多地在線銷售我們這兒的苗族特產。”

"I want to make my hometown known to the rest of the world, so that tourists can be attracted here and Miao villagers' specialties can be sold online," the 31-year-old said.

他在“抖音”上發佈了短視頻並進行了直播，這讓他很快就找到了宣傳十八洞村旅遊景點和當地特產的方法。

He soon figured out an effective way to promote Shibadong's attractions and specialties, by posting short videos and livestreaming on major social networking platform Douyin.

三人小組的視頻很快收穫了越來越多的粉絲，他們開始購買村民自制的土特產臘肉。

It did not take long for the increasing number of fans of the trio's videos to start buying the larou products made by households in the village.

施志春說，他們目前已經賣出了數百公斤的臘肉，而村民每賣出一公斤臘肉就可以賺到60元人民幣。

Shi said they have been selling hundreds of kilograms of the meat, with the villagers earning about 60 yuan ($8.5) for every kilogram of larou they sell.

除此之外，他們也在嘗試通過數字化平臺銷售胡椒、米酒、獼猴桃等其他土特產。目前，他們的抖音賬戶粉絲人數已達9萬多。

Other local agricultural products, including peppers, rice wine and kiwis, are also being sold through the digital platforms. Their account on Douyin has attracted more than 90,000 fans, Shi said.

老村支書拿起繡花針繡出脫貧新出路

返鄉創業的大學生們並不是唯一擁抱十八洞村光明未來的人。

The village returnees are not the only ones to embrace a bright future for Shibadong.

石順蓮坐在工作臺上手指翻飛，縫製一幅火車頭主題的黑白精美苗繡作品。

Sitting on a workbench, Shi Shunlian deftly threads a needle through a spread of fabric-she is stitching an elaborate scene of a high-speed train, in white and black.

她今年66歲，曾任十八洞村的村支書。2014年退休後，她重拾舊時愛好——苗繡。作爲苗族傳統手藝，石順蓮希望它可以幫助村裏有需要的婦女們增加額外的收入。

Shi, 66, is a former Party chief at Shibadong. After retiring in 2014, she picked up miaoxiu (traditional ethnic embroidery) hoping the skill can help the needy villagers earn some additional income.

　　石順蓮在5月21日忙於刺繡 圖片來源：中國日報

石順蓮回憶說，習近平總書記2013年考察十八洞村時，當時939名村民中有57%生活在國家貧困線以下，人均可支配收入僅1668元。

She recalled that President Xi Jinping, who is also general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, visited the village in 2013. At the time, 57 percent of the 939 villagers were living below the national poverty line of 2,300 yuan ($328), with their per capita disposable income at 1,668 yuan.

她說：“當他問我們村民一年能掙多少錢時，我心裏很難受。”石順蓮自1997年以來一直擔任村支書的職位，但由於落後的自然條件，仍然難以改變十八洞村的貧窮面貌。

"I felt sorry when he asked how much our villagers could earn in a year," Shi said, adding that she had been at the post since 1997 but the village still remained poor due to the tough natural conditions.

石順蓮想通過組織家庭主婦製作苗繡然後以手工藝品出售，繼續幫助該村擺脫貧困。

Shi Shunlian wanted to continue helping the village to fight poverty after her retirement, by organizing housewives to make miaoxiu and selling them as arts and crafts.

苗繡色彩鮮豔明快、線條多樣，是被列爲國家級非物質文化遺產名錄首批傳統項目之一。

Miaoxiu, which features rich and splendid colors and various figures and lines, is among the first traditions of its kind listed as a national intangible cultural heritage.

她說：“通過這種方式，我們可以保留苗族的文化遺產，並用它來改善我們的生活。”她還說道，這項傳統正面臨失去傳承的風險。

"In this way, we can preserve Miao people's cultural inheritance and use it to help improve our lives," she said, adding that the traditional activity is in danger of fading out of their community.

石順蓮記得苗族女孩很小的時候就開始跟着媽媽和奶奶學苗繡。

She remembered how Miao girls traditionally learned to embroider from their mothers and grandmothers at a very early age.

“我們將蝴蝶和花朵等各種形狀縫製在織物上，並用它們來製作不同的物品，包括衣服、枕套、手袋和牆壁掛飾，”她指着正在繡的火車圖案說道。

"We stitch various shapes like butterflies and flowers onto fabric and use them to make different items, including clothes, pillowcases, handbags and wall hangings," Shi Shunlian said, as she pointed to the train pattern on the Miao embroidery she was working on.

她正在工作臺上精心縫製的苗繡作品，是中車株洲電力機車有限公司即將送給外國客戶的贈禮。

The piece of miaoxiu work she is stitching carefully at her workbench will be given as a present to the foreign customers of CRRC Zhuzhou Locomotive, a major manufacturer of rail transit equipment in Hunan.

作爲民族工藝品的最大買家，該公司自2018年以來每年從石順蓮的合作社訂購價值10萬元的苗繡作品。

As the biggest buyer of the ethnic craft since 2018, the company has been placing orders for Miao embroidery works worth 100,000 yuan each year from the cooperative that Shi set up in May 2014.

在她的領導下，過去六年來有190多名家庭主婦加入了苗繡合作社，製作手工苗繡。在訂單多的時候，繡娘們每月能獲得兩三千元的收入。Under her lead, more than 190 housewives have joined the cooperative for producing handmade Miao embroidery works in the past six years. Each of them can earn about 3,000 yuan during busy months.

由於越來越多的人對苗繡感興趣，合作社也獲得了更多的訂單。但石順蓮還是有一些擔心。

The cooperative's Miao embroidery products have received more orders as a result of the growing interest. But Shi still worries about their work.

她說：“訂單量不飽和，而且暫時沒有能設計圖案的人才，這是現在的兩個主要問題。”

"There aren't enough orders to keep us busy through the whole year and there is a dearth of talent to provide designs for the embroidery. These are the two major problems," she said.

石順蓮也提到了她的計劃：“我們將會改良產品，並將大力推廣它們，多做一些錢包、書籤、帽子等苗繡小產品;同時，我們希望找到圖案設計師。”

"We will improve our products, adding items like purses, bookmarks and hats; we will go out to promote them and we are hoping to find designers," Shi said of her plans.

2013年11月，習近平總書記在當時的貧困村——十八洞村提出了“精準扶貧”的重要理念。村民們利用當地傳統工藝來改善生活，這恰恰是“精準扶貧”理念的生動實踐。

The villagers' efforts to tap local culture for improving lives is in line with "targeted poverty alleviation", a concept first put forward when Xi visited the then poverty-stricken village on an inspection tour in November 2013.

“現在的生活比我釀的蜂蜜還要甜!”33歲的龍先蘭發現十八洞村植物繁茂、蜜源豐富，正是養蜂佳地。

33-year-old Long Xianlan discovered that the village's lush greenery offered the perfect conditions for raising bees.

從2015年開始，龍先蘭逐漸踏上自己的養蜂事業之路，並從最初起家時的四箱蜜蜂逐漸發展到現在的三百多箱。他的收入也隨之大幅增長，從2015年的幾千元到去年的收入已超過40萬元。

Starting from 2015, Long gradually grew his beekeeping enterprise. His initial four boxes of bees have grown to more than 300 crates, helping him rake in an annual income of 400,000 yuan last year from just a few thousand yuan before 2015.

發展優勢產業，使得十八洞村的村民在自家門口就能找到工作並過上舒適的生活。

With the development of suitable industries and businesses, villagers in Shibadong can get jobs and make a decent living right at their doorstep.

龍先蘭說：“他從養蜂業中獲得的機會，使他從一個毫無生活目標的窮苦孤兒變成了一個負責任的丈夫，收穫了一個幸福的家庭，充分享受着家的溫暖和舒適。”

Long Xianlan said the opportunities he tapped from beekeeping have turned him from a despondent, aimless pauper into a responsible husband providing for a happy family that fully enjoys the warmth and comforts of home.

他說，“我現在的生活比我釀的蜂蜜還要甜!”

"My life now is sweeter than the honey I make," he said.