Ms. Yang Xiangyue was very down five yearsago when she got laid off. She went to helpthe knitting in her community. Gradually, shebecame the manager of Riyue Hand-KnittingCenter. Her sweaters were warmly welcome at amunicipal-level exhibition in June, 2007, makingher the Best Participant.

In Tianjin, hand-knitting has had its own brandname and has become a more sophisticatedindustry, pooling some 40,000 people. TheGovernment hopes that in a period of threeto five years, Tianjin will develop into a base ofhand-knitted products in North China, attractingmore women into the labor market.

Similar to Ms. Yang, Ms. Liu Shan establishedJinguo Sunshine Hand-Knitting Ltd Company,employing 17 laid-off women living in XincunStreet. Her business is booming, recruiting atotal of 157 staff and selling products to countriesand regions, such as Japan, South Korea,Malaysia and Thailand.

“In Tianjin, disabled women, single mothers inserious financial difficulties and other groupswith a heavy household burden always find itdifficult to be re-employed. However, handknittingbusiness requires small investment,low risk and comparatively simple skills andmakes it possible for people to work at home,which allows these groups to earn the moneywithout sacrificing their family life. It meets thevery need of the particular working groups,”said Ma, Secretary of Urban and Rural Division,Tianjin Women’s Federation.

The operation pattern of these knitting stationsincludes centralized management, individualtutoring, individual processing, centralizedproduct acceptance check and pay on pieceworkbasis. Women workers are able to takecare of their daily household chores and theyare welcome to get registered to work any time.Besides, their family members can be employedin the auxiliary business for knitting. Forthese reasons, it is a very popular job amongmid-aged house wives.

The knitting stations also attract a number ofdisabled people and migrant workers. They caneither go to the nearby stations to work withothers or do the knitting at home. It is told thatmost of the workers there are able to earn severalhundred yuan monthly, while skilled workersmake more than 1,000 yuan per month.

Secretary Ma said, “Hand-knitted productshave high added values, great market demand,low resource consumption and low pollution.On top of that, developing the industryrequires small investment, but it has a highoutput and good returns, providing good employmentopportunities.”

In May, 2005, Tianjin Women’s Hand-KnittingIndustry Association was established and TianjinQiaoshou Knitting Ltd Company applied tobe registered. The industry has developed fromthe original family-run, individual workshops towell managed, industrialized, commercial companieswith stable staff.

According to the association, it has 95 majorhand-knitting bases, about 490 knitting stationsextended to 18 districts and counties,employing over 40,000 people, most of whomare previously laid-off staff and surplus laborsfrom the countryside.

Presently, orders taken by the association includeproducts of folk craftworks, clothing andclothing accessories, home textiles and decorations,covering five major categories (knitting,weaving, crochet, sawing and embroidery)with over 1,000 varieties. Export destinationsextend to over 20 countries and regions includingSouth Korea, Italy, Japan, America andGermany, with an annual revenue close to 200million yuan.