Indigo Stained Hands

The video reveals her confidence mastering the tool and beeswax, and the deep focus in her expression. The bird she paints at the very end embodies the style of White Collar Miao batik, where different life forms blend seamlessly—wings and tails sprout flowers and morph into fish.
 
I've been learning batik from Yang Naijin. She grew up in Paidao village and began learning batik as a child from her grandmother. Growing up in poverty and without access to formal education, she struggled to find stable, well-paid work.
 
In 2013–14, she joined the Ninghang Batik Workshop in Danzhai through an initiative led by Madam Ning Manli, which brought Miao women with batik technique from remote villages to the county town to earn an income. There, she was taught to speak Mandarin and learned to sign her name to receive her wages. This move significantly improved her income and living conditions.
 
Today, she works full-time at the workshop, and is regularly invited as a guest instructor by universities to teach students across China. She is also recognized as a provincial-level inheritor of Miao batik.