Handicraft Factory Invitation to Foreign Investors


Finger ring decorated with Zi bead	Gold earrings	Gold finger ring with coral.

In the early 17th century, in Kangding (Dartsendo) there existed a tradition of manufacturing silver or gold ornaments, utensils, Buddhist musical instruments, and other articles. Skilled craftsmen manufactured special exquisite handicrafts with strong national (i.e. Tibetan) characteristics by means of simple equipment. They had many different products and designs employing details such as flowers, grass, trees, birds, animals, and so forth. The objects were in great demand at home and in foreign countries such as India, Nepal, Bhutan, and Sikkim.


Silver bracelets	Bowls	Hair bangles

After the establishment of the People's Republic of China, craftsmen were organized into a group. Following the third plenary session of the 11th Central Committee, the group was reorganized into the National Handicraft Manufacturing Factory. which was supported by the government. It developed so greatly that it cornered the market in production of silver and gold handicrafts. Unfortunately, craftsmen are getting along in years, and these traditional handicrafts are in danger of lost, especially as fewer and fewer young people desire to take up this trade. Our factory has a strong desire to seek sponsors or partners at home or abroad to preserve and develop Tibetan folk handicraft.

Our factory is very small. The sales and production areas occupy only 400 square meters. The buildings were constructed in August, 1979, in Kangding town. At present we have nine workers (four men, five women), divided into seven craftsmen and two administrative personnel.


Ceremonial pitcher	Mask	Necklace


Worker making earrings	Tea churns, partly finished

We make more than one hundred kinds of silver and gold products with strong Tibetan characteristics, and these items have pleased customers at home and abroad. Several times our products have won awards in the provincial and prefectural exhibitions of light industrial products. They have also won the praise of national and local experts:

Although our silver and gold ornaments enjoy a high reputation, our factory is still a small collective manufacturing enterprise in straightened circumstances. Our workshop is small and simple, equipment is obsolete, thus productivity is low. Without capital, we are unable to increase the scale of production and meet market demand. In order to meet demand and improve Tibetan economy, we sincerely seek aid and partners to better the condition of the workshop and purchase new equipment.

We've already done market analysis, and confirmed that there is a large demand for our products. Tibetan people, regardless of wealth, always like silver and gold ornaments. In addition to things already described, they use gold and silver items for household utensils, saddles and stirrups in various designs to beautify their lives and show their property. Moreover, almost all Tibetan people are Buddhist, and there are many monasteries on the Tibetan plateau that employ a large number of Tibetan instruments. Our factory is quite competitive in the Tibetan market. Our products sell well and are in demand. After the proposed innovations, our annual output will reach 800,000 to one million yuan, with a profit margin of 30 per cent. The expenditure for renovation of the workshop and purchase of equipment will be recouped in 3 to 5 years.

We sincerely hope that Kham Aid Foundation can find aid for us, or partners, to develop and preserve Tibetan folk handicraft.

KAF president Pamela Logan interviewed the manager of the factory, Mr. Zhong Yi, and toured the workshop itself. Here are her comments:

Mr. Zhong Yi is a very dedicated and sincere Tibetan, surprisingly young for the post he holds--about 35 years old. He is by training a craftsman, not a businessman. According to Mr. Zhong, his factory is the only one producing traditional Tibetan metalwork in all of Ganzi Prefecture, and at present they cannot meet the demand. To this I should add that I have run into one individual doing this kind of work, a man who lives in Dege. But in the main, metalwork of the diversity and quality produced by Zhong Yi's factory is very uncommon. Most metal items, such as knives and jewelry, are mass-produced. Others are imported from Nepal, India, or the Chinese lowlands.

His written request above does not explain what the electroplating machine will be used for. They intend to use it to make gold-plated roofing materials for monasteries. The method they use now is as follows: craftsmen go to the monastery and make detailed measurements of the roof. They create a metal cover out of sheet copper that exactly fits the roof, then they dismantle it into pieces, which are carefully numbered. They bring the pieces back to the workshop, where gold is hammered onto the copper in a thin layer. The gold-covered copper pieces are then carried back to the monastery (which may be several days' travel distant) and reassembled on top of the building.

The problem with the above-described traditional method is that it is hugely wasteful of gold. They simply cannot hammer the gold thin enough. One alternative is to buy copper sheet with gold already electroplated onto it, but the sheet is too expensive and besides there is considerable wastage in the fitting process. A second alternative is to purchase chemical solution containing gold, and dip the copper pieces into it. This, too, is expensive: 250 ml of solution containing 0.5 grams of gold costs rmb350 (US$43).

At present they have a seven-year backlog of orders from monasteries in Ganzi for gold roofs. Typically, the customer provides the gold and the company provides the copper. For example, the cost of gilding the copper for a temple being built by Dorje Tashi Rinpoche in Tagong will be rmb500,000. Presumably, if gilding can be done more cheaply, more monasteries will be able to afford gold roofs. Consequently, anyone who helps this factory purchase a gold electroplating machine will be supporting architecture, Buddhism, and general beautification of the Tibetan plateau.

They have shopped around to locate makers of electroplating machines in China, and discovered two possibilities: one machine that costs 1.08 million yuan, and one that costs 180,000 yuan. Zhong Yi seems to be aware of the safety issues implied by a large, complex machine that uses dangerous chemicals. He says that he has located a building where they can put it, with suitable arrangement for power, water, and ventilation.

The second machine, one that manufactures hollow silver filament, is for making jewelry. Hollow filament is lighter, making it more suitable for earrings. (Heavy earrings can only be worn by women who do not mind large, distended holes in their earlobes. Modern urban Tibetans and foreign buyers insist on light earrings). Furthermore, hollow filament uses less metal, and is therefore cheaper.

Mr. Zhong has got some good ideas about the use of machines to improve the factory's productivity and product quality. However, it's my opinion that for this venture to be a success, they need someone with business savvy to help them manage the factory and market their products. The things they make are beautiful, and should find ready buyers around the world. But getting the objects to the buyers requires knowledge and experience that Mr. Zhong and his crew do not have. They are somewhat familiar with the situation in Nepal in Bhutan, but about the West they are clueless. Furthermore, I suspect that their "market analysis" is rudimentary at best.

Another problem that Mr. Zhong mentions but does not elaborate on is the challenge of finding good workers. The wages currently offered by his factory are not enough to attract top quality workers. The old generation is dying off. If more attention is not paid to training, some aspects of these crafts will certainly be lost.

The items made by the factory are not simply endless, unchanging reproductions of traditional designs. They are making a strong effort to innovate, to please the modern tastes of urban and foreign customers as well as satisfy the very conservative tastes of rural Tibetans and monasteries.

The workshop is small and poorly equipped. Lighting is not very good, and ventilation is poor. Their machines are old and some don't work anymore. When I visited, the workers were making commonplace items such as butter churns and tea bowls. They did not seem to be manufacturing many of the truly marvelous ceremonial objects. The showroom downstairs could be improved to be more attractive to customers. I have seen their products for sale in a few shops around Kangding, but I have not noticed them anywhere else (such as Chengdu). They have no sign in English, and are doing nothing to exploit the slowly-growing tourist traffic.

Transportation of manufactured objects out of Kangding to markets where they can be sold is currently something of a problem, but the situation should ease considerably when the tunnel on Erliangshan is finished, and drive-time to Chengdu drops to 6-7 hours (it's now 12-14 hours).

Currently, there are no foreign joint ventures at all in Ganzi Prefecture. However, the Foreign Affairs Bureau is extremely cooperative--in fact, it was the Bureau chief who introduced me to Zhong Yi. Kham Aid Foundation has not investigated the regulations regarding joint ventures and foreign investment in Sichuan, and we make no promises regarding the profitability or even feasibility of this business. We strongly recommend that anyone contemplating jumping into a partnership with Kangding Handicrafts Factory should research the business environment very carefully.