Why do ChaoShan women like to crochet, knit and embroider

Let's learn a little bit of history about Chaoshan region people (Teochew people) first. Many Chaoshan people's ancestors were moving from the central plains of China to South Fujian, then to this land called Tide Land, a long time ago (from Qin dynasty to Song dynasty). They brought the skill of crocheting and embroidery from ancient China and preserved it well since this land was sort of isolated from other parts of China. This isolation was perfect for our old people who wanted to get away from the wars in the central plains of China. In 1860, Shantou was opened by foreigners as a business port. Many foreign business men and missionaries came here, they brought the knitting skills from the west and taught our women how to do the western style of crocheting and embroidery. Our women were very smart, they combined their own skills with the western ones, then created new styles which are well known as ChaoXiu, literally meaning, embroidery art of the Tide.

Since our ancestors were from the central plains of China and the land which they chose was isolated, so our modern people still keep more traditional things and customs than any other place of China. For instance, men work very hard and make money outside while women prefer to take care of their families inside and do knitting. In our dialect, men are called Dabow meaning fishing and hunting, women are called Zhiniong meaning knitting female. Besides taking care of the children and the housework, the women here still have plenty of time to crochet and embroider. Modern women still have this habit and don't like to take full time jobs at the factories or companies. They like to work at home. They don't care too much about how much they can get from knitting because the income is not so important for the family (men take care of the income) and they enjoy knitting. If you are a business man who wants to hire them to do the knitting faster for you, you just raise the wage a little bit more, more women would like to take this kind of piecework and your order will be done much sooner.