Paper trail to prosperity(2)

"I work without a break from 7:30 am to 11 pm," Long Zhanliu says.

"It doesn't require much physical strength to make paper, but you still must be strong, because it keeps you busy every minute. The income isn't necessarily better than that from working in cities. But we can at least take care of our children at home."

While few villagers realized papermaking's potential, one Beijinger did.

Editor Long Wen discovered Xinzhuang while traveling among 72 villages in the Gaoligong Mountains while researching local intangible cultural heritage.

"When I first visited, the villagers didn't take any pride in their papermaking skills," the 35-year-old recalls.

"They admired the modern papermaking industry and yearned for urban lives. That's horrible for the protection of ancient skills."

Long Wen helped Xinzhuang establish a handmade paper association in the following three years. But the association didn't run well because it had neither funding nor a fixed location.

That's when Long Wen came up with the idea of opening a museum, which was designed and built with help from his friends Hua Li and Wang Yan from Beijing.

Wang explains why he invested in the museum: "I believe the paper will find a place among high-end business users. It's original. It's historic. It's fancy. All we need is a standard to evaluate different households' production."

Wang hopes they can develop a system to measure the paper's quality and that they can find buyers of paper of different quality levels.

"What we want to do is promote the cultural value of the paper through commercial activities," Wang says.

"If we earn profits, the benefits will go to the museum and village. We'd like to promote the museum. Consequently, more people will know about the village's culture. Selling paper isn't our ultimate goal."

But Long Demao, the man who works in Heshun's tourism zone, is considering opening a paper plant in his hometown.

He has learned a similar handmade paper had been produced for centuries in some villages in Yunnan's Dali city, before some businesspeople invested in and monopolized the paper's sales.

"The investors control all orders," Long Demao says.

"You can't sell your own paper without their permission. I don't want this to happen to my village," he continues.

"If investors open a factory and ensure any villager who wants to make paper can get a job there, and that the plant pays everybody's social insurance, that would be great. I'd even consider working for them."

Deputy village chief Wu Jiaqiang says he has also heard about the monopolies around Dali.

"That won't happen to us, because our village's paper association has already applied for the patent for the villagers," Wu says.

"So, even if other people learn our papermaking methods, we're still the exclusive users of the skill passed down by our ancestors."