Since entering her place, I looked at Ajiahan's work with a question in my mind. Was her inspiration of Han style? She reproduced peonies and lotuses, not arabesques, Arabic inscriptions, ogival windows, moon crescents or other Islamic or Uyghur figures like those of the adlai silk. As there were no Han embroiderers in this area to influence her, I asked her why. She couldn't answer, and seemed not to really understand what I was talking about. I didn't persist. But upon returning to Beijing, I continued my research to learn that the embroidery of doppa varies with the areas: Hotan, Kashgar, Kuqa, and Turpan, and that the Hami style is comparatively complex, colorful, bright, and showy.
When I asked Ajiahan what was the greatest difficulty of her craft, she answered that it was the fact that her son who graduated in computer science could not find a job. He since had tried to find employment through the Internet. Her three daughters were all university graduates but only one had a job; the other two worked with their mother. Obviously we had a linguistic problem. I phrased my question differently: Is embroidery difficult on the eyes? Ajiahan, who didn't wear glasses, said that it was not. When she was young, she liked to embroider very much, even at night, but her parents forbade it to save lamp oil. Her only problem currently is arthritis in her hands, which prevented her from working for several weeks in recent years.
Ajiahan is a very active businesswoman. In 2004, she had 66 students and, in 2007, 116. Presently she hires 30 women between the ages of 23 and 70 years – all village women who work mostly at home. But every day, some of them come to Ajiahan to get some work or bring back what they have finished. They are people who have lost their employment or widows, and five physically disabled persons, including four mute-and-deaf people. They learn from Ajiahan, who provides them with thread and fabric; when they successfully complete a piece, Ajiahan buys it from them and uses these embroideries as components of large works.
Business is growing. Ajiahan has already created her trademark, which is known in all of Xinjiang, and is beginning to be known in all of China and even abroad. Exporting will begin to Turkey, and perhaps Japan. This is why Ajiahan presently invests in building a series of seven small workshops with specialized functions, side-by-side, which will form a factory of almost 1,000 sq m altogether. From the money this good-hearted woman earns, a portion is used for that construction, another for helping needy students, orphans, etc.
Embroidery requires an important investment: fabric, thread, and ornaments. Ajiahan buys 20,000 yuan of thread every two months. The paper used as support in doppa making, for instance, comes from cement bags, which cost two yuan each. This paper called "cow skin" has become difficult to find now that polythene is used for packing.
Mohammed, Ajiahan's husband, retired after a career of 34 years as a high school teacher. He has cultivated a piece of land between the house and the workshops-to-be and raises four or five sheep, hens, and a donkey.
Ajiahan would not let me leave without having some tea. Calling it hulucha, she poured it from a gourd that keeps it fresh. On the immense kang Mohammed prepared large plates of watermelon, sweet melons, and Hami jujubes, all local specialties.
Later, at the restaurant, the waiter still addressed me in the Uyghur language, all the more reason that I proudly wore my doppa, souvenir of Ajiahan.
(Source: Foreign Languages Press)
