“I did not expect that these delicate cultural and creative products are from agencies for the disabled and the disabled themselves,” said Ms Zhong, a tourist from Guangdong, when entering Ningbo Canyi Artistic Store of Cultural and Creative Products (NACSCCP) located in Nantang Old Street.

NACSCCP is Ningbo’s first store to sell cultural and creative products made by the disabled, and is supported by Ningbo Disabled Persons’ Federation and Haishu Disabled Persons’ Federation. With the name “canyi” a homophone for “the art of the disabled” in Chinese, NACSCCP, which opens in May 19th 2019, serves as Zhejiang’s first such store located in major blocks to sell exclusively cultural and creative products made by the handicapped.

Inside this 49-square-meter store lie a variety of products such as woodcut pictures, fabric products, and products of intangible cultural heritages like Xiangshan button, hand-woven clothing products from Yuyao, and clay products from Fenghua.

NACSCCP is under the operation of Haishu Wugu Painting Cultural and Creative Service Center for the Disabled, the first and only provincial demonstration base in Ningbo to help the disabled by focusing on their cultural and creative products. The responsible person Mo Yimin from the center told us: “We have selected from products from hundreds of agencies for the disabled in Ningbo 50 or so kinds of cultural and creative products that come from 15 agencies for the disabled or the disabled themselves. Now they are placed in the store, mainly aiming to display cultural elements of Ningbo and of intangible cultural heritages in Ningbo.”

NACSSSP started its trial operation on January 26th, and managed to surmount 100,000 yuan by the end of the first month. With its monthly sales hovering at 150,000, the store has had some regular customers, and is now very popular in the city.

Handicapped people who make such products also benefit from the store. Li Qin, a hearing-impaired person from Haishu District, supplies fabric products to the store, and with her highest monthly income reaching 4,860, she was more than happy to comment: “I have great confidence for my future thanks to this stable selling platform, and the income that comes along with it.” The good market for the store enables the service center behind it to see a promising future. According to Mo Yimin, the store has cooperated with Yanbian in Jilin, and Zhenfeng in Guizhou to help their disabled persons to sell their cultural and creative products. “Handicrafts made of walnuts by handicapped people from Yanbian have been sold out in Ningbo,” said Mo.

(Executive Editor: Lubin WANG)