Maker of traditional umbrellas seeks successors

In a small town of Xiangtan, Hunan province, oil-paper umbrellas, a traditional Chinese craft, has turned into a multimillion-yuan industry.

Shigu township has a history of making oil-paper umbrellas going back more than 600 years. The town has more than 50 enterprises making and selling the umbrellas, with more than 10 million umbrellas sold to countries and regions in Southeast Asia, Europe and North America.

Zhou Hanyu, a local craftsman, said he is the fifth-generation oil-paper umbrella maker in his family. It takes at least five days to make one umbrella, which undergoes 82 procedures, he said.

One big problem for Zhou is to find young people interested in making the umbrellas.

"Most of the young people at the town are studying or working in cities, and only seniors stay in the town to make umbrellas," he said.

To promote craftsmanship, Zhou has visited more than 30 primary and middle schools in Changsha and Xiangtan. More than 50,000 students have visited the oil-paper umbrella center he founded.

Zhou Hanyu's son Zhou Le has made videos of the umbrella-making process and posted them on social media platforms. He also uses e-commerce platforms to sell the umbrellas — 400 per day, with annual sales reaching 7 million yuan ($960,000).

According to local authorities, the oil-paper umbrella industry in Shigu might reach 250 million yuan this year. More than 8,000 people are involved.