"Family, our feather duster is purely handmade. It's a great choice for dusting. Place an order quickly and try it." Walking into the e-commerce live broadcast base in Zhangmawan Village, Luannan County, Tangshan, Hebei Province, the reporter saw that the walls of the house were full of various feather dusters. Zhang Shiman and two friends sat at the table and broadcast live streaming. The villagers beside him packed goods, and the scene was busy.

On February 10, Zhang Shiman was conducting a live broadcast to sell goods. (Photo by Han Maomin)

In the first month of the year, the dust factory in Zhangmawan Village ushered in its peak production period. Zhang Shiman, a college student who returned home during the winter vacation, not only shoots some short videos about feather dusters every day and promotes them on major social media platforms. Her main task is to help the village live streaming and sell goods. So far, she has sold thousands of feather dusters of various styles.

"In the past, a feather duster cost more than 20 yuan, and I couldn't sell it a few times a day when I walked around the streets. Now it is sold online, and customers all over the country. Sometimes they can grab it as soon as they start broadcasting dozens of them." said Ma Xiuli, who is in charge of sales in the village.

The reporter learned from an interview that this small village in Jidong has 205 households and 705 people, and the history of making feather dusters can be traced back to the mid-Ming Dynasty. Every slack season, every household will put dusters on and sell some change to subsidize the household income.

"In recent years, with the emergence of various new cleaning tools, the sales of feather dusters have become narrower and narrower. Without a market and lack of innovation, this old craft is also on the verge of losing." Liu Wenhao, secretary of the Party Branch of Zhangmawan Village, told reporters.

In early 2023, the "two committees" team of Zhangmawan Village convened a meeting of party members and villagers' representatives in the village to discuss and decide to excavate and inherit the feather duster production process. After a period of market research and analysis, the village has developed more than 30 new products. The feather duster has owned the "Zhangmawan" brand and has also applied for 2 appearance patents.

On February 10, Zhang Shiman and several other returning college students were sorting out the warehouse inventory. (Photo by Han Maomin)

"When I saw that many places promote agricultural and sideline products in e-commerce live broadcast, we also decided to send feather dusters to the Internet," said Liu Wenhao.

On May 8, 2023, a short promotional video shot and produced by the village became popular on social media - the video views exceeded 10 million times that day, and 33 million times three or four days later, and the product sales were immediately opened.

A netizen raised the demand for customization after seeing the live broadcast. One of the high-end private customized feather dusters sold for 3,800 yuan, and the mini dusters of more than ten centimeters long sold for 300 yuan.

After the feather duster "flying" online, the villagers were "busy" - busy developing new products, shooting short videos, and participating in various exhibitions and competitions. Liu Wenhao said that over the past year, the feather duster made in the village has won more than 10 tourism specialty commodity awards, which has led to a group of villagers' employment at their doorstep.

Zhang Shiman was the first college student in the village to join this job. After her, many college students in the village joined in one after another. Some of them are good at video editing, some are good at advertising planning, and some are good at external contact. Not only during the winter and summer vacations, they will also use their spare time to actively help the village write copywriting, cut videos, and do marketing after school starts.

Liu Huiying, a 73-year-old veteran craftsman of Zhangmawan Village, said: "Young people have a broad vision and a arduous mind, which has made feather dusters sell again. Unexpectedly, we elderly people can still make money by craftsmanship. I earn more than 2,000 yuan a month."

On February 10, the villagers were packing feather dusters that had already placed orders. (Photo by Han Maomin)

"The feather duster has become popular, which has also driven the overall development of our village." Liu Wenhao said that in the new year, we plan to create intangible cultural heritage experience, sightseeing and picking, so that Zhangmawan Village can achieve the integrated development of agriculture, culture and tourism, and provide villagers with more income and employment opportunities. (Reporters Yang Fan and Liu Taoxiong)