URUMQI (Feb 8): At 24, Muyasser Aihematitoheti could have stayed in the city to build a career in commercial design, but she returned to her hometown in northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region to work with handmade mulberry bark paper that has endured for more than a millennium.
Known locally as mulberry bark paper, the craft is a national-level intangible cultural heritage. Made by hand in Moyu County, where a dry climate and abundant sunshine favor mulberry trees, the durable paper once formed part of everyday life before the digital age.
Even today, it remains a preferred material for major cultural relic restoration projects, including those at the Palace Museum or the Forbidden City.
For Muyasser, the paper is inseparable from childhood.
“It was the paper my grandfather used to keep records, and the one my grandmother used to wrap food,” she said.
As a little girl, she would crouch in her grandmother’s courtyard, watching wet sheets of paper dry on wooden frames.
Her grandmother often told her that the paper carried the same resilience as the people of Moyu, able to endure wind and sand like desert poplars.
Those memories stayed with her even as the craft began to fade. As machine-made paper spread, mulberry bark papermaking slipped toward the margins.
Master artisans grew old, younger generations looked elsewhere for work, and the labor-intensive process lost its appeal.
A turning point came in 2025, when the Moyu mulberry bark paper cultural industrial park opened, bringing together workshops, exhibition spaces and studios aimed at giving the ancient craft a contemporary footing.
The project covers 2,800 square meters and represents a total investment of 9.35 million yuan (about US$1.34 million), including 5.4 million yuan in support funds under the “pairing assistance” programme that links 18 provincial-level regions and the southern Chinese tech hub of Shenzhen with Xinjiang to promote employment and skill development.
That same summer, Muyasser graduated from Xinjiang Arts University with a degree in visual communication design.
Instead of taking a job in Urumqi, the regional capital, she returned home to work as a cultural and creative product designer at the park.
“Most of my classmates urged me to stay in the city,” she said.
“But mulberry bark paper has a texture and a vitality that machine-made paper can’t replace. I wanted to turn it from something people see in museums into something they use in daily life.”
The transition was not easy. Mulberry bark paper absorbs pigment quickly, causing colors to spread, and it tears easily.
After early failures, she sought advice from veteran papermakers, learning to work with the grain of the fibers rather than against it.
Her inspiration comes from daily life, from carved wooden doors and window lattices to grape trellises and almond blossoms along alley walls. Each finished piece is a testament to patience.
“It’s easy to make mistakes,” she said.
“But watching a plain sheet of paper become something complete is deeply satisfying.”
Her designs now include lamps, bookmarks, notebooks, fans and key chains. Beyond the studio, she uses social media to show how mulberry bark paper is made, from artisans pounding bark in traditional workshops to her own hours of sketching and painting.
As interest grows, more visitors are arriving at the park.
One tourist told Muyasser that after giving a mulberry bark paper bookmark to a friend, the friend searched online to learn more about the craft and began planning a visit to Moyu.
Another visitor from Shanghai said she had never seen such a distinctive kind of paper before and felt the works offered a glimpse of Xinjiang’s culture.
“That’s the happiest moment for me when my work leads people to discover my hometown,” Muyasser said.
The park has also created jobs for locals, drawing women and young people from nearby villages.
Mayla Wujabdulla, 22, works as a guide at the exhibition hall, earning about 3,200 yuan a month.
“The mulberry bark paper industry has helped villagers increase their incomes,” she said.
“Life feels more stable, and people are more confident.”
Regions across China are increasingly developing industries based on local strengths. In Xinjiang, cultural tourism has emerged as a growing sector, as the region draws on local strengths ranging from ice-and-snow tourism to ethnic heritage, traditional crafts and desert landscapes.
In recent years, the region has built more than 30 new cultural venues and over 380 heritage markets, exhibition halls and workshops.
Cultural tourism and related sectors now support more than 510,000 market entities and employ over 1 million people.
Tourism has risen alongside those efforts. In 2025, Xinjiang received 323 million tourist visits, with tourism spending reaching 370 billion yuan, up 8 per cent and 8.4 per cent, respectively, from a year earlier.
Moyu County has invested more than 7 million yuan in special funds to protect mulberry bark papermaking while promoting education and publications related to the craft.
“Heritage preservation isn’t something one person can do alone,” Muyasser said.
“It takes many hands.”
Muyasser has opened an online shop and ships mulberry bark paper products across the country.
Looking ahead, she plans to expand her designs, experimenting with items such as phone cases and framed artwork while maintaining the integrity of the craft.
“I hope mulberry bark paper becomes a cultural symbol of Moyu,” she said.
“Through it, I want people to better understand Xinjiang and to feel connected to this place.” – Xinhua
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