EMBROIDERY is a folk art with thousands of years of history in China, but few people practice it now, as it is a craft that needs great patience and skills.

In Yantian District, Shenzhen, there is a woman who has spent over 60 years doing embroidery. "Embroidery makes me happy," said Li Guilan, 69, a delicate-featured lady who seems to be only in her 50s.

Li now lives at the Yantian Welfare Center and does embroidery every day. She lives a simple life, but never gets sick. She believes she is healthy because she embroiders in the sunshine.

Li, who started to learn embroidery from her grandmother at the age of seven, is now a famous person in embroidery circles. In 2004, a piece of her embroidery entitled "Two Tigers" won the second place at a provincial crafts competition. A Chinese map she embroidered was chosen as a gift for China's first astronaut Yang Liwei in January. Her embroidery was displayed at the First China (Shenzhen) International Cultural Industry Fair (ICIF) in 2004.

While flowers and small animals are the favorite subjects of Chinese embroiderers, Li loves embroidering oil paintings, under the influence of a Russian teacher who taught her for five years.

With the help of the teacher, Li established an embroidery school at the age of 19 in her hometown in East China's Nanjing City. "Students from the school were very popular. Many got job offers even before they completed the three-month training courses," said Li.

During the Cultural Revolution, her school was forced to close, but Li did not stop embroidering. She embroidered many famous oil paintings from 1966 to 1970, and she sold them to an English teacher at Nanjing University who took them home. "The teacher gave me all his salary to buy my embroidery. When he returned to his home, he had to borrow money to buy a flight ticket," Li recalled.

In 1970, Li married and moved to Hubei Province with her husband. Her husband's work unit - a factory under the Ministry of Aerospace - offered her many different kinds of jobs, but she chose to be a storekeeper, in order to have more time for embroidering. During that period, she needle-painted 12 portraits for the 12 main female characters in the Dream of Red Mansion, one of the most four best-known novels in ancient China.

To Li, embroidery is not only something that makes her happy, but also a way to help others. In the 1990s, she adopted six disabled orphans in Nanjing City and taught them embroidery. "They have found jobs abroad and are now living a good life," Li said.

Li became a fulltime teacher for disabled children in 1988, when the Guangzhou School for Deaf and Mute Children invited her to the school. She later taught at Nanjing Special Education School from 1991 to 1995. In 1996, she joined Shenzhen Yuanping Special Education School and taught more than 300 students in six years.

In 2002, Li left China to live with her son in Australia. "When I was in Australia, I found that all the disabled people have jobs. Why can't I help disabled children get job?" said Li, who returned to Shenzhen soon and decided to set up an embroidery workshop.

Li said most of her 300 students in Shenzhen could not find a job upon graduation although they were good at embroidery. "As long as they have an embroidery job, they will be able to support themselves," said Li, who is looking for a partner to set up such a workshop.

Editor: Wing