A female entrepreneur helps people with disabilities escape from poverty

Tang Xiaocui arranges clothes in the display area of the Cuimeng Clothing Co. Ltd. factory in Linxia Hui autonomous prefecture, Gansu province on March 13, 2020. (Photo by Du Zheyu/Xinhua)

Tang Xiaocui, 46, is general manager of Cuimeng Clothing Co. Ltd. in Linxia Hui autonomous prefecture, Gansu province. She contracted poliomyelitis when she was seven months old and became disabled.

Tang eventually became a skillful seamstress in spite of her limited mobility. She began knitting sweaters when she was 18 in order to support her family and met a tailor named Yang Yanji when she was 22. The two got married and opened a small garment modification shop.

The business grew larger and larger as a result of the couple’s resilience and their management style and can currently produce about 80,000 sets of clothes per year. Tang and Yang employ 45 people at their Linxia factory at present, including 22 poverty-stricken residents of the prefecture, some of whom also have disabilities.

Tang has been enthusiastic about helping people who have physical impairments or are impoverished over the years, despite the hardships that she has experienced. She negotiated with her husband, and the two decided to provide jobs and training opportunities for individuals with disabilities and poverty-stricken women from rural areas. In 1999, they recruited their first apprentice with physical limitations. Tang and Yang have provided free training to more than 400 people ever since, including about 200 with disabilities and 100 who are from impoverished families.