When Xiang Xiuping was a little girl, she lived beside a road that local Miao ethnic people traveled on (go) to the market, and noticed how beautiful and delicate their traditional clothes were. From then on, she became interested in Miao embroidery(刺绣)， she belongs to the Tujia ethnic group. She began collecting Miao embroidery (piece) in 1990. After she was laid off from a tobacco factory in 2000，she opened embroidery workshop that employed workers who also lost their jobs. Since then, all her earnings (use) to buy embroidery for her collection. "The works are not only art, but also a silent language that (tell) the history of a civilization, "she said. The star piece in the shop is a 148-meter-longembroidery (finish) in March 2013. It was designed by Xiang and took 48 women, including Xiang, 26 months to complete. The work shows an old man in a Miao village telling stories of the ethnic group's history the prehistoric age until today. Xiang spent about 10ycars (gather) the stories.
