Love stitched onto tiger-head shoes

(ECNS) -- Tiger-head shoes comprise a traditional Chinese folk handicraft of footwear made for children.

People embroider these shoes with tiger patterns, hoping their children would become as robust and dynamic as the giant cats.

The shoes are usually made of cotton cloth in the lining and fine velvet on the outer layer.

Wang Haiyan, from central China's Shaanxi Province, has made thousands of such pairs of shoes over the past 30 years.

Wang said these hand-made shoes are more vivid and comfortable than machine-made products.

She believes the shoes represent the love of elders for the youth, which is also the meaning behind an intangible heritage.

As 2022 is the Year of the Tiger, Wang has received surging tiger-head shoe orders. She also teaches others to make tiger-head shoes, in the hope to pass on the craft.