'We're living in a great era': Meet the Dulong women with facial tattoos

"We're living in a great era." These words from a Dulong woman with traditional facial tattoos capture the simplest kind of happiness and bear witness to the sweeping changes of Dulongjiang township in Lisu Autonomous Prefecture of Nujiang, southwest China's Yunnan Province. Today, the Dulong people have emerged from poverty as an entire ethnic group, Dulong blankets have found new life as cultural and creative products, and local residents are enjoying increasingly prosperous lives.

From facial tattoos to cultural and creative products, from memories of the past to the revitalization of intangible cultural heritage, Dulong blankets are woven thread by thread into something more than textiles. They are the growing prosperity and brighter future of communities along the Dulong River.