Vol. 02
Colour China A Place We All Call Home 56 Ethnic Groups, 56 Flowers
Patterns Come From Life Stamps of 56 Ethnic Groups of China
Silver Accessories of Miao
Englisgh / Issue 2, 2017 国内统一刊号 CN32-0110 国外发行代号 WT0110T 邮发代号 27-119
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PREFACE China is a unified multi-ethnic country since ancient times. After the founding of the people’s Republic of China in 1949, a total of 56 ethnic groups have been identified by the central government. Since the Han nationality is the largest population in China, the other ethnic groups are relatively small, which is commonly referred to as ethnic minorities. China is one of the most populous countries in the world. Due to the geographical environment, climate, customs, economic, cultural and other reasons, China’s ethnic minorities have formed many different styles after a long period of development, making it more colourful, with distinctive characteristics of national costumes. These ethnic costumes draw inspiration from nature. People of ethnic minorities in many generations incorporated objects in the nature such as the moon, the stars, mountains and rivers, birds and beasts, etc., into their artistic designs and expressed them in the national costume. From the tinkling silver wares to delicately beautiful patterns, they all record the ups and downs in the course of history, each frame is the most vivid heritage of national culture.
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Colourful China A Place We All Call Home
Colourful China is a program initiated by State Ethnic Affairs Commission in the course of cultural exchange. In the past two decades, the program has been seen in nearly twenty countries and regions in Europe, Asia, America and South Pacific, making huge contribution in promoting Chinese culture and maintaining world peace in the process.
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At a time when people celebrating the 60th anniversary of Yunjin Institute, 20th anniversary of the Chinese Brocade Village and its 5th anniversary of being nominated as National Patriotic Education Base, Yunjin Institute in Nanjing is witnessing an exhibition named Colourful China—A Place We All Call Home. The exhibition is themed the development of human society, cultural diversity and common prosperity of all ethnic groups. 400 items were displayed in an area of 1400 square meters, including the costumes, architecture and artistic pieces of different ethnicities. The opening ceremony of the exhibition also showcased the non-tangible skills and craftsmanships of different ethnic groups
pieces and time-honoured craftsmanship are all making the Chinese culture more kaleidoscopic and diverse. The exhibition promotes people’s understanding and tolerance between different ethnic cultures and they argued that everyone is obliged to learn them, study them and pass the culture to the coming generations. One of the comments writes: the 56 ethnic groups in China are 56 flowers blossoming in a garden, witnessing the vicissitudes of civilizations and dynasties throughout the history. Every piece of cloth records the history of an ethnicity, and every page of picture is a playback of the past prosperity. Our visiting experience is a time travel and we were amazed and impressed by the colourful culture in our country.
Most ethnic groups in China have retained their unique traditional cultures, albeit thousands years of social economic changes. Their languages, mysterious religions, musical style, architectures, special festivals, wedding customs, food cultures, literature, artistic
The exhibition was based on the concept of multi-dimensional, back to nature and multimedia display, showing the colourful ethnic cultures and ethnic policies to the audience.
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Three-dimensional exhibition
Back to nature
Approximately 500 items created by ethnic
The premise of the exhibition is of open style, making it easier for the audience to appreciate the items in close range. In static exhibition presents the exquisite handmade knitting wears and clothes made of fish leather and bark. In motional exhibition, the singing performance from Guizhou and Nuotang Opera left deep impression to the audience.
groups were displayed, including characters, costumes, religions, architectures, food, sports and songs, to illustrate their unique lifestyle and culture.
Multi-media display The exhibition was conducted with both physical items and virtue display, meeting the needs of different audience and making the exhibition more interesting. The audience were impressed by the exotic dance and costumes during the weekly show, and people are sharing the show live on social media platform such as Weibo and WeChat. The public account have updated 11 times and registered by 3927 fans online.
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Back to people The exhibition aims at publicizing the national policies of ethnic groups to people in Shanxi Province, introducing the knowledge of costumes of different ethnicities to achieve common understanding and prosperity. The displayed items were close to people’s daily lives, fitting peoples tastes, and were well received by people for its weekly live show.
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Bai
56 Ethnic Groups 56 Flowers
Bai people adore the colour of white. That’s why you find white is the main colour of their jackets and trousers is white, or light green, light blue. Bai women love colourful embroidered bags, waistbands, kerchiefs, shoes and so on.
Jing
China’s 56 ethnic groups, like the 56 flowers, are distributed in various parts of China, dotted on the land of China. China’s 56 ethnic costumes are with their own characteristics, and they are shining with numerous colours, blooming with charm.
Miao Miao people are living far and wide in China with many different branches. Their clothes vary from region to region. Women of Miao are usually wearing cropped tops and pleated skirt. Miao clothes are mainly made from linen, wax dyed and embroidered, and skirts are usually in white and light blue. They are characteristically Miao costume in material, colour, style and embroidery. Miao accessories, include silver ornaments on head, neck and chest, are quite unique amongst all the other Chinese ethnic groups.
Bouyei Bouyei men like to wear
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short, long-sleeved jackets that button down the front accompanied by long trousers, with scarves of black, blue or printed lattice wrapped around their heads. Bouyei women tend to wear a front-buttoned jacket and long trousers; the edges of their jackets and trousers are inlaid with lacework.
Dong Dong men usually wear short jackets with buttons down the front, accompanied by long trousers. They also wear blue kerchiefs, which are around 3 meters long and are coiled around the head. In festivals, they wear silver hats and some other silver accessories.
Jing people’s clothes are easy to recognize, which is simple and elegant. Jing men like to wear a narrow-sleeved gown that reaches the knees with an open front and long and wide trousers. Jing women hang a piece of rhombic cloth to cover the chest, a narrow-sleeved collarless succinct short gown buttoned down the front and a pair of long and wide black or brown trousers.
Li Men of the Li ethnic minority usually wear collarless jacket that button down the front, accompanied with long trousers. Li women dress differently from region to region, some of them wear black round collar jacket, accompanied with various accessories, such as embroidered white and green beads around collars, cuffs and hems decorated with patterns of shells, human figures, animals or plants, they love to use little beads to create colourful patterns on the fabric.
• Costume of Miao Ethnic Group
Wa Costume of the Wa ethnic minority varies from place to place. In Ximeng area of Yunnan Province, men usually wear collarless short jackets and loose, short trousers, both of which are mainly black or blue. They usually have their hair cut short, wrapped with black, blue, white or red scarves around head. Wa men tend to wear chaplets and bracelet made of bamboos and silver, taking shoulder bags and long knives when going out. Wa women tend to have long hair, wear V-neck collar, sleeveless short jacket, accompanied with red and black stripes skirts, decorated with hoops made of bamboo, bines or silver around the waist, neck, arms and legs.
She Clothes of the She men tend to wear dyed linen short jacket with round neck collar that buttons down to the front, accompanied with long trousers. The Phoenix Dress which symbolized “all the best” is the typical costume for women.
ethnic minority wear clothes in various styles made of linen and cotton fabric. Men generally have their head wrapped in black cloth, and wear a shawl with broad waistband. Cuffs, collar, waist, hem are usually
long bottom style, and exposed style. Gaoshan people are fond of accessories, such as shells, animal teeth, feathers, animal skins, flowers, coins, bamboo tubes, so they always dress themselves in various colours.
decorated with coloured
Gaoshan
embroideries. Women clothes
Aboriginals of the Gaoshan
long bottom style, long top-
has three main types, short top-
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• Costume of Zhuang Ethnic Group
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Zhuang The typical clothes for Zhuang men is a traditional Chinese style jacket with buttons down the front, with cloth knot buttons. There’s a pair of small pockets sewed to the chest and another two bigger ones to the belly. The jacket has an inwardly-folded broad hem and two slits at the hem in symmetry on the left and right. Zhuang men wear a kind of knee-length wide pants instead of long pants, with some wearing leg wrappings and a embroidered headband. Zhuang women’s clothes are usually navy blue or dark blue right-lapelled jacket with a short collar, cuffs, and lapel are usually embroidered. They traditionally wear a pair of black baggy pants, or black pleated skirt with embroidery and colourful cloth, as well as embroidered black scarves wrapping the head and an elaborate apron tied to the waist. When going to a fair or during festivals, they wear embroidered shoes. Most Zhuang women like to wear embroidered shoulder pads. Their hairstyle varies from regions to regions. They all dress their own woven cloths.
Shui Men of the Shui ethnic minority mostly wear casual clothes with cloth buttons down the front, long pants, blue cloths
wrapped around heads, and straw sandals or cloth shoes. Shui women like to wear blue gown with round-collar, long pants, blue embroidered apron and shoes. Women arrange their hair into a bunch, wrap the head with a piece of white or navy cloth. When festival comes, they wear various silver accessories.
Dongxiang Dongxiang men usually wear robes with buttons down the left and broad waistband, with knives, and snuff bottles. Dongxiang women usually wear embroidered broad-sleeved clothes with a neckline around the collar, buttons down the front and embroidered lace on the cuffs. Colourful woven silk cap or embroidered cloth cap and veils as well.
Naxi Naxi people use self-woven linen or coarse cloth to make clothes. Young people love to wear white, while the elders wear black, to explain their binary views of cosmology.
Bulang
collared jacket that buttons down the front and a pair of long loose pants.
Jingpo Jingpo people love the colour of black, so they always dress themselves in black. Men wear black short jacket buttons down the front, short and wide pants. The elders wrapped black cloths around the head, while the young wrapped white ones.
Tu Men of Tu ethnic minority love garments with embroidery, black or red lace. Tu women’s clothes are always made from black, violet or black lace cloth. They tend to wear colourful dresses with elaborate waistband.
Qiang Qiang people’s traditional clothes are linen robes and sheepskin waistcoat, which could be wear in two ways, when it’s sunny, they wear fur inside, while it rains, they wear fur outside to keep water away. They also bind their legs and wrap their heads.
Bulang women generally wear patterned tops and pailform skirts. They adore black and blue, arrange their hair in a bun with decorated green beads as well as shell earloops down to the shoulder. Bulang men dress themselves with a blue round-
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• Costume of Tibetan Ethnic Group
Tibetan Tibetan garments play important role in Tibetan culture. Men in farming area generally wear black and white pulu or serge Tibetan robes. They wear white shirts topped with loose gowns, tied with coloured cloth or silk waistband. Women robes are made from the same material as men’s, but winter robe has long sleeves while summer robe is sleeveless. They wear silk shirts inside, with a coloured woollen apron called ‘Bangdian’. Men in grazing area mostly wear loose leather robe with wide sleeves, the front, cuffs and hems are trimmed with velvet or wool, accompanied with waistband.
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Tibetan women wears leather robe, and an apron with red, blue and green wool embroidered hem. All men and women wear woollen or leather boots, exquisite accessories made of jewels, gold, silver, bronze, jade or ivory are always wore around hair, hand, chest, waist.
Salar Salar men usually wear white gown and black waistcoat, with red or green waistband and black or blue pants. They also coil black or white cloth around the head. Salar women like to wear colourful tops with black jacket and violet waistcoat, accompanied with long pants and embroidered shoes.
Nu Nu people’s traditional clothes are long gown, long pants that reach the knees. They like to wear waistband and arrange it like a pouch to carry little things. Nu people have long hair but would coil it with blue or white cloth. They also use linen to wrap legs. Women dress right-lapelled tops and long skirts that reach the ankle, topped with black or red waistcoat.
Gelao Both women and men wear skirts, women wear long skirt while men wear short ones. Skirts are made of a patterned cloth, wrapped around waist
• Costume of Tibetan Ethnic Group
with no pleats, so the skirt is called ‘barrel skirt’. Gelao men wear short jackets, while women wear short or long tops, with short jackets, or short front long back gown. They usually use fabrics like ko-hem cloth, linen, wool, silk, and cotton. Men like to wrap the head with long kerchiefs, while women wrapped with printed cloth.
Maonan Maonan men in the past used to wear Tang suit or jackets either buttoned down the front or on one side. Women wore
jackets buttoned on the right side with three black laces and trousers inlaid with red or black embroidered margins.
Xibe Xibe men generally wear long gown buttons down the front or short jacket. The gowns are usually made in blue, navy or brown, right-lapelled, with side slits and blue waistband. Women’s gown are similar with men’s, but collar, cuff, front have embroidery. They also like to wear red, green, pink one piece dress with pleats, topped with short waistcoat.
Achang Achang men usually dress jacket buttons down the front, accompanied with black long pants, ‘Tongpa’ bag and ‘Husa’ knife. Unmarried women generally wear short tops and long pants, arrange hair in a bun on the top of the head, while married women wear short tops, pail-form skirts that reach the knees. They coil their pigtails with black or blue cloth, adorned with silver accessories. Married women also wear dress with narrow sleeves and buttons down the front.
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Jino
Yao people’s clothes vary from different clans. Men mostly wear navy blue short jackets buttons down the front, some wear cheongsam and pants with different length. They wrapped legs and hair with cloths. Women dress jacket buttons down the front, tie with waistband. Some wear roundcollar short jacket accompanied with pleated skirt, and some others wear cheongsam and trousers. Yao clothes are usually decorated with geometric patterns, while headwear is quite outstanding, they have dragon shape, A shape, swallow shape. Yao people are good at dyeing and have their own method of Indigo dyeing. Yao clothes are all made from their self-woven cloth, and they usually dye them into red, green, yellow, white and black. Yao clothes are always featured with cross lace stitch, embroidery, brocade and candle dyeing.
Jino men tend to wear white jacket with round collar, buttons down the front,and wide trousers reach the knees. They wrap their heads with long cloth, and wear earring made of bamboo or silver. Jino women usually wear short jacket with round collar with the upper sleeves made of black or white cloth while the lower part of cloth in seven colours. Inside the jacket there is bellybandlike corsetry decorated with bright-colored stripes and embroidered with various patterns.
Hani Hani people favour black and master indigo dyeing. Hani men wear button-front tops and long pants, coil head with blue and white cloths. Hani women’s clothes vary among different clans. Hani women in Honghe area wear right-lapelled jacket with round collar, accompanied with long trousers. Hani women in Mojiang area wear jackets topped with capes, short pants reach to knees, and wrap legs.
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• Costume of Yao Ethnic Group
Yao
De’ang De’ang men generally wear black tops buttons down the front, accompanied with short wide pants. They wear black and white kerchief with coloured balls hanging at both sides. The most outstanding feature of De’ang women’s clothing is the waist hoop and multicoloured pompoms.
Mongolian
Hui
The Mongolian clothing include jewellery, long robe, waistband, boots and so on. The Mongolians, no matter their age and gender, wear long robes, in spring and autumn time, they wear lined robe, in summer, they wear single robe, while in winter, they wear cotton-waded robe or fur-lined robe.
Hui women tend to wear a head covering that covers the head and shoulders entirely, leaving only the face exposed. The colour of the head covering varies with age. Young women usually wear green head coverings, middle-aged women navy and old women white.
Hezhe
Monpa
Drung
Fishskin outfit is signature in Hezhe’s clothing. Hezhe people like to use the skin of bighead fish, salmon and carp to make clothes, Wula shoes, waistband, leggings, apron, gloves, bags and so on. Both Hezhe men and women like to wear buttonfront long gown, toped with waistcoat or short jacket.
Monpa people wear ochreous
Drung people have outstanding accessories, both men and women like to wear bracelet and waist hoop made from red-dyed bamboo. Men carry machete, crossbow and quiver when going out, while women cover their heads with printed scarves and wear necklace made from beads.
Tibetan style pulu long robe, tied with waistband. They also wear caps with a brown top, an orange edge and a gap on the brim. Monpa people’s boots are usually made from red and black pulu, with calfskin sole.
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• Costume of Lisu Ethnic Group
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Lisu
Mulam
Tatar
Lisu men often wear linen jacket with black trousers that reach the knees. They wear black kerchief and coral earbob through the left earlap,and carry leather arrow bag and machete. In Dehong area, Lisu men carry long knife and handmade printed bag with red and green pompoms, they also wear shell collar and white leggings. Most women wear pleated skirts, some wear black trousers and aprons, blue kerchief and handmade bag. There’s a signature Lisu headpiece called ‘o le’, making from white clam and red and white coral beads.
Mulam women usually wear button-fronted jacket and long trousers. Young girls do braids while married ones do buns. Old women like to coil head with blue cloth, and wear elaborate patterned arpon. Men wear button-fronted jacket and long trousers, accompanied with bowl-shaped blue cap made from six pieces triangle cloth.
Men of Tatar ethnic minority group often wear white pullover shirt with wide sleeves and embroidery, topped with black waistcoat, or they like to wear buttonless black tops and black tight long trousers. Tatar women wear coloured caps decorated with beads, and large veils over the caps. They adorn themselves with all sorts of ornaments such as earrings, bangles, rings, necklace and so on.
Ewenki
Bonan Bonan men often wear white gown, blue waistcoat, black, blue or grey long trousers, and a white cap. Women dress front-buttoned corduroy gown and waistcoat, usually in purple and green.
Ewenki people’s clothes are usually adorned with cloth or sheepskin ornaments. They love blue and black outfit with waistband.
Women in Banna and Lancang dress short skirt, long pailform skirt or pleated skirt with leggings.
Lhola
Kazak
Lhoba men tend to wear Tibetan style pulu robe, topped with wool waistcoat that reach the abdomen, and wrap the back with a piece of urus skin, tied with leather strings on the shoulder. Women usually wear collarless, narrow-sleeved linen jacket buttoned down the front. Tight tube-shape skirt reaching beyond the knees is often worn. They also use ribbons to wrap legs.
Kazak men usually wear leather coats, leather trousers, shirt, long pants, waistcoats and Chapan robe. Kazak women wear dresses made from silk, printed cloth and wool. They favour red, green and light blue. Unmarried or newlywed women like to wear colourful one piece dress, with embroidered cuffs and hem. Women’s hat and scarf are particularly designed.
Yi Yi clothing is always black or dark blue, accompanied with red and yellow. It is related with their love in black, red and yellow. Yi people regard black as strength and tenacity, red as their fire which they worship, and yellow as kind-hearted and friendship.
Uzbek Uzbek men like to wear satin pullover shirt with shortsleeves. Red, green and blue embroidery laces are also added to collars, front openings and cuffs of their shirts. Women wear silk shirt and one piece dress, old women’s dress is pleated and loose, the colour is usually plain. Uzbek people wear ‘duo pi’ caps all year round.
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Manchu Manchus wear cheongsams all year round, Chi-pao is one of the most distinctive type. Chipao in the early period were long vest shape, later it became wide and tube shape, reaching to toes. Collar, front, cuffs
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have wide rims for decorating
In the past, Manchu men kept
purpose. Waistcoat is the most
long hair and had it plaited
important part of Manchu
into braids. Manhcu women
clothing, it is always well-
had various hair styles, plaited
made with multicoloured lace
into braids or buns. Manchu
trimmings and embroidered
people see crimson as lucky
flower pattern. Head ornament
colour, white is also favoured by
is signature in Manchu clothing.
Manchu, so it is always found in
• Costume of Manchu Ethnic Group
decorative trimmings. Manchu women are good at embroidery, that’s why their clothes, shoes, purse and pillows are always embroidered with patterns of phoenix, dragon, crane, deer, flower and grass.
the Oroqens, including hats, shoes and socks, as well as daily use products, are made of roe skins. Both men and women wear long robes in winter, women’s robe reach toes and is sidesplitting.
Kirgiz
Tu
Kirgiz men usually wear a white roundcollared shirt with embroidered laces, topped with collarless cheongsam called ‘Qia Pan’, laced with black cloth around the cuffs. Their short jacket has standing collar and buttons down the front. They tie clothes with leather belts. Wide leg trousers are always worn for the convenience of riding horses. Kirgiz women wear a wide collarless jacket buttoned down the front and a black waistcoat or a collarless long gown over the jacket, accompanied with pleated long skirt or one-piece dress, topped with leather or cloth waistcoat.
Tu men used to wear button-fronted jacket and blue kerchief. Women wear left-lapelled jacket with three decorative trimmings and wide sleeves, accompanied with trimmed tube trousers or eight-cloth pleated skirt. They like to wear ornaments made of gold, silver and jade.
Lahu Lahu clothing prefers black. Men wear button-fronted short jacket and black long pants, accompanied with black cap or kerchief. Lahu women wear black open-fronted, long-slited cheongsam.
Uygur Uygur men tend to wear embroidered shirt, topped with tilted-collar and buttonless ‘Qia Pan’, which reach beyond the knees, tied with waistband. The climate in North of Xinjiang is always cold, so Uygur people wear coats with buttons. Uygur women wear one-piece dresses topped with embroidered waistcoat. Both men and women like to wear embroidered caps and long leather boots.
Han
Oroqen
Both Yugur men and women wear high-collared long gown. Men wear red and blue waistband, carry waist sword, flint and small Buddha, while women wear high-collared slited long gown, usually in green and blue. Collar,
The Oroqen people used to live on hunting. The long history of hunting life influenced the creation of their unique dressing culture. Clothing of
Han people take up 92% Chinese population, spread over the country. Han clothing originated from Yellow Emperor’s Mianfu, established in Zhou Dynasty, and finished through Four Books and Five Classics in Han Dynasty.
Yugur
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Korean Korean men usually wear tiltedfront, left-lapelled short jacket with wide sleeves, accompanied with long baggy trousers. When going out, they like to wear tilted-front long robe with no buttons, but with knots made of long cloth. In the past, they used to wear knitted-hat, nowadays young men wear flat caps, while men of middle or old age wear felt hat. Children’s top sleeves are usually made with seven-coloured satin like rainbows. Women wear short jackets and long skirts, they called it ‘Ze’ and ‘Qima’. They favoured yellow, white and pink. Korean shoes developed from clogs, zori, straw sandals, hempen sandals, to modern rectangular plastic shoes, as well as women’s boat-shaped plastic shoes with pointed head, are quite distinct from others.
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• Costume of Korean Ethnic Group
cuffs, slits and front are usually embroidered.
Daur
Russian
Daur clothing is mainly gown. Men wear leather hats, leather trousers, leather boots and long gown. Women in the early time wear leather trousers, leather boots, and leather jacket. After Qing dynasty, they wear cotton clothes. Blue, black and grey are Daur clothing’s major colours, old women like to wear long gowns topped with waistcoat.
Russian men often wear pullover shirts reach beyond knees and tight-leg trousers. In spring and autumn, they wear tweed jacket or long gown, in winter they wear sheepskin short jacket or leather jacket. During festivals young men like to wear colourful shirts. In summer, women tend to wear coarse cloth shirt, topped with sleeveless, high-waist long
robe buttons down the front, accompanied with woollen long skirt.
Tajik Tajik men tend to wear shirt, topped with collarless black long coat buttons down the front, in winter, they wear sheepskin coat. Tajik women wear one-piece dress all year
round, topped with overcoat in winter.
waistcoat. They plaited hair into braids.
Pumi
Dai
Pumi women’s clothing has its own style at different areas. Women in Lanping and Weixi often wear white short jacket button down the front, accompanied with long trousers and aprons, topped with dark brown embroidered
Dai people live at subtropical area in Yunnan province. Men often wear short round-collared jackets with buttons down the front, accompanied with long trousers and white or blue kerchief. Short jackets with narrow sleeves and pailform
skirts are the main clothes for women. They wear different hair styles.
Hani Most Hani people live in the south of Yun Nan. Hani men wear jacket buttons down the front, long pants and black or white kerchief. Women wear cotton dress, long or short trousers.
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Patterns come from life
People of different ethnicities in different times would have different creative works based on the same topic. Dragon, phoenix, sea water or even grass would be depicted with different characteristics. Patterns are usually used as decoration on clothes, and they are designed with great care to make people’s lives more enjoyable. People created and designed the patterns, and the patterns cultivate people’s mind in return. These are something in Chinese traditional clothes pattern, which can directly reflect features of life. Even though topics and patterns
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can vary from one another, most of the patterns come from objective origins. These various patterns all come from a fundamental one, which has evolved, developed and expanded throughout the history. Thousands of years ago, a vague appearance of concept of balance, symmetry and other patterns could be seen from Upper Cave Men’s artifacts and stone tools. It is common to see patterns of animals on stone tools, arrows or rods as well as on ships, carriages or buildings in primitive period. These are records of ancient people’s hunting life; while patterns of plants reflect people’s farming
life in agrarian society. Patterns come from life. Influenced by region, history and culture, clothes of different ethnic groups are different. But in terms of clothes patterns, they have a similar tendency: all ethnic groups see our nature as their muse. By copying the sun, the moon, the stars, mountains, rivers, flying birds, roaming animals, beautiful flowers and exotic grass, they merged nature into their clothes patterns. Their clothes patterns include animals, plants and people like embroidery patterns in Manchu clothes. The specific patterns covers dragon, phoenix, crane,
deer and other animals which symbolize good luck as well as flowers, grass and other plants which indicate happiness and other scenes of life. Our clothes patterns have their ups and downs in the history before more of them are created. Some are simple and solemn; some are sophisticated and gorgeous; some are exquisite and elegant; some are colorful and shining‌ The formation of ethnic clothes patterns reflects the national characteristics of a certain ethnic group from aesthetic perspective. Different shapes of patterns such as geometrical patterns are usually determined by the way a piece of cloth is knitted. When the shape and location of a certain pattern involves great knitting works, the pattern is expressed as a geometrical object on the cloth. Knitting with colourful thread, whereas, is another knitting technique making the same shape of patterns. Unlike the free style natural patterns have, geometrical patterns are more rigid, regular, symmetrical and geometrically beautiful.
and aesthetics are united.
Clothes of ethnic groups are tailored on solid colored cloth; and it is decorated using dye and colorful threads to tint, embroider, inlay and knit all kinds of patterns. All these patterns are knitted, inlaid or dyed on the most noticeable or vulnerable parts so as to protect clothes; on the other hand they are used as decorations. Thus, the usability
Chinese ethnic patterns are full of variations, making the patterns more connected with people’s emotional feelings. They combined abundance with richness, happiness with reunion, love with kindness and expressed these ideas to full extent. Two-dimensional patterns were segmented, into reality and virtuality, into disorder and systematicality,
into beats and rhymes, all united in the common appreciation of beauty by different ethnic groups. With profound cultural intension, these patterns appear in clothes by different rules, bringing us unique aesthetic appreciation of national clothes. Our history, culture, folk charm and exotic mystery have their own images on patterns of clothes.
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Stamps of 56 Ethnic Groups in China
On 1st October 1999, a collection of stamps representing the 56 Chinese ethnic groups living in unity and harmony was issued in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the People’s Republic of China. The collection has 56 stamps in total, each representing one ethnic group. They come on one page with 44.8 Yuan of its face value. It was told that it takes 10 years from its design to issuance, which is unprecedented in the history of Chinese stamps. A special team called 9956 program was built, which means 56 nationalities in the year of 1999, to ensure the task can be finished. The stamp collection, which demonstrates the harmonious coexistence of 56 nationalities, has set many precedencies, such as the great number of personnel involved, the long period it took, and 56 stamps emblazoned on one page. Moreover, the number of stamps in one collection has also broken the world record. The designer of the stamps, professor Xiuqing Zhou from Department of Fine Arts, Minzu University of China, along with her daughter Xiang Jin, spent more than a year to finish the design. They drew their inspiration from the characteristic ethnic costumes, combined with the dance and music of different nationalities. Our national boasts a great number of nationalities, and each ethnic group has many different branches, and each branch is different from one another in terms of custom and costume. In her designing process, professor Zhou picked up the most quintessential branch, and express its unique culture on the stamps with great care. Taken the ethnic costume as an example, every bit of details have been confirmed by people from that specific ethnic group in Yunnan, Guangxi, Xinjiang, Tibet and Inner Mongolia, and have to be inspected by the experts from State Nationalities Affairs Commission. Therefore, every piece of stamp was designed with great care and was made a vivid expression of the given ethnic culture.
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Silver accessories of Miao In Yunnan Province, there live many ethnic groups. Women and children will wear accessories with characteristics of their own culture to go to grand fairs of the city or celebrate festivals. Among all these accessories, silver has taken a leading part. Among all the ethnic groups, Miao people use silver the most. Through their silver accessories, Miao people present a unique culture phenomenon, combining the material and spiritual civilization of the nation, which penetrates totemism, religious witchcraft, history migration and folk life. Silver accessories of Miao people epitomize silver accessories of Chinese culture.
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Almost all kinds of silver accessories can be found in Miao clothes and they differ from region to region. Silver head-wear is of vital importance, for instance, the famous “Grand Silver Crown” of Miao people in southeast of Guizhou. The design has its origin of their ancestor Chiyou, who is believed to have “horns” on his head. Thus, people wear this silver crown in order to worship their ancestors and gain protection. When a girl reaches the age of puberty, she must be fully
dressed with silver accessories to attend all grand festivals of Miao people. A fully dressed up Miao woman will wear silver accessories which weigh up to 10-15 kilograms. A married woman will take off all her silver accessories except for several ones such as hairpin, earrings and bracelet. Also, Miao people believe that silver accessories should be heavy, the heavier the prettier. Miao women got their ear piercing since childhood; poles will be used to enlarge the pierced ears so that they will get larger and larger to make sure they could wear popular wheel-shaped earrings. The local earing can weigh as much as grams so Miao people will use the weight to lengthen their earlobes. Besides, Miao people also attach much importance to the quantity of accessories, the more the better. They will wear three to four earrings, which overlap with each other and hang down on the shoulder as well as three to four necklaces, which could even conceal
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their neck; they will also wear accessories around their waist. So if a Miao woman wears a whole set of accessories she must be stunning and glamorous.
Several kilograms of Miao silver are need for a set of custommade dowry of Miao silver. Every Miao girl will wear her own set of jewelry including crowns, bracelets, necklace, bangles and so on. When her big day comes, pretty Miao girl will wear all of them. Since silver is a symbol of wealth and affluence, her parents think the more silver accessories she is wearing, the happier she will be. Since Han Dynasty, Yunnan Province has abounded with silver. In 1328, the silver production of Yunnan was 1839 kilograms, accounting for the 47% of the volume nationwide. Yunnan people can proudly call their hometown “Yinnan� (Silver town). As for making silver accessories, it started to thrive from Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. Because ethnic groups in Yunnan
preserve their own clothes and accessories, we can still see abundant traditional silver accessories in the museum.
popular way in Yunnan silver accessories. The third one is filigree craft with inlaying, tiantsui and enamel.
With their wisdom and experience, Yunnan silver craftsmen blend indigenous Yunnan flavour with silver to inherit culture of the Central Plains. It is indeed a millstone in the development of silver accessories. The craftsmanship of Yunnan silver is commonly divided into three types. The first one includes molding and then carving. Most silver accessories in Ming Dynasty are crafted by combining molding and carving. The second one is forging, which the most
Miao silverware is usually decorated with white jade, green jade, yellow jade, jadeite, calaite, malachite, agate, lamber, crystal pebble, pearl, ivory and muntiacus tooth. The elegance of a piece of silverware is to a larger extent determined on the craftsmanship than its design. The silverware in Yunnan in nowadays is no longer as good as those pieces passed down from previous generations. Many critical techniques haven been missing.
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