Heritage

Miao costume

(chinaculture.org)
Updated: 2007-11-27 11:10

Women's Costume

The typical costume of the Miao women is popular in the Miao villages in Changning county of Baoshan city, Yunnan province.

Miao women pay much attention to the design, color and style of their costume. They often wear a hair bun tied with a red silk ribbon or batik or embroidered, angular kerchief. The collarless gowns are buttoned down the front or on the right and are embroidered with floral patterns. They often use homespun flax to make clothes. They embroider various patterns on the flax and attach much importance to symmetry and layout. Generally, shirts made of flax reach the insteps. In some places, shirts are short and only reach the knees.

Girls and unmarried women usually wear blue clothes, while middle- and old-aged women usually wear black clothes with white and blue waistbands.

The Miaos wear leggings, adorn their chests with a silver badge, wear silver earrings and earbobs, and a wooden floray cap in the shape of a round plate and inlaid with silver flowers.

Men's Costume

Most Miao men wear a short gown buttoned down the front and a large bamboo hat, or wrap their heads with black cloth. In some places, men wear a long, high-collared linen gown buttoned down the right side or a collarless long gown buttoned down the front and embroidered with colorful designs on the cuffs. In some places, men wear a collarless long gown buttoned down the front without colorful patterns around the cuffs, white waistcloth and white or blue trousers.

Silver Adornments

The Miao people have partiality for silver adornments because they regard silver as a symbol of wealth. Silver adornments are beautiful, durable and easy to make. What's more, silver symbolizes a light, healthy atmosphere. It can drive out evil spirits, get rid of disasters and bring good fortune. Some rich decoration is over 20 to30 jins (Chinese weight unit, 1 jin = 500 g), and it makes the whole body sparkle and shine with silvery light.

The Miao silver adornments include: silver hat, silver horns, silver combs, silver earrings, ear columns, ear pendants, neckbands, necklaces, inferior collars, bracelets and rings, which are very dazzling and extraordinarily splendid. Most of them are handmade by Miao silversmiths. Skills and methods employed are casting, hammering, plaiting, cutting flowers and carving lines. Animal and patterns are mostly dragons, phoenixes, flowers and birds, very lively and delicately exquisite.

The silver hat is the main decoration of Miao women's rich dress, and it is generally composed of horse-tablet head surroundings, silver slices, silver flowers, silver birds, and silver phoenixes.

Silver horns are one of the indispensable head adornments for women in some Miao regions. Their shapes are like the horns of large bulls, looking grand when worn on the head and shining with silver light. Some are decorated with a silver fan between the two horns. The silver horns are 50 to70 centimeters long and weigh about 1 to2 jins, carved or hammered into the patterns of two dragons grabbing jewels or phoenixes. Some are decorated with feathers or tassels.

The Miao neckband is tubular and either empty or solid. It has shapes of centipedes, columns, wound wires, twisted wires and boards. Necklaces are of two kinds: chain necklaces and jingle bell necklaces. Chain necklaces are connected by dozens of round or elliptic solid rings. They are rough, thick and heavy, and primitively simple. Jingle bell necklaces are delicately made and are elegant and luxurious.

Inferior collars are an indispensable breast adornment for women's elegant dress. They are also called "moon plates" because it is like half of the moon.

Miao bracelets and rings are richer in shape. There are whorl bracelets, worm bracelets, dragon-head bracelets and bracelets in the shape of the leaf of Juancaolan (a kind of plant the leaves of which are rolled). When in rich dress, women wear 3 to 5 or 7 to 8 bracelets on each wrist. They have the idea that more bracelets they show, more beautiful and rich they appear.