Silver Ornaments and Embroideries of the Miao Traditional Clothing

China’s Miao ethnic group boasts a long history and an amazing costume culture. Their magnificent silver ornaments and exquisite embroideries form the core of their beautiful traditional clothing. With its artistry, diversity and profound historical and cultural meanings, Miao clothing has been hailed as reflecting the wisdom of this ethnic group and is seen as a manifestation of their history worn on human form.

- GUO ZHIDONG

THE Miao ethnic group in China can trace their history back to the pre-Qin period (2,100 to 221 BC) in the middle reach of the Yangtze River. After thousands of years, the Miao people gradually migrated and are now spread out in more than a hundred groups in Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan, Hubei, and Hunan provinces and other areas. Such a long history also gave birth to the unique Miao culture, most notably of which is their elaborate clothing.

The clothing of each different group of Miao varies slightly. Generally speaking, there are two characteristics: the exquisite Miao embroideries, and ornate silver ornaments and headwear. These characteristics are particularly evident in Miao women’s clothing.

The artistic beauty of the Miao embroideries is best seen on their dress materials. Most of the clothes are hand-woven. Miao women learn to spin cotton and weave cloth at an early age from their elders, and the clothes they wear daily are mostly handmade. The making of the Miao clothing uses such basic traditional crafts as weaving, embroidery, and dying. These crafts are often combining to make the clothing more attractive.

When it comes to the colors of dress materials, the Miao people are fond of combining colors to present a strong contrast. Usually, red, black, white, yellow, and blue are among their favorites. In addition, they also attach great importance to the decorations on their clothing, especially embroideries.