Li Sufang

01 · Lineage & Regional School

Li Sufang, Female, Yao, from Hezhou, Guangxi, is a sixth-batch national representative bearer of Yao Costume (Ⅹ-67). The tradition is documented in Hezhou, Guangxi. Within the regional tradition and school record of Yao Costume in Hezhou, Guangxi: Hezhou lies in the foothills of the Wuling range, with high mountains and deep valleys; differences in costume are determined first by dwelling and livelihood. The Guoshan Yao live on high slopes and mostly protect their heads with wrapped cloth and wound yarn; the Pingdi Yao live on the flatlands, and their cloth and patterns are more regular and orderly; the Tu Yao lie between the two. Below the three major categories, further fine distinctions are made by village, and the seven varieties of headdress alone are the result of this layered accumulation. Among the patterns, animal and plant patterns are the most numerous, while human-figure and hui-character patterns are concentrated on ceremonial garments and seldom worn in daily life. Marriage is a major event in the village: at her wedding a bride must have the complete set of headdress and silver ornaments, while after marriage her clothing is largely stripped of its elaborate details. The transmission of the whole costume system rests mainly with the women of the household: girls learn embroidery from childhood and, as adults, do others' hair and alter garments, so the wrapping methods and patterns of the headdress are passed down from generation to generation along this line. The Hezhou area lies in the mountainous foothills of the Wuling range along the borders of Hunan, Guangdong, and Guangxi, and is one of the principal settlement areas of the Yao people of China. With great differences in elevation, deep passes, and enclosed valleys, the villages are relatively independent, and so costume evolved over a long period in village-based units, giving rise to the three major categories of Guoshan Yao, Tu Yao, and Pingdi Yao. The patterns are the most direct material evidence of the division among these three categories: the coexistence of large numbers of animal and plant patterns reveals traces of the Yao people's shift from a fishing-and-hunting economy to an agricultural economy, while the large numbers of human-figure patterns and the linked hui (Hui)-character patterns show the successive influence of primitive religious worship and of Buddhist and Daoist culture on the local Yao people, the two layers of meaning often pressed together on a single garment. Costume also serves to record social information: the quantity of patterns, the depth of the colors, and the number of ornaments correspond to age, marital status, emotional state, and even standing within the family, so to dress is to make a silent self-introduction.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

The bearer record for Li Sufang is anchored in the documented technical standards of Yao Costume in Hezhou, Guangxi. Within the documented technical tradition of Yao Costume in Hezhou, Guangxi: The Yao costume of Nandan County in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region is highly distinctive among the Yao costumes of Guangxi, and is divided into men's and women's dress. Men's dress is further divided into formal dress and everyday wear. Of its decorative patterns, the chick-flower (jizaihua) is the main motif; it appears on both men's and women's clothing, reflecting a veneration of the chicken. The everyday jacket of Nandan Yao men is a blue-black standing-collar garment closing with lapped panels, with a chick-flower pattern embroidered on each side of the chest; the trousers are made of white cloth, ending just below the knee, with black cloth trimming the cuffs. The outer edges of the jacket of Nandan Yao men's formal dress are all trimmed with blue cloth, and the two sides of the waist and the lower edge of the back are embroidered with chick-flower and mi-character (rice-grain) patterns. Five red stripes are embroidered on the knees of the white trousers of Nandan Yao men; popular tradition holds that these are blood handprints left by a Yao king during a war with other peoples. The summer jacket of Nandan Yao women is called a guayi; it is sewn from two square pieces of cloth, front and back, the front being plain black cloth while the back is worked into various patterns by dyeing and embroidery. The winter jacket is generally right-lapel, sleeved, and without buttons. Winter or summer, Nandan Yao women wear a blue knee-length pleated skirt below the waist; the skirt face is painted and dyed with tree sap into three sets of ring patterns, and the skirt edge is trimmed with red non-woven silk pieces. Both the jacket and the skirt of Nandan Yao women's dress employ the distinctive tree-sap dyeing technique. Whether by embroidery, inlay, applique, or dyeing, their material forms have already become a cultural symbol of the people, expressing the Nandan Yao's taste for life and particular cultural ideas, and occupying an important position and value within the costume culture of China's ethnic minorities. Hezhou City in Guangxi lies in the mountainous region of the Wuling range along the Hunan, Guangdong, and Guangxi border and is a principal settlement area of the Yao people of China. Hezhou Yao costume is divided into three major categories: Guoshan Yao, Tu Yao, and Pingdi Yao. Among these, the Guoshan Yao costume alone divides its headdresses into three types and seven varieties: pointed, flat, and wrapped. For example, the pointed type is subdivided into tower-style, slanted, and small pointed; the flat type into baojin (wrapped brocade) and chansha (wound yarn); and the wrapped type into single-wrap and double-wrap. The decorative patterns of Hezhou Yao costume bear distinct historical features of the ethnic culture. For instance, the large numbers of animal and plant patterns reflect the Yao people's transition from a fishing-and-hunting economy to an agricultural economy; the large numbers of human-figure patterns and hui (Hui)-character patterns embody the deep influence of the Yao's primitive religious worship and of Buddhist and Daoist culture on the Yao people. In addition, Hezhou Yao costume also reflects the age, marital status, romantic attachments, and social standing of its wearers. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "Seven headwear types of the mountain Yao": Headwear alone is divided into seven types under three headings. "Single and double wrapped cloths": A single cloth is light for travel; a double one adds warmth and formality. "Tu Yao and Pingdi Yao forms": Three major branches differ in form and pattern because of place and livelihood. "Dress marking age and marriage": Pattern, colour and ornament mark age, marriage and social standing.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

In 2025, Li Sufang was announced in the sixth batch of national representative bearers for Yao Costume, with Hezhou, Guangxi as the declared area. Within the documented safeguarding record of Yao Costume in Hezhou, Guangxi: The project was inscribed in the national inventory in 2006 (batch 1), with Hezhou, Guangxi as its declared area, and Hezhou Mass Art Center as its safeguarding unit. Since the project was inscribed in the national inventory, its declared area and safeguarding unit have carried out documentation, transmission and presentation within the national safeguarding framework. Together, the inventory record and the project archive form the public documentary basis for the bearer’s transmission practice.

04 · Associated Heritage Item Dossier

05 · Fellow National Bearers Lineage

National representative bearers recorded under the same item code, ordered from the first to the sixth batch. Batch order is not a teacher–student relationship.

06 · Archival Sources & Bibliography

1. Lisufang (Hezhou, Guangxi) · China ICH Official Project Archive
2. Lisufang · China ICH Official Archive