Huian Nv Costume
01 · Historical Records
It originated in the ancient Baiyue culture, absorbing the finest elements of Central Plains culture and maritime culture, and has been tenaciously preserved through more than a thousand years of evolution and transmission. The overall style of Hui'an women's dress was fixed in the Tang dynasty and gradually matured in the Song dynasty.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Hui'an women's dress is a distinctive women's costume passed down in Hui'an County on the southeastern coast of Fujian Province. In the early Qing dynasty it underwent fairly marked changes, forming its basic characteristics: an unusual cut, distinctive ornamentation, harmonious colors, and richly colored patterns. The bamboo hat is the most conspicuous part of modern Hui'an women's dress; its main color is pure yellow, very bright. The headscarf is the most distinctive part of Hui'an women's dress. Every headscarf is square (about 66 cm), with color schemes such as white flowers on a blue ground, white flowers on a green ground, or green flowers on a white ground. Although no two headscarves have the same pattern, all are clear, elegant and pleasing to the eye. The hairstyles and hair ornaments of Hui'an women carry on the traditional Chinese esteem of women for jewelry. The greatest feature of the upper garment is "short clothes baring the navel". The waist ornaments of Hui'an women are of two kinds: one is woven from colored plastic ribbons, about 7 to 9 cm wide in total, with very eye-catching colors; the other is hammered from silver. The trousers worn by Hui'an women are mainly black, giving a steady, dignified look and making it easy to match with fabrics and ornaments of other colors. The coordination among the parts of Hui'an women's dress — in color, cut, line and pattern — is quite harmonious and well proportioned; it carries a traditional flavor while also bearing a certain modern air. The development and change of Hui'an women's dress follow their own inherent law: they presuppose adaptation to life and labor, strictly adhere to their own aesthetic concepts, and take "fitting the body, following fashion, and conforming to custom" as their goal.
The straw hat and the square kerchief
The bright yellow hat and the square kerchief, some sixty-six centimetres across.
The short jacket exposing the navel
The short jacket leaves the navel bare, suiting labour by the sea and framing the waist ornaments.
Plastic bands and silver waist ornaments
Two kinds of waist ornament: brightly woven plastic bands and beaten silver.
The local song about the four parts
A local ditty sums up the covered head, bare midriff, economical jacket and ample black trousers.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
In Hui'an, a local folk rhyme — "feudal head, democratic belly, thrifty clothes, wasteful trousers" — summarizes the characteristics of the various parts of Hui'an women's dress. Although Hui'an women's dress has settled into a set form, small differences remain from place to place. Local people summarize the features of its parts with a single rhyme: feudal head, democratic belly, thrifty clothes, wasteful trousers. The "head" refers to the tightly wrapped headscarf; the "belly" to the short garment that bares the navel and leaves the waist free for work; the "clothes" to the frugal use of fabric in the upper garment; and the "trousers" to the thick, wide, dirt-hiding black trousers for which no fabric is spared. The survival of the dress is concentrated along the eastern coast, where the fishing women of three townships — Chongwu, Xiaohe and Jingfeng — preserve it most completely, with the strongest customary coloring; women in some inland townships such as Dongling and Shanxia also still wear it, but their patterns and accessories are no longer as refined as those on the coast. The main room for choice lies in the headscarf patterns and silver ornaments: every headscarf is square, about sixty-six centimeters, mostly white flowers on blue, white flowers on green, or green flowers on white, each pattern different yet all clear and elegant. The development of Hui'an women's dress has its own law: it always presupposes adaptation to life and labor, follows its own aesthetic concepts, and takes fitting the body, following fashion, and conforming to custom as its pursuit. For this reason it was not wholly abandoned with the passage of time, but neither has it been able to withstand rapid change in ways of life.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Today the fishing women of the three townships of Chongwu, Xiaohe and Jingfeng along Hui'an County's eastern coast, as well as some "inland" women in Dongling and Shanxia, still keep this dress custom, of which the costumes of Chongwu and Xiaohe are the most distinctive. Nowadays, under the influence of changing ways of life, fewer and fewer people wear traditional Hui'an women's dress, and this richly local dress style still needs to be passed on and developed.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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