Yao Costume
01 · Historical Records
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 (回)-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 · Core Techniques & Process
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 (回)-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.
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 · Regional Records & Related Items
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.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Yao Costume · Yao Costume.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
The study and protection of Yao costume is of important academic value and practical significance.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- He Jinxiu 05-3002
- Pan Jifeng 05-3003
- Li Sufang
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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