Li Costume
01 · Historical Records
The formation of Li ethnic dress on Hainan Island is tied to the island's early inhabitants using locally available materials: island cotton, hemp, kapok, bark fiber and silk were each easy to obtain, and the four crafts of spinning, dyeing, weaving and embroidery grew up along with these materials. Weaving and stitching were thus fused into one, and the method has remained unchanged for several thousand years. The dress uses woven brocade as its material; the brocade bears a great number of designs, with six categories alone — human figures, animals, flowers, plants, implements and geometric forms — and over a hundred in total. The designs are handed down over long periods among the branches and villages, each village having its own strand, so that one can be told from another by the patterns.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Li ethnic dress, as transmitted in Hainan Province, is based on the four great traditional Li crafts of spinning, dyeing, weaving and embroidery, and is woven and sewn from island cotton, hemp, kapok, bark fiber and silk, among other materials; its evolution spans several thousand years. Traditional Li dress uses woven brocade as its material, with a great variety of patterns, brilliant colors, and exquisite, beautiful workmanship. It has more than 160 designs, falling mainly into six types of pattern: human figures, animals, flowers, plants, implements and geometric forms.
Choosing fibres close at hand
Each local fibre has its use: coarse yarn for jackets, fine coloured fibre for brocade that must survive washing.
Joining brocade to cut cloth
Brocade panels are joined to plain cloth with seams kept off the main motif and covered by embroidery and an edged finish.
Reading pattern variants by branch
The same figure motif is laid out differently by branch, so a garment is identified by layout as much as by shape.
Festival dress assembled as sets
Festival sets pair a jacket, a tube skirt and silver ornaments, while daily dress stays plain and changes with the occasion.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The central and southern mountain regions where the Li of Hainan live differ in terrain and climate, so the dress of each branch varies in thickness, ornaments and choice of patterns: mountain dwellers mostly prepare thick garments against the cold, while the river-valley zones favor lightness, with brocade remaining the main material in both. The study of dress in this region has therefore always been carried out village by village; ethnic research institutions record the designs, textiles and finished garments of each branch separately, and only by comparison can the variations of a single design across different branches be seen clearly. Even among villages of the same branch there are fine distinctions: the yarn used in the brocade comes in thick and fine grades, and whether the coloring leans plain or bright is set by the village's own preferences, so the resulting garment surfaces can be told apart by their texture; before making a replica, one must therefore first ascertain which style of which village it is.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Li Costume.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Traditional Li dress is rooted in the social life of the Li people, with content and form in harmonious unity, displaying distinct local characteristics and rich ethnic cultural connotations; it is of extremely important reference value for the study of the history of social development, folklore, religious belief, and production and daily life among the Li people of Hainan. As modernization accelerates, the self-sufficient natural economy of the Li region of Hainan has been disrupted. Under these circumstances, fewer and fewer people master the traditional crafts of spinning, dyeing, weaving and embroidery, and the transmission of Li ethnic dress has suffered a severe shock; it faces the danger of disappearing and urgently needs rescue and protection.
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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