Salar Costume
01 · Historical Records
The origins of Salar costume are closely tied to the history of the Salar ancestors' eastward migration as an entire people from Central Asia. More than seven hundred years have passed since that migration; the Central Asian steppe life encountered along the way brought in the practices of nomadic dress, and after settling in Xunhua on the upper Yellow River, farming life added new practices. Thus today's Salar costume contains, side by side, the dress features of the ancient Turkic and Mongolian peoples and the characteristics of farming culture. This coexistence is not chaotic but clearly divided: the sturdy dress of riding boots and rounded caps mostly stays with the men, while white undershirts, black vests, and cloth waistbands are closer to everyday wear; women have their own set of rules for worship dress and head coverings, so that religious life and everyday attire are clearly separated.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
The Salar ancestors' eastward migration as an entire people from Central Asia occurred more than seven hundred years ago, and their clothing still retains the style of the Central Asian nomadic peoples. Salar men wear black or white rounded caps, white undershirts, and black vests, with cloth-and-silk waistbands mainly in black and red; below they wear black or blue loose-crotch trousers and cloth shoes. In the cold winter months they mostly wear short sheepskin coats with white leather exteriors, or long hezi gowns woven from wool, and on their feet light, sturdy, cold-resistant felt boots of oxhide called luoti; the wealthy wear satin robes or lambskin coats with cloth facings. For worship, elderly Salar men have a specific costume: generally a white headcloth called dasidal wrapped around the head, and a long robe called zhongbai worn as worship dress. Salar women mostly wear long robes and head coverings, with only the face exposed. Young girls and recently married women wear green head coverings; women who have been married for a long time or who have borne children wear black ones; women over fifty, or women whose parents or husband have died, wear white ones. Salar women like to wear bracelets, earrings, rings, and other jewelry; when working they wrap their heads with dark cloth, and at festive celebrations they also don roomy capes with lace trim. Folk embroidery is an indispensable and important component of Salar costume culture. Salar embroidery began with simple peony-patterned pouches and gradually developed designs of flowers and birds, fish, and landscapes; in certain specific embroidered items — such as pillow casings, belts, sock soles, embroidered shoes, and insoles made for the bridegroom — the patterns are especially rich.
Making the luoti felt boots
The luoti is a layered hide-and-felt boot, light and warm, with richer households switching to silk or lambskin coats.
The dasdar headcloth and the zhongbai coat
For worship older men wear a white dasdar headcloth and a zhongbai coat, set aside from their everyday hat and vest.
Veil colours marking stages of life
Green for the young, black for the married and mothered, white for the old or bereaved: age and circumstance read off the veil.
Embroidered pillow ends and insoles
Embroidered trousseau pieces for the groom—pillow ends, sashes, socks and insoles—carry the densest patterns.
How the pattern repertoire grew
Patterns grew from a single peony on a pouch to birds, fish and landscapes, each new motif tied to a life occasion.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Xunhua Salar Autonomous County in Qinghai Province is the most concentrated center of transmission for Salar costume. Along the Yellow River valley, practices differ slightly between the households of the eastern and western mountains and those of the flat river lands: along the river beaches the choice of cloth and silk is refined, while on the mountain plateaus self-woven hezi shirts and fur coats are still commonly seen. Hui, Tibetan, and Salar peoples have long lived intermingled locally, and their costumes borrow from one another; among the worship garments, the making of the zhongbai long robe and the like has both Central Asian origins and the cutting methods of the Hehuang area, with local and foreign elements running side by side on the same street.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Salar costume is closely bound up with the history of the people: it contains both the dress features of the Turkic and Mongolian peoples preserved from antiquity and the characteristics of farming culture. As an important expression of ethnic culture, it is a key basis for research into the origins and ethnic character of the Salar. Ma Jianxin (recorded in the official archives of the associated inheritor): Male, Salar ethnicity, born in July 1963, from Xunhua Salar Autonomous County, Qinghai Province. He grew up from childhood in a remote mountain village rich in ethnic cultural atmosphere, and has a deep love of folk culture, especially costume as the essence of ethnic culture. After graduating from high school in 1981 he returned to his hometown to teach; outside of class he sought out older-generation costume artisans to learn costume-making techniques and to dig deeply into the cultural meanings behind them. In 1998 he transferred to the Xunhua County Education Bureau to serve as deputy editor-in-chief of the magazine Xunhua Education; during this period he began collecting and organizing folk culture, recording a considerable body of primordial Salar folk songs and knowledge of traditional costume. In 2003 he founded the small newspaper Tuoquan (Camel Spring), reflecting Salar ethnic life, dedicated to rescuing and publicizing Salar folk cultural heritage. He is a representative inheritor of Salar costume, a national-level intangible cultural heritage item in the fifth national-level batch.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Ma Jianxin 05-3052
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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