Popular interest in minority costumes was boosted in March of this year by a Taipei Fine Arts Museum exhibition of Miao minority costumes from Kwei-chow (Guizhou) province in southern China. Private collectors, art galleries, and antique dealers in Taiwan are also becoming more interested in collecting and preserving traditional costumes and other cultural artifacts from minority peoples.
The following article illustrates the diversity of traditional costumes found among the Miao tribal groups of Kweichow, and the two accompanying articles indicate some of the efforts being made to preserve minority costumes from both the mainland and Taiwan. In addition to their historical and cultural importance, these costumes are proving valuable as educational and commercial resources.
One product of economic prosperity is that people begin paying more attention to their cultural heritage. But oftentimes this happens too late to save many early cultural artifacts from being lost or destroyed. Like the people of Africa who have to visit museums in France, Belgium, and the United States to see comprehensive collections of their ancestral treasures, the people of Taiwan have to visit Japan or Holland to see the best examples of the island's early cultural artifacts. Such visits can be revealing. For example, Japanese collections of items from Taiwan's native tribes are quite different from what is produced today. The traditional costumes are now much poorer in quality, and the people use aniline rather than natural dyes. As a result, most of the younger generation have not seen-and perhaps will never see-the beautiful textiles and costumes made by the older generations.
A similar fate may well await the more than fifty minority groups in mainland China. As these people are exposed to the modern, industrialized world, age-old customs are gradually being forgotten. Fortunately, in some of the more remote areas of mainland China, such as the mountainous province of Kweichow (Guizhou), a number of minority groups still adhere to traditional practices. Experts say that some of the music, dances, and weaving skills and motifs have roots extending back thousands of years.
While much of Asia is becoming as industrialized and urbanized as the West, various areas of Kweichow retain their ancient charm, especially during festival months. For example, between March and April, the New Year season for Miao tribal groups, visitors can still see spectacular sights: the women bedecked in their best silver jewelry, a seemingly infinite array of brightly embroidered costumes, and unusual languages mingled with exotic music.
But these festivities bring mixed thoughts to outsiders. The delights of such a visit are dampened by concerns for the very survival of these manifestations of traditional culture. For example, experts can already see a deterioration in the workmanship of both the embroidery and the resist-dyeing or batik techniques for producing traditional textile designs.
Although pressure from the outside is contributing heavily to the decline of the ancient traditions of many minorities, concerned outsiders may also help encourage these groups to continue their cultural skills. At the same time, collectors have a role in helping preserve tribal artifacts. As in the case of Taiwan’s minority groups, museums and private collections may eventually be the major resources for future generations interested in finding out about their rich past.
A sense of the richness of minority cultures can be found in traditional costume designs. The Maio tribes in Kweichow province provide superb examples. Look, for instance, at the Kechia(革家) minority, which lives along the banks of the Chungan River(重安江) in the eastern part of the province. Although identified as Miao, the group wants to be reclassified as a separate minority because of wide cultural differences from the Miao tribes.
A Kechia woman’s traditional costume is distinctive. It includes a red-tasseled cap, batik jacket, plain or batik full apron, elaborately embroidered half apron, batik pleated skirt, embroidered stockings, and woven belts. The jacket is open in the middle and has no buttons. There are also shorter openings on both sides, and the back hemline is usually decorated with embroidery. The skirt reaches to knee level; the upper part is black and the lower half is made of batik, sometimes embellished with embroidery. Silver jewelry include hairpins, earrings, necklaces, and bracelets. It is said that the ancestor of this tribe was a warrior. The red-tasseled cap symbolizes a helmet, the silver forehead cover on the cap represents a bow and the hairpin an arrow, and a pointed batik design on the back part of the cap suggests an arrow head.
Besides clothing for women, other finely made Kechia textiles include carriers and clothing for babies. Considerable time and money was spent on making these items. Many of the geometric or butterfly-like designs are actually talismans used to protect the babies and ward off evil sprits.
Quite different from the Kechia minority are the so-called short-skirted Miao of Datang (大塘), living along the slopes of Mt. Lei ( 雷山) in southeastern Kweichow. They can be distinguished by their festive costumes, which include a jacket with colorful and elaborately woven geometric designs and several layers of very short pleated skirts. The jacket is different from what is worn by many other minorities because it has a very low neckline at the back. Today, most of the women in Datang wear an inner jacket, but perhaps in the old days there was no inner garment, and the low neckline exposed the beautiful line of a woman's neck in the same way that a traditional kimono reveals the neck of a Japanese woman.
An especially interesting feature of this costume is the two pair of green woven “tails” attached to the back of the black layered miniskirt. These are attributed to the Legend of the Golden Pheasant. The legend tells of a handsome young man who hunted a golden pheasant in the mountains and then gave the captured bird to the girl he loved. To reciprocate his love, the girl dressed herself to look as beautiful as the golden pheasant: The broad-figured jacket sleeves resembled its wings and the close-pleated short skirt, with long green bands fluttering at the back, was its tail. Later, all the women of Datang began to wear colorful jackets and skirts of this fashion.
Another group of Miao tribespeople, living near Rongjiang (榕江) and Danzhai ( 丹寨 ) in southeastern Kweichow, also has costumes inspired by bird imagery. The women weave jackets and coats that are completely covered with embroidery and appliqué figures, mostly modeled after butterflies, birds, dragons, and phoenixes. The ends of the figured bands of the skirts are tied with little silver bells and trimmed with whole chicken feathers, giving them the name “hundred bird” skirt.
One of the various silks used for the appliqué work is especially unusual-it is woven by the silkworms themselves. Instead of being allowed to spin their cocoons, the silkworms are put into flat trays and covered with a close-fitting lid which forces them to produce the silk on a horizontal plane. As the silk worms crawl over each other, a layer of naturally woven silk is formed.
Of the various minority groups in Kweichow, the embroidery by the Miao in Taijiang (台江) and Sibing ( 施秉) are perhaps the finest and most colorful. Their jackets have beautifully embroidered sleeve bands, and the black pleated skirts of Taijiang costumes are often accented with highly colorful woven and embroidered aprons. The embroidery on women's blouses can be divided into two categories according to color. Those with the main designs in red are called in the Miao language outuo, meaning “bright dress,” and those with the main designs in blue are called oushe, meaning “dark dress.” Generally, young unmarried women wear the bright dress, while older women wear the darker colors.
Kweichow is one of the most barren areas of China and also one of the poorest. As a result, many of the Miao people are selling their finest heirlooms to relieve financial difficulties. But several individuals and groups interested in cultural preservation are encouraging the Miao tribes to produce additional items of embroidery and woven goods for commercial purposes. In this way, the skills, designs, and continuing creativity of these groups might continue unabated in the future-and fine examples of their cultural traditions would still be found in the tribal areas and not just in foreign collections and museum exhibitions.—John Kwang-ming Ang (洪光明) is director of Artasia, a commercial gallery in Taipei that specializes in Asian antiques and art consultancy.■