Types of Chinese Ethnic Costume

There are numerous clothing designs and forms in Chinese ethnic minorities. Generally speaking, they can be classified into two types: long gowns and short clothes. People usually wear a hat and boots to match long gowns, and headcloth and shoes to match short clothes. The gowns take various forms: the high-collar and big-front type worn by the Mongolian, the Manchu, the Tu and so on; the collarless tilted-front type worn by the Tibetan, the Moinba and so on; the tilted-front type worn by the Uygur and other ethnic minorities; and so on. As for short clothes, they fall into two types: trousers and skirts.

In terms of fashion of skirts, there are pleated skirts, tube skirts, short skirts, one-piece dress and so on. In any kind of clothes, no matter it is the gown, the coat, the skirt, or the trousers, different ethnic minority groups employ different structures, techniques and styles. Women of the Li, the Dai, the Jingpo, the De'ang ethnic minorities and so on all wear tube skirts, but those tube skirts worn by the Li are brocade skirts made of cotton, those worn by the Jingpo are woolen multicolored skirts, those worn by the De'ang are skirts with horizontal stripes, and those worn by the Dai are usually skirts made of common cloth.

Costumes of ethnic minorities vary greatly not only with different nationalities, but also with different branches and different regions within the same ethnic group. Difference can be seen from province to province, from county to county, and even from village to village. Costume is the most obvious symbol of an ethnic group, and in the history, many ethnic groups were named just according to their garments.

In a vast country like China, with so many ethnic groups and an unbalanced social development, styles of clothes vary a lot due to different economic lives, cultural levels, natural environments and geographical conditions and climatic conditions. This is one of the characteristics of folk garments.

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• Techniques of Chinese Ethnic Costume

Some techniques of Chinese ethnic minorities such as embroidery and batik are much developed, and are widely used in making clothing adornments. This is another feature of their costumes.

Embroidery is a technique generally favored by all ethnic groups, and it is usually used in the headband, the waistband, the apron, and some rapid-wearing parts such as the border of the front, the round shoulder, the lower hem, the wristband, the bottom of trouser legs, the edge of the skirt, etc., being both decorative and practical. Embroidery techniques include cross-stitch work, applique, embroidering and so on; methods include surface, twine, chain, net, stab and stack embroidery, etc; patterns include natural scenes, auspicious patterns and geometric patterns and so on.