How Much Clothing Culture Knows?

The status of clothing in national identification and research

Dress is the dominant characteristic of human culture. In national identification and ethnic studies, clothing is also an important basis and one of the objects that should be noticed. It occupies an indispensable position. Because of various geographical, historical and social reasons, the world's ethnic situation is very complicated, not only for many species but also for interlacing source and stream. In this way, it is not an easy task to really clarify the clues of every nation's development, grasp the situation of every ethnic group, and even name each nation.

It is generally believed that there are more than 2000 large and small nationalities in the world. The difficulty in producing accurate statistics is due to the difficulties of national identification. Among the more than 2000 ethnic groups, there are 269 ethnic groups with a population of more than one million, accounting for about 1/8 of the total number of nationalities, but the population is up to more than 4 billion 100 million, accounting for 96.3 of the total population of the world. On the contrary, there are more than 1800 nationalities with less than one million, and the number of people is less than 160 million, accounting for only 3.7% of the total population.

Before the founding of the People's Republic of China, our country Nation Without scientific identification and various political and social factors, ethnic relations are very complicated, and the ethnic situation is quite chaotic. After liberation, many ethnic groups published their ethnic elements and put forward their own names. So far, we have confirmed that there are 56 ethnic groups in China, excluding the Han nationality, whose population accounts for about 93% of the total population of the country. The other 55 ethnic groups are ethnic minorities.

According to the classification principle of Ethnology and the practical experience of our country, national identification is mainly based on national characteristics and national wishes. In the national characteristics, it includes the important factor of national costume.

One of the national characteristics as the basis of national identification is the common language of the nation. The theory of Ethnology holds that the commonality of language is one of the most important symbols of a nation. Therefore, national identification must first consider the object community that it wants to know, that is, whether people who think themselves or are considered to belong to the same ethnic group have common language. Moreover, language has greater stability and stability to some compulsive assimilation, so it is also authoritative and scientific to regard language as its basis.

The two of the national characteristics as the basis of national identification is the common ethnic area. In the areas where ethnic minorities live in compact communities, the formation of ethnic common areas is very obvious, and the problem is much simpler. It is easy to make judgments. In real life, there are often many ethnic groups living together. The problem of whether the common ethnic areas are formed is much more complicated. For example, there are many large migration movements in the history of ethnic minorities in China. Some ethnic groups have been widely distributed so far, and often lead to interlaced situations between large and small communities. Therefore, in considering the common geographical area, we should not only locate the place where the nationalities live together, but also make clear the relationship between them and their neighbours.

The three of national identity as the basis of national identification is the common economic life of the nation. Closely linked common economic life is an important driving force for the formation of the modern nation. The factor of the national community formed in the pre capitalist era is relatively undeveloped. In China, this problem is relatively more complicated. Because of the uneven development among different regions, the same ethnic group living in different regions is often at different levels of productivity and economic development. And because commodity economy is often not developed, many ethnic groups produce things that rely on other ethnic groups such as the Han nationality to act as intermediate contacts. Of course, for the same ethnic group living in the same region, their production level and economic living standard are still unified. {page_break}

The four of national characteristics as the basis of national identification is the common psychological quality of the nation manifested in common culture. This feature is particularly rich in connotation, not only as a common material life style, but also as a common spiritual lifestyle, namely, common customs, diet, festival, religious sacrifice, marriage and family, literary and artistic features, etc. The core of this is the common national psychological quality, that is, in the material state and spiritual cultural life, we feel that everyone belongs to the "self" mentality of a community. This kind of psychology is strongly and centrally embodied in a mysterious religious ceremony and a common singing and dancing. At the same time, it is often and widely used in the diet, marriage and family. Of course, we should not only pay attention to the "characteristics" of others, but regard the characteristics of other individuals as the representatives of the common psychological quality, so as to determine that the people's community with some common characteristics is the same nation. In short, in the formation and maintenance of the people's community, the "common psychological quality shown in common culture" is indeed more important than other characteristics.

It is obvious that the common economic life of a nation and its common psychological quality expressed in common culture are related to the dress and clothing of the nation. In one place, there are several different nationalities living in this place, or the life circle of the same ethnic group. The most intuitive and simple way is to see the spread of the national costumes and how many different national costumes are worn. At the trade fair in Xishuangbanna, people can point out who are Dai people, who are Hani people, who are Buyi people, who are Lahu people, who are Wa people, who are Kino people, who are kuru people and so on. The basis is that they are dressed and will never be mistaken. In fact, a nation's production of material materials that satisfy its needs in clothing, food, housing and other aspects, that is, their "first historical activities", constitutes the foundation of their common economic life. Especially for most of the minority nationalities in our country who are not very developed in commodity production and commodity exchange, what kind of materials can they spin out? What kind of clothing is produced and what kind of ornaments are produced is one of the performances of their production level and technology. When these things are produced by modern factories of other nationalities, they also show a common tendency to purchase. In daily dress, they show their "common cultural common psychological quality". The men of the Dongxiang nationality in the northwest of China, who go out, wear a black or white soft hat and have a big beard. They are very intimate with the teachers. They must be treated with kindness and are very well protected and in many ways. It can be seen that clothing plays a huge role in reflecting a nation's sense of identity and common psychological quality. Dress is an essential part and content of scientific investigation, and the information obtained is of great importance in national identification and national studies.

In the practice of national identification work in China, National Costume The inspection has played a great role. There are about five million and five hundred thousand Yi people in China. They are distributed in Yunnan, Sichuan, Guizhou and Guangxi provinces. The densely populated areas include Sichuan Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province, Chuxiong Yi Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan River Honghe Hani and Yi Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province, Ning Lang (E), E Shan, Dan, Hui, Lu Nan, Wei, Xin Ping, Jinggu, Jingdong, and other counties. With many branches and scattered residence, there are all kinds of self proclaimed and claimed people. By scientific identification, the last unified is called the Yi nationality. In addition to all kinds of general grounds, the common ground of clothing is also one of the basis of the final recognition, such as the hero knot on the head of the man, the "Heaven Bodhisattva", and the woolen blanket. On the contrary, there are different ethnic groups recognized by different clothing. There are about one hundred thousand Daur people in northern China, living in parts of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and Heilongjiang provinces. Because of their difficulties in language recognition, they are part of the Mongolian race, or a single nation. From the dress point of view, the Daur people before liberation, men wore Oroqen style hunting suits, and did not wear Mongolia style robes. The upper women wore full clothes and no girdle, while Mongolian women were girdled with girdles. Besides, there are many different customs. Synthesize all kinds of materials and finally confirm the Daur nationality as a single nation.

It can be seen from above that the role and status of clothing in national identification is beyond doubt. In ethnic studies, the importance of national costumes is more obvious. What ethnological workers will ignore the important role of clothing? Because costumes are the dominant characteristics of human culture, there are rich cultural contents in the clothing and materials, shapes, colors and structures of visually oriented clothing. Therefore, the investigation and study of clothing is an indispensable part of national studies. The book "Introduction to Chinese Ethnology" has pointed out: "the costumes of our nation are very rich and colorful. Not only are the southern nationalities different from the northern nationalities, but also the nationalities of the same region are different, and even the different branches of a nation have their own characteristics. The rich content and elegant form of clothing not only have technological value, but also have important historical value. Ethnologists' research on the clothing of a nation often helps to explore the origin, migration and branch changes of this nation.