Chinese National Costume Culture -- Naxi Dress Culture

Introduction of Naxi Costume

The Naxi people "starring the moon": the Naxi Women are famous for their hardworking, capable and virtuous virtuous.

Their traditions

With distinctive national characteristics, it has formed its own unique style.

There are also differences in clothing around Lijiang: the Naxi Women in the Dayan District of the county are wearing big sleeved cloth robes, cuffs to their elbows, plus purple or Tibetan green shoulders. Under the trousers, the waist is stitched with black, white and blue cotton cloth. They are covered with wrinkle, under the sky blue broad border; the back is covered with "Seven Star sheepskin", and there are two white long strips on the top of the sheepskin.

Sheepskin shawl is elegant and generous. It can not only play a decorative role, but also warm up the body to prevent wind and rain and shoulder damage.

Sheepskin shawl is an important symbol of Naxi Women's clothing in Lijiang.

It is usually made of pure black sheepskin, trimmed to the upper and lower circles, and the top is sewn with 6 cm wide black edges. Next, the seven circular rows of colored embroidered rows are stitched on one end, and two white sheepskin ribbons are hung from each center, representing the Big Dipper.

Another view is that the upper and lower round sheepskin is the shape of the imitation frog, and the Naxi on the back is called "Ba Miao", which means "frog's eyes". This is the product of the Lijiang Aboriginal farming residents who worship the frog and merge the southern Qiang ancient Qiang people who worship the sheep to form the Naxi nationality.

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Naxi Dress History

The Naxi people live in China.

The northwest part of the province and the southwestern part of Sichuan Province, the Naxi Autonomous County of Lijiang and the Lugu Lake area at the junction of Sichuan and Yunnan are the two main settlements of the Naxi nationality. The rest scattered in Zhongdian, Wei Xi, Yongsheng, Yanbian, Yanyuan, Muli and Tibet Mangkam counties.

This is a Hengduan Mountain area, which is backed by the Qinghai Tibet Plateau and faces the Yunnan Guizhou Plateau. The mountains and rivers are magnificent, rivers are crisscross, the scenery is beautiful, the folk customs are simple and the culture is thick and thick. It is regarded as beautiful, mysterious and rich "Shangri-La".

Today, the Old Town of Lijiang of the Naxi minority has been listed as a world cultural heritage and has attracted the attention of home and abroad.

In ancient times, Naxi men wore short clothes and trousers, and women wore short skirts and long skirts.

In Wei Xi, men's trousers are knee length and skirts are knee length.

Most men and women do not wear shoes and stockings, but women wear girdle belts and a sheepskin or felt.

Before the Qing Dynasty, the Naxi nationality's folk clothes were mainly black and white, and the young people were mostly white.

Chieftains have expensive official clothes and official hats given by the court. They wear them when they see officials, greet guests and pay guests. They seldom wear them at home. When they are at home, they wear black brocade made of long gowns and mandarin jacket, and wear melon hat petals.

The skirts worn by chieftains and wives are long and full backs to show their nobility.

Since the beginning of the, influenced by the policy of "changing the territory and returning to the land", the officials of the Qing Dynasty have repeatedly made the Naxi people change their habits and customs, so the dress of the Naxi people has undergone great changes. On the eve of the founding of the People's Republic of China, the men's dress in Lijiang is basically the same as that of the Han nationality.

Women's clothing has changed to wear trousers in addition to the custom of wearing skirts, but the whole dress still has distinct national characteristics.

Naxi Women's clothing

There are two types of Naxi Women's clothing.

Lijiang area

The first is in Lijiang, which has a large number of people and is widely distributed.

Naxi Women in Lijiang wear hair plaits, headkerchiefs or hats.

Generally wear a collar and a right jacket.

It is made of cloth buttons, long sleeves, wide waist, short front and long back. It is made of blue and white cloth.

The outer cover is made of cotton or cloth or corduroy made of light blue, blue, purplish red, big red, black and so on. It has a round neck collar and a waist or skirt.

Under black or blue, gray trousers, feet embroidered shoes, cloth shoes or rubber shoes, back with seven star sheepskin decorations.

The sheepskin decorations are the most distinctive parts of Naxi Women's costumes, with exquisite workmanship and unique style.

Its seven patterns of sun and moon are embroidered with colored lines and decorated in two rows on the surface of sheepskin decorations.

Zhongdian white land

The second is found in Zhongdian white land.

The Naxi Women there grow long hair, tied behind their heads or plaited with silver plait.

Wearing a long white cloth with a long fork, a black linen and embroidered embroidered embroidered waist, and a waist belt with a black line and a white thread.

A long pleated skirt with colorful stripes, worn on felt shoes or boots, and covered with white goat skin.

Its dress is elegant and simple.

Naxi Women everywhere wear earrings, rings and bracelets, while others hang their silver on their chest.

The matching of clothing and accessories is natural and harmonious.

The sheepskin decorations of Naxi Women are the most distinctive features of their costumes and contain rich cultural connotations.

This kind of back decoration is made of sheepskin and draped on the back, so it is commonly called "sheepskin shawl".

Sheepskin shawls are often selected from black or white sheep or goats skins. After repeated kneading, they are tailored.

The sheepskin shawls of different regions are different, and the Naxi Women in Zhongdian and Wei Xi have almost no decoration.

The sheepskin shawls of Naxi Women in Lijiang area are the best with pure black fur. The upper part is covered with a section of black silk (woolen) or black woolen cloth, lined with sky blue cotton cloth, with seven pairs of pimp spikes under {page_break}.

There are seven circular colored lines embroidered with side rows. The traditional shoulder shears of the sheepskin shawl are also decorated with two circular colored embroidered cloth plates.

When wearing, two embroidered cloth belts in front are used in front of the chest, with embroidered conch, water waves, potted flowers, lanterns, bees, butterflies and so on. There is also a group of people who join hands to dance. It is said that it symbolizes the rush of the Naxi people like bees and butterflies, and makes them work hard for sweet life.

The Naxi sheepskin shawls are mainly worn by women, and men used to wear them in the past.

This kind of shawl originated from nomadic life of the Naxi ancestors. Its development has gone through three stages.

In ancient times, sheepskin shawls were the main tools for protecting the Naxi ancestors. At that time, the Naxi nationality was a mountain nomadic tribe, mainly grazing. They stripped sheep skin and hung them on their shoulders to keep the wind cold.

Because labor needs to carry heavy loads, sheepskin shawls have a function of bearing back.

With the further development of social culture and the improvement of people's aesthetic consciousness, sheepskin shawls have begun to develop in the direction of application and beauty, and the function of decoration has become increasingly prominent, which has become a unique costume of Naxi Women today.

Naxi men's clothing

The traditional dressing of Naxi men can be roughly divided into two categories: one in Lijiang and one in the West.

In the three dam area of Zhongdian.

Lijiang Naxi men wear short hair, wear felt hat or wrap around Baotou.

There is a half curled, called magpie hat, which is very chic and unique.

The upper part is lined with linen and cotton cloth, wrapped in woollen felt or sheepskin.

Wear black or blue trousers, waist belt, cloth shoes and leather shoes.

The Naxi men in the three dam area of Zhongdian wear sackcloth trousers, and the clothes are right or outerwear, long sleeved coats, long clothes to the abdomen, and round red cloth Baotou.

Naxi men's clothing is relatively simple and bright, and appears plain and natural.

Clothing characteristics of Naxi Nationality

Naxi unmarried girls like to braided behind their waist, or wear headbands and hats.

Women also like to wear earrings, rings, silver or jade bracelets, and ornaments such as gold and silver necklace.

The Naxi Women's coat in Lijiang is mostly cloth robe, the basic structure is big sleeves, no collar, interlayer, short front and long rear.

When you wear it, roll your cuffs around your elbows, add the shoulders, fold the waist, and cover the sheep.

Because of the conditions such as altitude, temperature, water and grass in Lijiang, it is suitable to develop animal husbandry, and cattle and sheep fur have become an important part of Naxi dress.

The ancient Dongba Jing Ying Ge Shen has such a description: "heaven and earth moving, born two brothers and sisters, become a family, pasture white sheep, use wool as a garment, wear felt, wool as a hat belt......"

Until now, the "sheepskin" of Naxi Women is still a main mark of national costume.

The sheepskin is called "yoke", which is made of black fur, pure sheep skin, and processed by nitrate and glutinous rice flour.

The "yoke box" (sheepskin neck) sewn on black velvet or black pits is decorated with seven round multicolored velvet embroidered "yokes and masks" (sheepskin eyes), and seven sets of "fine yoke" made of fine white goat's leather are made of white cloth.

Embroidered Blue Butterfly ornamentation, one end on the back of sheep's skin, sheepskin on the back, the straps across the chest, and then around the back to fasten the skin from the bottom, and the tail ends naturally, similar to "tail", which is very similar to Dongba's "sheepskin".

The girdle of the Naxi Mosuo women's belt is made of many wide strips, wrapped around the waist, and can be as wide as more than 20 centimeters.

Under the belt is a large pleated skirt.

The Naxi national dress represented by Dayan ancient town in Lijiang County, unmarried women usually wore long hair or long hair to identify their shoulders, while married women wore a bun on top of their heads and liked to wear a blue hat.

In the aspect of clothing, the upper body is wearing a wide waist and big sleeved gown, the front and the knees, the rear and the tibia, the front and the back are long, and the sleeves are rolled up to the elbows, and the trousers are worn under the trousers. They are made of black, white, blue and so on.

Embroidered lace, collar, sleeves, buttons, etc., simple and generous.

Because the Naxi nationality is deeply influenced by the Han nationality, the men's clothing is basically the same as that of the Han nationality.

Women's clothing, apart from the custom of wearing skirts, has changed to wear trousers, but the whole dress.

It still has distinct national characteristics.

The most distinctive feature of the Naxi Women's dress is the Seven Star sheepskin shawl behind them, with seven pairs of embroidered round cloth diameter about two inches on each side.

There are many different versions of the origin of this costume.

The more common term is that it represents seven stars, meaning "stars and stars". It is said that the beautiful stars are embroidered with silk thread on the round cloth ring, and the stars indicate the light of the stars.

It is said that a Naxi girl who was diligent, intelligent and beautiful, called ancient England, fought against the drought devil, and fought for nine days. She died of exhaustion. Baisha more than 3 gods in order to commend the heroic behavior of the ancient girl, she kneaded seven cold stars from the seven cold suns, which were swallowed by the snow magic dragon, and set them on the ancient top Yang shirts. After that, the Naxi girl imitated the ancient times, and put the seven star pattern on the shawl, symbolizing the stars and the stars, diligent and brave.

There is another saying that Naxi regarded the frog as the God of wisdom from ancient times, and could solve the danger of human beings. So those circular patterns represent the eyes of the frog, which is a historical trace of frog totem worship.

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The clothing of Mosuo people in the Ning Lang area has other characteristics.

Mosuo women like to use yak tail or line to make a thick wig debate, wearing an entangled cloth bag head, upper body wearing a blouse, under a very large long skirt.

The waist is intertwined with very long strips of cloth.

Naxi women like to wear bracelets, earrings and other accessories.

The change of Naxi Costume

Environment and climate are the main reasons for the "heavy" characteristics of Naxi costumes.

Man is the product of the environment.

In the long process, in order to adapt to the environment, mankind tried to understand nature, pform nature and create brilliant culture.

Clothing is the direct result of this adaptive choice.

The ancients put the issue of clothing on the top of "clothing, food, shelter and travel", which shows that clothing is one of the important achievements of human primitive civilization.

"Heavy weight" is a more stable and universal feature in the change of Naxi clothing.

Taking the traditional women's clothing in Lijiang dam area as an example, the first layer of the upper body is a shirt and the second layer is a sandwich gown, of which the backside is straight to the leg and the third layer is "between the bucket".

The fourth layer is "Seven Star sheepskin".

The lower body is trousers, coats, tail pendulum and waist.

The head is a hemispherical hoop with thickened interlining and widened sunshade.

Rough calculation, a traditional costume, its weight is less than seven or eight Jin, more than ten jin.

In exploring the causes of this "heavy" feature, we can see the survival environment and climatic factors in the Naxi minority area.

According to historical records, Naxi people moved southward from the the Yellow River Valley during the spring and Autumn period and the Warring States period, and arrived at the Yalong River and Jinsha River basin before the Qin Dynasty.

This area is a typical Hengduan Mountain area. Its climate is characterized by "morning and evening cold, noon sun", and cool and cold in summer. In order to resist the cold wind, they adopt a heavier dress.

As mentioned above, Naxi costumes are characterized by "heavy", but "heavy" is inevitably "stupid" and "clumsy" is hard to be accepted by today's young people.

This has become a major obstacle to the inheritance of ethnic costumes.

A few years ago, the departments concerned took the lead in reforming traditional costumes. Most of them chose new fabrics with light weight and bright colors, and wore them on young women.

But every time I see the tour guide Miss Lijiang, in the morning and evening, a thick windbreaker on the outer cover of the beautiful national costume, it is not necessary to ask, from the face of their frozen red, we can see that the new clothing has met the demand, but it can not achieve the purpose of keeping out the cold.

This is also an important reason for the difficulty of popularizing new fashions today.