Modern Fashion Of Millennium Fish Skin Clothes In Hezhe Museum

Arriving at the Hezhe Museum in Tongjiang, Heilongjiang Province, tourists were brought back to the scene of ancient Hezhe people's life thousands of years ago by the numerous specimens and models here: men dressed in gray white fish skin coats, took a light birch skin boat to the Songhua River, and cast fishing nets in the song.

It is hard to imagine that these light, tough and skilful fish skin clothes of Hezhen ancestors can be worn for thousands of years to come to modern times and become today's fashion. They are not only works of art, but also carriers and disseminators of Hezhen culture.

The restored life scene of Hezhe ancestors in the Hezhe Museum in Tongjiang City. Photographed by Wu You, a reporter from Xinhua News Agency

Hezhe ethnic group is a traditional fishing and hunting ethnic group in northern China and one of the ethnic groups with a small population in China. It has lived in Heilongjiang, Songhua River and Wusuli River basins for generations and is known as the "nation chasing the sun". Tongjiang, a small border city located at the intersection of Heilongjiang and Songhua River and facing Russia across the river, is one of the birthplaces and gathering places of the Hezhe nationality. It was called "Lahasusu" in ancient times, which means "old house" and "hometown" in Hezhe language.

According to the staff of the Hezhen Museum, the history of the Hezhen can be traced back to the Neolithic Age thousands of years ago. The ancestors relied on the rich resources of nature and used unique fishing and hunting skills to make a living. The gift of rivers has enabled the Hezhe people to thrive. They also draw inspiration and wisdom from nature and form many unique traditional national crafts, the most representative of which is the fish skin production process.

The murals depicting the traditional life of Hezhe people in Tongjiang Intangible Cultural Heritage Exhibition Hall. Photographed by Ding He, a reporter from Xinhua News Agency

You Wenfeng, 72, is the inheritor of the national intangible cultural heritage "Hezhe nationality fish skin making skill". According to her, fish skin used to be an important raw material for Hezhe people to make clothes. After cooking and other processes, fish skin will become soft and flexible, and will not feel tied when worn. In her memory, her mother once made a pair of fish skin pants for her father. The pants made of fish skin are wear-resistant. When her father went hunting in the mountains, he often wore these pants.

In Tongjiang Intangible Cultural Heritage Exhibition Hall, Hezhen residents wearing national costumes introduce Hezhen traditional skills to tourists. Photographed by Ding He, a reporter from Xinhua News Agency

Ewing Feng said that different fish skins have different uses. Fish skins are usually made of salmon skin, which has fine and beautiful texture; The fish skin pants are made of the skin of the head bearing fish, the hucho fish or the pike. This material is impermeable when fishing in spring and autumn, and impermeable and wear-resistant when hunting in winter; Fish skin gloves are made of dog and fish skin, strong and soft; The thread for sewing fish skin clothes is made of thin and soft fathead fish skin. The carefully processed fish skin thread can be as soft as cotton thread.

Ewing Feng said that the Hezhe people had mastered the skill of making clothes with fish skin because of their survival needs, and had made the best use of fish skin. Thousands of years ago, the Hezhe people no longer need to wear fish skin clothing to keep warm and waterproof, but the fish skin production technology has been passed on under careful protection, and the national culture has been integrated into the new creativity of the local cultural tourism industry.

When entering the Tongjiang Intangible Cultural Heritage Exhibition Hall, the walls of the exhibition hall are covered with works of Hezhe Intangible Cultural Heritage such as fish skin paintings, fish bone paintings, birch skin paintings, etc. The staff of Hezhe nationality are making pendant handicrafts with fish skin on the spot, which is different from the gray white fish skin clothes displayed in the Hezhe nationality museum. These exquisite pendants are colorful and varied, including the charmingly naive giant panda, the cartoon pattern of the Chinese zodiac, the starting tower of Tongsan Highway, the Chinese East Pole sculpture and other local cultural tourism landmarks.

In Tongjiang Intangible Cultural Heritage Exhibition Hall, Hezhe fish skin craftsman shows the giant panda fish skin pendant made by her. Photographed by Xinhua News Agency reporter Yang Xuan

With the development of the times, the technique of making fish skin of Hezhen people is no longer simply serving the production and life style of fishing and hunting, but has become a precious intangible cultural heritage, which is inherited and developed by a new generation of Hezhen people and given a new carrier.

On the second floor of Tongjiang Intangible Cultural Heritage Exhibition Hall, an open workshop was set up to experience the skills of making fish skin. Many tourists came to experience it. They followed the local inheritors of intangible cultural heritage in Tongjiang to learn traditional techniques and cut and sew the fish skin into their favorite image. Through this form, more people learned about the unique technique of making fish skin and the ancient Hezhe nationality, and the intangible cultural heritage culture also glowed with new modern vitality.

In the live exhibition area on the second floor of the exhibition hall, Hezhe performers wear antler hats and national costumes, and perform a warm "Wingini" dance, bringing a mysterious and shocking audio-visual feast to visitors. After the performance, tourists can also go on the stage, learn the dance movements of Shaman dance with the actors, and experience the ancient culture of Hezhe nationality.

In Tongjiang Intangible Cultural Heritage Exhibition Hall, Hezhe performers demonstrate traditional dances to tourists. Photographed by Ding He, a reporter from Xinhua News Agency

During the summer vacation, Zhao Chenbing, a junior two student of Shuangyashan No. 36 Middle School, came to Tongjiang Intangible Cultural Heritage Exhibition Hall with her classmates and teachers to participate in research activities. She said that she learned about the history of the Hezhe nationality and saw the amazing art of fish skin here. The fish skin garment is exquisite, and the fish skin is made in a unique way. We should inherit it.

Cultural and museum tourism, intangible cultural heritage workshops, singing and dancing performances, cultural studies... Today, a variety of activities and cultural carriers are bringing the beauty of Hezhe's intangible cultural heritage to more tourists with the boom of cultural tourism. (Reporter Liu Yitong, Yang Xuan, Ding He, Wu You)

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