Date: Second half of the 20th century
Area: Rongjiang, Guizhou province
Material: Brocade

• Object Type：
  • OTHERS
• Location：
  • Chinese Minority Nationalities' Art Gallery
• Tag：
  • ritual attire miao 20th century guizhou brocade

The Miao people do not have a written language. Miao clothing is a kind of symbol, which records the history and culture of the Miao through ‘special languages’ like style and decoration, telling the difficult and tortuous survival story of the Miao people over thousands of years. 
Guzang dress is the costume of the ‘Guzang host’ during the Miao traditional ancestor worship Festival – the Guzang Festival. The dress is entirely covered with various natural patterns, including the sun, the moon and stars, flowers, birds, grass and insects, as well as various patterns implying the ancestor worship of the Miao people. 
Guzang dress is unique in shape and structure: no seaming on either of the flanks with chicken feather ribbon decorated on the bottom edge, which might be related to the old tradition of wearing pull-over and feathered clothes. This dress is woven in a geometric pattern with a swastika character in between in antique and elegant color. The Guzang Festival was held every 13 years in the past and large numbers of cattle were killed for the ancestral sacrifice, causing a great waste of resources. People now can witness such symbolic festivals as tourist attractions.