Children costumes and baby carriers of Southwest China

The history of embroidered costumes in China dates back to remote past. The extant oldest embroidery ever unearthed was made in the Shang Dynasty (c. 16th century- c, 11th century), In ethnicity-dwelled areas in southwest China, including Guizhou, Yunan, Guangxi and Hunan, embroidery skills are still handed down in original forms and in a matriarchic manner, Local ethnic girls learn embroidery skills from their mothers, making embroidered clothes not only for themselves but also for their children in the future. Their delicate and exquisite embroidery fabrics have considerably enriched folk arts of China.

Baby carrier with the design of the moon,the sun and banyan trees, Dong ethnic group, Liping county, Guizhou Province

Since the 1980s, the National Art Museum of China (NAMOC) has collected some 3000 pieces of ethnic costumes and baby carriers from tens of local ethnic groups from Guizhou. Yunan, Guangxi and Hunan. Among them, embroideries for children are the most exquisite examples, embodying maternal love and comprising an important part of Chinese costume culture.

Baby carriers are quilts with attached wide straps

 which are used to wrap up and tie the baby to the mother's back, Functionally the baby carrier frees the mother's hands to perform daily chores as well as care for the baby; at the same time, it makes the baby feel secure, and binds mother and child closer together, In the tradition of the ethnic minorities of Southeast China, most baby carriers are gifts from the baby's mother's family, presented at the baby's birth or on the completion of its first month, "A baby carrier stems from roots of countless ages", goes a folk song. The baby carrier tightens the bond between two families, bringing blessings from the maternal grandmother and adding to the honor of the new mother and the family she has married into.

Waistcoat for baby boy with the design of theatric characters, Tujia ethnic group, Longshan, Hunan Province

The mother embroiders beautiful and auspicious patterns on the baby carrier in order to express her best wishes for her child, There are also diverse types of baby costumes with exquisite embroidery. For example, there are two types of baby caps, worn in spring and summer and in autumn and respectively. Their shapes vary, resembling lion, rooster crest, fish, melon skin, lotus leaf, crown and house roof. Patterns on baby caps are also diverse, including designs of dragon, birds, fish, butterfly, fruits and flowers, Miao people living in Shidong and Taijiang in Guizhou Province believes that the lion is the guardian god of their babies. Wearing a lion-shaped cap can keep ghosts and evils away, Some cotton caps are shaped like drum towers or house roofs, which bear symbolic meanings that babies may be freed from hurt by ghosts and spirits.

Children's dresses, skirts and shoulder decorations are tailored like adult costumes, But they are not as sophisticated, The most beautiful children costumes are girl's costumes and shoulder decorations which are just simplified copies of mother costumes, The shoulder decoration is composed of several embroidered round belts. The most outer layer features cloud and hook patterns with tens of colorful silk threads and silver bells, The shoulder decoration is a must object when a girl gets married, Ethnic girls in southwest China wear the shoulder decoration only on festive occasions.

Mothers also design bibs and pinafores for their babies so that they cannot wet their clothes, Baby bibs are diverse in type, Miao women in Taijiang, Guizhou Province like to make circular and petal-shaped bibs, On them, vivid patterns of bird, flower, dragon and butterfly are embroidered. Pinafores made by Dong women in Congjiang, Guizhou Province are composed of two parts, circular one and rectangular one, with smart designs, useful functions, beautiful patterns and plain and elegant colors.