There is an ancient, old and mysterious ethnic group, Miao nationality, living in Southwest China. Guizhou, as one of the main residences of Miao nationality with a population of about 8 million, has a long history and bright cultural heritage.
The migration of the Miao people's residence is very difficult, which can be regarded as a historical drama full of suffering and twists and turns, with ups and downs.
More than 2000 years ago, the ancestors of the Miao people moved to the wild land of southwest Guizhou, which is located in the dangerous mountains of southeast Guizhou.
Being good at singing and dancing is a common characteristic of all ethnic minorities except the Han nationality in China, and the Miao nationality is no exception. Miao women like to dress up, usually wearing jewelry from head to toe, especially when attending ethnic gatherings.
Miao jewelry is mostly made of silver, divided into 925,990 and 999 three materials, all by the Miao silversmith hand-made.Later, due to the high price of pure silver, very expensive, ordinary people can not accept, coupled with fear of loss, so part of the jewelry was invented by the Miao compatriots to become a Miao silver alloy replaced. Of course, owning a set of sterling silver jewelry is always the wish of every Miao woman. Miao girls are honored to have a set of silver custom jewelry and hand-embroidered Miao embroidered clothing when they get married.
According to different requirements, Miao silver jewelry is divided into daily wear jewelry and festive dress jewelry. Whether it is daily wear or festival dress, it is a beautiful art boutique, which reflects the long historical connotation of Miao nationality and yearning for art and beautiful life.
（1）Daily wear of jewelry
与节日的盛装打扮不同，苗族同胞日常佩戴的首饰精致而灵巧，图案丰富。贵州苗族女性十分勤劳,在日常生活劳作中不可能佩戴繁琐和沉重的首饰，尽管苗族同胞十分爱美，十分喜欢装扮自己，尽管苗族首饰以大和中为重要的标识。
Different from the festive costumes, the jewelry worn by Miao compatriots is exquisite and dexterous, with rich patterns. Guizhou Miao women are very hard-working, in their daily life, it is impossible to wear cumbersome and heavy jewelry, although the Miao compatriots are very beautiful, very like to dress themselves, although the Miao jewelry to the big and the important logo.
Head jewelry is the most important part of Miao people's daily jewelry. Tiaras, combs, and chignon are the most dazzling decorations on their highly coiled hair. Many times, flowers are placed in the bun. With Miao embroidery costumes, exaggerated color matching shows the bold and extroverted national character of Miao women. When working, the headdress can be simplified to only insert a small flower on the front of the bun, and in leisure time, various flower ornaments can be inserted around the bun. The most common daily life of Miao female compatriots is this flexible, colorful, vivid and dexterous decoration, which has become a beautiful landscape in the Miao settlement in southeast Guizhou.
(II) Festive attire
Although Miao compatriots have a hot feeling for decoration, they can only see the brilliance of Miao silver ornaments on important festivals. From silver crown, silver head flower, silver hair hairpin, silver collar, silver pressure collar, silver back, silver earrings, to silver bracelet, silver chain, all kinds of silver jewelry are full of brilliance, dazzling, let people dizzying. Whether it's silver or Miao Yin, it's all eye-catching and unforgettable.
Besides the traditional freehand brushwork of flowers, birds, animals, butterflies, dragons, phoenixes and bronze drums, there are also many realistic scenes showing daily life and labor. There are also references and innovations to other Miao art works, such as drawing lessons from batik, paper-cut and Miao embroidery patterns. Modern silversmiths can also customize works of art for different purposes according to users 'needs and preferences. On the basis of ensuring the cultural inheritance of Miao silver jewelry making technology, they constantly bring forth the new. These innovations included objects for hanging and display, which were widely disseminated and loved as gifts from Guizhou.
Silver jewelry making process
Kongbai, Maliao and Magao are the most representative places for Miao silver jewelry production in Qiandongnan, Guizhou. Once upon a time, almost every household was engaged in silver jewelry processing, where Xiaoshan Dagou Township was once known as "Silver Jewelry Village". However, with the development of the times, while the silver jewelry production area is expanding constantly, because the market price is in a very low state all the year round reality, the traditional silversmith gradually decreases, the younger generation is more unwilling to engage in silver jewelry production because of life pressure and other reasons, like Miao embroidery and batik, silver jewelry production this long traditional art is facing the possibility of loss, have to say this is a let It's a pity. Fortunately, there are still some people who are trying to keep this ancient craft from disappearing so quickly. Mostly in the form of family workshops.
Traditional silver jewelry production is divided into melting, pressing, pulling, winding, carving, welding and other processes, all done by hand. The processing technology is very complicated. In particular, the blow welding process is the Miao ancient unique silver welding skills. On the flame, the craftsman blows a thin pointed blowpipe into the air with pressure to help the silver to weld, the scene is amazing.
There is also steel mold engraving, which is a unique casting method invented by Miao craftsmen. Craftsmen carve patterns on the steel film, then place the silver sheet on the steel mold, strike it with a hammer or wooden hammer to form a silver sheet with the same texture as the steel mold, and then weld it to make the final product. The silversmith designed and made tools for making steel dies for a variety of purposes, including carving knives of various shapes, iron molds, and stereotypes. At the same time of greatly improving the work efficiency, it also expresses the creative thinking of craftsmen more accurately and enriches the connotation of works.
The traditional Miao jewelry making technology keeps pace with the times, radiates infinite vitality in the new era, and the hand-made works have great artistic value and broad market prospect.
Photo provided by: Guizhou Craftsman
Photo by Sean ZENG
