The First Village of the Changshan Yao

The First Village of the Changshan Yao

The Changshan Yao is one of the three Yao subgroups in Libo County, Guizhou Province, with a population of 748. They mainly live in Dongtang Township, with a few scattered in Weng'ang Township and Maolan Town. As migrants, the Changshan Yao people carved out their homeland in what were once barren hills and wild mountains, as the fertile farmlands were already owned by the indigenous ethnic groups.

Although they once vigorously reclaimed land, the Yao people, who place great emphasis on protecting forest vegetation, never engaged in reckless deforestation. As a result, the Yao villages today remain surrounded by mountains and shaded by towering trees.

The Changshan Yao, as the name suggests, are the Yao people who wear long robes. Members of this subgroup, both men and women, wear long-sleeved outer garments that resemble long robes, though there are slight differences between the genders.

Men typically wear long robes made of dark indigo homespun cloth, reaching down to the tops of their feet, with a right-side opening and slits on both sides. The garments are plain and clean, without any decorative patterns, but feature fine white trim at the neckline and a waistband embroidered with Chinese characters and other motifs.

Women of the Changshan Yao like to wear silver neck rings and adorn their hair with silver hairpins. The inner layer of their clothing is similar to the men’s, devoid of any decorative patterns. However, unlike the men’s attire, the women’s top is paired with a sleeveless, short jacket worn over the shoulders (a style considered among the oldest surviving garment styles in China). The front is solid-colored, while the back features wax-resist dyeing patterns embellished with embroidery, similar to the attire of most Yao women. The back designs are also bordered with squares outlined in wax-dyed patterns. The jacket is decorated with bead strands at the bottom. From under the armpits on both sides hang colorful sashes. They wear pleated, wax-dyed short skirts, sometimes covered with an additional strip of colorful embroidered or wax-dyed fabric. Their legs are wrapped in leg wrappings that reach the ankles, with lace-trimmed bottoms.

Location

Inside the Maolan National Nature Reserve, Libo County, Qiannan Buyei and Miao Autonomous Prefecture, Guizhou Province