The Dulong (De'ang) Tube Skirt

The Dulong (De'ang) Tube Skirt

　　Like many women from southern ethnic minorities, De’ang women also enjoy wearing tube skirts. However, their version features vibrant, multicolored horizontal wave patterns. These long skirts cover the bust and reach down to the ankles, giving off a fresh, elegant, and strikingly colorful impression. Folklore suggests that the patterns on the De’ang women’s tube skirts are closely related to their ancestors’ totem worship of dragons and large birds.

　　The patterns on the tube skirts vary noticeably among different subgroups of De’ang women. Women of the self-identified “Liang” subgroup weave wide horizontal stripes in red, green, yellow, and black; those of the “Bie Lie” subgroup weave prominent crimson horizontal stripes; and those of the “Ru Mai” subgroup use black as the base color, interwoven with thin red and white lines. As a result, locals refer to the De’ang women by the color characteristics of their skirt stripes, calling them the “Floral De’ang,” “Red De’ang,” and “Black De’ang.” There is also a legend behind this. It is said that long, long ago, three De’ang sisters were butchering an ox. As the wounded ox struggled and rolled on the ground, its bloody tail flailed around, splashing the sisters’ skirts with varying degrees of blood. They later wove new skirts based on the patterns and colors of the bloodstains, resulting in three distinct designs, which were then passed down through the generations.