A Wonderful Flower Of National Costume: A Rare And Distinctive Fish Coat Of Hezhe Nationality

China is a unified multi-ethnic country. The costumes of the 56 nations are gorgeous, as if 56 wonderful flowers were blooming.

It is closely related to the ancient ethnic groups such as "Shen Shen", "Lou Lou", "Bu Ji" and "Nu Zhen" in Northeast China. In the Qing Dynasty, the "black Jin" and "Hezhe ha" were the ancestors of the Hezhe nationality. The Hezhe Nationality formerly lived in the Sanjiang basin of Heilongjiang, Songhua River and wusuri river.

One hundred years ago, the Hezhen nationality still maintained primitive and complete fishing and hunting life. Due to the change of living environment, the habits and customs of the Hezhen nationality also changed.

With the passage of time and the development of society, the process of making fish skin clothing is on the verge of extinction. Yang Yuan, curator of the national costume museum and the inspection team, went deep into the place where the Hezhen nationality lived in Heilongjiang, and found the only 73 year old man who could make fish skin clothes.

Fish skin clothing has long coat and short coat, mainly worn by women.

Its style is like cheongsam, with a narrow waist.

The sleeves are wide and short, without collar and neckline.

The trousers are called "trouser trousers", and the edges are embroidered with embroidered designs or decorated with bronze bells, which are bright and beautiful.

There are many kinds of fish to make fish skin clothing, such as fat fish, salmon, pike, fish and so on. The tools for obtaining fish skin are made of bamboo so as not to scratch the skin.

The skins are thin and soft after they are removed, and they are not formed. After drying, the fish skin hardens, skin is rolled up, scraped with a scraper, and then cooked, then the fish skin is fluffy and easy to sew.

The skin tone of fish skin is also very particular. The whole garment is made up of five pieces of fish skin into gear and bite.

The skin itself is different from the back to the belly from the deep to the shallow. When the entire skin is stripped, there are elliptical holes in the dorsal fin. It needs to find the same color and match. The pattern on the bottom of the garment is cut into a cloud pattern according to the national characteristics. When sewing the clothes, the fish fat should be used for stitching and then stitched.

Fish skin clothing is divided into coat and trousers.

Fish skin pants, some of the upper end for the mouth, others are slanting mouth, under the trouser foot with black edge, women wear clothes like embroidered pattern, winter wear hunting can be cold resistant and wearable.

In the spring and Autumn period, you can put on fishing and protect your knees.

With the continuous improvement of material life, the materials and styles of Hezhen clothing have also undergone fundamental changes.

Fish skin is no longer a cover for Hezhen nationality, but a collection of folk crafts in museums.