Yao Men, Yao Women—the Differences Pervade Them All

One of the most striking differences between contemporary men and women of many minority groups throughout Southern China lies in their dress. This picture of Yao men and women demonstrates the point.

When I lived in China, minority women tended to dress in bright-colored garments that were highlighted with intricate embroideries and accents of silver, gold, and horn. The men, on the other hand, had adopted a type of recent Han clothing, which was drab and boring.

Traditionally, the Yao men wore belted jackets that were buttoned to the left and knickers—usually blue or black in color. In some regions, they curled their hair into a bun, which they wrapped with a red cloth, adorned with several pheasant feathers.

What’s more, the Yao have accumulated nearly 30 different names for themselves, all of which are based on their types of dress, accessories, and lifestyle. Historically, the Yao were experts in dying, embroidering, and weaving.

The Yao people are one of the 56 minorities in China, numbering 2.5 million people in all, living mostly throughout the mountainous regions of southern China, Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand.

The Yao can trace their origins back 2,000 years to northern China where they were known as the “savage Wuling tribes. Since that time, they have undergone migration from China between 15th-19th centuries due to revolts, persecution in Laos, and refugee status in Thailand, which entitled them to UN aide and refugee status.

Interestingly, the Yao people do not adhere to one language group but rather speak one of 4 completely different languages. The Yao people are now scattered across 130 nations.

Photo by Takeaway, GNU Free Documentation License at Wiki Commons.

Guizhou Minorities in the 80's

Ninety percent of the population in the region where I resided could be classified under one heading: down-and-out poor. In other words, there were plenty of paupers, especially among the minority groups, who lived entirely distinct from the mainstream of Chinese “Hans.”

The minorities in our province were cut off from the outside world and subsisted on the petty provisions of third-world conditions and tribal superstitions. In their eyes, I was an alien from another galaxy; but just the same, I tried to reach out to them by providing medicine, clothing, and other basic commodities.

One cold day, I stopped by a cinder block hut of stone masons, who existed on cabbage and hot peppers. I proposed that we have dinner together. A progressive adolescent in the bunch cackled his excitement with “Oh, boy, coffee!” At sundown, I lugged three pounds of pork over to their hut. We gathered the wood, lit a bonfire, roasted the hot peppers, and had a decent meal and conversed about our different cultures.

Although in the next articles we will see the beautiful traditional dress of China’s minorities, in the 1980’s most men could not afford to wear anything other than the military blue or green version of the Mao suit.

Photos & slideshow Copyright Men's Fashion by Francesco.

Menswear—Not Just Fashion: Focus on China

Menswear does not just stand for fashion but rather embraces so much more, such as the history, culture, psychology, sociology, economics, dance, and music of any given group of men.

Menswear does not merely entail a man’s clothing or garments but also entails how and why they wear what they choose.

As we approach the holiday season and a brand-new year, I would like to introduce a whole new series of articles that arise from my travels throughout several countries in the Far East, beginning with a focus on China, where I lived for 4 years.

We hear so much about China as a new world economic power that boasts one of the world’s oldest civilizations and a population of 1.35 billion people! But what do we know about China’s men: how do they think and what do they wear?

Like many countries, China is not homogeneous but rather home to 56 ethnic groups, the largest of which is the Han.

Besides the Han majority, there exist fascinating peoples like the Zhuang (16 million), Manchu (10 million), Hui (9 million), Miao (8 million), Uighur (7 million), Yi (7 million), Tujia (5.75 million), Mongols (5 million), Tibetans (5 million), Buyi (3 million), Dong (2.9 million), Yao (2.5 million), Bai (1.8 million), Gelao, (0.5 million), Shui (0.5 million), and Qiang (0.2 million).

I must say that I have been extremely fortunate—and privileged—to have lived 4 years in a region of southwest China where 11 of these minorities constitute 37% of the local population.

During my sojourn, I became acquainted with the men and their languages, cultures, music and dance, cuisine, and—of course—their traditional dress.

Since I lived in this minority region in the 1980’s, much of the minority life that I experienced has slowly disappeared.

So, I have done my best to reproduce it for you with the photos that I took and the memoirs that I wrote!

Photos Copyright Men's Fashion by Francesco.