Yao Minority Embroidery

71.Yao Minority Embroidery

Nominating Unit: Ruyuan Autonomous County of Yao Minority, City of Shaoguan

Yao Minority Embroidery is mainly distributed in villages of Bibei, Youxi, and Dongping Townships and some areas of Rucheng, Guitou Townships of Ruyuan Yao Autonomous County in northern Guangdong Province. Ruyuan Yao Minority belongs to Guo Shan Yao. The women of this tribe have been fond of embroidery since ancient times, and they never put down needles when they are not working. This tradition has been passed down through generations, although the exact time of the advent of embroidery cannot be traced. Its historical origin allegedly has close connection with a tale in New Accounts in Guangdong Province.

The embroidery of Ruyuan Yao Minority uses black, blue, and white cloth as its base, and red, green, yellow, black, and white threads to embroider. The embroideries are widely used as an ornament on clothes, hoods, aprons, hats, socks, bags, umbrella cases, etc. The local Yao people are nearly fully covered from head to foot with colorful embroideries.

Ruyuan Yao Minority Embroidery uses very special techniques, and no draft drawing is needed before the embroidery. In the beginning, a grid with black or white threads is embroidered on the cloth according to its color and grain. Then various patterns can be embroidered on the grid. The most magic part is that embroidering from only the back of the piece can produce triangles, zigzag shapes, or butterfly shapes on the front, which when put together, make different patterns. Ruyuan Yao Minority Embroidery uses unified patterns, which are all odd in shape and structure. The lines in the embroidery are uniformly diagonal, vertical or parallel without any curves. The colors are varied too but with the same basic compositions. The same principles are followed by all Yao community in the world. Its styles use abstract, exaggerative, and figurative expressions and techniques. For example, the giant lotus and octagonal flower shapes are complicated. There are even multi-layered compositions where a big pattern is composed of multiple smaller patterns. The patterns include man and woman, Buddha’s hand, seal, character, dragon body, animal footprint, deer, spider, fish bone, zigzag teeth, flowers, pistil, fruit, and grid, etc. with a number of 26 in total. These odd, primitive, yet classic patterns recorded the survival history, belief, worship, culture, art and philosophy of Yao people, and have become an ID and symbol of Guo Shan Yao people with great value in research.(https://www.daowen.com)

With the changes in social lives and fashion, traditional costumes, and even living customs of Yao people are changing as well. Many Yao girls left their hometowns to make a living, and the heavy workload from school deprived young girls of the time for studying embroidery. Ruyuan Yao Minority Embroidery is faced with a predicament of breaking down in its transmission and techniques. Urgent and effective protective measures are called for.