March is full of spring. The warm breeze blows, the spring tide surges, the flowers are fragrant everywhere, the heart is open, and the earth is singing. Young men and women, dressed in festive costumes, come in groups to participate in the "March 3rd" Song Wei Festival. The joy and happiness of life, embroidered on beautiful costumes, written on people's faces.
Wuming Zhuang "March 3" Song Wei Festival, various activities are rich and colorful, the most moving, eye-catching is the Zhuang folk songs and national costumes.
Pure mountain songs and gorgeous national costumes, auditory and visual, melodies and colors, the wind of tradition is blowing in the face. The singing is so charming, and the infectious power is so strong that people are immersed in a cultural feast and are intoxicated.
Singing mountain songs, dancing bamboo pole dance, flat dance, throwing hydrangea, grabbing flower cannons, touching easter eggs...... Show off the national style.
The Zhuang girls dressed in bright national costumes are graceful and colorful, the young men are handsome and charming, the ornaments are embellished, singing and dancing, glamorous style, full of color and beauty.
My wife, Jin Mei, was fascinated by the Zhuang costumes and told me that we should come back to participate in the "March 3rd" and wear national costumes. She likes beautiful clothes, she was born in the Mining Bureau of Dachang in southwest Guangxi, although she is a Zhuang ethnic group, she has never worn a national costume. It has always been her dream to have a set of Zhuang costumes. I remember that more than 20 years ago, when we returned to Nanning, she went to the Guangxi National Song and Dance Troupe to find a costume designer, asked for a few frames of Zhuang costume design drawings, and planned to find someone to make a set of Zhuang costumes. But that is the Zhuang costume on the stage, and there is a difference between the Zhuang costume in life, and you can't wear the stage costume in daily life, right? Even if you wear the stage costume to attend the event, it is also nondescript. But, where did you make Zhuang traditional clothing at that time?
Since the Republic of China, the west wind has moved eastward, and the Zhuang costumes have changed.
The men wore a placket Tang suit, a short-sleeved shirt, wide trousers, and homespun shoes. It may have been formed after the influence of Manchu costumes. Of course, it is also related to the production method of Zhuang rice. Because it is simple and convenient, it is convenient for life and labor. On certain occasions, he also wears a tunic and cuts his Western-style head. In the 70s of the 20th century, under the influence of the "national style" at that time, everyone wore "national defense uniforms". Since the 80s, they have been wearing "suits", jackets, and sportswear, and have completely assimilated with Han men.
The women wore wide Tang clothes and trousers, and a half-sided apron tied to the front of the waist to the ankles. The apron is tied behind the back with two calico straps and streamers at each end. In the 70s, the clothing of young women has been basically sinicized. Middle-aged women's clothing also gradually tends to be sinicized, but the national costume is still preserved, and the national costume is worn every festival, visiting relatives, and red and white affairs. Only older women, who are old enough to travel far away, insist on wearing national costumes.
Especially during the Cultural Revolution, the "March 3rd" song was banned, and national costumes were not seen in life.
In the 90s, it was difficult to find a shop in Guangxi to make Zhuang traditional clothing, and there was no Zhuang traditional clothing to sell in the market.
Since the resumption of the "March 3rd" song in Guangxi, there has been a boom in wearing national costumes. Nanning City stipulates that during the "March 3" period, people who wear traditional national costumes can take the subway for free, and the Qingxiu Mountain Scenic Area invites citizens and tourists to wear traditional Chinese costumes to celebrate the festival and enter the park free of charge. Therefore, at festivals, people dressed in colorful national costumes can be seen everywhere. The women who love beauty in their hometown, everyone buys one or two sets of national costumes, wears beautiful national costumes and sings and dances when they have time, and shoots a short video and posts it on the Internet. When my wife returned to Tengxiang, there was a group of "friends" who loved to sing and dance to play with. Therefore, there is a real need to purchase one or two sets of national costumes.
Knowing that we were going to buy national costumes, Director Liang of the Wuming District Culture, Radio, Television, Sports and Tourism Bureau recommended the "Nafu Cai Embroidery" Wuming Zhuang clothing store in Nanning City. It is said that at the joyful "March 3rd Cultural Tourism Festival", many people wear national costumes and ornaments made by "Nafu color embroidery".
This store is located in Xiangshan Avenue, Wuming District, Nanning City, a 3-storey storefront on the street, and the billboard of "Nanning Nafu Colorful Embroidery Culture" is eye-catching. A huge hydrangea fell from the ceiling of the hall on the first floor, and two signs were hung on the wall: "Nanning Cultural Industry Demonstration Base" and "Nanning Intangible Cultural Heritage Representative Project "Wuming Zhuang Costumes" Inheritance Base". The first to third floors are more than 500 square meters, hung with Zhuang costumes and accessories, dazzling, rich and diverse styles, each set has unique ingenuity. Several models are dressed in costumes, elegant and solemn, smart and natural. It's a beautiful treat to look at.
These costumes are made of traditional Zhuang homespun cloth, with black and blue as the background color, simple, deep, heavy and mysterious, which looks restrained and elegant, showing the deep heart of the Zhuang people. Embellished with brocade embroidery, the colorful colors blend in the clothing, as gorgeous as a rainbow, giving people a dazzling visual impact, exuding a strong national style.
If you look closely, you can see that the embroidery on the clothing is exquisitely patterned, colorful, and exquisitely handmade. Men's clothing is relatively simple, while women's clothing is colorful, especially on shoes, hats, and chest pockets embroidered with five-color silk threads.
The Zhuang people have been a relatively introverted people since ancient times, and their pursuit of beauty is low-key, but exquisite and gorgeous. Although most of the clothing is either black or blue, they are embroidered with various patterns on the collar, chest pocket, cuffs, trouser legs, etc., with bright colors, colorful and varied. The details reveal the enthusiasm and meticulousness of life, reflecting the love and awe of the Zhuang people for nature, and containing a strong folk culture.
Zhuang women are good at embroidery and brocade. In the past, girls had to learn embroidery and brocade from an early age, and in their teenage years they mastered great skills and began to make wedding dresses for themselves. Huang Yanfang of the Qing Dynasty wrote in a poem in "Lingnan Female Workers' Song • Embroidery": "Xu Liancai's line is very beautiful, and the pattern renovation is the most pitiful. The little baby of Mandao is still childish, and she looks at Yi embroidered and Dilian. "The embroidery items in life are very rich, such as embroidered clothes, embroidered skirts, embroidered trousers, cloud shoulders, leers, waists, belts, embroidered shoes, as well as hydrangeas, purses, sachets, headbands, straps, door curtains, bed curtains, eaves, etc., among which hydrangeas and straps are the most distinctive. Embroidery techniques are mainly flat embroidery, as well as lock embroidery, applique embroidery, seed embroidery, pile embroidery, pick flowers and other embroidery methods. The patterns are mostly dense flower branches, butterflies, phoenixes, flowers, birds, fish and insects, etc., with lively shapes and bright colors.
Zhuangjin is an indispensable thing for people's marriage and daily life. The patterns are dense and rhythmic, the colors are bright and bright, and the texture is tough and durable. Therefore, in the Qing Dynasty, Zhuangjin became a royal tribute.
The Zhuang costumes are gorgeous and colorful, and a unique system with national characteristics has been developed. Different regions and branches have different styles and styles.
The Zhuang costumes and ornaments produced by the "Nafu Cai Embroidery" shop are mainly the traditional ethnic costumes and ornaments before the Qing Dynasty in southwest Guangxi. Therefore, it is included in the representative items of intangible cultural heritage of Nanning.
On the walls and on the hangers, there are a set of clothes that have been matched. Jewelry, buyers can choose their own matching.
Women's clothing has a large cardigan on the upper body, with hair accessories, and a skirt on the bottom. A black cloth cardigan, or a blue cloth cardigan, has a collar to the placket and sleeves under the right armpit, all embroidered with large lace, a low collar, and an exposed neck. Folded skirts are ankle-length, or worn with wide trousers trimmed with lace. Outside the skirt, at the center of the two legs, each embroidered with a vertical symmetrical large lace, at the buttocks to make a few folds, the skirt under the buttocks is rolled up an inch or so, and the two sides are sewn with a few stitches to form the back skirt arch up, from the front is a barrel skirt, the back is a folding skirt, the upper and lower skirts are close-fitting, the lines are extraordinarily clear, very elegant. It can be worn with round embroidered shoes on the feet.
It is the same as what Xu Xiake recorded in his "Travels" after he visited southwest Guizhou more than 380 years ago: "All women are stumbling. ...... The skirt is pleated with a hundred thin sheets, and there is a tight bundle between them to make it easy to walk, and it is a large knot to bear the back of the hips. ”
Men's clothing includes tops, pants, bandanas, etc. The jacket is a black cloth or blue cloth cardigan, with a round neck and wide sleeves, 7-9 buttons on both plackets, the buttons are woven with black cloth, and the buttons of the two plackets are buttoned up when worn. The top is black with black pants, and the top is blue with blue pants. The cuff of the pants is wide, generally 1-1.2 size. The headscarf, a black scarf or blue scarf about 4-5 feet long for adults, is also sewn with a black rectangular cloth, the upper end is discounted, and the round hole is opened at the top, which is more convenient to wear on the head.
What makes my eyes light up is the wedding dress designed and made by Lu Lanzhen and Lu Lanchun, the inheritors of Zhuang color embroidery skills.
For example, "Gu Luo Yue Bride", the whole set of clothing is made of woven and dyed homespun cloth, embroidered with a golden double phoenix Chaoyang pattern, a perfect match, meaning beautiful. The three-layer sleeve design of the top looks graceful and luxurious. In ancient times, it was generally a wealthy family or a nobleman who could use such a wedding dress. The pattern of the double phoenix on the clothes is completed by hand embroidery with a needle and a thread, the pattern is exquisite, the double phoenix is lifelike, and the embroidery skills are very exquisite.
The embroidery patterns of "Qin Se and Ming" are richer, including peonies, pomegranates, vases, dragons and phoenixes. The peony symbolizes prosperity and wealth, the pomegranate represents many sons and blessings, the vase represents the peace of the four seasons, and the dragon and phoenix are a metaphor for the husband and wife. The two-headed bird is a cultural relic unearthed in Wuming and is one of the totems of the Zhuang people. It not only has a good meaning, but also integrates the ancient Luoyue culture with modern culture, conforms to the aesthetic taste of modern people, gives people a sense of festivity and grace and luxury, and expresses the Zhuang people's yearning for a happy life.
The design and embroidery patterns of "Fengqi Liangmu" are more complex and exquisite. Hand-woven and dyed black homespun cloth, the top is a diagonal top, the bottom is wide-legged trousers, and the body is embroidered with patterns. The ancient Zhuang wedding dress is divided into three, six, nine and other categories, and the nine-layer sleeve is the highest standard wedding dress of the ancient Zhuang people. This wedding dress is designed with nine layers of sleeves and three layers of hem, which is the most luxurious and grand wedding dress for women of ancient eunuchs, symbolizing the prominent status of the family, and the layers of wealth and brocade clothes. The clothes are embroidered with peonies, phoenixes, and pomegranates, implying great wealth and wealth, and many sons and blessings. It is also embroidered with the magic weapon of the legendary eight immortals, which the ancient people believed could ward off evil spirits and live a long life.
These wedding dresses are graceful and luxurious, and they are very exquisite. The ingenuity of the maker, the traditional craftsmanship and the exquisite embroidery make the whole set of wedding dresses very design and beauty, and have high practical value and collection value.
Lu Lanzhen and Lu Lanchun, the original creators of the embroidered Zhuang clothes, in 2012, relied on two old household sewing machines, squeezed into the small balcony of the home to start a small workshop of Zhuang color embroidery clothing, and developed to today's Nafu color embroidery culture media Co., Ltd., with handmade Zhuang costumes, hydrangeas, straps, jewelry, pendants, embroidery bags, embroidery paintings and other ethnic handicrafts. The Zhuang costumes designed and produced by them not only won national awards, but also were included in the list of intangible cultural heritage by the Nanning Municipal People's Government, becoming an important symbol of Guangxi Zhuang culture.
Buying national clothes in the "Nafu Cai Embroidery" clothing store is different from visiting general shopping malls. Looking at the colorful national costumes, the styles and colors are full of strong artistic atmosphere, as if you have arrived in a palace of art. A set of national costumes, a piece of exquisite ornaments, and various patterns embroidered by colored threads are poetic and picturesque, making people feel the profundity and charm of traditional culture.
My wife and I tried on a few sets of clothes, but we didn't expect them to be so adaptable, gorgeous, elegant, friendly, full of national sense and national style. The clerk said that if it doesn't fit, it can be tailor-made. We couldn't wait, so we immediately bought a set of black embroidered women's clothes and a blue embroidered men's clothes.
The wife wore Zhuang costumes and experienced the charm of ethnic customs. During the "March 3rd", she and Tengxiang's "friends" wore gorgeous Zhuang costumes, sang and danced in the Changbian Farm Entertainment Park, and shot short videos. The colorful Zhuang costumes, shining with the dance steps in the sun, are gorgeous and colorful, intoxicating, and marvel at the beautiful picture of nature and people.
The return of national costumes to life is like a bright light, highlighting the glory of ancient civilizations.
The national costume is not only a kind of wear, but also a kind of cultural inheritance and expression, carrying the historical memory and cultural genes of the Zhuang people. Today, when people are accustomed to wearing modern clothing, how to popularize national clothing and enter daily life?
I think that traditional national costumes should not only be inherited, but also innovated. The integration of traditional culture and modern culture makes the clothing contain profound historical and cultural heritage, retains the characteristics of traditional national clothing, and conforms to modern aesthetics, practical and beautiful, and is recognized by the people.
The national costume in the multicultural will make life more colorful. "Each is beautiful, the beauty of the beauty, the beauty of the United States, the world is the same".
Yaoru Art Garden - "Lingshui Zhai", a famous writer and former minister of the Ministry of Culture, Mr. Wang Meng