On March 19, the “Colorful Clothes, National Treasures – Hainan Li Nationality Traditional Brocade Clothing Exhibition” held a media tour at the Wuhan Museum. Jimu News reporters saw that “bark clothes” appeared in the exhibition hall.
According to the exhibition, “The earliest clothing of the Li people was made of bark cloth. According to the Neolithic stone tablets unearthed in the Li people’s residential areas, the Li people would make bark clothes in primitive society.” “The literature on bark cloth began in the 6th century BC” “The earliest ancient book record of the Li people using bark as clothing can be found in the “Classic of Mountains and Seas””
Wang Zhilin, assistant curator of the Wuhan Museum, introduced to Jimu News reporters that the “bark clothes” invited to the exhibition hall this time are one of the treasures of the Baoting Li and Miao Autonomous County National Museum. “The exhibition hall displays an original bark clothing made with traditional craftsmanship. The production process of bark clothing is quite special. Trees are not cut down. The bark is cut and taken directly from the tree. After trimming, soaking and degumming, rinsing, drying, patting, and then sewing into clothes.”
Many people are curious, will clothes made of bark keep warm? Wang Zhilin explained that because Hainan has a warm climate, there is no such concern.
The logs of the strychnos nux vomica were also displayed on site, which is actually one of the materials for making bark clothing. Wang Zhilin explained that the white milky juice that flows out of the bark of the strychnos nux vomica species after breaking is poisonous. If the person making the bark clothing has a wound on his hand, it will endanger his life, so he must be particularly careful when making it. But after this series of production processes, the bark clothing made is non-toxic.
It is understood that this exhibition also mainly displays the traditional brocade clothing of the Li ethnic group in Hainan.
Wang Zhilin pointed to a 244cm long and 35cm wide “Li Run Dialect Hercules Pattern Brocade” in the exhibition hall and told Jimu News reporters that the locals mainly weave brocade during the slack season, relying on the memory of the elderly to pass it down from generation to generation. For such a brocade, the local elderly may need nine to ten months to weave it.
According to data, on December 5, 2024, UNESCO selected my country’s “Li Traditional Spinning, Dyeing, Weaving and Embroidery Skills” into the “Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity”.
This exhibition selects 104 pieces (sets) of Li brocade costumes and textile crafts, covering cotton and linen fabrics, traditional brocades, traditional costumes in dialect areas, brocade crafts and accessories. While displaying the exquisite craftsmanship of Li brocade, the exhibition also analyzes the cultural connotations behind it, arousing the public’s attention to the protection of intangible cultural heritage.