Yunnan China and Miao Silver

Yunnan China and Miao Silver

Yunnan China and Miao Silver

I have been living in China for five years now, and I have discovered that two of my favourite things are travelling and jewelry. My husband and I travel every chance we get. We know the buses, trains, subways, taxis, boats and planes in Asia very well. We go to all the little towns and villages and feel like we are a world away from the big, busy city we are living in down in the south of China.

On one trip we went out to Western China to Yunnan. We walked through all the open air markets and the night markets, our favourites in any city or country. We were amazed at the amount of jewelry being sold at each market, mostly silver. We saw huge bangles, necklaces, silver hats and head pieces and even silver cow horns. Women in the markets and sidewalks all had large blankets spread out with their shining silver treasures. We soon found out that the silver jewelry we were seeing everywhere was called Miao silver. And I love it all.

Miao people are from one of the largest ethnic minorities in southwest China. They live across many provinces including Guizhou, Yunnan, Hunan and Sichuan. The Miao are known for their elaborate embroidery and exquisite work with silver. They have a very colourful history, much like their stunning embroidery. The Miao people actually had no written form of history up until recently. They used characters and symbols embroidered on their clothes to tell stories, legends and parts of their history. That is why their embroidery is so stunning and detailed.

For more than four hundred years it has been a tradition and custom for Miao women to decorate themselves from head to toe in silver. A complete set of this silver jewelry can weigh around 15 kg and can take more than one and a half hours for a girl to put the entire set on. The purpose of wearing all this silver is for aesthetic reasons. The jewelry is also worn as amulets to ward off evil, and as symbols of wealth.

The tradition of wearing silver has been kept alive by a great number of craftsmen scattered through the Miao villages. Most of the silver accessories are made by hands in a traditional way. A silver head-piece can take up to a couple of months to finish. In some Miao villages every male is trained to work with silver. Each piece of jewelry is an exquisite work of art and shines with the knowledge from the Miao people. The fancy Miao silver accessories include silver hat, silver horns, silver combs, silver ear-rings, neckbands, necklaces, and bracelets.

In the Miao culture it is a tradition that when a girl is born, her parents will start saving money to make and collect fancy silver ornaments that can weigh several kilograms. On the girls wedding day, she will be wearing these beautiful silver accessories. The Miao girls' love for silver jewellery stems from their love of beauty, wealth and dignity. Miao silver in my opinion is one of the most beautiful types of silver and one with a long and fascinating history.

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