Look who's tipping the scales in favor of skinny suits
Among Beijing University of Clothing Technology's immense collection of ethnic costumes, one outfit stands out.
This distinctive set of clothes, along with its matching shoes and handbag, isn't made of silk or cotton. It's made of fish skin.
Perhaps this design would top few summer wardrobe wish lists this year. But Hezhe minority member You Cuiyu, who fashioned the set, considers such attire to be an indispensable summertime fashion necessity among her people, who live in Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province.
Also known as the "Fish Skin Tribe", the Hezhe minority had only about 4,600 remaining members during the fifth national population census in 2000. Its population is among the smallest of China's 56 ethnic minorities.
The Hezhe people lived by fishing and hunting. However, they find it increasingly difficult to survive on fishing because of the deterioration of the ecosystem over the past century. They have gradually abandoned the custom of wearing fish-skin clothing. The shortage of raw materials and omnipresence of modernity have challenged the preservation of the craft.
There are few pairs of hands still skilled in making fish-skin clothes in Jiejinkou, a township in Heilongjiang near the Chinese-Russian border.
Since her mother passed away three years ago, You Wenfeng has shouldered the responsibility of keeping this dying craft alive.
The 55-year-old has been honored as an Intangible Cultural Heritage inheritor by the government. She started to learn the craft from her mother in her 20s. She says a set of fish-skin clothes and shoes requires more than 30 pieces of fish skin and usually takes three weeks to complete.
The skin of the chum salmon and bighead carpet were the favored materials decades ago. But because these species have become increasingly rare, the best substitute is the skin of the silver carp. She needs at least 50 silver carp to make a suit, which retails for more than 3,000 yuan ($395).
You's fisherman husband uses a bamboo or wooden knife to strip the skin off the fish. He then hangs the strips of skin on the wall for four days.
Then You powders the dry, stiff skin with corn flour, which absorbs the remaining oil and fat. She ties seven or eight such pieces together to form a roll before softening the skin with a wooden mallet.
Then she scales the fillets and smooths the skin by running a knife or scissor blade against it.
The Hezhe people used special glue made from fish fat to adhere different fish skin pieces. You still has the glue stick she inherited from her mother, but she would rather treasure it as part of the family legacy rather than use it. Instead, she binds the skins with needle and thread.
The traditional fish-skin costume features cloud-like patterns shaped like the letter "S". You and other villagers would sometimes perform their ethnic songs and dances while wearing their fish-skin clothes for a growing influx of visitors.
Only a few collectors could afford the expensive fish-skin outfits. More of the orders You fills now come from demand for tourist souvenirs. The fish-skin tailoring technique of today is more decorative than practical, and reminds people of the traditions of Jiejinkou's past, when it was known as the home of the "Fish Skin Tribe".
(China Daily 07/10/2007 page19)
