Silver making skills (Miao silver making skills)

Name of China's national intangible cultural heritage: Silver making skills (Miao silver making skills)

Applicant: Huangping County, Guizhou Province

Project No.: 390

Project No.: VIII - 40

Time of publication: 2008 (second batch)

Category: traditional art

Region: Guizhou Province

Type: Extension Project

Applicant: Huangping County, Guizhou Province

Protection unit: Huangping County Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Center

Introduction to the silver making skills (Miao silver making skills)

Applicant: Huangping County, Guizhou Province

Many ethnic minorities in China have the custom of wearing jewelry, especially the Miao and Yi people, which are mainly distributed in Guizhou, Hunan and other provinces. Miao people have a long history of making and wearing jewelry. Liu Yuxi, a poet of the Tang Dynasty, was demoted to Xiangxi, where he wrote a poem describing the Miao people's wearing of "Yinchuan Jinchai". In Song Dynasty, Hong Mai's Rongzhai essays says that Miao jewelry is made of silver and tin, which is more than one foot long. In Qianji of the Ming Dynasty, it is said that Miao people in Guizhou "unmarried people use silver rings to decorate their ears, and the name is Malang, and married people take off", while Liping "rich people use gold and silver ears, most of which are up to five or six, such as Lianhuan". There are many kinds of Miao silver ornaments, including necklaces, silver brocades, silver crowns, silver flowers, silver waist chains, silver bells, silver earrings and earrings, silver collars and shawls, silver rings and buttons, etc.

Yi people are mainly distributed in Sichuan, Yunnan and other provinces, and their silver ornaments are also quite rich, including Phoenix crowns, rings, earrings, necklaces, silver bracelets, silver chains, silver buttons, etc. The Yi people usually use silver buttons for their matching clothes, among which the Silver Tiger coat button is the most famous. Its shape is tiger shaped, symbolizing dignity, auspiciousness and happiness. Every time a daughter gets married, her mother nails the silver buttons on her wedding clothes to pray for her daughter's good luck.

With the changes of social life, some minority costumes and customs are gradually modernized, and the original cultural characteristics are losing. Therefore, to protect and inherit the silver making skills of ethnic minorities is of great significance to the revitalization of national culture and the maintenance of national spirit.

The Miao silver ornaments in Huangping County, Guizhou Province are well-developed. The products mainly include silver crowns, earrings, collars, necklaces, hand rings, silver belts and back fans worn by women. Among them, the silver crowns, ring boards, silver necklaces and silver belts are the most exquisite. The silver crown is surrounded by silver flowers, with insects and birds in between. On the whole, it looks like a brocade flower basket. The ring boards of silver necklaces are various in style, delicate and elegant; the pendant's heart guard plate is hanging down, and the ornaments are swinging and striking, giving out a pleasant sound. All kinds of patterns are carved on the silver belt, which is very exquisite.

Huangping Miao silver patterns are rich in themes, insects, flowers and plants, birds, dragon fish and so on can be used as the performance object. These patterns are mostly from the natural environment of Huangping Miao ancestors, reflecting the ecological situation of Miao people living in harmony with nature.

Silver ornaments often appear in the happy occasions of the Miao nationality, which contains the moral of avoiding evil and pursuing justice, and embracing happiness and auspiciousness. It specifically and vividly reflects the living conditions, mental outlook and aesthetic psychology of the Miao people, and has high historical and cultural research value. Protecting, inheriting and developing Miao silver jewelry making skills is of great significance for promoting national unity and building a harmonious society.