In the early 1990s the state launched a nationwide census of folk arts and crafts in an effort to preserve them. It was through this project that the fish skin culture of the Hezhens was rediscovered and brought back into the public’s awareness. In 1996 the Ethnic Costumes Museum of Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology received a set of fish skin clothes made a century ago, which intrigued the curator Yang Yuan. In the winter of 1999 Yang made the journey to Jiejinkou Township, a Hezhen settlement in Heilongjiang Province, where she met You Cuiyu.
Unable to find sufficient fish in the freezing weather, the old lady couldn’t show her visitor how to make a fish skin coat, so Yang Yuan returned that summer, and waited at a dock for a week to collect the required amount of fish, which she brought to You Cuiyu. She watched You process them to produce a leather-like substance and then turn that into a gown. This turned out to be the final piece that the old lady would make. She passed away soon after Yang Yuan’s visit, leaving her daughter You Wenfeng, who had begun to learn this peculiar craft at the age of 15 and had herself become an expert, to carry on the tradition.
In 2006 the Hezhen method of making clothes with fish skin was listed a national intangible cultural heritage, and You Wenfeng was appointed its heir. As an object that had already faded out of daily life, fish skin clothing seemed doomed to extinction. It however saw a gleam of hope with the boom of tourism in the region. The local government set up a folklore village in Jiejinkou, and You Wenfeng rented a booth to sell fish skin products.
Soon someone ordered a fish skin coat priced at RMB 5,000. Her sons, who before had turned their noses up at the age-old craft with the belief it was nothing but a time-consuming and unprofitable pastime, were flabbergasted at the money You’s business brought home and asked her to train them. They later persuaded their wives to join the enterprise. Suffice to say, this turnabout delighted their mother.
The idea of being dressed in fish skin clothes amazes people outside of this small region. At the 2009 Exhibition of China’s Intangible Cultural Heritage Crafts, held in Beijing, You Wenfeng was invited to give a live show. With fish skin hat lined with snow rabbit furs and fish skin boots, she demonstrated needlework on this special material before a huge crowd of spectators, who flooded her with all sorts of questions.
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