The history of embroidered costumes in China dates back to remote past. The extant oldest embroidery ever unearthed was made in the Shang Dynasty (c. 16th century- c, 11th century), In ethnicity-dwelled areas in southwest China, including Guizhou, Yunan, Guangxi and Hunan, embroidery skills are still handed down in original forms and in a matriarchic manner, Local ethnic girls learn embroidery skills from their mothers, making embroidered clothes not only for themselves but also for their children in the future. Their delicate and exquisite embroidery fabrics have considerably enriched folk arts of China.

Baby carrier with the design of the moon,the sun and banyan trees, Dong ethnic group, Liping county, Guizhou Province

Since the 1980s, the National Art Museum of China (NAMOC) has collected some 3000 pieces of ethnic costumes and baby carriers from tens of local ethnic groups from Guizhou. Yunan, Guangxi and Hunan. Among them, embroideries for children are the most exquisite examples, embodying maternal love and comprising an important part of Chinese costume culture.

Baby carriers are quilts with attached wide straps which are used to wrap up and tie the baby to the mother's back, Functionally the baby carrier frees the mother's hands to perform daily chores as well as care for the baby; at the same time, it makes the baby feel secure, and binds mother and child closer together, In the tradition of the ethnic minorities of Southeast China, most baby carriers are gifts from the baby's mother's family, presented at the baby's birth or on the completion of its first month, "A baby carrier stems from roots of countless ages", goes a folk song. The baby carrier tightens the bond between two families, bringing blessings from the maternal grandmother and adding to the honor of the new mother and the family she has married into.