Batik fabric from Shaoyang city is no longer regarded as simply a traditional craft. It has broken into the fashion mainstream.

Pursuit of beauty

"The Miao ladies are passionate and have a love of beauty. However in past periods of scarcity, they had to make every effort to make adornments by hand and make themselves look better," said Wu Jinglian, the only inheritor of the tie-dye technique in the county of Fenghuang.

"The pursuit of beautiful things is just one reason for the prosperity of ethnic embroidery," said Sun Wenhui, member of the Hunan intangible cultural heritage expert committee.

"The origin of the ethnic groups' colorful and picturesque clothing started with the demands of offering sacrifices during the long-past totem worship period."

For example, animal imagery is another important theme of the Huayao's cross-stitch work. The snake is one of the most widely used images.

Dwelling in deep forests where snakes usually appear, the Huayao people worship this animal because they find that it has many skills that human beings lack.

Huayao's worship of snakes is similar to the Han people's worship of dragons, experts say.

The brocade used by the Dong people for sacrifice has the images of their totems, including a legendary creature that looks like a mixture of a dog and a dragon.

Brocade also plays an important part in the Tujia people's sacrificial ceremonies. Ever since the Shang Dynasty (1600 BC-1100 BC), the Tujia people have used delicate brocade to decorate shrines. They also wear brocade handiwork for their traditional dances.

The folk crafts are more than just techniques for making useful items. They also tell the stories of ancient civilizations.

And the Tujia brocade also plays a very important role in people's daily lives.

Once a Tujia baby is born, the grandmother will give him or her a piece of brocade as a present. The infants will use bed covers made by brocade.

The Tujia girls learn the brocade skills and when they get married, their parents and relatives will give them brocade as a dowry. The more brocade bed covers a bride gets from her family, the more distinguished she is.

The color of the brocade changes with occasions, too. Brocade silently records the Tujia people's customs and lifestyles.

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