Phoenix costume is the most important attire for She women and the essence of She costumes, which contains rich cultural connotations of She. It is mainly distributed in Liubao, Yingshan, Zhongshan, Xian'e, Bazhai, Maoping in Xingshan Town, Majiang County, Yanying in Xuanwei Town, Changban, Shiban and other villages in Bibo Township. Majiang County is located in the central part of Guizhou Province, the upper reaches of Qingshui River. The total population of the county is about 220,000, of which ethnic minorities account for 76.2%. The She population is more than 30,000, accounting for 16.66% of the total population and 77.92% of the total population of the She ethnic group in Guizhou Province. The county is high in the west and low in the east. It is located in the slope area where the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau transitions to the Hunan-Guangxi hills. Low mountains, low and medium mountains, hills and river valley basins account for 78.4% of the total area of the county. It has a subtropical monsoon humid climate, with no extreme heat in summer, no severe cold in winter, and abundant rainfall. Before the She people came to Guizhou, they lived in the Ganjiang River Basin in Jiangxi and in the eastern and northeastern parts of Jiangxi. Most of them moved to Guizhou in response to the imperial order to conquer, migrate or avoid disaster during the late Yuan Dynasty and the Hongwu period of the Ming Dynasty. Due to the brutal suppression by the ruling class, some She people were forced to merge with other ethnic groups. The remaining She people lived in areas centered on Majiang County and surrounding counties and cities. The geographical conditions where the She people lived were poor, with high mountains, mid-mountains, valleys, and river valleys. The social productivity was low, and the commodity economy was underdeveloped. Clothing was mainly spun, woven, and dyed by themselves after growing cotton. There is no written record of the clothing of the She people in Majiang County before the beginning of the Hongwu period of the Ming Dynasty. Although there are many records of the She people's clothing in the historical records of the Ming and Qing dynasties, they are all sporadic and unknown. The "New Records of Guizhou Atlas" in the Hongzhi period of the Ming Dynasty recorded: "They wear red flowery clothes and white chicken feathers in their hair." "Women wear buns with long hairpins, and wear local brocade without collars. They have holes in the scarf and put it on their heads. They also have two sleeves, which are removed when they are doing things. They are decorated with seashells, copper bells, blue, white and green beads." "They wear buns and bare feet, and women wear brocade clothes." This is a more detailed description of the clothing of She women in historical records. The "General Records of Guizhou" in the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty recorded: "Women wear flowery clothes, without sleeves, but with two pieces of cloth covering the front and back, and short pleated skirts." The "Dong Gu Xian Zhi" written by Lu Ciyun said: "They wear short clothes, preferably blue. Women wear flowery skirts, without sleeves, which only cover the front and back, and pleated skirts that cover the knees." The "Majiang County Chronicles" of the Republic of China states: "Women covered their heads with flowered cloth, wore silver rings around their necks, tied green belts, and wore green pants." Regarding the origin of the phoenix costume, the She ethnic group's "Kailu Road" gave the following description: After the creation of the world, dragons, tigers, and thunder gods fought fiercely for the world: the dragon sent floods to flood the low places, thunder struck and lightning struck, ignited a fire that burned the land and hills, the wind was fierce, the fire was fierce, the water was surging, and all creatures had nowhere to escape, and they were instantly in a desperate situation of destruction. At the critical moment, the phoenix bird cried loudly, flapped its wings and soared into the sky, breaking through the siege of the fire, and then forced the dragon to hide in the abyss and the thunder to hide in the sky, and then called back all creatures, and started a happy and peaceful life again. The phoenix is the king of birds, the symbol of women, with great wisdom and courage. It is the patron saint of the She people, and has the virtue of rebirth and the grace of wings to protect the She people. Most of the phoenix patterns are used as female ornaments, so women's costumes are called "Phoenix Clothes" or "Phoenix Costumes". The Phoenix Costume of the She Nationality in Majiang County is the costume worn by She women in Majiang County when they get married, on festivals, on solemn occasions, and when they die. Because the She people regard the phoenix as a mascot that brings happiness to the She people, the phoenix is often used as silver ornaments and embroidery patterns on their clothes, so it is called "Phoenix Costume". The Phoenix Costume is divided into: top, bottom, head style, and silver ornaments. Top: also known as "flower sleeves", it has no collar, right lapel, the length of the clothes is longer than the arm, and the sleeve length is about 8 inches. It consists of two sections: batik and embroidery. The batik section is white with blue flowers. The pattern is divided into three parts: upper, middle, and lower. The upper and lower sides are mostly "longevity" patterns and plum blossom patterns, which are symmetrically distributed; the middle part is the main body of the pattern, mostly with peony and rose patterns. The embroidery section is mainly red, with flowers and birds embroidered with blue, green, purple, yellow, and brown silk threads. The material texture is - color home woven cloth. The hem and corners of each garment are decorated with red and white embroidered lace. The formal dress with flower sleeves must be tied with a silk indigo belt, which is two feet long and has five-inch long tassels at both ends. A waist bag is tied around the waist to hold coins and dressing items. Bottoms: Wide crotch trousers with large trouser legs, - color, trouser length to the feet, one foot and two inches wide, and decorated with a lace about two inches wide and colorful embroidery pattern. The calves are wrapped with white-based batik leggings, and the feet are worn in embroidered boat-shaped nose-turned shoes. Hair style: Married women put their hair upside down and insert silver hairpins, while unmarried women comb their hair into a single braid at the back of their heads, tie the two ends with silk thread, and cover the head with a batik headscarf with a white background and blue flowers, which is six feet long and one foot wide, with red and green lace at both ends, and red tassels hanging down. A green bead is inserted in the middle of the headscarf, about one foot long, and the headscarf is covered with the center of the headscarf. She women pay more attention to their headdresses, and there are more than 10 styles of headdresses. There are dozens of styles of silver ornaments on the headdresses. Silver ornaments: The silver ornaments of the She ethnic group mainly include large silver flowers, small silver flowers, silver earrings, silver necklaces, silver bracelets, silver rings, etc. A moon-shaped silver plate is hung on the neck in front of the chest; there is a silver butterfly between the pendant chain and the silver plate, and there is a semi-convex phoenix pattern on the silver plate. The She ethnic group's phoenix dress has been lost in most of the She ethnic villages in Majiang County. Now it is only inherited in Liubao Village, Xingshan Town, and only a few people can make it. The main representative inheritors are: Wang Zhengshu, Wang Tianfen, Pan Licui, Wang Fengxiang, Yang Yizhi, Wang Jialan, Wang Fengkui, Wu Wanzhen, Wang Li, Zhao Tongxiang, Zhao Tonghai, etc. The production process of "Phoenix Dress" is unique, and "embroidery" alone is divided into "flower arrangement" and "stitching". "Flower arrangement" is to use embroidery needles to thread colored threads on the base cloth with a pattern, and interweave various semi-convex solid images. "Picture" is to weave colorful patterns with silk threads according to the color of the pattern. These patterns have the characteristics of strict composition, coordinated color matching, and exquisite craftsmanship. For example, the production of the sole of "cross-legged shoes" is to cut out the shoe pattern with bamboo shoot shells, and then cut the cloth according to the pattern, and paste the bamboo shoot shell shoe pattern with paste made of konjac, up to more than ten layers of cloth, and then rub the hemp thread by hand to sew nails. The occasion of wearing pays attention to numbers. Phoenix clothes are both wedding clothes and funeral clothes. When getting married, wear two, four, and six pieces instead of one, that is, rich families wear eight pieces; funeral clothes wear single pieces instead of two, that is, three, five, seven pieces, and up to nine pieces. It can be worn for daily travel, festivals, grand events, and banquets, and the number of pieces is not limited. The collar is a set of one, three, five, seven, or nine, with a small inside and a large outside, so that it can be exposed and covered. The silver ornaments of Phoenix costumes are divided into four categories: head ornaments, necklaces, clothing, and hand ornaments. Among them, head ornaments are the most exquisite. There are three types of head ornaments: forehead ornaments include melon rice pendants, plum blossom pendants, silver bell pendants, silver fish pendants, and silver rice pendants. Hair ornaments include hairpins, pins, large flowers, small flowers, round curly flowers, inserted curly flowers, curly heart flowers, Baer flowers, six ear joints, etc. Ear ornaments include melon rice pendants, ear blocks, large, medium and small hanging ears, etc. In terms of color, the cuffs of Phoenix costumes are mainly embroidered with red background, and the hem and corners of the clothes are decorated with red embroidered lace; the ends of the headscarf are inlaid with red and green lace, with red tassels hanging down, and the middle of the headscarf is decorated with green beads. The whole costume is bright red and green, which looks gorgeous, warm and grand. Phoenix costume reflects the ancient totem worship of the She ethnic group, carries a lot of historical and cultural information and primitive memories of the She ethnic group, and embodies the spiritual beliefs and value orientation of the She people. The She people have language but no written language. In addition to oral transmission and personal teaching, Phoenix costume has become an important carrier of the inheritance of She ethnic history and culture. At the same time, the She women's dress is unique, bright and eye-catching but not tacky, and the embroidery and silver patterns are ingenious and extremely exaggerated, which fully reflects the artistic aesthetics of the She people, the superb craftsmanship and creative genius, and records the formation and development history of She ethnic costumes, reflecting the profound cultural connotation of the She ethnic group. Later, especially in the late 1970s, with the influx of other textiles and various popular styles, the She young people pursued fashionable clothes with novel styles and diverse colors, and were unwilling to spend time and effort to hand-make cumbersome Phoenix costumes, and the number of inheritors dropped sharply. With the process of global economic integration, various popular cultures that have flourished along with urbanization and industrialization have strongly impacted the traditional culture of the She ethnic group. Young people are even more disdainful of the Phoenix Costume, and there are even fewer inheritors. If it is not rescued in time, the Phoenix Costume that the She ethnic group was once proud of will be submerged in the long river of history. (No pictures yet, welcome to provide.) (No pictures yet, welcome to provide.)