A group of Miao young women showcase their traditional silver ornaments in a runway show held in Fenghuang Ancient Town.
Women of the Miao ethnic group in China love silver ornaments. In ancient times, the Miao people were always traveling rather than settling down. Legend has it that Miao people reforged their valuables by placing them into furnaces and crafting them into wearable accessories, enabling them to carry their assets with them when they traveled. This tradition continues to this day. The craftsmanship of silver ornaments by the Miao was rated as one of the representative items of national intangible cultural heritage in 2006. Miao people living in Fenghuang County of Hunan Province excel in this craftsmanship.
Miao silver ornaments come in numerous complicated shapes and feature an exquisitely gorgeous sheen. They are worn on every part of the body, literally from head to toe. For shoulder and chest, for example, silver can be made into shawls, chains, bells, knives, swords, hooks, bows, and various other items as embellishments. Two types of headdresses, a silver phoenix crown and silver flower hat, are the most representative of Miao silver ornaments, comprising of over 150 intricate and small pieces of jewelry. In order to facilitate the cleaning of silver jewelry, each part of the elaborately crafted headdresses is assembled in a winding way, so they can be disassembled readily. Traditional motifs on the Miao jewelry include flowers, birds, fish, and cows.
Its manufacturing process generally involves around 30 steps, including forging, drawing, hammering, chiseling, and soldering. Today, the silver jewelry industry is seeing greater output and more diverse designs due to technology-assisted machinery manufacturing. In Fenghuang ancient town, many silversmiths inherit and carry on the skills passed down from their ancestors to fashion silver jewelry by hand as they firmly believe that hand-made jewelry has greater vitality.
To promote this time-honored crafting skill, the local government of Fenghuang County founded a training center. Wen Dezhong, a well-known master silversmith in Fenghuang committed to promoting the traditional culture surrounding Miao silver, has been invited to teach Miao silver making skills at the center. In addition to apprenticeship, live streaming, e-commerce, and online short videos, other technology-assisted channels have also contributed to the growing popularity of Miao silver, attracting more and more consumers to place orders for customized hand-made Miao silverware. 
ZHOU SHUYI is a senior student at the Capital Normal University High School.
