A set of traditional Tibetan costumes, together worth more than 10
million yuan, arrived in Beijing on October 23. They are scheduled
to be shown at the 2007 Beijing Dahongmen International Fashion
Festival which opens on October 25. The costumes come from
Kangding, the capital city of Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture
of Sichuan Province.
A girl and a boy from Dege County of Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous
Prefecture also came to show in these costumes.
The girl and boy traveled for two days from their hometown,
arriving at Kangding on October 21. According to Dangqiu, the girl,
the costume, covered with heavy adornments, weighed more than 25
kilograms.
“They are the most ceremonious costumes for Tibetan people. This
set of female costumes contains three belts and three necklaces
with coral and precious stones on them,” said Dangqiu. And she also
explained that the Tibetans feel these adornments signify treasure
and good luck. The more adornments a Tibetan wears the richer he or
she could be and the luckier he or she may be.
More than half an hour was needed for Dangqiu to put on her
costume and all of those adornments.
These costumes are completely handmade. All the necklaces and
belts have been passed down for generations during several hundred
years. Dangqiu said that a mere nine precious stones on one of
these necklaces had been appraised at more than 2 million yuan
(about US$266,000).
To make sure that the costumes arrived in Beijing safely, the
festival committee hired two military police to safeguard them.
(China.org.cn by Chen Lin October 24, 2007)
