Minority Handicrafts

Fifty-six minorities live around China. In Guilin live approximately twenty-eight minorities, including Zhuang, Miao, Yao, and Dong minorities. Though society is changing, several minorities have kept their own lifestyle and living habitats and worn their own costumes from generation to generation. They use their intelligence and wisdom to make their own minority handicrafts combining their cultures and traditions.

The most attractive minority handicrafts in Guilin are Zhuang’s and Miao’s. Their costumes are completely hand-made by themselves. Some accessories, such as silver jewellery of Miao are world-famous. A family prepares a set of trousseau for a baby girl as soon as she was born. The trousseau contains silver headdress and silver jewellery worn around chest, hands, back, waist and feet.

Among many handicrafts of Zhuang is the embroidered ball the most famous and popular all over the world. Zhuang offers several handicrafts, like embroidered balls – the token for love between lovers, Zhuang brocade, handbags made of Zhuang brocade, and xylophone.

You can get these handicrafts from vendors and shops during your stay in Guilin. Wander around Xicheng Night Market where you can find many varieties of minority handicrafts including wood carving, costumes of minorities and painted paper fans. It neighbours the Central Square of Guilin. It takes a 10-minute walk to get there from the Central Square.

If you like to buy more valuable minority handicrafts, Longsheng is a great place to get them. Longji Zhuang Village and Ping’an Village are the places where Zhuang has settled for hundreds of years. You can get not only Zhuang handicrafts but also Zhuang specialties, such as Zhuang watery wine (a kind of alcohol made only by Zhuang), and Longji Chilli.