Embroidered Identities: Ornately Decorated Textiles and Accessories of Chinese Ethnic Minorities, Highlights from the Collection of Mei-yin Lee Exhibition Opening cum Members Day Costume Show

To celebrate art and friendship, members are invited to the opening reception of Embroidered Identities: Ornately Decorated Textiles and Accessories of Chinese Ethnic Minorities, Highlights from the Collection of Mei-yin Lee. The event will kick off with a fashion show of many of the dresses and accessories from the collection. Modelled by fellow members, everyone will have a close-up view of these intricate pieces and are welcome to try on a few for fun. Come join us in ethnic dress (from anywhere in the world) and bring along a friend to celebrate your Society membership.

About the Exhibition

Supported by the Museum Society to commemorate the Society’s 25th and the Museum’s 60th anniversaries, the exhibition demonstrates the wealth of colours, techniques and styles found in the on-going traditions of Chinese minority groups. Elaborately embroidered costumes and baby carriers, most of which originate from the Miao, Dong, Shui and Zhuang ethnic tribes of the south-western Chinese provinces of Guizhou, Yunnan and Guangxi are decorated with richly coloured, stitched and sewn ornamentations – and sometimes silver applications – indigenous to the particular culture and long-lived traditions they derive from. As some ethnic minorities lack a written script, the symbolism and colour-coding found in their textiles form a visual language that presents an important cultural and anthropological development and heritage still in practice today.

Collector Mei-yin Lee is a Special Research Fellow of the Dunhuang Academy and an advisor to the HK Institute for the Promotion of Chinese Culture. She has conducted in-depth research on Chinese ethnic culture, Buddhist art and Chinese embroidery for many years.