Amdo Tibetan Girl's Traditional Costume At Litang #5

[feeline]

Here's some more costume pics from the Litang Horse festival in China, this time Amdo Tibetan costumes, rather than the Kham Tibetan costumes which I posted before.

Comparing to the Khampa costumes in my previous posts, you'll notice that characteristic of these Amdo Tibetan costumes is that substantial use of gold and silver amulets. When I first saw these particular costumes in person I thought that these amulets which decorate the women's fronts, backs, waists and heads would be painted in gold paint. But these big decorations are really made of gold or silver, as they appear. As I explained in the other posts, the value of these tradiational tibetan costumes worn at the Litang festival are anywhere from several tens, or hundreds of thousands of u.s. dollars, to many millions. The girl's costume here surely must be very expensive, I guess in the millions judging by the sheet amount of gold in those ornaments. In this costume were about 20 ornaments almost the size of dinner plates, the weight of which was easy to see by her walk, made ofgold in the vast amounts that you might imagine a king in africa owning (Read on below for an explanation of the centuries-old tradition of investing a family's wealth in precious metals and jewels which still exists in Tibet). Whoever she is, this girl is from an extremely rich family by Tibetan standards, perhaps aristocrats or the daughter of a businessman

And yeah I messed up the focus on the third photo in below, oops
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traditionally precious metals and stones are the main store of wealth for nomadic tibetan people, because families must frequently move with changing seasons, and an easily transported form of wealth is necessary. this culture goes back millenia, archeological finds from the 1st century AD in the khampa area unearthed ornaments that are essentially the same in design and materials as todays are. these costumes and ornaments are passed down from generation to generation inside the family. so the ornaments also have great emotional value as they are the remnants of decades and centuries of ancestors

while tibetans have little fondness for what they consider the invasion and occupation of their country by the chinese, and the suppression of their freedom to practice religious and cultural practice, this costume culture has seen a resurgence in recent years. this is because tibet, like the rest of china has seen much economic growth during the last 10 or 20 years. while a lot of this money goes to chinese immigrants, and amougnst many tibetans there is still extensive poverty and need for all aspects of development from food and water, to health and education, there is a growing upper and middle class of tibetans who are gaining money. well-off amdo and khampa tibetans today, like their ancestors, continue to invest much of their wealth in the form of jewelry and ornaments, in part because these items increase in value over time, in part to preserve their old culture, and in part because the costumes bring social prestige. at the litang horse racing fesival, the costumes are a significant sideshow, drawing attention from both normal tibetans, and travelling photographers and tourists alike

[Ron Kruger]

Interesting. I think my wife has enough jewlery to make something like that.