Xibe's Costume
( 2005-09-13 )

The Xibes, with a population of over 27,000 in Northwest China'sXinjiangUygur Autonomous Region, have their own language. They believe in Shamanism. Daxian Mountain and the Nenjiang River are the cradles of Xibe civilization -- it is where the Xibes were born and developed.

In 1764, in order to consolidate the Xinjiang border area, theQing Dynasty(1644-1911) governmentsummoned more than 3,000 Xibe officers and soldiers together with their families to settle down along the Yili River to build their second homeland. Now most of the Xibes live in Xinjiang's Qapqal Xibe Autonomous County. Some of them live in the three northeastern provinces.

Xibe males' dress is mainly long gowns,  usually of blue, brown, and black colors. The females also wear long gowns of the same style as the men, but with embroidered flowers on the sleeves. Young women prefer red, green, and purple colors. Most of the women wear earrings, rings, and bracelets. The elders wear white head wrappings in the summer and autumn, but a cap in the winter.

Now the living standards are rising, so only the old wear long dresses, whereas the young people wear more fashionable clothes, as do most people in other parts of China.