Baobei: The Miao

Much of what the world recognizes as “Chinese culture” is actually Han culture. But China is home to many peoples, with histories and traditions entirely their own.

One of these ethnic groups is the Miao. And to speak of “the Miao” as one people is almost misleading. Across Guizhou there are many distinct Miao communities: at least four main branches and one hundred localized sub-groups, with their own cultures, dress, dialect, and ways of making.

Without a traditional written language, generations of Miao history have been recorded in what they make and wear. Embroidery, textiles, silver, motifs and symbols become an archive of their own: carrying stories of ancestry, migration, belief, and belonging... from one generation to the next.

But culture is never still. The Miao are constantly adapting, interpreting, and carrying these traditions into the present.

This is only a small glimpse of the Miao we encountered ~ and the beginning of the stories we were lucky enough to learn along the way.

Shop what we collected from the Miao. 

Creative Direction: Kelly Wang Shanahan (@theziran)

Photography + Videography: Jess Foley (@fauxly)

Video Editing: Jhonson Phielipus (@jjnnxx2250)

Shot in Guizhou, China. April 2024.