Treasure of the Week: Chinese Miao Necklace

This Chinese Miao Necklace is made of silver and bought from Guizhou, the province where the largest population of Miao people reside in China

I’ll have to confess this item is technically not vintage, and doesn’t quite belong in my vintage collection of blog posts. But it has a great vintage look, and is one of the more interesting pieces of jewelry in our apartment. This particular style of necklace also carries a long history and a lot of cultural significance, so it’s something I decided to write about and wanted to share.

The Miao people of China （苗族）

 The “Miao” name has a long history, and was first used by the Han Chinese (the largest ethnic group in China) as early as ~200 BC to designating non-Han groups in the south.

With the declaration of mainland China as the People’s Republic of China in 1949, the government also officially recognized 55 minority ethnic groups in China. Miao is one of these groups, and today estimated to have a total population of 11-12 million people, residing in South and South West China. The largest Miao population is in Guizhou province, but there are also significant numbers in Hunan, Yunnan, Sichuan (where I was born), Guangxi and Hubei.

The Miao is not a homogenous group of people. In fact, it is known to encompass  at least 3-4 different tribes, most linguistically and culturally related – Hmong (Mong), Hmu (Hmub), A Hmao and Qo Xiong (Xiong, Kho Xiong, Qho Xiong). Significant numbers of the Hmong (Mong) people immigrated out of China into South East Asia in the 18^th century (Vietnam, Laos, Burma and Thailand), and following the communist takeover of Laos in 1975, further immigrated and settled in several western nations, including the US, France, and Australia.

The significance of Miao silver

Miao women loooove silver. In fact pretty much all of their jewellery are made out of silver. Interestingly, most of the regions where Miao people live today do not produce silver, I’m not sure if this has any correlation with how much they value this metal (you always want what you can’t have, right?)

Silver is worn almost from head to toe on special occasions like weddings and festivals, from large head pieces, to earrings, necklaces (yes multiples of them together), bracelets, rings, waistbands and anklets. Elaborate pieces can weigh many kilograms.

My Chinese Miao necklace

My silver Miao necklace was bought by my husband in Guizhou, and seems to be a very classical style that is typically worn in the upper tiers of the Miao women’s necklace stack (in the image above the Miao girl wears two of various thickness). It has this amazing 3D construction, where 3 silver wires are looped over and over again to form 6 sides of circular spirals stemming from a central wire. A wonderfully geometric design that is bold but at the same time intricate, reflecting the great Miao silver craftsmanship.

I don’t quite have the spinal strength to carry 5 kilograms of silver around my neck (nor a family heirloom), so I like to wear this necklace alone as a statement piece with something simple. A black knit pencil dress, or even a nice t-shirt and jeans work really well.

For other interesting pieces in my vintage collection, please see here. If you are interested in finding out more about the Miao people, you can try here and here. This page shows an amazing antique ceremonial collar dating from the 1950s.