Study on the Evolution and Development of Baina Clothing to Shuitian Clothing in the Ming and Qing Dynasties

摘要

Chinese people have taken saving as the virtue since ancient times. The poor people of the Ming and Qing Dynasties stitched pieces of cloth to make daily necessities by various methods. The optimistic people also gave the beautiful meaning of this kind of splicing clothes. The splicing clothes of monks is called "Baina clothing", which means the clothes are obtained from the common people's giving; the children's splicing clothes is called "Baijia clothing" ("Baijia" means a hundred of families), and wearing this kind of clothes stitched from cloths of different families can get everyone's blessings; adult splicing clothes also has a beautiful name, called "Shuitian clothing" ("Shuitian" means paddy field). This kind of clothing from the poor was also favored by the nobility at that time. It was popular in the upper class, but it has lost the essential meaning of "Shuitian clothing", just for the beautiful and deliberate stitching. The people of all walks of life in the Ming and Qing Dynasties used their unique aesthetics and wisdom to interpret the warmth of the costumes, re-giving the pieces of cloths to the beauty and auspiciousness, and living a poetic life in the poor days.