Semiotic Studies On The Yi’s Clothing Culture Of Liangshan

The clothing culture of the Yi minority in Liangshan has its owncharm, which could be recognized as the symbol of the Yi subculture in liangshan.In the long-term production and life practice, the Yi minority in liangshan createdand developed the symbolic clothing culture, which perfectly fits the local ethnicstyle, also ultimately becomes the expression of the life style of the Yi. Due to theunique geographic location where the Yi resided in, as well as the social, historicalbackground of the Yi, the clothing culture was well kept throughout the history. as itsteps into socialism, being deeply influenced by associated state policies, theeconomy in liangshan encounters a great progress, citizens’ living standard also getimproved gradually. Unfortunately, the art and culture of the Yi is observed to beshown as shriveling in some ways. The Yi’s traditional clothing begins to vanishfrom daily life. Facing the cruel reality, how to maintain and protect the clothingculture of the Yi becomes a meaningful and vital question to be asked. Thisresearch thesis provides a brief picture about the clothing culture of the Yi bystarting with quoting the semiotics by Susan Galan and Cassirer，which is from thecultural anthropology. A deep analysis will be accomplished by introducing thesymbols in all sorts, such as colorings, images, accessories, designing and clothingutilization. Through the systematical analysis, it will help us obtain a briefunderstanding about the development of clothing of the Yi, also help us understandthe culture and history information which is hidden behind the surface. Ultimately,it helps to discover the beauty of the Yi in liangshan, and get the attention from thesociety to help protect the Yi’s clothing culture. The first chapter mainlyintroduces the historic background, three main dialect areas, and their clothingcultures. The second chapter sort and analyze the relationships among colors,symbols, history, and religion. It also helps discover the information sent by historyand Yi’s sense. The third chapter mainly introduces the graphs existing in theYi’s clothing and its structural principals, in which you will find that the Yi’ has thepursuits of seeking natural beauty and harmonious life style. The fourth chapter introduces the clothing accessories of the Yi and its headwear. Headwear can be sortby gender, age, and social status. Which may include earrings, Necklaces, chestdecorations, back decorations，and waist decorations. They all intensively expressthe beauty of the men and women in Liangshan. The fifth chapter introduces theclothing selection and producing techniques, which are also shown as the traces oftraditions. The sixth chapter concluded the symbolic information that the Yi’sclothing are sending, it also analyzes what we can do to protect the Yi’s clothingculture.