A Comparative Study Of The Folk Costume Of The Minority Nationalities Of Heilongjiang Province

National costume refers to a nation’s traditional costume. The development and change of different ethnic groups’ clothing is not the same due to the factors of living condition, religion custom, history and culture, etc. Every nation has its own unique ethnic costumes. These ethnic costumes and Han nationality clothing collectively constituted the long history of China’s traditional dress culture.China is rich in forest of water resources in Northeast, especially in Heilongjiang province which is located in Sanjiang plain. Possessing Xiaoxing’anLing and Daxing’anLing, it bred Manchu, Mongolia, Oroqen, Hezhe nationality, Korean and other minorities with the endowment of nature geographical conditions. Based on the different production activities, ways of life, ethnic customs, these minorities also formed strong regional characteristics, different styles of folk customs, charming religious culture and different national dress cultures. The costume culture partly belongs to these characteristics of culture. Because the individual research study on the minority clothing within the territory of Heilongjiang Province is less at the present stage. Thus, based on the parallel structure, this paper has a comparative study of minority clothing culture in Heilongjiang province especially the above several minorities’ national dress cultures.This paper will discuss specifically the distinction of upper body and lower body dress and also have a discussion of the formation causes of this distinction at the same time. Meanwhile, this paper will also inquire into the national dress culture connotation, aesthetic connotation and religious connotation and finally summarize the ethnic dress cultural value and how to develop and protect the ethnic costume in the future.This paper is divided into eight parts. The first part is the introduction, which mainly explains the research background of minority folk costumes and the research significance, also including the literature review and research status of this thesis and the research methods and structure of the paper. The second part is the description of same time, the folk custom of ethnic costume is discussed by the description of upper body wear. The third part is the focus of the description of the national minority clothing accessories, mainly divided into two parts of waist decorations and headgear. The fourth part is mainly to make a detailed description on the classification of the ethnic costumes especially on the lower part of the body such as dress, trousers, skirt, such as shoes and boots. The fifth part is to explore the function of minority costumes. The sixth part studies the differences of minorities’ costume from the geographical factors, production factors and the historical and cultural differences. The seventh part analyzes the cultural connotation, aesthetic connotation and religious connotation of the ethnic costumes. The eighth part is the concluding remarks.