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The Pu'er Culture - Elegance of Dai People and Simplicity of Bulang People

Graceful and Elegant Garments of Dai People Represented by Jinggu and Menglian
Dai is the main ethnic minority in Pu'er, and Dai people mainly live in the Jinggu and Menglian counties.

Dai people make their homes in tropical and subtropical regions, boasting warm weather, dense and thick mountainous forests, and ample produce.
Dai costumes fully reflect these geographical features. They are elegant, yet practical
and strongly decorated, demonstrating the national individuality and folk traditions of life appreciation and worship.

Dai women love having the long hair bundled on the top of the head, decorated with combs or flowers. Some wear headscarves, high-top hats, all adding to their elegance.


Dai men’s clothes are not significantly different.

They wear collarless front openings or short sleeved shirts and wide-waist, non-pocketed long trousers. White and green cloths are wrapped around their heads, and some men wear woollen top hats.They like wrapping blankets around, and often have bare feet. This kind of custom is light and comfortable when it is used for farming – and also looks stylish while dancing.

Zhenyuan's Kucon folk costume: shorts with long skirts
Kucong people live in mountainous regions with an altitude of 1800 metres along the Ailao Mountain and Wuliang Mountain on the border of Zhenlai County, Yunnan Province. Since the 1960s, they have gradually left the mountains and settled into farming. In 1985, the Kucong People received Lah nationality.

As Kucong people do not grow hemp and cotton, they do not have their own textile industry.

Most of their cloth and clothes are exchanged with the Hani people. Kucong men wear sackcloth and short tops, while Kucong women wear short tops and long dresses. They wear coloured cane skins as hair clasps, adorned with silver beads, shells and casts, with bracelets and beads. Kucong men often wear horns to show that they are brave and good at hunting.


Bulang Folk Costumes and Bulang Culture in Lancang
The Bulang people dress in a simple way, with their clothing largely identical, with just some minor differences. Bulang men wear collarless jacket and black wide trousers and wrap their heads in black or white cloths. They have the tradition of tattooing with various patterns on their limbs, chest and abdomen.

As Bulang people live together with Dai people, they have great influence on their customs and garment styles. Bulang woman coil up their hair or wear long braids coiled up. Unmarried girls also like putting fresh flowers on their heads. When going out, Bulang women must wrap their heads with headbands. Elder women use black and blue headbands. Middle-aged women prefer big, white headbands. Young women wear a large, coloured jacquard towel as a headband.

Young Bulang men wind their headbands with white cloth handkerchiefs, while elder men still retain the habit of coiling up their hair, winding in headbands with black cloths.
Bulang Women wear narrow-sleeved tight-fitting shorts and long skirts similar to those of the Dai women but with different colours, mainly black and cyan, alongside red, yellow and green.

Bulang women love decorating with red pompoms. Bulang men traditionally dress with long gowns with front open edgings or short jacket, black wide and loose trousers they tie with embroidered belts.