You Wenfeng and her two employees spent 12 days in making up this elaborated masterpiece with skins of more than 50 salmons, each of which weighs about 6 kilograms. The fish-skin clothes are of grey white stripes with slide opening, giving off a light fishy smell. Its sleeve opening and lap are decorated with cirrus clouds and sprays, the auspicious designs of Hezhe ethnic minority.

 

At the Intangible Cultural Heritage Exhibition held in Beijing in February this year, the fish-skin clothes attracted great attention. You Wenfeng was seated in front of the exhibition stand in fish-skin hat with snow-hare fur and fish-skin boots, sparing no pains to answer questions from the visitors.  

 

"Lots of people would come to see this 'salmon clothes' every day," grinned the successor of the fish-skin clothing making from the Hezhe ethnic group, pointing to the fish-skin clothes.

 

The Hezhe ethnic group is one of the smallest minorities in China who live in the valleys of the Heilongjiang River, Songhua River and Ussuri with a population of over 4600. With abundant fish resources around them, the ancestors of Hezhe people were referred to as "Fish-skin Tribe" for their use of clothing made of fish-skin to shelter from the cold weather and water in their fishing and hunting.

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