Journey Back to Thousands Years Ago - Ancient Clothing Fashion Show in Jinsha Site Museum

Release Time: 2024-09-07

“Hello everyone! My name is Li Bai.” The greeting initiated the fashion show of ancient clothing along the Silk Road in Jinsha Site Museum (Jinsha). In the afternoon of September 7, visitors to Jinsha were not only able to explore the ancient Shu Kingdom through priceless relics from 3,000 years ago, but also to follow the costumed “Fairy Poet” and tour cross the Jade Gate to appreciate sceneries of Xinjiang and the Silk Road virtually.

The event included the immersive guidance, fashion show and a play of classical musical instruments along the Silk Road. During the fashion show, 12 sets of costumes based on the characters of Dunhuang murals were showcased in the spotlight. In addition, the continuing education team from Mogao School of Dunhuang Academy was specially invited to do on-site explanation to the audience about the costumes.

Revisit the Silk Road via Quiz Pass, Fun Fair, and Poem Word Game, following the steps of “Fairy Poet Li Bai”

In order to celebrate the upcoming Mid-Autumn Festival, Jinsha Site Museum launched a series of special activities related to the temporary exhibit in Jinsha, called “Splendid Western Regions with the Same Wind - Xinjiang Silk Road Culture Special Exhibition”. Crowded by the audience, “Fairy Poet Li Bai”, starred by Mr. Yuanchuan Pang, a senior docent of the Jinsha Site Museum, led the journey. Following Mr. Pang’s guidance, the audience experienced the customs of the Silk Road and looked back at the prosperity of The Times in multi-cultural background. There are a total of 134 exquisite relics in the hall provided by the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region Museum, Chengdu Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, and Chengdu Shu Brocade Embroidery Museum.

Trip back to the Ancient Silk Road by Watching Fashion Show and Pipa Instrumental Performance

“Shall we participate in the Silk Road costume feast together?” At the end of the tour, “Li Bai” took dozens of audience to the meditation space to enjoy a gorgeous catwalk show of Silk Road fashion. Along with the famous Pipa songs such as “Silk Road” and “Pipa Song”, models showed 12 different kinds of clothes, including the skirt of the Sui Dynasty, the Hu costume of the prosperous Tang Dynasty, the Zhai clothing of the late Tang Dynasty, and the Uighur women’s dress in the Five Dynasties. They acted as Tang Dynasty’s young girls, noble women, Uighur princesses, and western princes in elegant clothes. They met up with the audience and told the “THEN” stories along the Silk Road leisurely.

According to the on-site staff from Mogao School of Dunhuang Academy, the clothing prototypes on the show are all from the figures dressed on the murals of the Mogao Grottoes and Yulin Grottoes in Dunhuang, and most of them are the portraits of the donors which can best reflect people’s lives at that time. Such a show not only concentrated the beauty of clothing in different regions and different dynasties, but also condensed the efforts of countless researchers.

“The Silk Road Fashion Show” was the first chapter of the series activities and had gained a good livestreaming data both online and offline with over 300,000 views. During the Mid-Autumn Festival holiday break days, Jinsha will hold “Deer Singing Poetry Festival” and “Full Moon Garden Fair” to share the joy with visitors from nationwide.

（实习生胡怡然译，志愿者刘君然校）