Dulong Blanket: both Clothes and Quilt

Before the founding of the PRC, the dress of Dulong people was very simple. They were wrapped, both men and women, in Dulong blankets, which is woven with flax, about 1 metre wide and 2 metres long. Usually it is put on the back, one end running over the right shoulder and the other under the left arm; the two meets on the right shoulder, leaving left shoulder and right arm naked. Some women use two blankets: both slanting from the shoulders to the knees, overlapping with each other. One is tied tightly at the waist, covering both the front and the back, while the other hangs naturally. Dulong blanket is solid, wearable and convenient to use, as clothes in the day and quilt at night, so it has been loved by the Dulong people. After the founding of the PRC, from 1951 to early 1960s, the central government distributed and transported large amounts of cotton clothes to the Dulong people every year. Afterwards, along with the rapid development of economy, culture, transportation and other enterprises, various types of clothes are imported to the Dulong region incessantly. However, whatever they wear, many Dulong people still love wearing a Dulong blanket as decoration, which has formed a bright and vivid style of their own group with the feature of the modern era.

Dulong blankets are woven on the manual loom. They used to be made of flax only. After the founding of the PRC, cotton and wool gradually entered the Dulong River area. Therefore, women like weaving the blanket with cotton, wool and flax of different colors, whose texture is softer and strip patterns more graceful and beautiful.

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