The colorful brocade of the highlands

In Laokai, the Mung Hoa live primarily in Bakha, Simakai, and Muang Khwang. The Mung Hoa possess a rich, diverse, and deeply rooted culture. Traditional crafts are a significant part of this heritage. In particular, brocade weaving is passed down by women through generations. Creating unique traditional attire with intricate decorative motifs. Embodying the cultural values of the Mung Hoa people. To create a piece of Mung Hoa traditional attire. The community must first grow flax for raw weaving material. Once harvested, the flax is dried, stripped of fiber, and rolled. Before use, it is boiled with wood ash to ensure durability and luster. After many steps like beading, stripping, spinning, and rolling, it is woven into raw linen. With industrial fabric now readily available, few families grow flax, opting to buy from markets. Traditional Mung Hoa women's attire features five colors, indigo, red, yellow, white, and green. To dye the white linen, they soak indigo plants for days to create the dyeing solution. If the color is not deep enough, they re-dye it several times before drying it for further steps. Mung Hoa motifs are intricate, especially on the skirt, which is meticulously drawn with beeswax. This task requires a deep understanding of traditional Mung patterns. Materials include undyed raw linen, traditional copper styluses, and ink made from forest beeswax. A unique aspect is that brown-black patterns drawn on white fabric invert colors after dyeing. The beeswax lines reveal white, while the original white fabric turns deep indigo. This is the secret technique Mung Hoa people have used for generations. Another way the Mung Hoa create motifs is through embroidery. They use colorful threads to stitch intricate patterns onto their clothes. Mung Hoa women are skilled at stitching patterns without any pre-drawn guides. Yet, the lines and shapes remain perfectly aligned and uniform. Different sections of the attire feature distinct patterns, with horizontal lines and bold borders forming squares and rectangles. Pattern names are largely symbolic. If a motif resembles a familiar object, they name it after that object, such as fern, horsetail, chicken foot, sunflower, or island patterns. There are also geometric patterns, arranged alongside one another, enhancing the beauty of primary motifs like triangles, sawtooth patterns, borders, and branching lines. Prominent among these are paired or quadrupled spiral motifs, interlocking spirals within a square form an eight-part design. To the back Mung Hoa, these spirals represent buffalo horns used in funerary rites. Notably, children's hats also incorporate these spiral patches. Some hats feature raised horn-like shapes to ward off evil spirits. The border patterns on the skirt hem are also spiral motifs, though they are essentially horizontal S-shaped designs. These designs appear on many decorative motifs. This motif reflects constant cyclical motion. Some patterns are inspired by the fruits and vegetables of daily Mung Hoa life. Coconut and pumpkin flowers adorn the skirt hems and aprons. Coconut flower motifs vary, from ornate accents to tiny clusters. Through keen observation, Mung women turn familiar sights into artistic icons. Modern life and market-bought fabrics threaten these traditional crafts. Only a few elders remain who still know how to weave. Consequently, traditional attire in Bac Ha has evolved from its origins. This is a costume preserved in the authentic Mung tradition. It may look simpler than what women wear today. Yet closer inspection reveals intricate patterns in bold colors. Such outfits are now mainly made for the deceased in traditional rites. Faced with the fading of traditional Mung Hoa crafts, cultural officials and local authorities are actively campaigning, urging skilled elders to preserve their identity, and teach the youth how to create traditional attire, thereby encouraging the community to uphold their heritage. Much of the original Mung cultural value has faded over time. However, with support from various agencies and departments, it helps the people understand and cherish their ethnic identity. It is not just one person, but the whole community that must join in. To preserve this identity, everyone must strive to learn more. We must integrate without losing the Mung roots. The culture sector is urgently helping the Mung Hoa revive their traditional crafts, aiming to register Mung Hoa brocade patterns as intangible cultural heritage. This will pave the way for more cultural preservation activities. Our surveys show that many have forgotten these skills, especially the youth who know little of embroidery or beeswax drawing. Furthermore, skills like growing, peeling, and spinning flax are also fading. Currently, flax cultivation in Bac Ha is rare, posing a significant risk. This risks losing traditional crafts and a distinct cultural feature of the Mung in Bac Ha. We are compiling a scientific dossier to propose recognizing Mung costume motifs as national intangible cultural heritage. We hope this recognition will encourage local authorities and residents to better preserve their traditional culture. Traditional Mung Hoa costumes embody the cultural and spiritual values of the community to sustain textile and embroidery crafts, beyond support from authorities and relevant agencies. Passing these skills down within each Mung Hoa family remains vital and must start now.