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The Miao minority group in southwestern China fascinates the world with its beautiful silver necklaces, embroidery, and batik art. With a history of over 5,000 years, Miao people boast their splendid culture and numbers of interesting folktales. A Smart Daughter-in-Law is one of the stories that have been passed down through the years.

An old man had three sons, and two of them had already been married. Living together with his sons, the old man was in charge of the family. Year after year, the old man gradually felt himself too old to manage the family. So he hoped one of his daughters-in-law could take care of the family. But before doing this, he would have to examine them to see which one was smarter.

When the Miao new year was coming, the old man told his two daughters-in-law: “We will need a few things to prepare our ancestor worship ceremony: two turtles without feet, two crucians without
scale, two pigs’ feet with black bones, and two white radishes with red inside. You start looking for them now. Whoever finds them first will be in charge of the family instead of me.

As they went out to seek for those things, they talked to each other: ” Where to get these things that don’t exist?” They felt helpless, and cried. A girl who lived nearby heard their cry and asked them what happened. After hearing their story, the girl laughed, “You can find all of those things at home, why did you bother going out?” ” Are you making fun of us?” the two women said, “We don’t have those things at home.” The girl continued to say, ” The turtles without feet are actually sticky rice paste. The fishes without scale are in fact new cloth shoes made for the new year. Eggs are white radishes with red inside. And a piece of burning charcoal is a pig’s foot with a black bone.”

Enlightened by what the girl told them, the two women went home. Then they found all these things at home, and showed them to the old man. Surprised, the old man said, “I am glad that you have found all these things. But did you find them by yourself, or did someone else tell you what they are? If you did it yourself, I will continue to give you some more tests. But if somebody else helped you, you should tell me who this person was.”

The two daughters-in-law didn’t want any more test, so they told him the truth. The old man was obviously very happy to know that a girl could be this smart, so he asked, “How old is this girl? I want you to go to ask her if she likes to marry my youngest son.” At the girl’s home, the two women told the old man’ s offer to the girl, who then answered, ” I would like to marry his youngest son, but he must let me manage the whole family.”

The old man agreed. Soon the girl brought her beautiful pure silver necklaces, and got married to the youngest son. She was in charge of all things in the family. The family prospered under her management.

A local tyrant was jealous of the wealth of the family. One day he told the old man, “I heard that the wife of your youngest son is very smart, who can create things out of nothing. Now, I want you to give me a pig’s head the size of a mountain. You must give me that in three days, otherwise I will take over all your property!”

The old man was very scared and asked his youngest daughter-in-law for help. The girl said, ” We don’t need to be afraid of him. Tomorrow you go and ask him how much his mountain weighs, so we can give him a pig’s head that weighs as much as his mountain.”

The next day the old man went to the tyrant and asked him, “ I have many pig’s heads at home. You need to tell me how much your mountain weighs, so I will give you one with the same weight.”

The tyrant was dumbfounded by the question. After a little while he replied, ” I give up the pig’s head. But now I want some wine which is exactly the same amount as that of the water in the river.” So the old man told this to his youngest daughter-in-law, who then said, ” Go to ask him how many bowls of water there is in the river, so we will offer him the same amount of wine.”

And the old man went to see the tyrant and told him what his daughter-in-law said. The tyrant was dumbfounded again. After a while he said, “OK, I give up the wine. But now I want you to give me a rooster that can lay eggs.” After learning this from the old man, the girl said, ” You stay at home tomorrow. I will go to meet that bad egg.”

The next day the girl went to the tyrant and said, “ Hey! My father-in-law didn’t go to look for the rooster. Can you wait for a few days?” The tyrant asked, “ Why didn’t he start looking for it yet?” The girl said, ” Last night he delivered a child. Now he has to stay at home and have a rest.” The tyrant yelled, “ Bullshit! How can a man be pregnant?” The girl said, “ You know that a man can’t have a baby, but why you don’t know that a rooster can’t lay eggs?”

Embarrassed at the question, the tyrant stopped asking for things from the old man since then.

Want to read more interesting Miao stories and see beautiful silver necklaces, click here to enjoy!

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The Miao people living in southwestern China are well known for their colorful costumes featuring glistening silver necklaces and beautiful embroidery. Including those two art forms, they also have a beautiful tin embroidery art.

To make this art, artists embroider with tin threads and tin slices. A piece of tin is almost as thin as a piece of paper. Scissor are used to cut the tin slices into thin tin lines which are 18 cm long and 1 mm wide.

They first draw the outline of a design with a cotton thread on a piece of navy blue cloth, then create this design with a thin tin thread. Then the four different colorful silk threads are used to embroider flower patterns on the black space.

Tin embroidery is usually adorned on women’s skirts and the back of their shirts.

On the skirts, two big pieces of tin embroidery are decorated on the front and the back. The entire area of the front is about 44 × 17 cm. The tin embroidered part is at 27 cm in length, and 14cm in width. The embroidery pattern includes nine different units from bottom to top.

The first unit has “X” patterns, which look like flowers but actually symbolize rivers, valleys, and mountains. The second unit has “V” patterns, which look like saddles for oxen but actually are the symbols of tools used by the locals. Often used as offerings in sacrificial ceremonies, oxen are also a symbol of power in the Miao society.

Patterns in the third unit sport scales which stand for fairness and equality. The Miao believe in an equal society and wish to have plenty of food and other commodities.

Designs in the fourth unit feature children’s heads, which stand for descendants.

The fifth unit is in the heart of the tin embroidery, and it sports many different designs. Rakes imply a good harvest and hard work. Triangle rulers imply measuring the length of wood when constructing a house. Girders stand for houses. Triangles at the sides stand for mountains and rivers.

Designs in the sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth units are exactly the same as those in the fourth, third, second, and first unit.

The total area of the back of the skirt is at 46 cm long and 19 cm wide. The tin embroidered part is about 30 ×15 cm. Most patterns are the same as those on the front piece. The second unit has patterns of big heads, which stand for adults.

The back of women’s shirts features a tin embroidered band which measures about 20 x 17 cm. Some tin threads about 10 cm long fall from the band. Called “dripping water threads,” they look like ears and symbolize the wish for a prosperous year.

Miao girls start to learn how to make tin embroidery at a very early age. They usually learn from their elder sisters and mothers. When they reach the age for marriage, they will have to sew a set of tin embroidered garment for their own dowry.

Only on important holidays and festivals, Miao women wear their beautiful tin embroidered clothes. The white tin embroidery on navy blue clothes looks elegant, and matches perfectly with their glistening silver earrings and silver necklaces.

The Miao tin embroidery art was created about 600 years ago. In 1997, some tourists from the Britain came to visit the Miao villages and were surprised to find this fabulous tin embroidery art. Since then, lots of tourists from western countries came to visit the Miao area every year.

In 2006, Miao tin embroidery art was listed by the Chinese government as one of China’s intangible cultural heritages, right up there with the Miao silver necklaces. This great art has even been used to adorn fashion apparel. A gorgeous evening dress sporting Miao tin embroidery art caused a sensation in a fashion show held in Sweden in January, 2009.

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