On December 22, 2023, the Guangdong Museum opened the exhibition Splendor and Bridal Grace: Women’s Ethnic Costumes of the Pearl River Basin in its No. 3 Exhibition Hall on the 3rd Floor. The exhibition is hosted by the Guangdong Museum in collaboration with the Guangxi Museum of Nationalities, co-organized by the Liuzhou Museum, Guilin Museum, Youjiang Ethnic Museum, Guangdong Museum of Yao Ethnic Culture, Guangdong Folk Arts Museum, Guangzhou Museum, and the Memorial Museum of Generalissimo Sun Yat-sen's Mansion. Various community partners have also contributed generous support. The exhibition showcases festive costumes and bridal attire of 23 Indigenous ethnic groups in the Pearl River Basin region, interpreting the layers of ethnic history and lived experience embedded in women’s apparel of Southwest and South China. It explores the cultural codes carried by these garments and the aesthetic meanings they embody. While grounded in distinctive ethnic features, women’s traditional costumes has continually evolved through interethnic contact, exchange, and fusion across historical periods—an expression of the broader “unity in diversity” of Chinese civilization.

Among the dazzling array of ethnic garments, festive costumes often serve as a bride’s wedding attire. Whether simple or ornate, these garments feature an extraordinary richness of forms, textures, colors, motifs, and craftsmanship, accompanying women through one of life’s most important moments. As a vital material bearer of culture, festive costumes and bridal attire embody heartfelt hopes and blessings while preserving the cultural memory and ceremonial traditions passed down through generations.

The exhibition is structured into three parts: “What is Festive Costume?” “Beauty in Diversity,” and “Integration and Innovation.” In the first part, “What is Festive Costume,” through garment-making tools, raw materials, ornaments, and traditional techniques such as dyeing, weaving, embroidery, and embellishment, visitors learn how distinctive ethnic costumes are created. In the second part, “Beauty in Diversity,” the exhibition focuses on the costumes of the Miao, Zhuang, Yi, Yao, and other ethnic groups, supplemented by images, audio-visual materials, and multimedia interactive devices, to present a vivid tapestry of the cultural and social landscapes in the Pearl River Basin. In the third part, "Integration and Innovation," the exhibition displays modern fashion and formal wear that integrate ethnic costume elements, thereby bringing about reflection on the integration and innovation of ethnic costumes and promoting the inheritance and development of ethnic costume culture.

To enhance visitor engagement, the Guangdong Museum has curated themed guided tours for different audiences and will launch a series of educational programs, such as the Dragon Through the Flower City: Art-on-Bus Community Co-creation Program, Travelling Together: Qin-Han Ancient Roads and Liannan Yao Culture Themed Study Tours, silverwork workshops, and tie-dyeing craft sessions, allowing visitors to experience the aesthetic interest and craft wisdom of women's ethnic costumes through lively practice. The museum has also developed a range of creative products under the concept “Love at First Sight through Attire,” including octagonal-star rice-flavor cheese cakes and rose rice brew lattes— culinary innovations that extend the exhibition experience from visual to gastronomic delight, enhancing the exhibition’s branding and public impact.

Selected Exquisite Costumes

Exhibition Views