Embroidered shoes from the Qing Dynasty at the Museum of Ethnic Costumes. [Photo:CRIENGLISH.com]

A Han ethnic costume from the Qing Dynasty at the Museum of Ethnic Costumes. [Photo:CRIENGLISH.com]

The Museum of Ethnic Costumes at the Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology is a tough place to find. The museum is on the third floor of the tallest building -- the general building -- of the Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology (BIFT) campus, and visitors must take the stairs rather than the elevator.

The BIFT campus is located behind the China-Japan Friendship Hospital just north of the Heping Bridge. Only those with a keen interest in the subject will probably take the time to find the museum, but for enthusiasts of ethnic culture or clothing history, the museum is a treasure trove.

Considering its hidden location, the Museum of Ethnic Costumes is surprisingly large at 2,000 square meters. According to associate curator Liu Qi, there are more than 10,000 items in the museum's collection, with about 500 items on display at any given time. The displays are periodically rotated with other items in the collection. Item descriptions include brief English translations.

One of the more prized displays in the museum is a collection of photographs taken in the 1920s and 1930s by anthropologist Zhuang Xueben. He took the pictures in ethnic minority areas while he was doing fieldwork and later donated them to the museum.

The rest of the museum includes ethnic costumes from various groups along with their jewelry and accessories and looms demonstrating the process of weaving fabric.

The items in the museum were collected during the 1990s when the Ethnic Costume Institute sent researchers to Yunnan Province and bought traditional ethnic costumes from the locals. The collection was meant to provide inspiration to Chinese fashion designers and students.

"We realized that fashion design in China can't match the designs in Europe and the U.S., we just followed them," Liu said. "However, some works based on Chinese ethnic elements have achieved great success."

The museum's collection preserves not only ethnic costumes, but also the traditions behind their creation. Ethnic costumes are traditionally made by women at home. But nowadays with more girls going to school or work, they have no time to learn how to make these costumes. Faced with the disappearance of the skills required to make the clothing, the institute holds demonstrations and training programs, which have proven to be quite popular.