Abstract:

The patterns and styles of costumes of the Bai minority vary from group to group in Dali. They are handed down from
generation to generation and have already become important symbols of the minority. By introducing and analyzing the clothing patterns of the Bai minority, this article attempts to illustrate their connotation and implied meanings, as well as the relationship between them and the minority's primitive worship, historical environment and beliefs and customs. Thus it further suggests that the costume culture is a focal manifestation of minority's self-consciousness.

Key words: Dali Bai minority, clothing patterns, esthetical trait, connotation interpretation