Embroidery art in dress and adornment also embodies original Chinese philosophy. Likening human body to the universe, the upper part (the head) is the sky, the lower part (the feet) is earth, and the middle (the pubic area) is the center. The understanding of this leads to the culture implication of Chinese dress and adornment.
Many folk dress and adornment are designed as philosophy symbols. It is a custom for women in northern Shaanxi to wear a pleated apron girdle when cooking on the second day after getting married. It is meant to show off the embroidery work on the waistband, usually patterns of two yin-yang tiger heads; pig heads, or fish heads connected at the waist. In eastern Gansu plains, central Shaanxi plains and southern Shanxi plains, the Hah Nationality idolizes tiger totem, therefore, people would wear vests with a tiger symbol to conquer the five poisonous insects; or wearing a tiger hat, a pair of tiger shoes and a tiger undergarment. On the bed, it is tiger pillows, blankets, dye-printed or wax-printed tiger cloth wrappers; and on the door screen is "a tiger coming down the mountain." This is nothing short of being a family member of the tiger clan.
