Watertown women dresses are mainly seen in the eastern suburb water town areas of the old city of Suzhou. The area starts from Xietong and Chefang, and stretches to Kunshan City in the east, Zhouzhuang Town in the South, and Xiangcheng District in the North. The most prominent is the central area in between the banks of Wusong River and Lou River bordered by Yangcheng Lake and Cheng Lake. In this area, Luzhi Town and Shengpu Town are seen with the most watertown women dresses. With double colored head wrap, unique chic coat, elegant and embroidered skirt, colorful skirt band, magnificent and colorful flowery shoes, and primitive and simple chest covering and arm covering, these dresses continues the tradition of the working people’s attire style in the Wu Region. According to the age of the wearers, these dresses can be divided into young and middle-aged women's dresses and senior women’s dresses. Each category can then be divided into three subcategories according to the time of the year: spring and autumn dresses, summer dresses and winter dresses. In addition, there are still ceremonial dresses, which are mainly used for weddings and funerals. From top to toe, these water town dresses establish a complete system. Along with the disappearing of the rice planting in this region, these dresses have lost its practical value. Young people in these areas, who have different aesthetic senses, are no longer interested in these traditional apparels. As the demand diminishes and the tailors who are good at cutting and sewing this kind of dresses are advanced in years, these dresses are faced with a risk of extinction. Currently the Luzhi and Shengpu town authorities have formulated their medium and long term planning to provide protection to these watertown women's dresses.
Inheritor of National Intangible Cultural Heritage Watertown Dresses: none.
