Woven through culture

Miao people, living mostly in southwestern China, are known for their unique dresses and dazzling silver ornaments.

"A middle-aged Asian couple drove six hours in storm to see the exhibition. The moment they saw the costumes, they burst into tears," Huang recalls.

"They were two of the 300,000 Miao people who are living in the US who were transferred as refugees after the Vietnam War."

Huang's research into the culture of the Miao also led him to make significant discoveries about the migration history of the Miao.

"In old songs sung by the elderly Miao people, a gigantic animal lives in the ocean and is often seen. I assumed they were referring to a whale," says Huang.

"But how could the inland mountainous people describe whales?" says Huang. "The only reason is the ancestors of the Miao people used to live by the sea."

Huang discovered that among the archeological discoveries in Hemudu town in East China's coastal Zhejiang province, some patterns matched the ones he collected in Guizhou.

"It proved that a large group of Miao people migrated from the east coast to the mountains. In other words, they were fishermen," says Huang.