Siriol, good to welcome you to the forum! You will be pleased when you get the Sep '38 National Geographic as there are two excellent photos of Ha Li (or Lois) one with a young woman with the huge bundles of brass earrings hanging down - Ouch! - and one with two women with the rings tied up on top of their heads to rest their ears. Yes, the search for Li reference materials is an interesting challenge as there is not much around. I have recently contacted Hanshan Tang about another Li book that Susan Stem found references to on the web and is
'The Traditional Culture of the Li Ethnic Group' published by Xinhua Publishing House in July 2001. Supposed to be mainly a picture book on the Li culture. So far no acknowledgment of my enquiry.
I know very little about Taiwanese textiles although there is quite an interesting piece on the web by Kathleen Forance Johnson who is a keen weaver and was based in Taiwan with her Foreign Service (USA) husband. The article is interesting as it is actually written by a weaver and includes a description of a weaver and her techniques.
http://www.aroundkaohsiung.freeservers. ... eaver.html [link updated Aug 09] Kathleen is currently in Thailand - and pursuing her weaving interests when time permits.
The book you mention on
'culture of clothing among taiwan aborigines' sounds very interesting indeed. It would be good to build up some info on the website on weaving in Taiwan.
I have a copy of
'guizhous hidden civilization' but purchased it in Guiyang, Guizhou from the Pavilion where there is a shop selling minority textiles and a few books. Well worth a look if you are in Guiyang. Don't know if Hanshan Tang could get a copy for you.
Tattoos. Yes, I find them very interesting. I think that the Ba-sa-dung tattoos look a little like the Burma Chin tattoos although I think that, to me, the Ba-sa-dung look a little more graceful - perhaps because they remind me of cobwebs. Regards, Pamela