SAFEGUARDING HANI CULTURAL HERITAGE IN MODERNITY: A SEMIOTIC ANALYSIS OF COLOR AND PATTERN EVOLUTION IN TRADITIONAL COSTUMES

Abstract

Existing studies on Hani costumes have focused on historical documentation and external characteristics but lack systematic semiotic analysis of color and pattern symbolism, and fail to build an actionable bridge between heritage preservation, design innovation, and commercial sustainability in the creative economy. This study addresses this gap by exploring the evolutionary trajectory and symbolic meanings of colors and patterns in traditional Hani costumes from Yunnan’s Honghe Prefecture, with a dual focus on cultural authenticity preservation and market-oriented modern adaptation. Adopting a sequential explanatory mixed-methods approach integrating semiotic analysis, historical research, field investigations, and consumer behavior validation, the research identifies a core color system (black, indigo blue, red) and key pattern motifs (terrace, geometric, animal/plant, ritual) that embody Hani terrace agriculture, religious beliefs, and ethnic identity. Findings reveal that these visual elements have retained cultural authenticity through adaptive inheritance while responding to sociocultural changes, and that contemporary designs retaining core semiotic elements achieve 82.7% cultural authenticity recognition among target consumers, with a 61.3% higher purchase intention than non-symbolic modern products. This research makes three key contributions: (1) it extends dress semiotic theory by establishing a systematic, design-thinking-integrated semiotic framework for decoding ethnic costume cultural symbols; (2) it develops an operational modular design transformation model that links traditional symbolic elements to quantifiable design variables; (3) it provides a strategic paradigm for sustainable heritage commercialization, bridging the long-standing gap between heritage protection, design innovation, and creative economy value creation for ethnic textile heritage.

Keywords: Hani Costumes, Color Symbolism, Pattern Evolution, Cultural Heritage, Semiotic Analysis, Design Thinking, Modular Design Transformation, Heritage Commercial Sustainability