Jewelry and accessories from China's ethnic minorities, dangling from the elegant necks, supple wrists and enviable waists of the city's beautiful people, are making a splash this season.

Tibetan jewelry, with its rich, mysterious traditions and transcendental spirit, is proving to be a hot favorite among followers of fashion. Women are snapping up Tibetan-silver earrings and necklaces, inlaid with semi-precious stones such as turquoise, while three-color bronze rings are spotted on many a chic young man's finger.

Turquoise - in blue and green varieties - features prominently in Tibetan jewelry. Ren Liu, owner of "Made in Heaven," a boutique devoted to beautiful things from Tibet, says he sells a lot of turquoise jewelry.

Located on Changshu Road, the 20-square-meter shop is just one of about 10 local boutiques that specialize in such exotic merchandise, which carries with it the spiritual essence of the culture.

Ren carries Tibetan prayer bells, for example, an audible accessory that keep his cash register ringing. The bells, which represent female energy, compassion and wisdom, combine the beauty of design with a beautiful sound. Amulets, which protect the wearer from ills, are also available, as are thankas, beautiful hand-painted prayer cloths that are collected for their artistic value as much as for their spiritual energy.

Ren, who first visited Tibet five years ago, says that his goal is more than material: He wants to share the unique aesthetics of a unique culture with his customers.

Zhang Yan, who owns a boutique specializing in items from the Miao ethnic group, couldn't agree more. In addition to earning a living, Zhang wants to help preserve the Miao minority culture.

"Unless you have exper-ienced Miao culture, you won't know what you're missing when it's gone," says the shopkeeper.

Her Miao boutique is stocked with handcrafted silver hairpins, shaped like birds with dangling chimes, silver bracelets and bangles, as well as Miao girls' clothing in cotton and other fabrics with traditional design elements like hand-stitched embroidery, indigo batik and beads. Treasures like the Miao "Hundred Birds" coats, paired with pendant skirts in silk and cotton, hand-sewn with woven, embroidered and batik fabrics, and decorated with painted beads, hang on the wall.

Zhang employs young Miao seamstresses at the boutique who weave traditional embroidery. The proprietor delights in explaining how a young girl begins learning this art at a young age, and how a young woman will spend a decade sewing her own wedding dresses.

"Lured to the big city by better job prospects, fewer and fewer Miao girls are learning embroidery. It's on the brink of becoming a lost art," says Zhang. "The only way to save the culture, I think, is to spread it by building up a market for the Miao culture products," she says pragmatically.

Wang Xinyuan also wants to help save minority culture. The noted fashion designer is full of praise for boutique owners like Zhang who combine their passion for the ethnic aesthetic with a business acumen designed to spread that culture. As a fashion designer, Wang has his own dream to fulfill - to discover the fashion elements that truly represent China.

He thinks he has found it with minority fashion. "What I am trying to do is to discover more minority fashion elements and combine them with modern fashion in my latest collection," says Wang.

Wang was invited to judge this year's Elite Model Look 2002 China, which was held in Lhasa, capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region.

While he was there, ELLE magazine was shooting Dior's new collection, accessorized with Tibetan jewelry, Wang says, "Fashion designers are developing a world view. It's my belief that whatever is beautiful will be universally shared by the world."

(eastday.com September 12, 2002)