According to historical records, there is a history of more than 1000 years since the hanis first put on the clothes made from tree bark. The ancient hanis even used the tree bark as their quilt against the cold at night and a substitute for a storage container during work or physical labor. However, the juggernaut of social development drove the “tree clothes” to the blink of extinction. In recent years, a hani craftsman called Zhang Shupi, tried his utmost to save the rare workmanship by relentlessly searching the processing procedure of the raw material and making the first modern “tree clothes” in 1995. With incredible softness, durability and air permeability, the clothes are incredibly popular among the hanis.[www.chinaculture.org]

A tourist trying a creation by Zhang Shupi is reflected in the mirror at his workshop in Kunming, southwest China's Yunnan province,July 29, 2009.[Xinhua]