Clothes from various ethnic groups go on display at the Nantong Textile Museum in Chongchuan district. [Photo/ntfabu.com]

An ethnic costume exhibition – co-sponsored by the Chinese National Museum of Ethnology and Nantong Museum – is currently being staged at the Nantong Textile Museum, located in the Chongchuan district of Nantong city, in East China's Jiangsu province.

The event kicked off on Jan 1 and is scheduled to run to May 20.

Over 200 exhibits from 24 nationalities – including clothes, accessories and other related items – are being displayed. Through the ethnic costumes, the exhibition aims to explore the relationship between the traditional and modern from the perspective of anthropology.

Nantong has close ties with the development of China's textile industry. In the early summer of 1899, local industrial magnate and scholar Zhang Jian – adhering to the prevailing "saving the nation by engaging in industry" development concept – founded China's first textile mill, launching the modernization of the country's textile sector.

Nantong Textile Museum, chosen to host the exhibition, is the first permanent textiles museum in China and it is also a garden-style museum. As a result, the influences of traditional Chinese gardens were integrated into the event, to enable visitors to experience the beauty of Chinese ethnic costumes and classical gardens.