In some parts of China, an old tradition still exists. Chinese parents believe that their children can have a healthy and bright future if they can receive blessings from many people, so there is a tradition of eating hundred-family meal and dressing the babies hundred-family jacket.
When a woman is to give birth, she and her own mother begin to collect 100 pieces of fabric to fashion a baby jacket called a bai jia yi --one hundred family jacket to bestow love and blessings on the new born child.
The picture here shows a waistcoat with fabric of different colors and textures, in a rustic and simple style. The tradition of hundred-family jacket is quite popular in north China's Shaanxi, Shanxi, Gansu, Hebei, Henan, and Shandong. It also exists in some southern regions.
