| People | bao’an · 保安 |
| Region | Gansu, Jishishan (Dahejia) in Linxia Prefecture, at Linjindu ferry crossing |
| Role | historical narrative |
Tea
Linjindu 临津渡 — a ferry crossing on the Yellow River at Dahejia, where the bao’an live. Under the Ming, Hezhou housed one of the tea-and-horse trading posts 河州茶马司 Hézhōu chámǎsī, and frontier tea 边茶 biānchá went west from here along the Tang–Tibet Ancient Road 唐蕃古道 through the Jishi Gorge toward Qinghai and Tibet. Bales were ferried across the river, and the crossing was the bottleneck of the entire leg. The bao’an moved here from Tongren in 1864 and settled right by the crossing, working on it. Their tea tradition is their own and documented: until mid-century they drank 茯茶 fúchá and 盖碗茶, and guests are served 三香茶 sānxiāngchá — tea, rock sugar, and dried fruit in a gaiwan.
Crown protrusion
A soft bale in a cover: a rawhide leather envelope, puffed and rounded, with a coarse stitched seam across the middle; a corner is torn open, and in the gap a narrow dark strip of pressed leaf edge is visible. At 6 mm it reads as a soft leather cushion with a seam: a sharp layered block with straight edges belongs to the Kazakhs — here there are no edges, the rounded cover carries the whole mass, and the leaf is visible only as a strip in the gap.
Headwear
羊皮帽 yángpímào — a small, snug-fitting cap sewn at home from scraps of the same lambskin as the coat: fur inside, oiled leather outside, two side seams, a dark leather trim along the bottom edge, warm brown in tone. A workaday winter item. The cap sits below the edge of the raised collar and takes no part in the 6 mm outline — identification is carried by the sheepskin shell behind the head. The slit for the bale is a transverse opening at the crown, whip-stitched with a narrow leather strip; the leather grips the bale on both sides and does not lie over its top.
Outline at 6 mm. Collar shell: the entire mass stands behind the head as a raised brown sheepskin collar, with the bale sitting in its opening; the crown is covered by a low, snug leather cap fully recessed into the collar opening, and it is not visible in the 6 mm outline. The mass behind the head is the only one of its kind in the entire set and stands here: with the Maonan the wrap runs smoothly around the skull and there is nothing behind the nape. The only bare-headed silhouette in the set belongs to the Va. It differs from Ugolek in that the shell stands behind the head as a separate plane rather than covering it as a triangle into the shoulders.
Clothing
A brown sheepskin coat with the fur turned outward and a raised collar, a dark wool sash, boots wet to the ankle.
Palette
Brown sheepskin, tanned rawhide of the bale, chestnut cut edge of the pressed leaf, clay ochre of the riverbank, dark wool of the sash.