Chinese Mud-Silk Garments

On their journey to seek gold in British Columbia, Chinese miners could bring only a few treasured possessions, like these mud-silk garments. Mud-treated silk clothes were designed for work in the humid and warm weather of the Pearl River Delta, the homeland of many early Chinese Canadian pioneers. The mud-silk garments in the Royal BC Museum’s collection were made and worn between the 1890s and 1930s. Learn more about the experiences of early Chinese immigrants to BC here.