Torgut

Origin of the Tribe
Torgut originates from one of the four tribes of the Oirats. During the 1630s, the tribe moved to the lower reaches of the Volga River. In 1698, a branch of it went to Tibet as pilgrims and contacted the Qing ruler expressing its allegiance. This branch moved to the Ejin River basin in 1731 with the permission of the Qing government and were reorganized as the Ejine Torgut Banner in 1753, directly under the administration of the Court of Colonial Affairs (Lifan yuan). The Torgut people who are living in the Alshaa League of Inner Mongolia are descendants of the tribe mentioned above.

Features of the Clothing
Men’s robes are mostly designed with horse-hoof sleeves and standing collars or lapels. Women’s robes have turtlenecks with round edges, round horse-hoof sleeves and nine bottom loops. When women wear their robes, they love matching colorful silk belts, snuff bottle bags, silver toothsticks and copper sewing boxes. Both Torgut men and women wear round hats, while the married women like adorning hair sleeves on both sides of their hats. There are several kinds of boots: cloth, felt or leather.

Dressing Customs
Men’s waistbands are usually short with tassels on both ends, with different accessories, such as silver rings, knifes, steels, Ivory chopsticks and pouches, attached. In general, women wear robes with pleated and wide-hem skirts and long waistcoats with protruding shoulders on their weddings. Married women only wear girdles when going outside or riding. But they don't wear girdles when meeting parents-in-law or attending weddings to show respect for the occasions. Maids usually keep a braid; when they are about to get married, they separate the braid into 12 small ones. During the wedding, the bride has her hair braided in two and intertwined respectively with three strands of fake hair. The two braids are put into two hair sleeves, hanging on both sides.