The University of Hawai‘i Art Gallery assembled an international team of scholars to conduct research for the exhibition and the accompanying catalogue. The following scholars have written essays for the exhibition catalogue. Their essay titles and topics include:

• The Other Writing of People without a Written Language
  by Deng Qiyao, Professor and Dean, School of Communication and Design, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China
  
  Uses examples from Miao legend and folklore to demonstrate how accounts of Miao history and ethnic migration have been “written” into textile designs.
  
  
  
• Reading Threads: Clothing, Ethnicity, and Place in Southwest China
  by Stevan Harrell, Professor of Anthropology, University of Washington, Seattle
  
  Discusses ethnic identity, gender, age, and social status that are written in the materials, colors, patterns, and techniques of the textiles of the Nuoso people from the Liangshan region in southern Sichuan.
  
  
  
• A Journey: Collecting Southwest Chinese Minority Textiles
  by Huang Ying Feng, Architect, Collector, and Curatorial Advisor for Writing with Thread, Taoyuan, Taiwan
  
  Researched and provided information for all the objects in Writing with Thread. Discusses his personal journey of collecting Chinese minority textiles.
  
  
  
• An Appreciation of Miao Silver Ornament Culture
  by Li Qianbin, Director and Curator, Guizhou Provincial Museum, Guizhou, China
  
  Discusses the wide range of silver ornaments worn by the Miao who place much more emphasis on their use than most of China’s ethnic minorities.
  
  
  
• A Brief History of Ethnic Costume in Premodern China
  by Kate Lingley, Assistant Professor of Chinese Art History, University of Hawai‘i
  
  Investigates the question of how dress may have functioned as a sign of ethnicity for the people of China in the historic period.
  
  
  
• Reading Costumes as “Texts” and Decoding Ethnic Visual Culture of Southwest China
  by Angela Sheng, Assistant Professor of Chinese Art History, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada; principle curator of Writing with Thread
  
  Provides an overall context for the exhibition and discusses the nature of the intercultural connection visible in costumes and textiles through the integration of Chinese technology, art, and visual culture.
  
  
  
• Miao Marriage Symbols and Miao Clothing Styles
  by Xi Keding, Curator, Cultural Palace of Nationalities, Guizhou; Consultant, Institute of Archaeology and Cultural Relics, Guizhou, China
  
  Engages in a preliminary discussion of the styles and social functions of Miao clothing.
  
  
  
• Interpreting Needlework from a Gender Perspective: Femininity and Self-esteem—The Southeast Guizhou Miao
  by Zhang Xiao, Director and Professor, Center for Minority and Women’s Studies, Guizhou University, Guizhou, China
  
  Focuses on needlework as a medium of communication for the Miao women from Xijiang and the gendered significance of needlework.