In fact it is believed that the beginnings of the plaid started as much as 3000 years ago. Mummies found in Western China who look quite Celtic and who wear a prototypic plaid are dated to at least that long ago. They are clearly not Oriental. (See "The Mummies of Urumchi", Elizabeth Wayland Barber, also author of "Prehistoric Textiles, Archaeological Decipherment, and Women's Work: The First 2000 Years". Ms. Barber is considered the world's foremost authority on ancient textiles, and was part of a team who painstakingly worked with the mummies, documenting and preserving them.)