Monday, September 8, 2008

Manchu official headwear

The headwear of an official during the Manchu Qing Dynasty in China consisted of a black velvet cap, or a hat woven in rattan or similar materials, both with a finial on top. Red tassels extended down from the finial, and a large peacock feather or pheasant feather could be attached to the back of the cap.

The colour and shape of the finial depended on the wearer's grade. The royalty and nobility used various numbers of pearls. An officer of the first grade wore a translucent red ball ; second grade, solid red ball ; third grade, translucent blue ball ; fourth grade, solid blue ball; fifth grade, translucent white ball ; sixth grade, solid white ball . Officers of the seventh to ninth grade wore gold or clear amber balls of varied designs.

The Qing official also wore a mandarin square.

Mandarin collar

A mandarin collar is a short unfolded stand-up style on a shirt or jacket. Mandarin collars start at the neckline and typically rise vertically two to five centimeters. The style originated from Western interpretation of Manchurian dresses.

The length along a mandarin collar is straight, with either straight or rounded edges at top of the centre front. The edges of the collar either barely meet at the centre front or overlap slightly. Overlapping mandarin collars are often a continuation of a shirt's placket and have a button on the collar to secure the two sides of the shirt together.

Related nomenclature


A nearly identical style known as the Nehru collar is also found in some modern Indian men's clothing, such as the Nehru jacket.

A band collar is often a mandarin collar. This term is also used for shirts that have only a flat finishing around the neckline; originally such garments were designed for use with a detachable collar, a largely-forgotten usage.

Usage


In contemporary Western dress, mandarin collars are found in fashion-forward oriental-style and minimalist-style clothing. Women's mandarin-collared jackets often include other vaguely oriental elements, such as silk knots as closures instead of buttons.

Since mandarin collars are short and do not fold over, neckties are not worn with mandarin-collared dress shirts. It is socially acceptable to wear a mandarin-collared shirt with a at many moderately formal occasions — even though no tie is worn. This lack of ties has led to the recent rising popularity of mandarin collars in the post-dotcom casual era.

Mandarin collars are also utilised heavily in modern-day military combat uniforms like the US Army's Army Combat Uniform and the US Marine Corps' MARPAT uniforms. The presence of the mandarin collar on the Army Combat Uniform and the MARPAT uniforms makes the wearing of body armor more comfortable by lifting the collar up while the wearer is wearing body armor.

Mandarin collars are also the proper shape for a single- breasted Greek cassock, or anterri, for Eastern Catholic and Eastern Orthodox clergy. Russians and other Slavic Churches typically have a high, band-style collar, buttoning to the side or on the shoulder, while Greeks have the "notched" Mandarin pattern with a closing loop or hook at the bottom of the "V" in the collar. This is different from the more stereotypical square, "Roman" collar of the western cassock seen on clergy of the Latin Rite and some Eastern Churches, such as the Syriac Catholic Church and Ethiopic Catholic Church.

Lastly, mandarin collars feature in costumes in some notable films, where they are employed either as a futuristic style fashion or to create a distinctive appearance for sinister characters. For example, the title character in the 1962 film '''', parodied by Doctor Evil in the Austin Powers series of films. Ichigo from the Japanese anime series Bleach wears a Mandarin collar as his school uniform.

During the in the early 20th century of China, Sun Yat-Sen wanted to create a clothing representating the identity of the people, he made a suit named after him "Zhong Shan Suit" or better known in as Mao suit. This suit still retained the mandarin collar.

Mandarin square

A Mandarin square , also known as a rank badge, was a large embroidered badge sewn onto the surcoat of an in Imperial China. It was embroidered with detailed, colourful animal or bird insignia indicating the rank of the official wearing it.

Ming Dynasty



Mandarin squares were first authorized for wear in 1391 by the Ming Dynasty. The use of squares depicting birds for civil officials and animals for military officials was an outgrowth of the use of similar squares, apparently for decorative use, in the Yuan Dynasty. The original court dress regulations of the Ming Dynasty were published in 1368, but did not refer to badges as rank insignia. These badges continued to be used through the remainder of the Ming and the subsequent Qing Dynasty until the imperial system fell in 1912.

Ming nobles and officials wore their rank badges on full-cut red robes with the design stretching from side to side, completely covering the chest and back. This caused the badges to be slightly trapezoidal with the tops narrower than the bottom. The Ming statutes never refer to the number of birds or animals that should appear on the badges. In the beginning, two or three were used. In a typical example of paired birds, they were shown in flight on a background of bright cloud streamers on a gold background. Others showed one bird on the ground with the second in flight. The addition of flowers produced an idealized naturalism.

Qing Dynasty



There was a sharp difference between the Ming and Qing styles of badges: the Qing badges were smaller with a decorative border. And, while the specific birds and animals did not change much throughout their use, the design of the squares underwent an almost continual evolution. According to rank, had their respective official clothes. Princes, including ''Qin Wang'' and ''Jun Wang'', usually wore black robes as opposed to the blue robes in court, and had four circular designs, one on each shoulder, front, and back, as opposed to the usual front-and-back design. Specifically, Princes of the Blood used four front-facing dragons, ''Qin Wang'' had two front-facing and two side-facing dragons, and ''Jun Wang'' had four side-facing ones; all had five claws on each foot. ''Beile'' and ''Beizi'' had a circular design on their official clothing, the former having two front-facing dragons, the latter two side-facing ones; these dragon had only four claws on each foot. National Duke, General, ''Efu'', "Commoner" Duke, Marquis and Count had two front-facing, four-clawed dragons on square designs, whereas Viscount and Baron had cranes and golden pheasants, as for Mandarins of the First and Second Class.



Tables



The specific birds and animals used to represent rank varied only slightly from the inception of mandarin squares until the end of the Qing Dynasty. These tables show this evolution.



Musicians used the Oriole.

Military





Civilian

Mao suit

The modern Chinese tunic suit is a style of male attire known in China as the Chungshan suit or Zhongshan suit , and known in the West as the Mao suit . Sun Zhongshan introduced the style shortly after the founding of the Republic of China as a form of national dress although with a distinctly political and later governmental implication.

Origins


When the Republic was founded in 1912, the style of dress worn in China was based on Manchu dress imposed by the Qing Dynasty as a form of social control. The majority-Han Chinese revolutionaries who overthrew the Qing were fueled by failure of the Qing to defend China against western imperialists and the low standing of the Qing in terms of technology and science compared to the west. Combined with the influx of Western ideas of race, this led to ethnic hatred against the Manchus. Even before the founding of the Republic, older forms of Chinese dress were becoming unpopular among the elite and led to the development of Chinese dress which combined the cheongsam and the Western hat to form a new dress. The Zhongshan suit is similar development which combined Western and Eastern fashions. It should be noted that until 1949 on the mainland and the 1980s in Taiwan, the civilian, non-
political attire for males in China was not this tunic suit but a gown and over-jacket.

The Zhongshan suit was an attempt to cater to "modern" sensibilities without completely adopting Western styles wholesale. Dr. Sun Yat-sen was personally involved, providing inputs based on his life experience in Japan: the Japanese cadet uniform became the basis of Zhongshan suit. There were other modifications as well: instead of the three hidden pockets in Western suits, the Zhongshan suit had four outside pockets to adhere to Chinese concepts of balance and symmetry. Over time, minor stylistic changes developed. The suit originally had seven buttons, later reduced to five.

After repeated attempts to win support and recognition from Western countries failed, the Nationalist Party government in Canton led by Dr. Sun gained help from Soviet Russia, which viewed it as a likely revolutionary ally against Western interests in the Far East; Chinese nationalism at the time was naturally heavily infected with resentment against the West. As a result of this geopolitical alignment, Dr. Sun agreed to permit the nascent Chinese Communist Party to join the Nationalist Party -- as individual members -- not as a party-party union, combination or alliance. As a result, early Communist Party members adopted the attire as a mark of joining the Nationalist Party. Ironically, from that practice during an attenuated political marriage of convenience which would soon be divorced in blood , Asian Marxist movements and governments henceforth would all consider this attire as a standard of political coloration, and it would continue to be appropriate dress for both sides of the bitter Chinese civil wars lasting decades.

After Sun Yat-sen's death in 1925, popular mythology assigned a revolutionary and patriotic significance to the Zhongshan suit. The four pockets were said to represent the Four Virtues cited in the classic ''''. The five center-front buttons were said to represent the five cited in the constitution of the Republic of China and the three cuff-buttons to symbolize Sun Yat-sen's Three Principles of the People.

Historical development



In the 1920s and 1930s, civil servants of the Chinese government were required to wear the ''Zhongshan zhuang''. A slightly modified version of the suit, adapted for combat, formed the basis for National Revolutionary Army army uniforms leading up through the Second Sino-Japanese War, although during the 1930s, as German military advice and assistance to the National Government waxed, the formal military uniform in the professional elements and ranks essentially became that of Weimar and then Nazi Germany . After the establishment of the People's Republic of China, and especially during the long initial period marked by intensive Maoist indoctrination and mass oppression through waves of purges and campaigns and "criticism/struggle" culminating with the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution from 1965-76 when Mao himself died, the suit became widely worn by the entire male population, formally as a symbol of proletarian unity, but in fact as a form of personal -- and virtually camouflage -- coloration; it was, of course, regularly worn by cadres until the 1990s when it was largely replaced by the Western business suit.

The Mao suit remained the standard formal dress for the first and second generation of PRC leaders such as Deng Xiaoping. During the 1990s, it began to be worn with decreasing frequency by leaders of Jiang Zemin's generation. Jiang wore it only on special occasions, such as to state dinners, but this practice was almost totally discontinued by his successor Hu Jintao. By the early part of the 21st century, the Mao suit is rarely worn even on formal occasions. The military-green version of the suit is more often worn, usually by civilian officials wishing to demonstrate control over – or camaraderie with – the . In Taiwan, the Zhongshan suit was seldom seen after the 1970s. Moreover, given the subtropical weather much of the year in Taiwan, for a time a modified version became at least semi-standard which dropped the high-collar buttoned up original constriction in favor of a Western style open dress shirt collar, unbuttoned.

Today among the Chinese people, the suit has been largely abandoned by the younger generation in urban areas, but is still regarded as formal attire by many old people. It is also prevalent among Chinese peasants as casual dress. However the suit is becoming more popular amongst young overseas Chinese as a formal or business wear instead of wearing the "generic" Western three piece suit and also as an identity for their Chinese origin.


It is also widely used today in North Korea with the NKPA.

Ming official headwear

The headwear of a Han Chinese official during Ming Dynasty China consisted of a black hat with two wing-like flaps on each side called the ''wushamao'' .

The wings were clipped off following the death of a member of the royal family in order to express sorrow.

Nankeen

Nankeen, also called Nankeen cloth or Blue Nankeen, refers to a particular type of cotton cloth, manufacturing of which originated in Nanking region of China. More specifically, the term "blue nankeen" describes hand-printed fabric of artistic refinement and primitive simplicity, which originated on the Silk Road over three thousand years ago.

Hand-carved stencils, originally made from wood but now from heavy paper, are prepared and a mix of soya bean flour and slaked lime is applied through the openings of the stencil onto the 100% cotton fabric. When dry, the fabric is then dipped numerous times into the large tubs containing the indigo dye. After the right color is achieved and the fabric has dried, the paste is scraped off, revealing the white patterns on the blue cloth. The fabric is then washed, dried, and ironed before fabrication into the Nankeen collection. Such fabric represents a fast-disappearing historic art form which embodies ancient Chinese culture and traditions.

Pien-fu

The Pien-fu is an article of traditional clothing consisting of a knee-length tunic over a skirt or a pair of pants.

Song official headwear

The headwear of Song dynasty officials consisted of a black hat with two wing-like flaps. The thin flaps are stiff and straight, and could extend up to almost a meter each.

Tang official headwear

The headwear of Tang dynasty officials consisted of a black hat with two wing-like flaps. However, contrary to headwear of the Song dynasty, the flaps droop down.

Tangzhuang

''Tangzhuang'' refers to the traditional Chinese clothing that developed between the Yuan dynasty and the Qing Dynasty , but is most commonly associated with the latter. It principally consists of the ''changshan'' for men and the cheongsam for women. Tangzhuang clothing was influenced by the Manchu styles of Qing's rulers and represented a break with earlier ''Hanfu'' clothing.

China and other areas inhabited by ethnic Chinese, the wearing of ''tangzhuang'' is experiencing a limited revival. At the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Shanghai, China in November 2001, the host presented its silk-embroided ''tangzhuang'' jackets as the Chinese traditional national costume. This triggered debate among Chinese, many of whom seriously questioned the legitimacy of the ''tangzhuang'' as their national costume because it originated from non-ethnic Chinese Manchu clothing practices enforced by the Qing Dynasty Queue Orders.

Chinese clothing

clothing is the clothing, ancient and modern, worn by the Chinese people. It has varied by region and time, and is recorded by the artifacts and arts of Chinese culture.

History


Dynastic China



Pre-Qing Dynasty Chinese clothing is broadly referred to as ''hanfu'' with many variations such as traditional Chinese academic dress. Depending on one's status in society, each social class had a different sense of fashion.

Civil and military officials


Chinese civil or military officials used a variety of codes to show their rank and position. The most recognized is the Mandarin square or rank badge. Another code was also the use of colorful hat knobs fixed on the top of their hats. The specific hat knob on one's hat determined one's rank. As there were nine types of hat knobs representing the nine distinctive ranks of the civil or military position. Variations existed for Ming official headwear.




Qing Dynasty




The rise of the Manchu Qing Dynasty in many ways represented a cultural rupture with the past and new clothing styles were required to be worn by all citizens through laws such as the Queue Orders. A new style of dress, called ''tangzhuang'', included the ''changshan'' worn by men and the qipao worn by women. Manchu official headwear differed from the Ming version but the Qing continued to use the Mandarin square.

Republic of China



The abolition of imperial China in 1912 had an immediate effect on dress and customs. The largely Han Chinese population immediately cut off their as they were forced to grow in submission to the overthrown Qing Dynasty. Sun Yat-sen popularised a new style of men's wear, featuring jacket and trousers instead of the robes worn previously. Adapted from Japanese student wear, this style of dress became known as the Zhongshan suit .

For women, a transformation of the traditional ''qipao'' resulted in a slender and form fitting dress with a high cut, resulting in the contemporary image of a cheongsam but contrasting sharply with the traditional ''qipao''.

People's Republic of China


Early in the People's Republic, Mao Zedong would inspire Chinese fashion with his own variant of the Zhongshan suit, which would be known to the west as Mao suit. Meanwhile, Sun Yat-sen's widow, Soong Ching-ling, popularised the cheongsam as the standard female dress. At the same time, old practices such as footbinding, which had been viewed as backwards and unmodern by both the Chinese as well as Westerners, were forbidden.

Around the period in 1964, almost anything seen as part of would lead to problems with the . Items that attracted dangerous attention if caught in the public included jeans, high heels, Western-style coats, ties, jewelry, cheongsams, and long hair. These items were regarded as symbols of bourgeois lifestyle, which represented wealth. Citizens had to avoid them or suffer serious consequences such as torture or beatings by the guards.

Clothing in contemporary China


Following the relaxation of communist clothing standards in the 1980s, Chinese fashion grew closer to that of the rest of East Asia. Contemporary urban clothing seemed to have developed an obsession with brand names. In major urban centres, especially Shanghai, an increased western look is preferred, and there is an emphasis on formal wear over casual wear for adults on the streets. Teenagers prefer brand names. Children usually wear clothes decorated with cartoon characters.

However, there is also effort by some to revive traditional clothing forms such as the ''hanfu'' by the hanfu movement. At an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Shanghai in 2001, the host presented silk-embroided ''tangzhuang'' jackets as the Chinese traditional national costume.

Image gallery


Changshan

In traditional Chinese dress, a ''changshan'' is the male equivalent of the women's ''qipao'' . It is also known as a ''changpao'' or ''dagua'' .

The Mandarin word ''changshan'' is cognate with the term ''chèuhngsàam'', which has been borrowed into English as 'cheongsam'. Unlike the Mandarin term, however, Cantonese ''chèuhngsàam'' can refer to both male and female garments, and in Hong Kong it is frequently used for the body-hugging female garment rather than for the male ''changshan''. The Hong Kong usage is reflected in the meaning of 'cheongsam' in English, which refers exclusively to the female garment.

History



''Changshan'', along with ''qipao'', were introduced to China during the Qing Dynasty . The Manchus ordered that all should adopt the ''changshan'' style of dress—or face execution. Thus, the traditional Chinese Hanfu style of clothing was gradually replaced. Over time, the Manchu style gained popularity.

''Changshan'' was formal dress for Chinese men before Western-style became common in China.

The male ''changshan'' went well with the western overcoat, fedora, and scarf, and portrayed a unique East Asian modernity.

The 1949 ended the wearing of ''changshan'' and other similar clothing in Shanghai, but Shanghainese emigrants and refugees brought the fashion to Hong Kong where it has remained popular. Recently there has been a revival of the Shanghainese ''changshan'' in Shanghai and elsewhere in mainland China.

Use of ''changshan''




''Changshan'' are traditionally worn in pictures, weddings, and other more formal historically Chinese events. A black ''changshan'', along with a rounded black hat, was, and sometimes still is, the burial attire for Chinese men.

''Changshan'' are not often worn in Mainland China, except during traditional Chinese celebrations but, with the revival of some traditional clothing in urban mainland China, the Shanghainese style functions as a stylish party dress .

Mainland Chinese, even the elderly, rarely have any ''changshan'' left from before the Cultural Revolution.

''Changshan'' in popular culture



In older Wong Fei Hung films, the kung fu master was always portrayed as a well-dressed gentleman in a ''changshan''. In the movie ''Kill Bill'', Sofie Fatale wore a typical male black ''changshan''.

Gen from the ''Street Fighter Alpha'' series wears a male changshan as does Yun and Yang from the ''Street Fighter III'' games.

Cheongsam

The cheongsam is a body-hugging one-piece Chinese dress for women. It is known in Chinese as the qípáo , qípáor , Wade-Giles ch'i-p'ao, and is also known in English as a mandarin gown. The modern cheongsam is a modernized version of the ''qipao'' of the Manchurians who ruled China in the 17-19th century .

Chinese language usage


The English loanword ''cheongsam'' comes from ''chèuhngsàam'', the pronunciation of the Shanghainese term ''zǎnze'' or ''zansae'' , by which the original tight-fitting form was first known. The Shanghainese name was somewhat at odds with usage in Mandarin and other Chinese dialects, where ''chángshān'' refers to an exclusively male dress and the female version is known as a ''qipao''.

In Hong Kong, where many Shanghai tailors fled to after the Communist takeover of the Mainland, the word ''chèuhngsàam'' may refer to either male or female garments. The word ''keipo'' is either a more formal term for the female ''chèuhngsàam'', or is used for the two-piece cheongsam variant that is popular in China. countries mostly follow the original Shanghainese usage and apply the name ''cheongsam'' to a garment worn by women.

History




When the Manchu ruled China during the Qing Dynasty, certain social strata emerged. Among them were the '''' , mostly Manchu, who as a group were called ''Banner People'' . Manchu women typically wore a one-piece dress that came to be known as the ''qípáo'' . The ''qipao'' fitted loosely and hung straight down the body. Under the dynastic laws after 1644, all Han Chinese were forced to wear a and dress in Manchurian ''qipao'' instead of traditional Han Chinese clothing , under penalty of death. In the following 300 years, the ''qipao'' became the adopted clothing of the Chinese, and was eventually tailored to suit the preferences of the population. Such was its popularity that the garment form survived the political turmoil of the that toppled the Qing Dynasty.

The original ''qipao'' was wide and loose. It covered most of the woman's body, revealing only the head, hands, and the tips of the toes. The baggy nature of the clothing also served to conceal the figure of the wearer regardless of age. With time, though, the ''qipao'' were tailored to become more form fitting and revealing. The modern version, which is now recognized popularly in China as the "standard" ''qipao'', was first developed in Shanghai around 1900, toward the end of the Qing Dynasty. People eagerly sought a more modernized style of dress and transformed the old ''qipao'' to suit their tastes. Slender and form-fitting with a high cut, it contrasted sharply with the traditional ''qipao''. In Shanghai it was first known as ''zansae'' or "long dress" , and it is this name that survives in English as the "cheongsam".

The modernized version is noted for accentuating the figures of women, and as such was popular as a dress for high society. As Western fashions changed, the basic cheongsam design changed too, introducing high-necked sleeveless dresses, bell-like sleeves, and the black lace frothing at the hem of a ball gown. By the 1940s, cheongsam came in a wide variety of fabrics with an equal variety of accessories.

The 1949 ended the cheongsam and other fashions in Shanghai, but the Shanghainese emigrants and refugees brought the fashion to Hong Kong where it has remained popular. Recently there has been a revival of the Shanghainese cheongsam in Shanghai and elsewhere in Mainland China; the Shanghainese style functions now mostly as a stylish .

Modern use


In the 1950s, women in the workforce in Hong Kong started to wear more functional cheongsam made of wool, twill, and other materials. Most were tailor fitted and often came with a matching jacket. The dresses were a fusion of Chinese tradition with modern styles. Cheongsam were commonly replaced by more comfortable clothing such as sweaters, jeans, business suits and skirts. Due to its restrictive nature, it is now mainly worn as formal wear for important occasions. They are sometimes worn by politicians and film artists in Taiwan and Hong Kong. They are shown in some Chinese movies such as in the 1960s film, ''The World of Suzie Wong'', where actress Nancy Kwan made the cheongsam briefly fashionable in western culture. They are also commonly seen in beauty contests, along with swim suits. They are only common in daily living for some people as a uniform.

Women in video games are often in cheongsam, so cosplay showgirls may wear a cheongsam in show times. These cheongsam usually made of rubber or silk, reflective in color to catch camera focus, with short sleeves and the bottom of the cheongsam to mid-thigh. They are commonly worn with short socks and white shoes.

Some airlines in Mainland China and Taiwan have cheongsam uniforms for their women flight attendants and ground workers such as China Airlines, China Eastern Airlines, Hainan Airlines, and Xiamen Airlines. They are in a plain color, hemmed to just above the knee, with a close fitting wool suit jacket of the same color as the cheongsam. The workers wear stockings and low heeled shoes. Their working places are often air-conditioned so they remain cool.

A few primary schools and some secondary schools in Hong Kong, especially older schools established by Christian missionaries, use a plain rimmed sky blue cotton and/or dark blue velvet cheongsam with the metal school badge right under the stand-up collar to be closed with a metal hook and eye as the official uniform for their female students. The schools which use this standard include True Light Girls' College, St. Paul's Co-educational College, Heep Yunn School, St. Stephen's Girls' College, Ying Wa Girls' School, etc. These cheongsam are usually straight, with no waist shaping, and the cheongsam hem must reach mid-thigh. The cheongsam fit closely to the neck, and the stiff collar is hooked closed, despite the tropical humid and hot weather. Although the skirts have short slits, they are too narrow to allow students to walk in long strides. The seams above the slits often split when walking and are repeatedly sewed. Many schools also require underskirts to be worn with the cheongsam. The underskirt is a white cotton full slip, hemmed slightly shorter than the cheongsam, and are slit at the sides like the cheongsam, although the slits are deeper. A white cotton undershirt is often worn underneath the cheongsam. The cheongsam's length, styling, color and sleeve length varies between schools. Many students feel it an ordeal, yet it is a visible manifestation of the strict discipline that is the hallmark of prestigious secondary schools in Hong Kong and many students and their parents like that. In summer wearing this for a school day would be sweaty and un-hygienic. Some rebellious students express their dissatisfaction with this tradition by wearing their uniform with the stand-up collar intentionally left unhooked or hemmed above their knees. The Ying Wa and True Light Schools have set questionnaires to their students about uniform reforms but not passed. But Madam Lau Kam Lung Secondary School of Miu Fat Buddhist Monastery ended their cheongsam uniform in 1990 after student unions suggested.

Many waitresses in Chinese restaurants over the world wear suits and skirts but some, especially the receptionists, wear cheongsam uniforms. These cheongsam are long, often foot-length or floor-length. They have slits high to the waist or hip, and are usually sleeveless or have only cap sleeves. They are often made of brightly-colored silk or satin with rich Chinese embroidery. Some nightclub waitresses, ritual girls in ceremonies, and competitors in Chinese beauty competitions wear similar cheongsam uniforms. They may wear pantyhose but not an underskirt so walking shows their legs. These uniforms are considered too sexy for ordinary wear so they are worn and kept at work. The waitresses change into casual clothes before going home.

Similar garments


The ''áo dài'' bears similarity to the cheongsam, as does the Tibetan national dress.

Chinese academic dress

The academic dress of China has a long history. The ancient dress is based on the robes of officialdom and the 'degrees' were earned through the imperial civil service examinations, whilst the modern dress is based on academic dress.

History


Since Chinese academia was more or less connected with officialdom, the academic dress of ancient China is essentially that of official dress. This basically consists of a red long round-collar robe with long sleeves called a ''yuanlingshan'' worn with a cap called a ''putou'' which was almost always black and had curved wings which was typical of the Tang dynasty. Other dynasties had similar dress with their own take on it, but they basically follow the same pattern and are distinctive from common dress.

Another form of dress was those of the literati and scholars who wore simple everyday dress but wore hats that distinctively indicated their status, such as the ''si-fang pingding jin'' , the Chinese equivalent of the "mortarboard".

Modern Chinese academic dress




More Western now than modern, the current academic dress of China is very different from the ancient form. The current forms have been standardized since 1994. Gowns are closed at the front and are colored depending on the level of the degree; typically, black for bachelors, blue for masters and a combination of scarlet and black for doctoral gowns. The hood is a simple piece of triangluar cloth which is colored depending on the faculty. The mortarboard is similar to American ones, except they may have string at the back of the skullcap to tie and secure the cap to the head.

Officers' robes are typically all red with three gold bands on the sleeves, similar to academic dress.

Conical straw hat

The conical hat, sedge hat, rice hat, paddy hat or coolie hat is a simple style of straw hat originating in and Southeast Asia, particularly Vietnam, China, and Japan. It has a shape and is kept on the head by a cloth chin strap; an internal band of the same material keeps the hat itself from resting on the wearer's head. Conical hats are used primarily as protection from the sun and rain. When made of straw or matting, it can be dipped in water and worn as an impromptu evaporative-cooling device.

Because of its distinctive shape, it is used often in the depiction of East Asians. Recently, as part of international one day cricket matches in Australia, the conical hat has been a fashion phenomenon amongst spectators with many decorated in Australian livery. Given that spectators are exposed for long periods in direct sunlight, the conical hat is a logical device.

In Japan, the hat is called . In mainland China and Taiwan, it is called ''dǒu lì'' . The Vietnamese name is ''Nón lá'' .

Culture of the Song Dynasty

The Song Dynasty was a culturally-rich and sophisticated age for China. There was blossoming of and advancements in the visual arts, music, literature, and philosophy. Officials of the ruling bureaucracy, who underwent a strict and extensive examination process, reached new heights of education in Chinese society, while general Chinese culture was enhanced by widespread printing, growing literacy, and appreciation for the various arts. The Song Dynasty also saw improvements of many cultural developments of previous centuries. This included refinements of the ideal of the universal man, who combined the qualities of scholar, poet, painter, and statesman that pursued interests in historical , , , and the collection of antiquarian items such as hard-glazed and Chinese inkstones. People in urban areas enjoyed , restaurants that catered to a variety of regional cooking, lavish clothing and apparel sold in the markets, while both urban and rural people engaged in .

The visual arts




Chinese painting during the Song Dynasty reached a new level of sophistication with further development of landscape painting. The ''shan shui'' style painting—"shan" meaning mountain, and "shui" meaning river—became prominent features in Chinese landscape art. The emphasis laid upon landscape painting in the Song period was grounded in Chinese philosophy; stressed that humans were but tiny specks amongst vast and greater cosmos, while Neo-Confucianist writers often pursued the discovery of patterns and principles that they believed caused all social and natural phenomena. The making of glazed and translucent porcelain and celadon wares with complex use of s was also developed further during the Song period. Longquan celadon wares were particularly popular in the Song period. Black and red lacquerwares of the Song period featured beautifully-carved artwork of miniature nature scenes, landscapes, or simple decorative motifs. However, even though intricate bronze-casting, and lacquerware, jade carving, sculpture, architecture, and the painting of s and closely viewed objects like birds on branches were held in high esteem by the Song Chinese, landscape painting was paramount. Chinese landscape artists mastered the formula of creating intricate and realistic scenes placed in the foreground, while the background pertained qualities of vast and infinite space, with distant mountain peaks rising out of high clouds and mist, as streaming rivers would run from afar into the foreground.

There was a significant difference in painting trends between the Northern Song period and Southern Song period . The paintings of Northern Song officials were influenced by their political ideals of bringing order to the world and tackling the largest issues affecting the whole of their society, hence their paintings often depicted huge, sweeping landscapes. On the other hand, Southern Song officials were more interested in reforming society from the bottom up and on a much smaller scale, a method they believed had a better chance for eventual success.


Ever since the Southern and Northern Dynasties , painting had become an art of high sophistication that was associated with the gentry class as one of their main artistic pastimes, the others being calligraphy and poetry. During the Song Dynasty there were avid art collectors that would often meet in groups to discuss their own paintings, as well as rate those of their colleagues and friends. The poet and statesman Su Shi and his accomplice Mi Fu often partook in these affairs, often borrowing art pieces to study and copy, or if they really admired the art piece then a persuasion to make a trade for it was often proposed. The small round paintings popular in the Southern Song were often collected into albums as poets would compose poems to the side to match the theme and mood of the painting.

Paintings




Ceramics






Poetry and literature




Chinese literature during the Song period contained a range of many different genres and was enriched by the social complexity of the period. Although the earlier Tang Dynasty is viewed as the zenith era for Chinese poetry , there were still significantly famous poets of the Song era. This included the social critic and pioneer of the "new subjective style" Mei Yaochen , the politically controversial yet renowned master Su Shi , the eccentric yet brilliant Mi Fu , the premier Chinese female poet Li Qingzhao , and many others. Although it found its roots during the Liang Dynasty , the of Chinese poetry found its greatest acceptance and popularity during the Song Dynasty, and was used by most Song poets. The high court Chancellor Fan Zhongyan , ardent Neo-Confucian Ouyang Xiu , the great calligrapher Huang Tingjian , and the military general Xin Qiji were especially known for their ci poetry, amongst many others.

Historiography in literature remained prominent during the Song, as it had in previous ages and would in successive ages of China. Along with Song Qi, the essayist and historian Ouyang Xiu were responsible for compiling the ''New Book of Tang'' by 1060, covering the history of the Tang Dynasty. Chancellor Sima Guang , the political nemesis of Wang Anshi , was responsible for heading a team of scholars that compiled the enormous historical work of the ''Zizhi Tongjian'', a universal history completed in 1084 AD with a total of over 3 million written Chinese characters in 294 volumes. It covered the major themes and intricate nuances of Chinese history from 425 BC during the all the way up to the 10th century and the fall of the Tang Dynasty.



There were also very large encyclopedic works written in the Song period, such as the ''Four Great Books of Song'' compiled first by Li Fang in the 10th century and fully edited by the time of Cefu Yuangui in the 11th century. The largest of these was the 1013 publication of the ''Prime Tortoise of the Record Bureau'', a massive encyclopedia consisting of 9.4 million written Chinese characters divided into 1000 volumes. There were are also written during the Song Dynasty, such as the ''Jiyun'' of 1037. Although Neo-Confucianism became dominant over Buddhism in China during this period, there was still a significant amount of Buddhist literature. For example, there was the collection of Zen Buddhist kōans in the ''Blue Cliff Record'' of 1125, which was expanded by Yuanwu Keqin . 'Travel record literature' was also a popular category of literature during the Song period, which was accounts of one's own travel experiences typically written in narrative or prose styles, and included authors such as Fan Chengda . A great example of Chinese travel literature in the Song period would be Su Shi's ''''.

There were many technical and scientific writings during the Song period. The two most eminent authors of the scientific and technical fields were Shen Kuo and his contemporary Su Song . Shen Kuo published his ''Dream Pool Essays'' in 1088 AD, an enormous encyclopedic book that covered a wide range of subjects, including literature, art, military strategy, mathematics, astronomy, meteorology, geology, geography, metallurgy, engineering, hydraulics, architecture, zoology, botany, agronomy, medicine, anthropology, archeology, and more. As for Shen Kuo's equally brilliant peer, Su Song created a celestial atlas of five different star maps, wrote the 1070 AD pharmaceutical treatise of the ''Ben Cao Tu Jing'' , which had the related subjects of botany, zoology, metallurgy, and mineralogy, and wrote his famous treatise of the ''Xin Yi Xiang Fa Yao'' in 1092 AD, which described in full detail his ingenious clock tower constructed in the capital city of Kaifeng. Although these two figures were perhaps the greatest technical authors in their field during the time, there were many others. For producing textiles, Qin Guan's book of 1090 AD, the ''Can Shu'' , included description of a silk-reeling machine that incorporated the earliest known use of the in order to function. In the literary field of agronomy, there was the ''Jiu Huang Huo Min Shu'' edited by Dong Wei in the 12th century, the ''Cha Lu'' written by Cai Xiang in 1060 AD, the ''Zhu Zi Cang Fa'' written by Zhu Xi in 1182 AD, and many others. There were also great authors of written works pertaining to and during the Song Dynasty, such as Yue Shi , Wang Zhu , Li Dechu , Chen Kunchen , Ouyang Wen , and Zhu Mu . Although an early form of the local geographic gazetteer existed in China since the 1st century, the matured form known as "treatise on a place", or ''fangzhi'', replaced the old "map guide", or ''tujing'', during the Song Dynasty. The major differences between the two were that ''fangzhi'' were products of local initiative and decision-making, were typically ten to fifty chapters in length, and were almost always printed for a large audience, whereas ''tujing'' were products of infrequent demands from the central government and were typically only four chapters long. The widespread availability of printing in the Song allowed many ordinary people to access materials that were once read almost exclusively by experts, such as printed texts and handbooks on agriculture, childbirth, , , , divination, and Daoist rituals.

Performing arts




trace their roots back to the academy of music known as the Pear Garden, founded in the early 8th century during the Tang Dynasty. However, historian Stephen H. West asserts that the Northern Song era capital Kaifeng was the first real center where the performing arts became "an industry, a conglomerate involving theatre, gambling, prostitution, and food." The rise in consumption by merchants and scholar-officials, he states, "accelerated the growth of both the performance and the food industries," asserting a direct link between the two due to their close proximity within the cities. Of the fifty some theatres located in the 'pleasure districts' of Kaifeng, four of these theatres were large enough to entertain audiences of several thousand each, drawing huge crowds which nearby businesses thrived upon. The chief crowd that gathered were comprised of those from , while only went to restaurants and attended theatre performances during holidays.

From Kaifeng, the ''zaju'' dramatic style employed the ''beiqu'' style of poetic lyrics. These two different regional genres of musical drama used different regional dialects of speech, recitation, and dialogue, entailed their own unique sets of role types , and employed different types of . In Kaifeng drama, one singer was preferred for each play, accompanied by string and percussion instruments. Similar to vendors who wore specific outfits to identify which guild they belonged to, actors' generic costumes reflected the role type they played on stage, whether it be student, young man, young woman, official, soldier, etc. Although trained to speak in the erudite Classical language, acting troupes commonly drew their membership from one of the lowest classes in society: prostitutes. Themes enjoyed in stage skits varied from satires about corrupt officials to comedy acts with titles like "Setting fire when delivering the soup," "Raising a ruckus in the winehouse," "The peony smells best when the wine is stolen," and "Catching a monkey in a restaurant." The only ''xiwen'' play to have survived from the Southern Song era is the ''Zhang Xie zhuang yuan'', featuring interludes such as a clown stealing food and wine at a wedding banquet in act 16 and a quick comedy sketch about renting a room in act 24.


Surprisingly, actors on stage did not have a wholesale monopoly on theatrical entertainment, as even vendors and peddlers in the street, singing lewd songs and beating on whatever they could find to compensate for percussion instruments, could draw crowds. This practice was so widespread that West claims "the city itself was turned into a stage and the citizens into the essential audience." Many of the songs played for stage performances were tunes that originated from vendors' and peddlers' songs. Contests were held on to determine which vendor or peddler had the best chants and songs while selling wares; the winners were brought before the imperial court to perform. Puppet shows in the streets and wards were also popular.

Festivities




In ancient China there were many domestic and public pleasures in the rich urban environment unique to the Song Dynasty. For the austere and laborious peasantry, annual festivals and holidays provided a time of joy and relaxation, and for the poorest it meant a chance to borrow food and alcoholic drink so that everyone could join in the celebration. The fesitivities on were considered the most important of the year by the Chinese, its momentous occasion correlating with the beginning of February on the Western calendar. Preparations for the New Years festival took place over a month's time, as people busied themselves painting door gods, crafting paper streamers with lucky characters for "welcoming the spring," making printed images of Zhong Kui, and cooking special kinds of foods such as porridge of red haricot beans. The widely popular Lantern Festival was held every 15th day of 1st lunar month. According to the scholar official Zhou Mi , during the Xiao-Zong period the best lantern festivals were held at Suzhou and Fuzhou, while Hangzhou was also known for the its great variety of colorful paper lanterns, in all shapes and sizes. Written in his memoirs, Meng Yuanlao recalled how the earlier Northern Song capital at Kaifeng would host festivals with tens of thousands of colorful and brightly-lit paper lanterns hoisted on long poles up and down the main street, the poles also wrapped in colorful silk with numerous dramatic paper figures flying in the wind like fairies. the female musicians in the center of the image are playing and '''', and the male musician is playing a wooden clapper called ''paiban''.]]
With the advent of the discovery of gunpowder in China, lavish fireworks displays could also be held during festivities. For example, the martial demonstration in 1110 AD to entertain the court of , when it was recorded that a large fireworks display was held alongside Chinese dancers in strange costumes moving through clouds of colored smoke in their performance. The common people also purchased firecrackers from city shopkeepers and vendors, made of simple sticks of bamboo filled with a small amount of gunpowder. Nationwide Chinese carnival celebrations were held nationwide when the emperor felt a great occasion warranted a grand display of his benevolence and generosity, such as renowned military victories, abundant harvests after long droughts or famines, the granting of grand by the throne, sacrifices to deities, the installation of a crown prince, marriages within the imperial family, etc.

Clothing and apparel



painting of , showing the and official headgear of the emperor. This type of headgear, along with the headgear of officials and merchants, was made of black-colored silk. The clothing material preferred by the rich was silk, and for special occasions they had with gold brocade. and so was the case for the upper class and elite. In fact, wealthy and leading members of society followed accepted guidelines and ritual requirements for clothing. In the upper class, each stratified grade in the social hierarchy was distinguished by the color and specific ornamentation of robes, the shape and type of headgear, and even the style of girdle worn. This rigid order was especially so during the beginning of the dynasty. However, the lines of hierarchy slowly began to blur as the color purple, once reserved solely for the attire of third rank officials or higher, began to diffuse amongst all ranks of officials who bore the color indiscriminately. Yet there were still visible distinctions between civil officials and the class of rich merchants and business owners; the officials were distinguished by reaching to the ground, while merchants often wore a blouse that came down below the waist with trousers. every soldier wore trousers as part of his uniform, while trousers were also worn by the common people.

The attire of Song women was distinguished from men's clothing by being fastened on the left, not on the right. Only Buddhist monks shaved their heads and strolled about with no headgear or hat of any sort to cover their heads. Many of the peculiar names for these dishes do not provide clues as to what types of food ingredients were used. Descendents of those from Kaifeng owned most of the restaurants found in Hangzhou, but many other regional varieties in foodstuffs and cooking were sponsored by restaurants. This included restaurants catering that emphasized use of pimento pepper, dishes and beverages from Hebei and Shandong, and coastal foods of shrimp and saltwater fish. The memory and patience of waiters had to be keen; in the larger restaurants, serving dinner parties that required twenty or so dishes became a hassle if even a slight error occurred. If a guest reported the mistake of a waiter to the head of the restaurant, the waiter could be verbally reprimanded, have his salary docked, or in extreme cases, kicked out of the establishment for good.


In the early morning in Hangzhou, along the wide avenue of the Imperial Way, special breakfast items and delicacies were sold. This included fried tripe, pieces of mutton or goose, soups of various kinds, hot pankaces, steamed pancakes, and iced cakes. According to one Song Dynasty source on Kaifeng, the night markets closed at the third night watch but reopened on the fifth, while they had also gained a reputation for staying open during winter storms and the darkest, rainiest days of winter. Although grape-based wine had been known in China since the ancient Han Dynasty Chinese ventured into Central Asia, grape-wine was often reserved for the elite. Dairy products and farming were foreign concepts to the Chinese, which explains the absence of cheese and milk in their diet. Beef was also rarely eaten, since the bull was an important draft animal. Common fruits that were consumed included melons, pomegranates, lychees, longans, , jujubes, Chinese and Japanese quinces, apricots and pears; in the region around Hangzhou alone, there were eleven kinds of apricots and eight different kinds of pears that were produced. Specialties and combination dishes in the Song period included scented shellfish cooked in rice-wine, geese with apricots, lotus-seed soup, pimento soup with mussels and fish cooked with plums, sweet soya soup, baked sesame buns stuffed with either sour bean filling or pork tenderloin, mixed vegetable buns, fragrant candied fruit, strips of ginger and fermented beanpaste, jujube-stuffed steamed dumplings, fried chestnuts, salted fermented bean soup, fruit cooked in scented honey, and 'honey crisps' of kneaded and baked honey, flour, mutton fat and pork lard. Dessert molds of oiled flour and sugared honey were shaped into girls' faces or statuettes of soldiers with full armor like door guards, and were called "likeness foods" .

Philosophy




Song intellectuals sought answers to all philosophical and political questions in the . This renewed interest in the Confucian ideals and society of ancient times coincided with the decline of Buddhism, which was then largely regarded as foreign, and as offering few solutions for practical problems. However, Buddhism in this period continued as a cultural underlay to the more accepted Confucianism and even Daoism, both seen as native and pure by conservative Neo-Confucians. The continuing popularity of Buddhism can be seen with strong evidence by achievements in the arts, such as the 100 painting set of the ''Five Hundred Luohan'', completed by Lin Tinggui and Zhou Jichang in 1178.

The conservative Confucian movement could be seen before the likes of Zhu Xi , with staunch anti-Buddhists such as Ouyang Xiu . In his written work of the ''Ben-lun'', he wrote of his theory for how Buddhism had so easily penetrated Chinese culture during the earlier Southern and Northern Dynasties period. He argued that Buddhism became widely accepted when China's traditional institutions were weakened at the time. This was due to many factors, such as foreign Xianbei ruling over the north, and China's political schism that caused warfare and other ills. Although Emperor Wen of Sui abolished the Nine Ranks in favor of a Confucian-taught bureaucracy drafted through civil service examinations, he also heavily sponsored the popular ideology of Buddhism to legitimate his rule. Hence, it was given free rein and influence to flourish and dominate Chinese culture during the Sui and Tang periods; historian Arthur Wright describes Confucianism in this period as being reverted to a state of "stale archaism". Ouyang Xiu wrote:

"This curse has overspread the empire for a thousand years, and what can one man in one day do about it? The people are drunk with it, and it has entered the marrow of their bones; it is surely not to be overcome by eloquent talk. What, then, is to be done?



In conclusion on how to root out the 'evil' that was Buddhism, Ouyang Xiu presented a historical example of how it could be uprooted from Chinese culture:

Of old, in the time of the Warring States, Yang Zhu and Mo Di were engaged in violent controversy. Mencius deplored this and devoted himself to teaching benevolence and righteousness. His exposition of benevolence and righteoussness won the day, and the teachings of Mo Di and Yang Zhu were extirpated. In Han times the myriad schools of thought all flourished together. Tung Chung-shu deplored this and revived Confucianism. Therefore the Way of Confucius shone forth, and the myriad schools expired. This is the effect of what I have called "correcting the root cause in order to overcome the evil".


Although Confucianism was cast in stark contrast to the perceived alien and morally-inept Buddhism by those such as Ouyang Xiu, Confucianism nonetheless borrowed ideals of Buddhism to provide for its own revival. From Mahayana Buddhism, the Bodhisattva ideal of ethical universalism with benevolent charity and relief to those in need inspired those such as Fan Zhongyan and Wang Anshi, along with the Song government. In contrast to the earlier heavily Buddhist Tang period, where wealthy and pious Buddhist families and Buddhist temples handled much of the charity and alms to the poor, the Song Dynasty government took on this ideal role instead, through its various programs of welfare and charity . In addition, the historian Arthur F. Wright notes this situation during the Song period, with philosophical nativism taking from Buddhism its earlier benevolent role:

It is true that Buddhist monks were given official appointments as managers of many of these enterprises, but the initiative came from Neo-Confucian officials. In a sense the Buddhist idea of compassion and many of the measures developed for its practical expression had been appropriated by the Chinese state.



Although Buddhism lost its prominence in the elite circles and government sponsorships of Chinese society, this did not mean the disappeance of Buddhism from Chinese culture. Zen Buddhism continued to flourish during the Song period, as Emperor Lizong of Song had the monk Wuzhun Shifan share the Chán doctrine with the imperial court. Much like the Eastern Roman Emperor Julian the Apostate promoting Roman paganism and Theurgy amongst the leading members of Roman society while pushing Christianity's influence into the lower classes, so too did Neo-Confucians of the 13th century succeed in driving Buddhism out of the higher echelons of Chinese society.

In terms of Buddhist metaphysics, the latter influenced the beliefs and teachings of Northern Song-era Confucian scholars such as Cheng Hao and Cheng Yi , the former being one of the tutors of Zhu Xi. They emphasized moral self-cultivation over service to the ruler of the state , as opposed to statesmen like Fan Zhongyan or Su Shi, who pursued their agenda to advise the ruler to make the best decisions for the common good of all. The Cheng brothers also taught that the workings of nature and metaphysics could be taught through the principle and the vital energy . The principle of nature could be moral or physical, such as the principle of marriage being moral, while the principle of trees is physical. Yet for principles to exist and function normally, there would have to be substance as well as vital energy. His approach to Confucianism was shunned by his contemporaries, as his writings were forbidden to be cited by students taking the Imperial Examinations. However, Emperor Lizong of Song found his writing to be intriguing, reversing the policy against him, and making it a requirement for students to study his commentaries on the Four Books.

Zhu Xi's Neo-Confucian philosophy evolved into a rigid official creed, which stressed the one-sided obligations of obedience and compliance of subject to ruler, child to father, wife to husband, and younger brother to elder brother. The effect was to inhibit the societal development of pre-modern China, resulting both in many generations of political, social, and spiritual stability and in a slowness of cultural and institutional change up to the 19th century. Neo-Confucian doctrines also came to play the dominant role in the intellectual life of Korea, Vietnam, and Japan until modern times.

Frog (fastening)

A frog is an ornamental braiding for fastening the front of a garment that consists of a button and a loop through which it passes.

The usual purpose of frogs is to provide a closure for a garment while decorating it at the same time. These frogs are usually used on garments that appear oriental in design. Tops with a mandarin collar often use frogs at the shoulder and down the front to keep the two sections of the front closed. Frogs are usually meant to be a design detail that "stands out".

Many sewers make their own because supplies are inexpensive and the results are customizable. Using larger or smaller size cording or fabric tubes will result in larger and smaller ''frogs''. Also, self-fabric can be used to create frogs that are the same color as the garment, though frogs are usually chosen to be a contrasting color to that of the garment.

Frogs are made by looping and interlocking the cording or fabric tube into the desired design, then securing the places where the cords touch by . The frog is then stitched onto a garment, usually by hand. When a fabric tube is used, the fabric is cut on . This allows the fabric tube to remain smooth and flex easily when bent into curves.

Han Chinese clothing

Han Chinese clothing or Hanfu , also known as Hanzhuang , Huafu , or guzhuang , and sometimes referred in English sources simply as Silk Robe or Chinese Silk Robe refers to the historical dress of the Han Chinese people, which was worn for millennia before the conquest by the Manchus and the establishment of the Qing Dynasty in 1644. The term ''Hanfu'' derives from the ''Book of Han'', which says, "then many came to the Court to pay homage and were delighted at the clothing style of the Han ."

Han Chinese clothing is presently worn only as a part of historical reenactment, hobby, coming of age/rite of passage ceremonies, ceremonial clothing worn by religious priests, or cultural exercise and can be frequently seen on Chinese television series, films and other forms of media entertainment. However, there is currently a in China and overseas Chinese communities to revive Han Chinese clothing in everyday life and incorporate in Chinese festivals or celebration.

Some costumes commonly thought of as typically Chinese, such as the qipao, are the result of influence by brutal laws imposed by Manchurian rulers of the Qing Dynasty, and are regarded by some advocates as not being "traditionally" Han. Technically, the Qing dynasty and afterwards would be considered modern China, so the qipao would be modern clothing and not traditional. Today, most Han Chinese wear western-style clothing in everyday life. Some urbanites wear modified or modernized traditional clothes, while many in the countryside still use distinctive peasant dress.

Many East Asian and Southeast Asian national costumes, such as the Japanese kimono, the Korean hanbok and the Vietnamese áo t&, all show influences from Hanfu, as historically these countries were part of the Sinosphere.

History




Hanfu has a history of more than three millennia, and is said to have been worn by the legendary Yellow Emperor. From the beginning of its history, Hanfu was inseparable from silk, supposedly discovered by the Yellow Emperor’s consort, Leizu. The first solidly historical dynasty known of in China, the Shang Dynasty , developed the rudiments of Hanfu; it consisted of a ''yi'', a narrow-cuffed, knee-length tunic tied with a sash, and a narrow, ankle-length skirt, called ''shang'', worn with a ''bixi'', a length of fabric that reached the knees. Vivid primary colors and green were used, due to the degree of technology at the time.

The dynasty to follow the Shang, the Western Zhou Dynasty, established a strict hierarchical society that used clothing as a status meridian, and inevitably, the height of one’s rank influenced the ornateness of a costume. Such markers included the length of a skirt, the wideness of a sleeve and the degree of ornamentation. In addition to these class-oriented developments, the Hanfu became looser, with the introduction of wide sleeves and jade decorations hung from the sash which served to keep the ''yi'' closed. The ''yi'' was essentially wrapped over, in a style known as ''jiaoling youren'', or wrapping the right side over before the left, because of the initially greater challenge to the right-handed wearer .

In the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, the "deep robe" appeared a combination of tunic and skirt. The upper and lower halves were cut separately but sewn as a single unit. An additional change was the shaping of the left side of the costume into a corner, fastened on the chest. Perhaps because of Confucian influence, disapproving of a hierarchical society in favour of social mobility based on personal merit, the ''shenyi'' was swiftly adopted. There still existed an elite however, and they monopolised the more ornate fabrics and grandiose details.


Garments


The style of Han Chinese clothing can be summarized as containing garment elements that are arranged in distinctive and sometime specific ways. This maybe different from the traditional garment of other ethnic groups in China, most notably the Manchurian influenced Chinese clothes, the ''qipao'', which is popularly assumed to be the solely recognizable style of "traditional" Chinese garb. A comparison of the two styles can be seen as follows:




A complete Hanfu garment is assembled from several pieces of clothing into an attire:
*Yi : Any open cross-collar garment, and worn by both sexes
*Pao : Any closed full-body garment, worn only by men in Hanfu
*Ru : Open cross-collar shirt
*Shan : Open cross-collar shirt or jacket that is worn over the yi
*Qun or shang : Skirt for women and men, respectively
*Ku : Trousers or pants

People are also able to accessorize with tassels and jade pendants or various ornaments hung from the belt or sash, known as ''pei'' .

Hats and headwear


On top of the garments, hats or hairpieces maybe worn. One can often tell the profession or social rank of someone by what they wear on their heads. The typical male hat or cap is called a ''jin'' for commoners and ''guan'' for the privileged. Officials and academics have a separate set of hats for them, typically the ''putou'' , the ''wushamao'' , the ''si-fang pingding jin'' and the ''Zhuangzi jin'' . A typical hairpiece for women is a ''ji'' but there are more elaborate hairpieces.

Traditionally, the Chinese wear their hats indoors as well as outdoors unlike their Western counterparts. This is mainly because most hats are too impractical to take off and carry around.

Style



Han-Chinese clothing had changed and evolved with the fashion of the days since its commonly assumed beginnings in the Shang dynasty. Many of the earlier designs are more gender-neutral and simple in cuttings. Later garments incorporate multiple pieces with men commonly wearing pants and women commonly wearing skirts. Clothing for women usually accentuates the body's natural curves through wrapping of upper garment lapels or binding with sashes at the waist.

Each dynasty has their own styles of Hanfu as they evolved and only few styles are 'fossilized'.

Informal wear


Types include tops and bottoms , and one-piece robes that wrap around the body once or several times .

*Shenyi : a long full body garment
:*Quju : diagonal body wrapping
:*Zhiju : straight lapels
*Zhongyi or zhongdan : inner garments, mostly white cotton or silk
*Shanqun : a short coat with a long skirt
*Ruqun : a top garment with a separate lower garment or skirt
*Kuzhe : a short coat with trousers
*Zhiduo/zhishen : a Ming Dynasty style robe, similar to a ''zhiju shenyi'' but with vents at the side and 'stitched sleeves'


A typical set of Hanfu can consist of two or three layers. The first layer of clothing is mostly the ''zhongyi'' which is typically the inner garment much like a Western T-shirt and pants. The next layer is the main layer of clothing which is mostly closed at the front. There can be an optional third layer which is often an overcoat called a ''zhaoshan'' which is open at the front. More complicated sets of Hanfu can have many more layers.

For footwear, white socks and black cloth shoes are the norm, but in the past, shoes may have a front face panel attached to the tip of the shoes. Daoists, Buddhists and Confucians may have white stripe .

Semi-formal wear


A piece of Hanfu can be "made semi-formal" by the addition of the following appropriate items:

*Chang/shang: a pleated skirt
*Bixi : long front cloth panel attached from the waist belt
*Zhaoshan : long open fronted coat
*Guan or any formal hats

Generally, this form of wear is suitable for meeting guests or going to meetings and other special cultural days. This form of dress is often worn by the nobility or the upper-class as they are often expensive pieces of clothing, usually made of silks and damasks. The coat sleeves are often deeper than the shenyi to create a more voluminous appearance.



Formal wear


In addition to informal and semi-formal wear, there is a form of dress that is worn only at certain special occasions or by special people who are entitled to wear them .

Formal garments may include:
*Xuanduan : a very dark robe; equivalent to the Western ''black tie'' or ''white tie''
*Daopao/Fusha : Taoist/Buddhist priests' full dress ceremonial robes
*Yuanlingshan , lanshan or panlingpao : closed, round collared robe; mostly used for official or academical dress

The most formal Hanfu that one can wear is the ''xuanduan'' , which consists of a black or dark blue top garment that runs to the knees with long sleeve , a bottom red ''chang'', a red ''bixi'' , an optional white belt with two white streamers hanging from the side or slightly to the front called ''peishou'' , and a long black ''guan''. Additionally, wearers may carry a long jade '''' or wooden ''hu'' tablet . This form of dress is mostly used in sacrificial ceremonies such as ''Ji Tian'' and '''' , etc but is also appropriate for State occasions.



Those in the religious orders wear a plain middle layer garment followed by a highly decorated cloak or coat. Taoists have a 'scarlet gown' which is made of a large cloak sewn at the hem to create very long deep sleeves used in very formal rituals. They are often scarlet or crimson in color with wide edging and embroidered with intricate symbols and motifs such as the eight trigrams and the yin and yang Taiji symbol. Buddhist have a cloak with gold lines on a scarlet background creating a brickwork pattern which is wrapped around over the left shoulder and secured at the right side of the body with cords. There maybe further decorations, especially for high priests .

Those in academia or officialdom have distinctive gowns. This varies over the ages but they are typically round collared gowns closed at the front. The most distinct feature is the headwear which has 'wings' attached. Only those who passed the civil examinations are entitled to wear them, but a variation of it can be worn by ordinary scholars and laymen.

Court dress


Court dress is the dress worn at very formal occasions and ceremonies that are in the presence of a monarch. The entire ensemble of clothing can consist of many complex layers and look very elaborate. Court dress is similar to the ''xuanduan'' in components but have additional adornments and elaborate headwear. They are often brightly colored with vermillion and blue.

Court dress refers to:
*Chaofu : ceremonial dress of officials or nobility
*Mianfu : ceremonial/enthronement dress for emperors

The practical use of court dress is now obsolete in the modern age since there is no reigning monarch in China anymore.

Ethnic identity


According to Tang Dynasty scholar Kong Yingda's official commentary to ''Zuo Zhuan'' and ''Shang Shu'', Chinese clothing plays an important role in the Chinese ethnic identity. It says, "In China, there is the grandeur of rites and social conduct; that is why it is called ''Xia'' . There is the beauty of dress and decoration; this is called ''Hua'' ." The words ''Hua'' and ''Xia'' combine to form the word ''Huaxia'' , which is a name that is often used to represent the Chinese civilization.

Gallery




Hanfu movement

Hanfu movement , or the Hanfu subculture, is a movement created in China to reintroduce into modern life the traditional Han Chinese clothing that were banned by the Manchu Qing Dynasty .

History




According to the Asia Times Online, the Hanfu movement may have begun around 2003 when a man called Wang Letian from Zhengzhou, China, wore Hanfu in public . This inspired others to do the same and the Hanfu movement grew out of forums created initially about Hanfu, which later covered the cultural identity of China. Since the start of the movement, there has been public interest in Hanfu as well as debates about it.

Major activities that Hanfu enthusiasts part-take include holding Guan Lis and Ji Li's and other formal traditional ceremonies of the past, wearing Hanfu in public places and making their own Hanfu. There is a more deeper meaning and goal to the Hanfu movement than just pure dressing up, going with the trend or exercising one's individuality. The main premise of the Hanfu movement is to get to a stage where Hanfu becomes an accepted part of clothing that can be worn without the need to justify to others for wearing it as well as reviving traditional values.

Debates




The Hanfu movement has aroused some debates.

The exact definition of "Hanfu"


Throughout China's long history, the clothing of the Han people have undergone many changes. The costumes of each dynasty is different, reflecting the values and interests of each period. It was not until the Qing Dynasty that the Hanfu became integrated with the costume of Manchu. Though many believe the Qipao or Cheongsam is China's national costume, this is relatively inaccurate as, considering China's thousands of years of history, the qipao is fairly modern.

To revive or not to revive


Some people believe that the disappearance of the Hanfu is not abnormal. Nowadays, many feel that the Hanfu is no longer relevant or convenient, and has been consigned to China's historical culture.

There are those who believe that every ethnic groups' costume is important and a valuable development and piece of the past, embodying the culture and traditional of that group. Hanfu is the traditional costume of the Han Chinese, so it is representative of the nation's traditional culture. The Chinese people are becoming more aware of this connection between themselves and their ancient culture. The practice of wearing Hanfu has also had the benefit of development and propagation of the traditional culture of China.

Complete restoration?


Some think it is important for certain occasions. One can wear Hanfu for holidays, festivals, weddings, birth parties, funerals or even as regular clothing. Those who believe that wearing Hanfu is inconvenient can continue wearing modern clothing. There are also those who believe that national costumes can become the standard ideal of clothing in special occasions and dates. Example of this include Japan and Korea where their national costumes do not completely dominate everyday clothing, yet make appearances during national festivals. Some even suggest modifying Hanfu to make it more appropriate for everyday clothing. As the predecessor of the kimono and hanbok, the Hanfu is surprisingly unknown to the rest of the world.

But like many other national costumes, Hanfu has a formal, more heavy and elaborate form for certain occasions , and an informal, light and easy to wear form which is more convenient to wear everyday. So completely reviving Hanfu is not as inconvenient as any other national costume.

However, there may be practical concern for complete Hanfu restoration. In parts of Han dynasty, the pants people wear did not cover the crotch, so sitting with splitting legs would be regarded as extremely rude.

Whether the ''Tangzhuang'' can fully represent the Han nationality


Some believe that the Tangzhuang has had a tremendous influence overseas and that many foreigners recognise them as the ''de facto'' Chinese national costume and that Hanfu does not share the same influence or recognition in today's environment. But such a recognition is like that of recognising the Scottish kilt as a national costume, even though it was invented by someone and is not exactly traditional or historically correct.

Historical relevence


Many feel that Hanfu is out-dated and old fashioned. A similar example is why people in the West do not wear period costume and since Hanfu is theoretically a 'period costume', it is unsuitable for wear in a modern progressive society. However, since it has been worn for the majority of Chinese history, it would not be considered a "period costume." In fact, the use of the Qipao is relatively recent, and would classify as a period costume.

The sudden change in Chinese clothing from traditional Han-style to strong Manchurian and Western influences has caused confusion as to the idea of what China's national costume is. Hanfu's development halted in the 17th century due to government sanctions by the manchurian Qing government, so the Hanfu has been placed in a situation that other national costumes have had the fortune not to experience. Technically, Hanfu is a costume not through natural development but through a forced change.

There is also debate as to whether Hanfu is just a fashion-fad or a form of Romanticism for the past rather than anything of modern relevence.

Recent developments


In February 2007, a proposal to use Hanfu for the official clothing of for the Chinese 2008 Summer Olympics was submitted to the Chinese Olympic Committee . After considering the proposal and debating on what should be the official clothing, the Committee rejected and threw out the proposal in April.