Characteristics of Chinese clothing_Traditional Chinese Clothing

Han Chinese clothing_The characteristics of traditional Chinese clothing:

 

• First: the national character of Chinese clothing that Han Chinese clothing is clothing. The clothing worn by ancient Chinese barbarians can not be called Chinese clothing. The whole nation is a concept, so a Han Chinese clothing worn by the barbarian, can not be called Han Chinese traditional clothing. 
• Second: the development of traditional Chinese clothing, and traditional and must be divided into two aspects, namely, inheritance and unity. Inheritance of Chinese clothing in: Han Chinese clothing can be traced back the origins of ancient China, the Yellow Emperor period and style remain constant development and evolution of inheritance. Expressed in the unity of Chinese clothing from the Song period to the Yellow Emperor, in the vast land of China, in the time span which lasted nearly five thousand years, and millions of square kilometers of spatial span, all Han Chinese clothing in its own mainstream common characteristics. That is the right ren, big sleeves, dark clothing are typical examples.
• Third: the natural development of Chinese clothing, that is non-external force, the Han Chinese case voluntarily, often difficult to be clearly aware of people's natural development, which is generally normal things or laws of cultural development. The nature of the development of Chinese clothing, but also a national heritage of traditional clothing, which means that a thing or culture, in its own path of normal development due under the direction of evolution. Its direction, through general laws, to move back its source, can also predict the development of backward direction.

Chinese clothing episode

Chinese clothing

People in China generally wore tunics (like long t-shirts). Women wore long tunics down to the ground, with belts, and men wore shorter ones down to their knees. Sometimes they wore jackets over their tunics. In the winter, when it was cold, people wore padded jackets over their tunics, and sometimes pants under them. In early China, poor people made their clothes of hemp or ramie. Rich people wore silk.

Most people in China, both men and women, wore their hair long. People said that you got your hair from your parents and so it was disrespectful to cut it.

During the Sui Dynasty, in the 500's AD, the emperor decided that all poor people had to wear blue or black clothes, and only rich people could wear colors.
In the Sung Dynasty, about 1100 AD, a fashion started at the emperor's court for women to bind their feet. Women thought that to be beautiful they needed little tiny feet, only about three inches long. They got these tiny feet by wrapping tight bandages around the feet of little girls, about five or six years old.
The bandages were so tight they broke the girls’ toes and bent them underneath their feet and then they had to walk on them like that. The girls spent most of their time crying for two or three years and then the feet stopped hurting so much. Women with bound feet couldn’t walk very well at all, and when they had to work in the fields often they would crawl. Some of the earliest versions of the story of Cinderella come from Sung Dynasty China. In these versions, the point of the story is that the Prince loves Cinderella because she has the smallest feet of any girl in the kingdom, so the slipper will only fit her.
Then in the Yuan Dynasty, the Mongols brought cotton to China. At first people didn’t want to grow cotton, maybe because the people running the silk industry wanted to keep people buying silk. But the Mongol invasions in the 1200’s destroyed a lot of the mulberry trees that were needed to make silk. The Mongol emperors, like Kublai Khan, turned to cotton to fill the gap. In 1289 AD they ordered the opening of special training centers to teach farmers how to grow cotton. And in 1296 they ordered that farmers who grew cotton could pay lower taxes. Soon everyone liked cotton better than ramie or hemp. Cotton was warmer, and softer, and stronger, and cheaper. You could make it thin for summer, or you could make thick padded clothes out of it that were warm for winter.

A little history of Chinese clothing

The history of Chinese clothing

A Tang Dynasty portrait of Confucius (by Wu Daozi) showing him in Hanfu of the Spring and Autumn Period of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty.

12th century Chinese painting of The Night Revels of Han Xizai () showing musicians dressed in Hanfu
 

Chinese clothing 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 (especially in elite circles) was inseparable from silk, supposedly discovered by the Yellow Emperor consort, Leizu. The first solidly historical dynasty known of in China, the Shang Dynasty (c.1600 BC-1000 BC), 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 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 yoi 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 (the Chinese discouraged left-handedness like many other historical cultures, considering it unnatural and unfortunate).

In the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, the “deep robe” (shenyi) 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.
 

Traditional costumes_Han Chinese clothing$$

Han Chinese clothing_Traditional costumes$$

Han Chinese clothing, or Hanfu, refers to the clothing worn by the Han ethnic people from the ruling periods of the Three Emperors and Five Sovereigns to the Ming Dynasty. It was the traditional costume of the nation worn for millennia and representative of the characteristics of the Han nationality. Over thousands of years, the Han people created brilliant Hanfu culture with their wisdom. 
For millennia, Han Chinese clothing retained its simple and elegant style. The main characters of the clothing include "Y" shaped cross collar with the left one upon the right, no buttons, and string or belt fastening, giving a free and elegant feel. There are ceremonial wear and informal wear in Hanfu clothing.  
In terms of the forms of a dress, it can be an "upper-yi-and-lower-shang" style (a loose lapelled coat as an upper garment and a shang (a skirt) as a lower garment); or a "shenyi" style (the upper coat and the skirt sewed together) or a "ruqun" style (top garment with a separate lower garment or skirt) etc.
Among them, the ceremonial dress in "upper-yi-and-lower-shang" style used to be the most formal costume for emperors and officials; the paofu (another name of  "shenyi") was an informal dress for officials and scholars; the ruqun was women's favorite; and a short coat and long pants made a general outfit for ordinary laboring people.
Accessories and hair ornaments are also important components of hanfu. In ancient times, boys and girls of the Han nationality would wear their hair in a coil and hold it in place with a hairpin after the coming-of-age ceremony. Men traditionally wore coronets, scarves and caps etc. Women would comb their hair in various styles of coils or buns and wear all kinds of hair ornaments such as pearls, flowers and buyaos (a kind of hairpin) etc.   

Han Chinese clothing catastrophe_2

Han Chinese clothing

After the founding of the country because of the Qing clothing, hair style and no less than millions of Han Chinese were killed, when a Western missionaries in China to see these scenes wrote: "The whole world because of clothing such as Han Chinese, who were massacred in the ethnic hair unique.”

How to treat the "Hub Fu Archery" and "Dressed in fashion?"

Han alien shall be subject to the advanced stuff - but retained the basic institutions of the Han premise. The so-called "middle way" is also! - Rejected, that is complacent; but lost them, that is a departure from their ancestors! Hub Fu, including Tang Hub Fu, Han are retained under the premise of traditional attire, carried out.

Hub-style clothing, but as a convenient labor of professional clothing, and a certain specific area during the popular fashion. As a national ceremony of worship, an audience, and concierge - he will be using the standard traditional Chinese clothing. Chinese clothing has been a solemn, ceremonial representative of the system; Hub Fu, just fashion, pragmatic fashion.

Han Chinese clothing catastrophe_1

Han Chinese clothing

   Han Chinese clothing after the catastrophe began in Manqingruguan. Dressed formally promulgated so that the time for the Lunar New Year on June 15 Shensi years, was converted into Gregorian calendar July 8, 1645, that is, 1645 July 8, do not force the Manchu Dressed in torn off mask, complete the implementation of strong orders from tonsure to, thus began Jiangxi Dressed in other parts of the struggle against the people to suffer from intense and difficult pen to make. Deaths uncounted.

Qing Han Chinese clothing that had a major face of change, will continue for three years of the Han nationality crown of clothes sent to the grave. Junji years, the Qing took over southern provinces, the Qing government ordered the country since the implementation of the system change clothes barber. Qing government orders, the to from the date of official documents, within 10 days of all men to shave all the hair, change hair braids, if there is "still out system, not with the system are given in the DPRK." And this is forced to change with the Han Chinese clothing style. At that time, wear Han clothes and countless people are killed.

Han Qing strongly resist the government order, insurgency after another. Long-term struggle against the Qing government to consider some concessions in order to stabilize the situation. So the so-called "ten from ten not from the", namely: clothing on the men from the women refused, and students from the refuses from, not from the sun from the shade, not from officials from the scribe, not from the old from the small, Confucianism is not so monk from, not from the advocate to Actors; and: official career to marriage and not from, the country from which the official numbers do not, so language is not served from the tax. This limited concessions, and finally retained some characteristics in Han costume.

Why forced the Qing Dynasty after the establishment of the Han Chinese Dressed down braid in fashion? Normally, what clothes to wear, what hairstyle to stay there is little relationship between the ruling, but the Manchus and the establishment of clear through customs, after giving them new meaning. Han Chinese can not accept foreign domination is despised by Han barbaric, brutal reign of the Han people to accept in terms of a kind of insult. Han Chinese civilization for thousands of years, with splendid culture, compared to alien, Han Chinese have a strong cultural sense of superiority, compared with Manchu culture is superficial, it is shame. This kind of national inferiority complex on the one hand to promote hard to learn Chinese culture, Manchu nobility, the other hand, Han Chinese look down on fear of the Manchu nobility to them, so in order to rule the best way is to make the Han Chinese Han Chinese alien customs and habits, the way of character to insult Han spiritual atrophy, loss of the Han Chinese self-esteem, self-confidence, destroy the bones of the ethnic Han Chinese superiority.

The origin of Han Chinese Clothing__4

End of Han Chinese clothing reminds me of a few years ago, swept the country in the Tang Dynasty clothing. There are a large number of murals in the Dunham Buddhist world painting depicts many of them flying fairies, such as the image of Heaven, is wonderful. Look at the history of Chinese culture when the most prosperous Tang Dynasty costumes, you will find clothing and murals were very similar transit. Tang clothing, women's dress jacket to the main chest, which is the Han, a major costume dress; man with a round neck collar robe or shirt-based pay. Hub Fu Tang popular fashion as we now wear as a trendy behavior, rather than the national acts. In the literature, the Tang dynasty has his own clothing at home dressed as Han. Therefore, the costume is still a Chinese clothing system.