Asian Fashion >> Chinese Culture
Chinese Clothing History
The ancient Chinese people had very distinctive social classes. Each
of these has specific styles and significance of dressing. Varied
symbols are used on the clothing to distinguish between various
strata of society. The ancient
Chinese clothing has varied greatly
throughout different periods of time. Each social or historical
period brought about a new style.
During the Pre-Qing Dynasty (also known as the Manchu Dynasty was
the last ruling dynasty of China from 1644 to 1912.); the prevalent
ancient
Chinese clothing was broadly referred to as hanfu with many
variations such as traditional Chinese academic dress. Every
individual stratum displayed a different fashion. In fact the
military was totally distinctive in its appearance.
Chinese civil or military officials had an assortment of motifs to
depict their rank and position. Hat knobs were used as an icon of
their rank. There were nine types of color coded hat knobs that
represented the nine distinctive ranks. Another popular insignia was
the Mandarin square or rank badge.
The Chinese clothing known as the Hanfu (also referred to as
guzhuang meaning "ancient clothing"), was the traditional dress of
the Han Chinese folk. The term Hanfu has its organ in 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 [Chinese]." It was
fascinating for these visitors to see the characteristic outfit -
like a kimono and sandals made out of rice reed. As you can see, the
Hanfu has a colorful history dating back 3000 years and more. In
fact the dress was even worn by the legendary Yellow Emperor. It was
popular since long before the Qing Dynasty came into power in the
mid seventeenth century. Since the material of this ancient Chinese
clothing was always silk, supposedly discovered by the Yellow
Emperor's consort, Leizu, the Hanfu was also called 'silk robes'.
The Hanfu now is worn only at special occasions which are mostly
historical reenactment, hobby, coming of age/rite of passage
ceremonies, ceremonial clothing worn by religious priests, or
cultural exercise. However, there are attempts on to try and make it
a part of more day to day wear or at least during Chinese
celebrations and festivals especially in China as well as among the
non resident community.
The Ancient
Chinese clothing in its most traditional best can be
explained as different parts of specific cloth that are draped in a
special style. It would be totally different from the traditional
garment of other ethnic groups in China like the Manchurian qipao.
There is a great difference between the Han way of dressing and the
Manchurian influence. It is as yet an unsolved problem which of the
two would be the correct traditional costume of the ancient Chinese.
Some costumes commonly thought of as typically Chinese, such as the
qipao, are the result of influence by brutal laws (Queue Order)
imposed by Manchurian rulers of the Qing Dynasty, and are regarded
by some advocates as not being "traditionally" Han. http://www.ancientchinaclothing.org
About the Author:
Christopher Schwebius is an entrepreneur who seeks out sharply defined, specifically focused topics to research. Upon finishing his research he provides relevant, un-biased information to his readers based on his discoveries and/or personal experiences. One of his latest ongoing projects can be viewed at http://www.ancientchinaclothing.org
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