Ancient Chinese Culture » Chinese Clothing

Dragon Robe

sharon — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 03:33:58 +0000

In Chinese culture, the dragon represents power. Therefore, it was associated with Chinese emperors as early as the Zhou Dynasty (11th century-256 B.C.) when emperors began to wear robes with the figures of dragon. However, they were named as dragon robes until the Qing Dynasty.

The figure nine and five was associated with the dignity of throne in ancient China. Therefore, a dragon robe is embroidered with nine yellow dragons, on the front, the back, before or behind knees, shoulders and lining of the chest. The upper class were permitted to wear the robes decorated with three, four or five clawed dragons according to their ranks.

The end of the Qing Dynasty brings an end to the dragon robes. Fortunately, we still can appreciate them in some museums now, having a glimpse of the supreme dressmaking technique in ancient China.

the Lightest Silk Clothing

sharon — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 07:49:42 +0000

With 1.60 meters long, long-sleeved and as light as 48 grams, the plain voile Buddhist garment which was unearthed from Tomb No.1 of Mawangdui Han Dynasty Tomb is the lightest silk clothing in chinese history.

It is light as the mist and as fine as gossamer. Since it was so light, the upper class of that time always wore more than 10 pieces of this kind of clothing for formal occasions.

However, this masterly craftsmanship has been lost. Researchers spent 13 years on the research of a duplicate of the same weight.

Hanfu

sharon — Wed, 06 May 2009 01:06:00 +0000

Hanfu or Han Chinese clothing, also known as Silk Robe in English, refers to the clothing worn by the Han Chinese people, the predominant ethnic group of China, for millennia until the establishment of the Qing Dynasty in 1644.

Han Chinese clothing are cross-collar, right lapelled, waist-hugging, tied knots and in some cases, complete with belt hooks and other accessories. The style of clothing is elegant and unrestrained.

Due to the ancient culture exchanges, many traditional costumes of East Asian countries, such as the Kimono in Japan and the traditional Korean dress, etc. have been influenced by Hanfu. However, under the rule of Qing Dynasty, all the people were strictly forced to wear the Manchurian style of dress and that largely eliminated the traditions of wearing Hanfu.

Nowadays, the charm of Hanfu is rediscovered and a movement called “Hanfu Movement” has been launched by some Chinese people who are passionate about traditional culture.

Ancient Bra: Dudou

sharon — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 06:45:00 +0000

DuDou, was an ancient Chinese bodice used primarily as an undergarment that was once worn by Chinese women and kids across all classes.

It was usually made into a diamond shape and was tied across the back, leaving the arms and back uncovered.

Most Dudous were made of silk yarn or crepe edged with brocade. Young women would use bright-colored brocade of red, pink or green. They would also embroider flowers, butterflies or mandarin ducks which symbolized love on the front of dudous.

Chinese Ancient Wedding Dress

sharon — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 16:17:00 +0000

One of the most prominent features of a Chinese wedding is the wedding dress. In ancient China, brides wore red wedding clothes, which called Feng Guan and Xia Pei.

Feng Guan was a kind of hair decoration in the shape of phoenix while Xia Pei was clothes. Originally, this kind of wedding dress was designed only for Empress to symbolize her royal status. As time went by, it became popular among the nobility and the commons.

From Ming Dynasty, this kind of wedding dress was adopted by Chinese opera. Moreover, it was given brighter colors to adapt operas.