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145-461: Hanfu ( simplified Chinese : 汉服 ; traditional Chinese : 漢服 ; pinyin : Hànfú , lit. " Han clothing"), are the traditional styles of clothing worn by the Han Chinese since the 2nd millennium BCE. There are several representative styles of hanfu , such as the ruqun (an upper-body garment with a long outer skirt), the aoqun (an upper-body garment with a long underskirt),

290-732: A Shang dynasty attire can be seen on an anthropomorphic jade figurine excavated from the Tomb of Fu Hao in Anyang , which shows a person wearing a long narrow-sleeved yi with a wide band covering around waist, and a skirt underneath. This yichang attire appears to have been designed for the aristocratic class. Following the Shang dynasty, the Western Zhou dynasty established new system of etiquette and rites on clothing, placing new ceremonial, political and cultural significance on clothing. This tied fashion to

435-513: A common metaphor for primitiveness. When used by the ancient Chinese literati, the concept of pifa zuoren became a phrase, which held the symbolic of foreign people who were living a barbarous and civilized lifestyle; this concept also became a way to emphasize the customs differences between the Han people and other ethnic minorities and draw the line to distinguish who was were considered as civilized and barbarians. The zuoren thus also became

580-443: A component—either a character or a sub-component called a radical —usually involves either a reduction in its total number of strokes , or an apparent streamlining of which strokes are chosen in what places—for example, the ⼓   ' WRAP ' radical used in the traditional character 沒 is simplified to ⼏   ' TABLE ' to form the simplified character 没 . By systematically simplifying radicals, large swaths of

725-434: A conversion table. While exercising such derivation, the following rules should be observed: Sample Derivations : The Series One List of Variant Characters reduces the number of total standard characters. First, amongst each set of variant characters sharing identical pronunciation and meaning, one character (usually the simplest in form) is elevated to the standard character set, and the rest are made obsolete. Then amongst

870-407: A few revised forms, and was implemented for official use by China's State Council on 5 June 2013. In Chinese, simplified characters are referred to by their official name 简化字 ; jiǎnhuàzì , or colloquially as 简体字 ; jiǎntǐzì . The latter term refers broadly to all character variants featuring simplifications of character form or structure, a practice which has always been present as

1015-469: A fur coat). During this period, elites generally wore paofu while peasants wore shanku consisting of short jackets and ku. Male commoners wore similar dress as Han dynasty male commoner did; archeological artefacts of this period depict male commoners wearing a full-sleeved, knee-length youren jacket; man's hairstyle is usually a topknot or a flat cap used for head covering. Female commoners dressed in similar fashion as their male counterpart but their jacket

1160-494: A garment needs to be found outside (which is in the form of youren closure) to indicate that the power of the Yang aspect is suppressing the Yin aspect, which thus symbolizes the clothing of living people. On the other hand, the zuoren is a representation of the Yin aspect surpassing the Yang aspect, and thus, garments with a zuoren closure became the clothing worn by

1305-599: A newly coined phono-semantic compound : Removing radicals Only retaining single radicals Replacing with ancient forms or variants : Adopting ancient vulgar variants : Readopting abandoned phonetic-loan characters : Copying and modifying another traditional character : Based on 132 characters and 14 components listed in Chart 2 of the Complete List , the 1,753 derived characters found in Chart 3 can be created by systematically simplifying components using Chart 2 as

1450-568: A part of the Chinese writing system. The official name tends to refer to the specific, systematic set published by the Chinese government, which includes not only simplifications of individual characters, but also a substantial reduction in the total number of characters through the merger of formerly distinct forms. According to Chinese palaeographer Qiu Xigui , the broadest trend in the evolution of Chinese characters over their history has been simplification, both in graphical shape ( 字形 ; zìxíng ),

1595-582: A prohibition of Xianbei clothing among many other prohibition on Xianbei culture (e.g. language, Xianbei surnames) as a form of sinicization policies and allowed the intermarriage between Xianbei and Chinese elites. The Wei shu even claimed that the Xianbei rulers were descendants of Yellow Emperor , just like the Han Chinese, despite being non-Chinese. The Wei shu also records that Emperor Xiaowen of Northern Wei promoted Chinese-style long robes and official crowns in

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1740-549: A reference to Hufu and/or to the rule of foreign nationalities. Of note, some non-Chinese ethnicity who adopted Hanfu -style sometimes maintain their left lapels, such as the Khitans in the Liao dynasty . Jiaoling youren ( Chinese : 交領右衽 ) were cross-collars which overlapped on the front and closed on the right side following the youren ( 右衽 ) rule; they can also be described as cross-collar garments closing to

1885-430: A role in differentiating ranks; for example, officials of the three upper levels and princes had to wear purple robes; officials above the fifth level had to wear red robes; officials of the sixth and seventh level had to wear green robes; and officials of the eighth and ninth levels had to wear cyan robes. Dragons-with-three-claws emblems also started to be depicted on the clothing of court officials above third ranks and on

2030-589: A roof-shaped top called jieze (介帻) is used by civil servants, usually greenish black in colour until summer seasons. Men and women also wore a lined, long robe called paofu . As Buddhism arrived in China during late period of Han dynasty, robes of Buddhist monks started to be produced. The attire worn in the Han dynasty laid the foundation for the clothing development in the succeeding dynasties. Ornaments and jewelries, such as rings, earrings, bracelets, necklace, and hairpins , and hair sticks were common worn in China by

2175-448: A series of regulations in all forms of cultural aspects, including clothing. The clothing style in Qin was therefore unitary. The Qin dynasty adopted a coloured-clothing system, which stipulated people who held higher position (officials of the third rank and above) wore green shenyi while common people wore normal white shenyi . The Han Chinese wore the shenyi as a formal dress and

2320-429: A silk unlined upper garment was worn; they wore "breast dresses" . This change in the ideal corporal shape of women's bodies has been attributed to a beloved consort of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang , called Yang Guifei , although archeological evidence shows that this ideal of the female body had emerged before Yang Guifei's ascension to power in the imperial court. Another form of popular fashion in women's attire during

2465-723: A standing collar and closes with a central front closure. Fanling refers to the lapel collars, typically categorized as Hufu-style collars Square collars are referred as fangling (方领). U-shaped collar are known as tanling ( Chinese : 坦领 ; pinyin : tǎnlǐng ; lit. 'flat collar/ open-hearted collar'). Tanling could be used in garments and attire, such as tanling banbi and tanling ruqun . Pianjin ( Chinese : 偏襟 ; pinyin : piānjīn ; lit. 'slanted placket'), also called Pipa -shaped collars and sometimes referred as 'slanted' collar in English, were form of collars which overlaps and closes to

2610-508: 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. Costumes would also be distinguished by their ceremonial usage. This became the antecedent for the complex system of clothing for all succeeding eras and dynasties. Importance were hence placed on items such as the guan and mianfu , as recorded in Rites of Zhou and Book of Rites . The guan

2755-427: A style of upper garment, started to be worn during this period. In winter, padded jackets were worn. The ku or jingyi , which were knee-high trousers tied onto the calves but left the thighs exposed, were worn under the chang . During this period, this clothing style was unisex. Only rich people wore silk; poor people continued to wear loose shirts and ku made of hemp or ramie . An example of

2900-422: A type of jacket), bixi ; while women's clothing style were usually ruqun (lined jacket with long skirt) and shanqun (衫裙; shirt with long skirt), men's clothing styles are robes, shanku , and xiku (褶裤; jacket with trousers). During this period, the black gauze hats with a flat top and an ear at either side appeared and were popular for both men and women. Although they had their own cultural identity,

3045-529: A very popular fashion in the Tang dynasty. Leather boots (靴, xue ), quekua (缺胯; an open-collared robe with tight sleeves; it cannot cover the undershirt), hood and cape ensemble were introduced by northern nomads in China. Tomb inventories found during this period include: fangyi (方衣; square garment), shan (衫; shirt), qun , hanshan (汗衫; sweatshirt), ru (襦; lined jacket), ku (裤), kun (裈), liangdang (两裆; vest), ao (袄; multi-layered lined jacket), xi (褶;

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3190-760: Is a type of undershirt or waistcoat worn in Northern China during the Sixteen Kingdoms period; it is not to be confused with a type of doubled-faced cuirass armour , also named liangdang , which was worn during this period. During the Northern and Southern dynasties, the dressing style followed the style of the Three Kingdoms and Jin dynasty; robes, skirts, trousers, short jackets, sleeveless jackets were worn while fur coats, especially marten coats, were very rare. Young people liked to be dressed in trousers; however, it

3335-440: Is actually more complex than eliminated ones. An example is the character 搾 which is eliminated in favor of the variant form 榨 . The 扌   'HAND' with three strokes on the left of the eliminated 搾 is now seen as more complex, appearing as the ⽊   'TREE' radical 木 , with four strokes, in the chosen variant 榨 . Not all characters standardised in the simplified set consist of fewer strokes. For instance,

3480-454: Is derived. Merging homophonous characters: Adapting cursive shapes ( 草書楷化 ): Replacing a component with a simple arbitrary symbol (such as 又 and 乂 ): Omitting entire components : Omitting components, then applying further alterations : Structural changes that preserve the basic shape Replacing the phonetic component of phono-semantic compounds : Replacing an uncommon phonetic component : Replacing entirely with

3625-400: Is described as being a shorter version of zhijupao and it was worn with trousers. The jingyi continued to be worn in the early period of Han dynasty; other forms of trousers in this period were the dakouku and dashao ; both were developed from the hedangku loose rise introduced by King Wuling. Men in the Han dynasty also wore a kerchief or a guan on their heads. The guan

3770-809: Is now discouraged. A State Language Commission official cited "oversimplification" as the reason for restoring some characters. The language authority declared an open comment period until 31 August 2009, for feedback from the public. In 2013, the List of Commonly Used Standard Chinese Characters was published as a revision of the 1988 lists; it included a total of 8105 characters. It included 45 newly recognized standard characters that were previously considered variant forms, as well as official approval of 226 characters that had been simplified by analogy and had seen wide use but were not explicitly given in previous lists or documents. Singapore underwent three successive rounds of character simplification , eventually arriving at

3915-454: Is recorded in a Qin dynasty's bamboo slip called Zhiyi ( 制衣 ; 'Making clothes'). The Terracotta army also show the differences between soldiers and officers' clothing wherein the elites wore long gown while all the commoners wore shorter jackets; they also wore headgears which ranged from simple head cloths to formal official caps. Cavalry riders were also depicted wearing long-sleeved, hip-length jackets and padded trousers. By

4060-563: Is referred to as the " big seal script ". The traditional narrative, as also attested in the Shuowen Jiezi dictionary ( c.  100 AD ), is that the Qin small seal script that would later be imposed across China was originally derived from the Zhou big seal script with few modifications. However, the body of epigraphic evidence comparing the character forms used by scribes gives no indication of any real consolidation in character forms prior to

4205-540: Is used instead of 叠 in regions using traditional characters. The Chinese government stated that it wished to keep Chinese orthography stable. The Chart of Generally Utilized Characters of Modern Chinese was published in 1988 and included 7000 simplified and unsimplified characters. Of these, half were also included in the revised List of Commonly Used Characters in Modern Chinese , which specified 2500 common characters and 1000 less common characters. In 2009,

4350-579: Is wearing a Han Chinese cross-collared, wide-sleeves attire which has the basic clothing design derived from the Han dynasty attire with some altered designs, such as a high waistline and wide standing collar. Xu Xianxiu is depicted wearing a Central Asian-style coat, Xianbei-style tunic, trousers, and boots. Some of the female servants depicted from the tomb murals of Xu Xianxiu are wearing what appears to be Sogdian dresses, which tend to be associated with dancing girls and low-status entertainers during this period, while

4495-447: Is worn in the opposite way in a style called zuoren , the clothing then becomes burial clothing and is therefore considered a taboo. Zuoren is also used by some minority ethnic groups in China. Many factors have contributed to the fashion of ancient China : beliefs, religions, wars, and the emperor's personal liking. Following the Qin dynasty , colours used in the sumptuary laws of

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4640-541: The Shiming . The use of zuoren , however, was typically associated with funeral practices. This can also be found in the chapter Sang da ji ( 喪 大 記 ) of the Liji ( 禮 記 ): "At both the dressings the sacrificial robes were not placed below the others. They were all placed with the lapel to lie on the left side. The bands were tied firmly, and not in a bow-knot [小斂大斂，祭服不倒，皆左衽結絞不紐]." According to ancient Chinese beliefs,

4785-435: The beizi and the shenyi , and the shanku (an upper-body garment with ku trousers ). Traditionally, hanfu consists of a paofu robe , or a ru jacket worn as the upper garment with a qun skirt commonly worn as the lower garment. In addition to clothing, hanfu also includes several forms of accessories, such as headwear , footwear , belts , jewellery , yupei and handheld fans . Nowadays,

4930-513: The shenyi may have been partially due to the influence of Confucianism. The shenyi remained the dominant form of Hanfu from the Zhou dynasty to the Qin dynasty and further to the Han dynasty . Although the Qin dynasty was short-lived, it set up a series of systems that impacted the later generations greatly. Following the unification of the seven states, Emperor Qin Shihuang ordered his people, regardless of distance and class, to follow

5075-520: The zuoren -style according to what was recorded in ancient Chinese texts, such as the Qiang . As a result, the traditional way to distinguish between clothing of the "Barbarian" (i.e. non-Han Chinese), Hufu , and Chinese clothing, hanfu , was typically by looking at the direction of the collar. This can also be found in the Analects where Confucius himself praised Guan Zhong for preventing

5220-452: The quefeiguan . Emperor Yangdi later reformed the dress code in accordance of the ancient customs and news sets of imperial clothing were made. In 605 AD, it was decreed that officials over the fifth-ranks had to dress in crimson or purple, and in 611 AD, any officials who would follow the emperor in expedition together had to wear martial clothing. In 610 AD, the kuzhe attire worn by attending officials worn during imperial expeditions

5365-607: The Cao Wei (220–266 AD) and the Western Jin (266–316 AD) dynasties continued the cultural legacy of the Han dynasty. Clothing during the Three Kingdoms era and the clothing in Jin dynasty (266–420 AD) roughly had the same basic forms as the Han dynasty with special characteristics in their styles; the main clothing worn during those times are: ruqun (jacket and skirt), ku , and qiu (裘;

5510-656: The Chinese language , with the other being traditional characters . Their mass standardization during the 20th century was part of an initiative by the People's Republic of China (PRC) to promote literacy, and their use in ordinary circumstances on the mainland has been encouraged by the Chinese government since the 1950s. They are the official forms used in mainland China and Singapore , while traditional characters are officially used in Hong Kong , Macau , and Taiwan . Simplification of

5655-705: The Donghu , the Wuhu , and the foreigners from Central Asia, such as the Sogdians , and the Mongols, at different point in time. Yuanling can be overlapping to the right or closing at the front in the duijin manner. Yuanling could be used in garments and attire, such as yuanlingshan , yuanlingpao , panling lanshan , and wulingshan (无领衫). High standing collars in the Ming dynasty are referred as shuling (竖领) or liling (立领). They appeared by

5800-580: The Eastern Han , very few people wore shenyi . In the beginning of the Han dynasty, there was no restrictions on the clothing worn by common people. During the Western Han , the imperial edicts on the use of general clothing were not specific enough to be restrictive to the people, and were not enforced to a great degree. The clothing was simply differed accordingly to the seasons: blue or green for spring, red for summer, yellow for autumn and black for winter. It

5945-590: The Empire dresses of Napoleonic France ; however, the construction of the assemble differed from the ones worn in Western countries as Han Chinese women assemble consisted of a separate skirt and upper garment which show low décolletage. In this period, ordinary men did not wear skirts anymore. Many elements of the Tang dynasty clothing traditions was inherited from the Sui dynasty. During

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6090-468: The Jiayuguan bricks painting . The dakouku remained popular. Dakouku that were bounded with strings at the knees were also called fuku , During the Western Jin , it was popular to use a felt cord to bind dakouku. It was worn with a knee-length tight cotton-padded robe as a set of attire called kuzhe . The kuzhe was a very popular style of clothing during the Northern and Southern dynasties and

6235-463: The Shang dynasty , where colours, designs, and rules governing use was implemented across the social strata. Only primary colours (i.e. red, blue, and yellow) and green were used due to the degree of technology at the time. The rudiments of hanfu was developed in this period; the combination of upper and lower garments, called yichang , was usually worn with a bixi . The jiaoling youren yi

6380-405: The deceased . It was therefore a taboo in Chinese clothing culture for a living person to wear clothing with a zuoren closure. There are exceptions in which living Han Chinese would wear clothing with a zuoren closure. For example, in some areas (such as Northern Hebei ) in the 10th century, some ethnic Han Chinese could be found wearing left-lapel clothing. It was also common for

6525-512: The lacquered screen found in the Northern Wei tomb of Sima Jinlong (ca. 483 A.D) ; however, there were some minor alterations to the robe, such as higher waistline and the sleeves are usually left open in a dramatic flare. Shoes worn during this period included lü (履; regular shoes for formal occasions), ji (屐; high, wooden clogs for informal wear), and shoes with tips which would curl upward. The shoes with tips curled upward would later become

6670-459: The ladies-in-waiting of Xu Xianxiu's wife are wearing narrow-sleeved clothing which look more closely related to Xianbei-style or Central Asian-style clothing; yet this Xianbei style of attire is different from the depictions of Xianbei-style attire worn before 500 AD. The men (i.e. soldiers, grooms and male attendants) in the mural paintings of Xu Xianxiu tomb are depicted wearing high black or brown boots, belts, headgears, and clothing which follows

6815-518: The pinsefu (品色服), which was a colour grading clothing system to differentiate social ranking; this colour grading system for clothing then continued to be developed in the subsequent dynasties. Following the unification of China under the Sui dynasty , the Sui court abolished the Northern Zhou rituals and adopted the rituals, practices and ideas of the Han and Cao Wei dynasties , and the clothing code of

6960-464: The "Dot" stroke : The traditional components ⺥ and 爫 become ⺈ : The traditional component 奐 becomes 奂 : Garment collars in Hanfu#Jiaoling youren Chinese robes , such as the shenyi and the paofu as a general term, as well as Chinese jackets must typically cover the right part of their garment. Styles of garments which overlap at the front and close to

7105-411: The "external appearances of individual graphs", and in graphical form ( 字体 ; 字體 ; zìtǐ ), "overall changes in the distinguishing features of graphic[al] shape and calligraphic style, [...] in most cases refer[ring] to rather obvious and rather substantial changes". The initiatives following the founding of the Qin dynasty (221–206 BC) to universalize the use of their small seal script across

7250-476: The 1986 General List of Simplified Chinese Characters , hereafter the General List . All characters simplified this way are enumerated in Chart 1 and Chart 2 in the 1986 Complete List . Characters in both charts are structurally simplified based on similar set of principles. They are separated into two charts to clearly mark those in Chart 2 as 'usable as simplified character components', based on which Chart 3

7395-508: The 1986 mainland China revisions. Unlike in mainland China, Singapore parents have the option of registering their children's names in traditional characters. Malaysia also promulgated a set of simplified characters in 1981, though completely identical to the mainland Chinese set. They are used in Chinese-language schools. All characters simplified this way are enumerated in Charts 1 and 2 of

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7540-470: The Chinese government published a major revision to the list which included a total of 8300 characters. No new simplifications were introduced. In addition, slight modifications to the orthography of 44 characters to fit traditional calligraphic rules were initially proposed, but were not implemented due to negative public response. Also, the practice of unrestricted simplification of rare and archaic characters by analogy using simplified radicals or components

7685-542: The Han Chinese held symbolic meaning, based on the Taoist Five Elements Theory and the yin and yang theory; each dynasty favoured certain colours. Some elements of Hanfu have also been influenced by neighbouring cultural clothing, especially by the nomadic peoples to the north, and Central Asian cultures to the west by way of the Silk Road . In China, a systemic structure of clothing was first developed during

7830-453: The Han Chinese with a recorded history of more than three millennia. Each succeeding dynasty produced their own distinctive dress codes, reflecting the socio-cultural environment of the times. Clothing made of silk was initially used for decorative and ceremonial purposes. The cultivation of silk, however, ushered the development of weaving , and by the time of the Han dynasty , brocade , damask , satin , and gauze had been developed. From

7975-570: The Han Chinese women to adopt left lapel under the reign of foreign nationalities, such as in the Yuan dynasty . The practice of wearing the zuoren also continued in some areas of the Ming dynasty despite being a Han Chinese-ruled dynasty which is an atypical feature. The zuoren closure was also associated with the clothing of non-Han Chinese, ethnic minorities, and foreigners in ancient times. Some ethnic minorities generally had their clothing closing in

8120-403: The Han dynasty was restored. The Sui system was also based on the system of Western Jin and Northern Qi . The first emperor of Sui, Emperor Gaozu , would wear tongtianfu on grand occasions, gunyi (衮衣; dragon robe ) on suburban rites and visits to ancestral temple. He also set the colour red as the authoritative colour of the court imperial robes; this included the clothing of emperors and

8265-494: The Han ethnicity of the later generations. During the Qin and Han dynasties, women wore skirts which was composed of four pieces cloth sewn together; a belt was often attached to the skirt, but the use of a separate belt was sometimes used by women. The male farmers, workers, businessmen and scholars, were all dressed in similar fashion during the Han dynasty; jackets , aprons, and dubikun or leggings were worn by male labourers. The jackets worn by men who engaged in physical work

8410-584: The Mashan site in Jiangling County , Hubei province . During the Warring States period, the shenyi was also developed. The qujupao , a type of shenyi which wrapped in a spiral effect and had fuller sleeves, was found to be worn by tomb figurines of the same period. Unearthed clothing from tombs show that the shenyi was worn by aristocrats in the state of Chu. The increased popularity of

8555-570: The Shuiyusi temple of Xiangtangshan Caves dated back to Northern dynasties, male worshippers are usually dressed in Xianbei style attire while women are dressed in Han Chinese style attire wearing skirts and high-waisted, wrap-style robes with wide sleeves. Moreover, after the fall of the Northern Wei, tensions started to rise between the Western Wei (which was more sinicized) and the Eastern Wei (which

8700-484: The Tang dynasty was the wearing of male clothing; it was fashionable for women to dress in male attire in public and in everyday live, especially during the Kaiyuan and Tianbao (742 -756 AD) periods; this fashion started among the members of the nobility and the court maids and gradually spread in the community. Men's attire during the Tang dynasty usually included robes which was worn with trousers, yuanlingpao , belt worn at

8845-445: The Tang dynasty, is a long silk scarf; however it is not used to cover the neck, sometimes it covers the shoulders and other times just hangs from the elbows. Regardless of social status, women in the Tang dynasty tend to be dressed in 3-parts clothing: the upper garment, the skirt, and the pibo (披帛). During the Tang dynasty, there were 4 kinds of waistline for women's skirts: natural waistline; low waistline; high waistline which reached

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8990-501: The Tang dynasty, yellow-coloured robes and shirts were reserved for emperors; a tradition which was kept until the Qing dynasty . Moreover, the subjects of the Tang dynasty were forbidden from using ochre yellow colour as Emperor Gaozu used this colour for his informal clothing. The guan was replaced by futou . Scholars and officials wore the futou along with the panling lanshan . Clothing colours and fabric materials continued to play

9135-450: The Warring States period based on archaeological artifacts and sculpted bronze figures, and was worn in the shanqun or ruqun . An archeological example of a bronze figure wearing shanqun is the bronze armed warrior holding up chime bells from the Tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng . A dark yellow-skirt, dating from the late Warring States period, was also found in the Chu Tomb (M1) at

9280-475: The Western Zhou dynasty, the dress code of the early Eastern Zhou dynasty was governed by strict rules which was used maintain social order and to distinguish social class. In addition to these class-oriented developments, the daily hanfu in this period became slightly looser while maintaining the basic form the Shang dynasty in the wearing of yichang . Broad and narrow sleeves both co-existed. The yi

9425-457: The Xianbei-style, i.e. V-neck, long tunic which is below knee-length, with the left lapel of the front covering the right; narrow-sleeved tunic which is worn on top of round-collared undergarment are also depicted. High-waisted skirt style, which likely came from Central Asia, was also introduced to Han Chinese during the Northern Wei dynasty. Of note, significant changes occurred to the form of

9570-464: The archaeological artifacts dating from the Eastern Zhou dynasty, ordinary men, peasants and labourers, were wearing a long youren yi with narrow-sleeves, with a narrow silk band called sitao ( Chinese : 丝套 ) being knotted at the waist over the top. The youren yi was also worn with ku (in a style generally referred as shanku ) to allow greater ease of movement, but

9715-562: The beginning of its history, hanfu (especially in elite circles) was inseparable from silk and the art of sericulture , supposedly discovered by the Yellow Emperor 's consort Leizu , who was also revered as the Goddess of sericulture. There is even a saying in the Book of Change , which says that: "Huang Di, Yao, and Shun (simply) wore their upper and lower garments [衣裳; yī cháng ] (as patterns to

9860-414: The body's natural curves through wrapping of upper garment lapels or binding with sashes at the waist. From ancient times, the ru upper garments of hanfu were typically worn wrapped over the front, in a style known as jiaoling youren ; the left side covering the right side and extend to the wearer's right waist. Initially, the style was used because of the habit of the right-handed wearer to wrap

10005-480: The bust-line with ribbons also strongly influenced the Korean Hanbok . The women's clothing in the early Tang dynasty were quite similar to the clothing in the Sui dynasty; the upper garment was a short-sleeved short jacket with a low-cut; the lower garment was a tight-fitting skirt which was tied generally above the waist, but sometimes as high as the armpits, and a scarf was wrapped around the shoulders. The banbi

10150-421: The bust; and, high waistline above the bust, which could create different kind of women's silhouettes and reflected the ideal images of women of this period. This Tang dynasty-style ensemble would reappear several times even after the Tang dynasty, notably during the Ming dynasty . One of the Tang dynasty's ensembles which consisted of a very short, tight-sleeved jackets and an empire-waisted skirt tied just below

10295-423: The ceremonial clothing of the princes. Crimson was the colour of martial clothing (i.e. chamber guards, martial guards, generals and duke generals) whereas servants would wear purple clothing, which consisted of hood and loose trousers. During Emperor Gaozu's time, the court official garment was similar to the clothing attire of the commoners, except that it was yellow in colour. Court censors during Emperor Gaozu wore

10440-428: The character set are altered. Some simplifications were based on popular cursive forms that embody graphic or phonetic simplifications of the traditional forms. In addition, variant characters with identical pronunciation and meaning were reduced to a single standardized character, usually the simplest among all variants in form. Finally, many characters were left untouched by simplification and are thus identical between

10585-407: The chosen variants, those that appear in the "Complete List of Simplified Characters" are also simplified in character structure accordingly. Some examples follow: Sample reduction of equivalent variants : Ancient variants with simple structure are preferred : Simpler vulgar forms are also chosen : The chosen variant was already simplified in Chart 1 : In some instances, the chosen variant

10730-436: The clothing of princes; these dragon robes were first documented in 694 AD during the reign of Empress Wu Zetian . Common people wore white and soldiers wore black. Common women's attire in the Tang dynasty included shan (衫; a long overcoat or long blouse), ru (襦; a short sweater), banbi , pibo (披帛), and qun (裙; a usually wide, loose skirt which was almost ankle-length). The pibo (披帛), also known as pei (帔) in

10875-584: The clothing of the emperor, feudal dukes, senior officials, soldiers, ancestor worshippers, brides, and mourners. The mianfu was the most distinguished type of formal dress, worn for worshipping and memorial ceremonies; it had a complex structure and there were various decorations which bore symbolic meaning; there were six ranked types of mianfu which were worn by emperors, princes and officials according to their titles. The emperors also wore bianfu (only second to mianfu ) when meeting with officials or if they had to work on official business. When

11020-465: The country's writing system as a serious impediment to its modernization. In 1916, a multi-part English-language article entitled "The Problem of the Chinese Language" co-authored by the Chinese linguist Yuen Ren Chao (1892–1982) and poet Hu Shih (1891–1962) has been identified as a turning point in the history of the Chinese script—as it was one of the first clear calls for China to move away from

11165-529: The court to display the wearer's rank and his hierarchical position in the court and ritual functions. For example, both male and female patrons appeared in Xianbei-style attire during the 5th century AD, this can be seen particular at the Yungang caves temples near Datong and in the earliest carvings at Longmen , whereas in the first third of the 6th century, the patrons tend to appear in Chinese-style clothing in

11310-415: The cross-collars which closes on the left side instead of the right side. They were typically used by non-Han Chinese ethnicities in ancient China, but were also adopted by the Han Chinese in some circumstances, e.g. when they were ruled by non-Han Chinese rulers. Han Chinese women were also found sometimes found in the paintings of the Ming dynasty , which is an atypical feature. They were also used to dress

11455-571: The deceased of the Han Chinese. Collars which runs parallel and straight at the front are called duijin (对襟). Garments with duijin collars can either be closed at the centre front or be left opened in the front. They could be found with or without a high collar depending on the time period. Duijin could be used in garments and attire, such as beizi , banbi , and beixin . Round collars are called yuanling (圆领) or panling (盘领). In ancient China, clothing with round collars were typically introduced and/or influenced by foreign ethnicities, such as

11600-475: The development of the clothing. Moreover, due to the frequent wars occurring during the Warring States period, various etiquette were slowly revoked. Eastern Zhou dynasty dress code started to erode by the middle of Warring States period. Later, many regions decided not to follow the system of Zhou dynasty; the clothing during this period were differentiated among the seven major states (i.e. the states of Chu , Han , Qin , Wei , Yan , Qi and Zhao ). Moreover,

11745-516: The development of women's clothing, which became more elaborate. Typical women attire during this period is the guiyi , a wide-sleeved paofu adorned with xian (髾; long swirling silk ribbons) and shao (襳; a type of triangular pieces of decorative embroidered-cloth) on the lower hem of the robe that hanged like banners and formed a "layered effect". The robe continued to be worn in the Northern and Southern dynasties by both men and women, as seen in

11890-426: The early 20th century. In 1909, the educator and linguist Lufei Kui formally proposed the use of simplified characters in education for the first time. Over the following years—marked by the 1911 Xinhai Revolution that toppled the Qing dynasty , followed by growing social and political discontent that further erupted into the 1919 May Fourth Movement —many anti-imperialist intellectuals throughout China began to see

12035-426: The emperor were not at court, they wore the xuanduan . Xuanduan could also worn by princes during sacrificial occasions and by scholars who would go pay respect to their parents in the morning. The mianfu , bianfu , and xuanduan all consisted of four separate parts: a skirt underneath, a robe in the middle, a bixi on top, and a long cloth belt dadai ( Chinese : 大带 ). Similarly to

12180-616: The first official list of simplified forms was published, consisting of 324 characters collated by Peking University professor Qian Xuantong . However, fierce opposition within the KMT resulted in the list being rescinded in 1936. Work throughout the 1950s resulted in the 1956 promulgation of the Chinese Character Simplification Scheme , a draft of 515 simplified characters and 54 simplified components, whose simplifications would be present in most compound characters. Over

12325-463: The first round—but was massively unpopular and never saw consistent use. The second round of simplifications was ultimately retracted officially in 1986, well after they had largely ceased to be used due to their unpopularity and the confusion they caused. In August 2009, China began collecting public comments for a revised list of simplified characters; the resulting List of Commonly Used Standard Chinese Characters lists 8,105 characters, including

12470-465: The following decade, the Script Reform Committee deliberated on characters in the 1956 scheme, collecting public input regarding the recognizability of variants, and often approving forms in small batches. Parallel to simplification, there were also initiatives aimed at eliminating the use of characters entirely and replacing them with pinyin as an official Chinese alphabet, but this possibility

12615-455: The founding of the Qin. The Han dynasty (202 BC – 220 AD) that inherited the Qin administration coincided with the perfection of clerical script through the process of libian . Eastward spread of Western learning Though most closely associated with the People's Republic, the idea of a mass simplification of character forms first gained traction in China during

12760-436: The garments which had been originally introduced by the Xianbei and other Turkic people who had settled in northern China after the fall of the Han dynasty ; for example, in the arts and literature which dates from the 5th century, their male clothing appeared to represent the ethnicity of its wearer, but in the 6th century, the attire lost its ethnic significance and did not denote its wearer as Xianbei or non-Chinese. Instead,

12905-417: The golden parade belts with hanging metal straps of Goguryeo and Silla . Due to the frequent wars in this era, mass migration occurred and resulted in several ethnics living together with communication exchange; as such, this period marked an important time of cultural integration and cultural blending, including the cultural exchange of clothing. Han Chinese living in the south favoured the driving dress of

13050-441: The hanfu is gaining recognition as the traditional clothing of the Han ethnic group, and has experienced a growing fashion revival among young Han Chinese people in China and in the overseas Chinese diaspora. After the Han dynasty , hanfu developed into a variety of styles using fabrics that encompassed a number of complex textile production techniques, particularly with rapid advancements in sericulture . Hanfu has influenced

13195-466: The increased usage of 朙 was followed by proliferation of a third variant: 眀 , with 目 'eye' on the left—likely derived as a contraction of 朙 . Ultimately, 明 became the character's standard form. The Book of Han (111 AD) describes an earlier attempt made by King Xuan of Zhou ( d.  782 BC ) to unify character forms across the states of ancient China , with his chief chronicler having "[written] fifteen chapters describing" what

13340-474: The lapel opening was typically zuoren. Xianbei people also wore Xianbei-style cloaks and xianbei hat (鮮卑帽; xianbei mao). Despite the sinicization policies attempted by the Northern Wei court, the nomadic style clothing continued to exist in China until Tang dynasty . For example, narrow and tight sleeves, which was well adapted to nomadic life-style, started to be favoured and was adopted by Han Chinese. In

13485-491: The late Ming dynasty. There were two main forms of high standing collars garments based on their types of lapels and closure. Clothing with shuling dajin (竖领大襟), also called liling dajin or shuling xiejin or liling xiejin, has a standing collar and a large lapel which closes on the right. The dajin placket is also called xiejin ( Chinese : 斜襟 ; pinyin : xiéjīn ; lit. 'slanted placket'). Clothing with shuling duijin (or liling (or shuling) duijin) has

13630-467: The left side, was associated with the clothing customs of the northern nomadic ethnic groups who were considered as barbarians. From the standpoint of the Huaxia culture, pifa was a way to reject refined culture and being turned into a barbarian. By the Han dynasty , since Confucius himself was the first person to use the phrase pifa zuoren to refer to Non-Zhou dynasty people, this phrase became

13775-459: The left, with the 月 'Moon' component on the right. Li Si ( d.  208 BC ), the Chancellor of Qin, attempted to universalize the Qin small seal script across China following the wars that had politically unified the country for the first time. Li prescribed the 朙 form of the word for 'bright', but some scribes ignored this and continued to write the character as 明 . However,

13920-590: The majority of Northern Wei caves at Longmen; this change in clothing style has been suggested to be the result of sinicization policies regarding the adoption of Chinese-style clothing in the Northern Wei court. Earliest images of nomadic Xianbei-style dress in China tend to be depicted as a knee-length tunic with narrow sleeves, with a front opening, which can typically be collarless, round-collared, and sometimes be V-neck collared; men and women tend to wear that knee-length tunic over trousers for men and long, ground-length skirts for women. When their tunics had lapelled,

14065-429: The material used. During the Sui dynasty, an imperial decree which regulated clothing colour stated that lower class could only wear muted blue or black clothing; upper class on the other hand were allowed to wear brighter colours, such as red and blue. Women wore ruqun consisting of short jackets and long skirts. The women's skirts were characterized with high waistline which created a silhouette which looked similar to

14210-402: The most prominent Chinese authors of the 20th century, stated that "if Chinese characters are not destroyed, then China will die" ( 漢字不滅，中國必亡 ). During the 1930s and 1940s, discussions regarding simplification took place within the ruling Kuomintang (KMT) party. Many members of the Chinese intelligentsia maintained that simplification would increase literacy rates throughout the country. In 1935,

14355-420: The nomadic dress had turned into a type of male ordinary dress in the Sui and early Tang dynasties regardless of ethnicity. On the other hand, the Xianbei women gradually abandoned their ethnic Xianbei clothing and adopted Han Chinese-style and Central Asian-style clothing to the point that by the Sui dynasty, women in China were no longer wearing steppe clothing. The Sui and the Tang dynasties developed

14500-579: The northern minorities, trousers and xi (褶; a tight sleeved, close fitting long jacket, length reaching below crotch and above knees), while the rulers from northern minorities favoured the court dress of the Han Chinese. Near the areas of the Yellow River , the popularity of the ethnic minorities' hufu was high, almost equal to the Han Chinese clothing, in the Sixteen Kingdoms and the Northern and Southern dynasties period. Liangdang ( 两裆 ; 兩襠 )

14645-409: The officials. The official seal was then placed in a leather pouch, was put on its wearer's waist and the ribbon, which came in different colours, size, and texture to indicate ranking, would hang outside the pouch. Throughout the years, Han dynasty women commonly also wore ruqun of various colours. The combination of upper and lower garments in women's wardrobe eventually became the clothing model of

14790-506: The only moment the Han Chinese were supposed to use zuoren was when they dressed their deceased. This funeral practice was rooted in ancient Chinese beliefs; especially in the Yin and Yang theory, where it is believed that the left side is the Yang and stands for life whereas the right side is the Yin which stands for death. Therefore, according to the Yin and Yang theory, the left lapel of

14935-423: The people), and good order was secured all under heaven". Hanfu 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 simpler in cut than later examples. Later garments incorporate multiple pieces with men commonly wearing pants and women commonly wearing skirts. Clothing for women usually accentuates

15080-430: The public and quickly fell out of official use. It was ultimately formally rescinded in 1986. The second-round simplifications were unpopular in large part because most of the forms were completely new, in contrast to the familiar variants comprising the majority of the first round. With the rescission of the second round, work toward further character simplification largely came to an end. In 1986, authorities retracted

15225-465: The recently conquered parts of the empire is generally seen as being the first real attempt at script reform in Chinese history. Before the 20th century, variation in character shape on the part of scribes, which would continue with the later invention of woodblock printing , was ubiquitous. For example, prior to the Qin dynasty (221–206 BC) the character meaning 'bright' was written as either 明 or 朙 —with either 日 'Sun' or 囧 'window' on

15370-592: The right side are known as youren ( Chinese : 右衽 ; lit. 'right lapel'). The youren closure is a style which originated in China and can be traced back to the Shang dynasty . The youren is also an important symbol of the Han Chinese ethnicity. The youren closure was eventually adopted by other ethnic minorities and was also spread to neighbouring countries, such as Vietnam, Korea and Japan. Chinese people also wore another form of closure known as zuoren ( Chinese : 左衽 ; lit. 'left lapel'), which generally refers

15515-466: The right side first. Later, the people of the Central Chinese Plain discouraged left-handedness, considering it unnatural, barbarian, uncivilized, and unfortunate. The youren collar follows the yin and yang theory , wherein the left lapel represents the yang (which symbolizes life) suppresses the yin (which symbolizes death); therefore, youren is the clothing of the living while if it

15660-452: The right side with a big lapel. This form of collar was influenced by the Manchu clothing . The Manchu's front overlap opening was a Manchu innovation; their clothing was closed with buttons on the centre front of the neck, right clavicle, and under the right arm along the right seams. The Manchu overlap was more shaped like an S-curved overlap; it ran straight to the right of the centre-front of

15805-478: The right side, or y-shaped collar. The jiaoling youren started to be worn in the Shang dynasty in China. This form of collar eventually became one of the major symbols of the Sino Kingdoms and eventually spread throughout Asia. Garments and attire which used the jiaoling youren collar include: shenyi , jiaolingpao , mianfu , pienfu , diyi , dahu , and tieli . Jiaoling zouren refers to

15950-526: The rigid Confucian system; this showed up in how they would dress themselves. The style of men's paofu gradually changed into a more simple and casual style, while the style of women's paofu increased in complexity. During the Three Kingdoms and Jin period, especially during the Eastern Jin period (317 – 420 AD), aristocratic women sought for a carefree life style after the collapse of the Eastern Han dynasty's ethical code; this kind of lifestyle influenced

16095-490: The rites and culture of its people, which became the basis for the Li (禮) orthodoxy of Confucianism that dominated East Asian culture for 2000 years. In reference to this, Ruist writings such as Kong Yingda 's "True Meaning of Chunqiu - Zuo zhuan " suggest that the term huaxia (華夏) referred to both the ceremonial etiquettes of the central states and the clothing that those states' denizens wore. Principle of this practice

16240-413: The robe became loose on the wearer's body so a wide band functioned as belt was in use to organise the fitting, and the sleeves of the robe changed to "wide-open" instead of cinched at the wrist; this style is referred as bao yi bo dai , and usually worn with inner shirt and trousers. In some instances, the upper part of the robe was loose and open with no inner garment worn; men wearing this style of robe

16385-477: The sacrificial garments which were used to differentiate social ranks in the earlier times. In addition, regulations on the ornaments used by emperors, councillors, dukes, princes, ministers and officials were specified. There were distinct styles of clothing based on social ranks, these regulations were accompanied with Confucian rituals. Different kind of headgear, weaving and fabric material, as well as ribbons attached to officials seals, were also used to distinguish

16530-476: The same set of simplified characters as mainland China. The first round was promulgated by the Ministry of Education in 1969, consisting of 498 simplified characters derived from 502 traditional characters. A second round of 2287 simplified characters was promulgated in 1974. The second set contained 49 differences from the mainland China system; these were removed in the final round in 1976. In 1993, Singapore adopted

16675-461: The second round completely, though they had been largely fallen out of use within a year of their initial introduction. That year, the authorities also promulgated a final version of the General List of Simplified Chinese Characters . It was identical to the 1964 list save for 6 changes—including the restoration of 3 characters that had been simplified in the first round: 叠 , 覆 , 像 ; the form 疊

16820-450: The status of adulthood in men. One form of kerchief was ze (帻); it was a headband that keep the head warm during cold weather. Over time the ze was attached with a head covering scarf, or jin (巾), and developed into a full cap called jinze (巾帻). The jinze was adopted into widespread use and worn commonly by military personnel and commoners. Military jinze was red in color, also called chize (赤帻). Another variant with

16965-416: The time of Han dynasty , the shenyi remained popular and developed further into two types: qujupao and zhijupao . The robes appeared to be similar, regardless of gender, in cut and construction: a wrap closure, held by a belt or a sash, with large sleeves gathered in a narrower cuff; however, the fabric, colours and ornaments of the robes were different between gender. However, later during

17110-406: The time of Han dynasty. The original hair sticks ji evolved to zanzi with more decorations. And a new type of women hair ornament invented during Han dynasty was the buyao , which was zanzi added with dangling decorations that would sway when the wearer walk and was unique to the Han Chinese women. The paofu worn in the Han dynasty continued to evolve. During this period, 220–589 AD,

17255-488: The traditional and simplified Chinese orthographies. The Chinese government has never officially announced the completion of the simplification process after the bulk of characters were introduced by the 1960s. In the wake of the Cultural Revolution , a second round of simplified characters was promulgated in 1977—largely composed of entirely new variants intended to artificially lower the stroke count, in contrast to

17400-817: The traditional character 強 , with 11 strokes is standardised as 强 , with 12 strokes, which is a variant character. Such characters do not constitute simplified characters. The new standardized character forms shown in the Characters for Publishing and revised through the Common Modern Characters list tend to adopt vulgar variant character forms. Since the new forms take vulgar variants, many characters now appear slightly simpler compared to old forms, and as such are often mistaken as structurally simplified characters. Some examples follow: The traditional component 釆 becomes 米 : The traditional component 囚 becomes 日 : The traditional "Break" stroke becomes

17545-741: The traditional clothing of many neighbouring cultures , including the Korean Hanbok , the Japanese kimono ( wafuku ), the Ryukyuan ryusou , and the Vietnamese áo giao lĩnh ( Vietnamese clothing ). Elements of hanfu design have also influenced Western fashion , especially through Chinoiserie fashion , due to the popularity of Chinoiserie since the 17th century in Europe and in the United States . Hanfu comprises all traditional clothing classifications of

17690-516: The use of characters entirely. Instead, Chao proposed that the language be written with an alphabet, which he saw as more logical and efficient. The alphabetization and simplification campaigns would exist alongside one another among the Republican intelligentsia for the next several decades. Recent commentators have echoed some contemporary claims that Chinese characters were blamed for the economic problems in China during that time. Lu Xun , one of

17835-604: The waist, futou , and dark leather boots. The Tang dynasty inherited all the forms of belts which were worn in the Wei, Jin, Northern and Southern dynasties and adopted them in the official costumes of the military and civil officials. In some instances, however, Han Chinese-style robes continued to be depicted in art showing court officials. In the Tang dynasty, the yuanlingpao was worn by both men and women. Simplified Chinese characters Simplified Chinese characters are one of two standardized character sets widely used to write

17980-703: The waist, holding hu , and stuck ink brush between head and ears. There was an increase in the popularity of robes with large sleeves with cuff laces among men. In ordinary times, men wore ruku whereas the women wore ruqun . Merchants , regardless of their wealth, were never allowed to wear clothing made of silk . The commoners and labourers wore jiaolingpao with narrow sleeves, trousers , and skirts; they braided their hairs or simply wore skull caps and kerchiefs. The making of different kinds of qun ( 裙 ; 'skirt'; called xie ( 衺 ) in Qin dynasty), shangru ( 上襦 ; 'jacket'), daru ( 大襦 ; 'outwear') and ku -trousers

18125-453: The way garment overlaps on the front, like the youren closure, but instead closes on the left side. According to the Shuowen Jiezi 《 說文解字 》, a form of paofu , known as xi ( 襲 ), was a robe with a zuoren closure while the coat known as zhe ( 褶 ; sometimes also referred as xi ), typically used as part of the kuzhe , was also a xi ( 襲 ) according to

18270-444: The weakened Zhou dynasty from becoming barbarians: "But for Guan Zhong, we should now be wearing our hair unbound [pifa], and the lapels of our coats buttoning on the left side [zuoren]. [微管仲，吾其被髮左衽矣]." Based on Confucius' sayings, pifa zuoren ( simplified Chinese : 被发左衽 ; traditional Chinese : 被髮左衽 ; pinyin : bèifà zuǒrèn ; lit. 'unbound hair left lapel'), bound hair and coats which closed on

18415-476: The wrist. The court dress was still xuanyi (玄衣; dark cloth); however, there were regulations in terms of fabric materials used. In the Northern dynasties (386 - 581 AD), ordinary women always wore short jackets and coats. The ethnic Xianbei founded the Northern Wei dynasty in 398 A.D. and continued to wear their traditional, tribal nomadic clothing to denote themselves as members of the ruling elite until c. 494 A.D. when Emperor Xiaowen of Northern Wei decreed

18560-451: The year 307 B.C. also marked an important year with the first reform of the military uniform implemented by King Wuling of Zhao . This reform, commonly referred to as Hufuqishe , required all Zhao soldiers to wear the Hufu -style uniforms of the Donghu , Linhu and Loufan people in battle to facilitate fighting capability. The hedangku with a loose rise was then introduced. Based on

18705-692: Was a Hanfu created by assimilating non-Han Chinese cultures. New forms of belts with buckles, dubbed as "Jin style", were also designed during the Western Jin. The "Jin style" belts were later exported to several foreign ethnicities (including the Murong Xianbei , the Kingdom of Buyeo , the early Türks and the Eurasian Avars ); these belts was later imitated by the Murong Xianbei and Buyeo before evolving into

18850-461: Was abandoned, confirmed by a speech given by Zhou Enlai in 1958. In 1965, the PRC published the List of Commonly Used Characters for Printing  [ zh ] (hereafter Characters for Printing ), which included standard printed forms for 6196 characters, including all of the forms from the 1956 scheme. A second round of simplified characters was promulgated in 1977, but was poorly received by

18995-514: Was also the most striking feature in China in the sixth-century AD. From the mural paintings found in the Tomb of Xu Xianxiu of the Northern Qi , various types of attire are depicted which reflect the internationalism and multiculturalism of the Northern Qi; many of the attire styles are derived from Central Asia or nomadic designs. The wife of Xu Xianxiu is depicted with a flying-bird bun ; she

19140-486: Was closed with a sash which was tied around the waist; jade decorations were sometimes hung from the sash. The length of the skirts and ku could vary from knee-length to ground-length. Common people in the Zhou dynasty, including the minority groups in Southwest China, wore hemp -based clothing. The Zhou dynasty also formalized women's wearing of ji with a coming-of-age ceremony called Ji Li , which

19285-400: Was commonly worn on top of a plain top and was worn together with high-waisted, striped or one-colour A-line skirt in the seventh century. Red coloured skirts were very popular during the Tang dynasty. In the middle of the Tang dynasty, women who had a plump appearance were favoured; thus, the clothing became looser, the sleeves became longer and wider, the upper garment became strapless, and

19430-455: Was featured in the painting Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove . The bao yi bo dai style appears to have been a northern Han Chinese style, and the popularity of the robe was a result of the widespread Taoism . In the Jin dynasty , in particular, while many clothing of the Han dynasty were maintained, scholars and adherents of Neo-Taoism rejected the traditional court dress and retreated from

19575-487: Was less sinicized and resented the sinicized court of Northern Wei). Due to the shift in politics, Han and non-Han Chinese ethnic tensions arose between the successor states of Northern Wei; and Xianbei-style clothing reappeared; however, their clothing had minor changes. At the end of the Northern and Southern dynasties, foreign immigrants started to settle in China; most of those foreign immigrants were traders and buddhists missionaries from Central Asia . Cultural diversity

19720-561: Was made of plain cloth instead of silk cloth. The shanku of this period also influenced the Hufu . Aristocratic figures did not wear those kind of clothing however, they were wearing wider-sleeved long paofu which was belted at the waist; one example can be seen from the wooden figures from a Xingyang Warring States period tomb. The youren closures could be found in different shapes, such as jiaoling youren and quju youren . Skirts also appear to have been worn during

19865-657: Was not well-perceived for women to wear trousers; women wore skirts. Based on tomb figures dating from the Southern dynasties, it is known that the robes worn during those period continued the long, wide-sleeves, youren opening tradition. The robes continued to be fastened with a girdle and was worn over a straight-neck undergarment. Tomb figures depicted as servants in this period are also shown wearing skirts, aprons, trousers and upper garments with vertical opening or youren opening . Servants wore narrow-sleeved upper garment whereas attendants had wider sleeves which could be knotted above

20010-537: Was performed after a girl was engaged and the wearing of ji showed a girl was already promised to a marriage. Men could also wear ji alone, however more commonly men wore ji with the guan to fix the headwear. During the Spring and Autumn period and the Warring States period , numerous schools of thought emerged in China, including Confucianism ; those different schools of thoughts naturally influenced

20155-422: Was replaced by the rongyi (戎衣) attire. Emperor Yangdi also wore several kind of imperial headgears, such as wubian , baishamao (白紗帽; white gauze cap ), and the wushamao . Civil officials wore jinxianguan , and the wushamao was popular and was worn from court officials to commoners. The quefeiguan was also replaced by the xiezhiguan , which could also be used to denote the censor's rank based on

20300-460: Was sometimes depicted longer; they also wore long skirt or trousers. Attendants (not to be confused with servants) on the other hand are depicted wearing two layers of garment and wore a long skirt reaching the ground with long flowing sleeved jacket. The jacket is sometimes closed with a belt or a fastener. White colour was the colour worn by commoner people during the Three Kingdoms and Jin period. Commoner-style clothing from this period can be seen on

20445-518: Was the Emperor Ming of Han formalized the dress code of Han dynasty in 59 AD, during the Eastern Han, restoring the ceremonial use of mianfu system from the prior junxuan of the Qin dynasty. According to the new dress code, the emperor had to be dressed in a black-coloured upper garment and in an ocher yellow-coloured lower garment. The Shangshu – Yiji 《尚书益稷》records the 12 ornaments used on

20590-461: Was the standardization of a garment style called Shangyi Xiachang (上衣下裳, " upper top , and lower garnment ", meaning separating the upper and lower garments into two items). Though the fashion gradually evolved and was replaced by styles such as shenyi , the Shangyi Xiachang still maintained as the basis for formal and ceremonial wear such as the mianfu and chaofu . This created

20735-419: Was used as a symbol of higher status and could only be worn by people of distinguished background. The emperors wore tongtianguan (通天冠) when meeting with their imperial subjects, yuanyouguan (遠遊冠) were worn by dukes and princes; jinxianguan (進賢冠) was worn by civil officials while military officials wore wuguan (武冠). The kerchief was a piece of clothing that wrapped around the head, and it symbolized

20880-533: Was used to distinguish social ranks; the use of guan was one of the distinctive features of the Hanfu system, and men could only wear it after the Adulthood ceremony known as Guan Li . Other markers of status included the fabric materials, the shape, size, colour of the clothing, the decorative pattern, the length of a skirt, the wideness of a sleeve, and the degree of ornamentation. There were strict regulations on

21025-422: Was worn together with a guan and shoes. The Qin dynasty also abolished Zhou dynasty's mianfu ranking system, replaced with a uniform type of black shenyi called junxuan (袀玄) and tongtianguan instead of the mianguan for the emperor, with the officials following suit and wearing the same black robes. In court, the officials wore hats, loose robes with carving knives hanging from

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