Hanfu – The Traditional Costume of China
Each country’s traditional costumes are one of the symbols that reflect countries’ ancient cultures and how native citizens were influenced by the regional environment. China has a long history of more than 5,000 years. Undoubtedly, Hanfu as the most typical traditional costume of China, is a very important part of Chinese national culture. But compared with other traditional cultures, such as Chinese painting and calligraphy, Hanfu is not getting proper status and glory in Chinese Culture Circle.
Though with its disappearance in some ears, Hanfu still remains its typical features today due to its strong vitality. Clothing of Buddhism, Taoism and many minority nationalities in China still maintain the characteristics of Hanfu. In addition, Hanfu‘s elements can also be seen in some traditional important festivals, such as commemorative events, folk festivals, and Kung Fu TV programs.
1. 56 Ethnic Groups, 56 Traditional Costumes
Deriving from etiquette and culture of HuaXia period (5000 years ago), Hanfu is also called as “Hua Costume”. With the alternation of dynasties in China, Hanfu has been continuously absorbing peculiarities of different dynasty. By the time of Han Dynasty (2000 years ago), it finally formed a complete costume system, and was popularized nationwide. Hanfu also influenced the history of ancient Asia clothing through Confucianism which makes Hanfu one of the oldest costumes in the world.
Unity between Human and Natureis the core of ancient Chinese traditional philosophy. Its concept and life pursuits are embodied in the design of Hanfu, which symbolizes the deep meaning of Hanfu and the aesthetic feeling of external forms. Many details in Hanfu, for example, “the long-wide sleeve” and “crossed-collar with Right Pattern”, reflect the modesty and inclusiveness of the eastern civilization.
2. The History of Hanfu
Shang Dynasty about 1600 B.C. – The Prototype of Hanfu
Han Dynasty 202 B.C. – Hanfu Established a System
Tang Dynasty A.D. 618 – The Peak of Hanfu
The Tang Dynasty was the most open dynasty in ancient China, when Silk Road brought the collision of thoughts between Eastern and Western civilizations. The frequency of trade and cultural exchanges between China and other countries reached an unprecedented height.
Poetry and painting were especially popular in this era. Based on that, Hanfu applied various embroidery and color-matching methods of that time into its designs. Through the Silk Road, Hanfu came to other countries and was deeply loved and spread in oversea regions.
Qing Dynasty A.D. 1616 – Sudden Disappearance of Hanfu
3. The Characteristics and Style of Hanfu
Hanfu is very easy to distinguish, it has very obvious characteristics.
The 3 basic features of Hanfu
- Crossed-collar with Right Pattern
- Restrain the waist by ropes
- Loose clothes with long-wide sleeves
Crossed-collar means the left and the right lapels of Hanfu crossed together. With the tie strings at left and right garment fronts, people could easily tie the clothes. And the Right Pattern stands for the certain pattern with the left lapel covering in front of the right one.
The 3 basic styles of Hanfu
- Two-piece shirt and dress
- One-piece dress
- Two-piece shirt and pants
Two-piece shirt and dress Hanfu has a very famous style which is called “Ruqun”, the top shirt is called “Ru”, and the bottom dress is called “Qun”. Generally, the shirt is short to the waist, and the dress is very long which dragged to the ground. As the basic style of women’s clothes, Ruqun was always the most popular style in different periods.
The representative of the one-piece dress Hanfu is the “Shenyi” style, whose feature is covering the entire body of human, which makes people look elegant. Many modern humanist scholars suggest to promote Shenyi, as the typical Hanfu in Chinese regions, to be the representative of Han culture.
Two-piece shirt and pants Hanfu means that the top shirt and bottom pants are made and worn separately. This type of Hanfu is very similar to the current modern clothing. Even nowadays, in the remote rural areas of China, there are still a large number of farmers wearing such clothes.
In addition to the pattern of clothes, Hanfu also differs in hairstyle, dressing method and jewelry accessories. the diversity of woman’s Hanfu dressing style attributes to a variety of their hairstyles and hair accessories; while man’s could attributes to the swords and folding fans they bring with them that makes them arty.
4. Hanfu vs Cheongsam vs Kimono
Cheongsam is the formal dress of modern China.
Cheongsam is also called as “Qipao” in mandarin, was formed in the 1920s. It was decided by the government to be one of the national dresses and became the most popular women’s clothing at that time.
Cheongsam is a one-piece dress, it must have the following typical appearance: made of a single piece of clothing, tight-fitting, stand-up collar with Right Pattern, split on both bottom side.
We can see that the Cheongsam retains some elements of Hanfu, but it is quite different from Hanfu. Cheongsam is a kind of costume that belongs to the transition period in Chinese history, so in a strict sense, Cheongsam is not Hanfu.
Kimono is a Japanese traditional costume.
5. Hanfu Movement
The Hanfu Movement is the abbreviation of Chinese Hanfu Culture Renaissance Movement.
Hanfu had disappeared for more than 300 years and is still in a tough time of resurgence, far from being widely known. Even with the respect for objective history and the purpose to present Hanfu’s status, it’s inappropriate for us to deliberately ignore the fact that Hanfu is being forgotten by the majority.
The Hanfu Movement has been more than 10 years. Today, there are more than 1 million Hanfu fans in China. Compared with the population of 1.4 billion, the number is negligible. However, people’s growing attention and like for Chinese traditional costumes will have a profound impact on modern clothes fashion.
There are 2 main reasons why Hanfu is difficult to promote on a large scale.
First, the cost is too expensive. Hanfu stands for an overall garment system, including clothes, hair style, face decoration, shoes, and accessories. Compared with modern clothes, Hanfu is more like a luxury.
Second, Hanfu is not practical. How to wear Hanfu is a problem for many people. Its long-wide sleeve clothing style also brings many inconveniences to people’s life, which is not compatible with fast-paced modern life.
Finally, we also found a very shocking fact. For most young Hanfu costume advocates, they feel that there is no relationship between Hanfu and nationalism.In a sense, the love of Hanfu is a kind of pure love, a fantasy and nihilism, just like many people like Cosplay or role-playing video games.
Since the 21st century, Hanfu has been continually drawing on modern fashion clothing design. On the basis of traditional Hanfu clothes, it retains the advantages without suffering the disadvantages of Hanfu and designs more fashionable new Modern Hanfu. As worldwide Hanfu enthusiasts are constantly appearing, such traditional clothing is becoming more and more popular around the world. In particular, when you walk in the streets of Chinese cities, like Shanghai, Guangzhou, Chengdu, or Shenzhen, you will often see a lot of girls wearing Hanfu.
Among the Hanfu fans interviewed, the idea ofwearing Hanfu clothes generally began with the fascination with the martial arts and the pop costume drama TV show. Hanfu Fever does have a patriotic background, but most Hanfu fans are pursuing the beauty of costume and vintage elements. In fact, young people are under pressure from life and work, so a subculture that is simple and romantic, like Hanfu, is very attractive.
Hanfu is a Chinese traditional costume and a symbol of Chinese traditional culture. Although it was once lost, it’s just like the splendid long history of China, it continues to shine today and show its charm.
It is delightful to have friends coming from afar.Today’s China, open and inclusive, welcomes everyone who travels to China. And hopes that Chinese traditional Hanfu costumes can bring you a new experience with Chinese characteristics.
Have a nice trip!