History Of Chinese Clothing
Teacher: 趙琪芬 (Laura Chao, Grade 11 English)
Students: 廖元秀
蔡伯榮
劉懿庭
許婷姿
Da Zhi Senior High School
Foreword
Chinese clothing has a long-term
history. For the ancient Chinese, the
purpose of clothes was not just for
protecting and covering the body, but for
showing profound meanings which
prevailed in society. Thus, observing the
development of clothes gives us a chance
to understand their society, economy,
culture, and even their mentality.
先秦Pre-Qin
During the Shang and
Zhou Dynasties, people
wore a suit of clothes,
which consisted of a long
top part with a belt around
the waist and a lower part.
The top part came in five
primary colors: blue, red,
yellow, white and black. It
had short sleeves with a
hem that dangled to the
knees. Also, the hems of
the neck and sleeves would
be beautifully embroidered.
During war time,
more convenient clothes
were needed, so a new
type of clothing came into
being. The long top part
was replaced with a short
form. The people began
to wear trousers and
boots, which made it
easier to move in combat.
This new type of clothing
was popular at that time.
漢朝Han Dynasty
People in the
Western Han Dynasty
used four seasons and
solar terms to determine
the colors of their
clothing. For instance,
when spring came, they
dressed in blue. Women
in the Han Dynasty
dressed themselves in an
outfit that consisted of a
blouse and a skirt.
The Han Dynasty
was powerful and its
economy was steady, so
its people had higher
demands in make-up and
clothing. Meanwhile, the
famous Silk Road started
and promoted the
interchange between
Chinese and Western
cultures. Therefore, silk
spread around the world
through the Silk Road, and
the western style in
clothing also began to
affect the Chinese.
Through this assimilation,
new trends emerged.
魏晉南北朝
Wei, Jin, Northern and Southern
dynasties
The Wei, Jin, Northern
and Southern Dynasties
were not stable. In fact,
the society was in great
turmoil. Therefore, the
intellectuals avoided
politics but resorted to
the philosophies of
Taoism and Buddhism,
which affected their
clothing. They preferred
to wear loose clothes,
mainly in white.
During this period,
men liked to wear
head decorations in
light color. As for the
intellectuals, they
would use squareshaped cloth to fix
and cover their
hairstyle at the same
time.
Women’s clothing
followed a similar
trend. They especially
liked to wear dresses
with loose belts
around the waist and
pieces of triangleshaped cloth on the
back of the skirt.
They wanted to
create the image of a
bird flying when they
walked.
It was until the Northern and
Southern dynasties that women’s
clothes, which were influenced by the
Northern Chinese, became more light
and convenient than the clothing of Han
dynasty.
隋唐Tang Dynasty
The Tang
Dynasty was a great
era where the frequent
interchange of cultures
between the East and
the West happened,
which transformed the
traditional clothes into a
brand-new trend.
With the development of
textile, more slight and soft
cloth had been invented and
thus gave more change in
clothes. The characteristic of
this era is low-cup, narrow
sleeve, cape, clothes of women
disguise as men, high-waist,
tight-clothes, Ming-Yi(明衣),
the clothes of other nationality
(胡服).
Women usually
wore dresses with a belt
fastened above the
breast. The colors of
dresses mostly came in
red, purple, yellow and
green. The dress would
contain a low-cut bodice
with a cape behind.
Besides, women would
put on an additional dress
made of transparent silk.
The kind of dress used to
be underwear before the
Tang dynasty.
宋朝Song Dynasty
This was the time for
the emergence of li xue,
a school of Confucianism
in idealistic philosophy.
Affected by the thoughts,
the clothes of Song
dynasty were usually
plain.
Most of vestments
were big sleeve. They
used different colors of
clothes to tell their
status.
Women’s clothes of
Song dynasty were very
similar to those of Han
dynasty. They were long
dresses with narrow sleeves.
Additionally, women would
put on a long-sleeved.
Apart from dresses,
women in Song dynasty
wore pants as well.
There was a special
custom of foot-binding
at that time. The Song
people considered footbinding a symbol of
beauty and elegance.
Therefore, women
would wear pants
shorter than their legs
to expose their bound
feet to catch people’s
eyes.
元朝Yuan Dynasty
The Yuan Dynasty was
influenced by the Han
nationality. Clothing had
become more and more
gorgeous and featured on
robe. Because of Mongol
nationality’s custom, men in
that time liked to grow
plaited hair and wear earring.
They wore a wide-brimmed
rain hat in summer, while
wore fur coat, leather boot
and leather hat in winter.
Many of mandarin’s clothes
were robe had narrow
sleeves.
Women of Mongol clothes
were similar to men’s, but their
colors were different. Plenty of
women’s clothes were 左衽 and
had tight and narrow sleeves.
When women wore a robe, they
also wore pants, and used a
band to tie on waist. Instead,
women of Han nationality
featured on 襦裙. Their clothes
were 右衽 and loose or narrow
sleeves. They wore long pants in
the pleated skirt and wore
shallow-bottom shoes. The rich
women of Mongol nationality
had a special-shaped hat which
was tall and long.
明朝Ming Dynasty
Men in Min Dynasty
wore long robes.
Women in Min Dynasty
wore shirt(衫) , coat, 霞披 (a
kind of plaid) and skirt. Their
clothes were feat body. They
just could wear light color but
couldn’t wear deep red and
yellow. However, clothes of
ladies were fit and slemder,
such as long coat and long
skirt. They would wear
pleated skirt, long vest and
shawl.
清朝Qing Dynasty
The trait of clothing of
Qing Dynasty were retaining
and absorbing Han
nationality and Manchu’s
custom. Men of Qing
Dynasty’s mainly clothes
were robe, jacket(馬褂) and
vest(馬甲) . Because Manchu
liked riding-shoot, their
sleeves of robe were looked
like a horse’s hoof. 褂 had
been wore out of the robe,
whether men or women
could wear it. On the vest(馬
甲) were much adornment of
colorful embroider.
Women of Qing
Dynasty liked the slender
figure. They often wore a
cheongsam, combed the
chignon on hair flat,
fashioned put an upright
board which artificial
flowers were sewed on
and wore tall-bottomed
shoes. The rich women of
Qing Dynasty would inlay
jadeite coral, pearls or
white jade on the
adornment which was
inserted on the chignon
and wore nail coats made
of jewel to protect their
fingernail.
Nowadays近代
When the Xin-Hai(辛亥)
revolution happened in 1911,
three demands came from
the people: abolishing the
monarchy, cutting off the
braid, changing the
traditional clothes into the
new ones. During that time,
men began to wear unlined
upper garments and jackets.
The young people usually
wore western-style clothes.
Zhong-Shan(中山) style
clothes also became a trend
for the Chinese during the
reformation.

Zhong-Shan(中山) style
clothes appeared after the XinHai revolution. This new style
combines the traditional
characteristics with the
western clothes. It features a
chink and a waistband on the
backside. Besides, there are
always nine buttons on the
front part of the garment, and
folds on the pockets. The
Zhong-Shan(中山) style has its
special politically symbolic
meaning. The five pockets,
one of which is inside the
garment, represent the five
constitutional principles by Dr.
Sun Ye-Shan (孫逸仙)。
Other Decorations
1. Foot-binding
2. 花鈿 Dang
Foot-binding纏足
Foot-binding was a special kind of Chinese
custom prevailing in the early 20th century. At
that time, women had to use a long piece of
cloth to tie their feet since childhood. They
wanted to stop the growing of the feet, for
smaller feet were thought more attractive to men.
Women with bound-feet could not walk properly,
but had to walk on their heels. After the end of
the Chin Dynasty, more and more people started
to consider the food-binding a kind of repression
for women, and then the old custom has been
banned legally now.
花鈿Dang
Dang (鈿) is also a kind of ornament worn on the forehead
by women as a decoration. Due to its various components,
Dang is colorful. For example, a golden one is usually made of
foil. Besides, the pictures on Dang may determine its color as
well. There is a popular one, named Zui Dang (翠鈿). It got its
name from the picture with bird’s feather made of green
emerald.
The special glue used to paste the Dang
was called Ho-Chiao(呵膠). Legend has it
that the special glue is made of fish
pneumatocysts. When women wanted to
peel the Dang off, first, they should blow
it on, and apply a little saliva on it, and
then the glue may dissolve. Otherwise,
they could use hot water to pat on their
forehead, and then the glue could come
off.
References
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http://hk.cl2000.com/?/fashion/culture/we
n1.shtml
http://hk.cl2000.com/?/fashion/culture/we
n1_9.shtml
http://edu.ocac.gov.tw/culture/chinese/cul
_chculture/vod29html/vod29_09.htm
http://hk.geocities.com/vinnelung/