TRADITIONAL COSTUMES
female traditional costumes
male traditional costumes
wedding costumes
Before the Western wedding gown, Chinese brides got married in a traditional wedding dress called the Qun Kwa (群褂). It is a two-piece loose jacket and skirt in striking red to symbolize luck and happiness for the auspicious occasion and is usually heavily embroidered or embellished with colourful threads, pearls, coloured sequins. The Qun Kwa is always embroidered with a dragon and phoenix down the front. The dragon in the Chinese culture represents the male while the phoenix represents the female, symbolizing the perfect balance of yin and yang of the bride and the groom. Traditionally, the qun kwa was worn with a red head cloth covering the bride’s face as the groom was not allowed to view his bride until after the marriage.
history of cheongsam
The CHEONGSAM is a body-hugging one-piece Chinese dress for women. It is known in Mandarin Chinese as the QiPao (旗袍), and is also known in English as a mandarin gown. The stylish and often tight-fitting cheongsam or qipao (chipao) that is best known today was created in the 1920's in Shanghai and made fashionable by socialites and upper class women.
Originated from the Manchu female clothes, it evolved by merging with western patterns that show off the beauty of a female body. Its features are straight collar, strain on the waist, coiled buttons and slits on both sides of the dress. Materials used are usually silk, cotton and linen. Cheongsam is the most popular Chinese attire in the world today.
history of changshan
CHANGSHAN, along with qipao, were introduced to China during the Qing Dynasty (17th–20th centuries). The Manchus in 1636 ordered that all Han Chineseshould adopt the changshan style of dress or face harsh punishment. However, after the 1644 fall of the Ming Dynasty, the Manchu stopped this order, and only required the court and government officials to wear Manchu clothes. Commoners were actually still allowed to wear the hanfu. However, over time, the commoners adopted the changshan and qipao as their own dress. Thus, the traditional Chinese Hanfu style of clothing was gradually replaced. Over time, the Manchu style gained popularity.
Changshan was formal dress for Chinese men before Western-style suits became common in China.
Changshan are traditionally worn in pictures, weddings, and other more formal historically Chinese events. A black changshan, along with a rounded black hat, was, and sometimes still is, the burial attire for Chinese men. Changshan are not often worn today in mainland China, except during traditional Chinese celebrations but, with the revival of some traditional clothing in urban mainland China, the Shanghainese style functions as a stylish party dress.
BY JIALEONG
