Women in the late Qing Dynasty dressed conservatively, but why are women in the Republic of China open?

Chinese history developed to the end of the Qing Dynasty to the Republic of China period, has been from the West significantly introduced photographic, color painting and cinematography technology, which also left a large number of photographs taken during this period of time, short films, and a variety of characters, advertising paintings, etc., a vivid display of the social life of the historical period.

/8ad4b31c8701a18b75a63087952f07082938fead?x-bce-process=image/resize,m_lfit,w_450,h_600,limit_1/quality,q_85

When we look at the images of the society and people in the late Qing period This and China's long history of feudal women's conservative concepts in line with most of the time in history, women's clothing is very conservative, such as the Tang Dynasty period of women wearing low-cut dresses in the era of the rare after all.

/95eef01f3a292df5952b8eddb7315c6035a87309?x-bce-process=image/resize,m_lfit,w_450,h_600,limit_1/quality,q_85

But then look at some of the images of people from the Republican period. The cheongsam with exposed arms and legs has been commonly popular in big cities such as Shanghai and Beijing, and has become a calling card of the Republic of China culture. There are also a lot of advertisements pictorials, celebrity pictorials, and images of people showing that there are a lot of people who are more exposed than the exposed arms and legs in their dressing, and they are directly wearing shorts, short skirts, and swimsuits! A lot of dress, even in 30 years ago 20 years ago in China, can not imagine, today look back at the past, but also will be surprised why the Republican women can suddenly be so open?

/5d6034a85edf8db1b7c65eac0223dd54574e7409?x-bce-process=image/resize,m_lfit,w_450,h_600,limit_1/quality,q_85

Of course, the change of social atmosphere is not a day on the can be formed, there is a process, in fact, in the early Republic of China, although people in the western winds of the general trend, gradually abandoned the Qing Dynasty inherent conservative service, began to wear a large number of suits, dresses, but the overall is still relatively conservative, see the wind of clothing exposure is gradually rising, in 1920 the Shanghai government also issued a bulletin prohibiting clothing exposed, "waving through the city is not strange, fashionable and boastful, what is decent. What a scandal." If a woman is wearing a bare, low-cut legs, it is likely to be arrested into the prison "closed door thinking".

/10dfa9ec8a1363276ba1e0fb9a8fa0ec09fac7ad?x-bce-process=image/resize,m_lfit,w_450,h_600,limit_1/quality,q_85

But the government's ban can't stop the concept of clothing from being updated.

But the government's ban couldn't stop the concept of dress from being renewed, especially when some feminist activists linked the liberation of women's dress to the revolution, arguing that a woman's corset is a yoke and that the revolution should start with liberating oneself, and that more and more women responded positively to the idea by abandoning the use of the traditional corset and switching to a more open and revealing Western dress from the inside out, and that it was in this context that the cheongsam of the Republic of China, which exposed the arms and legs of the woman, was born.

Just seven years later, in 1927, the Republican government also began to change its mind, advocating "heavenly breasts" and opposing the binding of breasts, and fining those who did not implement the policy of releasing breasts. In response to the government's call, celebrities and movie stars took the lead in the fight to wear "breasts", bras also entered China at this time, many people are bold to wear swimsuits. This is to promote the Republic of China women's concept of clothing and dress to open up the "sky milk movement", since then, the Republic of China women's concept is more and more open.