How to view the three major historical periods of China's clothing development?

A, China's clothing development of the three major historical periods of division Throughout the history of China's clothing development, can be summarized in the classical period, the breakthrough period and the modern period of the three major historical periods. The classical period includes the Xia, Shang and Zhou, Qin and Han, Wei, Jin, North and South Dynasties, Sui, Tang, Song and Ming Dynasties; the breakthrough period mainly refers to the Qing Dynasty; the modern period refers to the Xinhai Revolution to the end of the 20th century.

By the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, the crown and dress hierarchy, which distinguishes between noble and lowly status by dress, had been completed. The clothing style of the pre-Qin period was generally simple and dignified. Qin and Han period, especially the two Han, the country strong, increasingly active internal and external exchanges, clothing and costumes are becoming more and more gorgeous, men to robes for the noble, women to the deep clothes for the Shang, clothing style on the majestic and solemn.

Wei-Jin, Sui and Tang dynasties, especially the Tang Dynasty is an open society, is a peak in the development of classical dress, characterized by bare chest, long skirts, tight, short-sleeved, by the influence of foreign dress is obvious, the style of plump, gorgeous, broad, fresh. In the Song Dynasty, under the influence of the Cheng-Zhu theory, the dress tended to be formal, simple, clean and elegant. Women's clothing in the pasties more free and open, has a high artistic aesthetic value, elegant and handsome style. Yuan Dynasty period, the Mongolian people wear robes, tight sleeves, waist, boots, national costume, Han people are still following the Song style, the late emergence of different national costumes have convergent characteristics, the overall style of rugged and diverse. Ming Dynasty clothing on the Zhou Han, the next take the Tang and Song, restored the Han clothing tradition, developed a new set of clothing system, the overall revered luxuriant and gorgeous, fresh and delicate style, is the classical period of the great success and the end of the period.

The development of clothing in China's classical period is characterized by two notable features: one is the ethnicity inherited from generation to generation, and presents a relatively independent and slow development pattern, i.e., the inheritance and development of the traditional Han Chinese dress. The style of Hanfu mainly refers to the characteristics of Han clothing formed in the process of natural cultural development and ethnic mingling before the end of the Ming Dynasty. The origin of Hanfu can be traced back to the period of the Yellow Emperor in ancient China, and it has maintained the inheritance and slow evolution of the style. From the period of the Yellow Emperor to the era of Tang, Song and Ming, the Han Chinese dress form has been in the mainstream form in the vast land of China, in the time span of nearly 5,000 years and the spatial breadth of millions of square kilometers, with right overlapping, big sleeves and deep clothes as the typical representatives. The change of dynasties did not reject the original dress culture but through the inheritance of tradition so that the structure of the clothing has long maintained the same pattern, until the Qing Dynasty to change the crown to change clothes, the Han form of the coronation of the clothes only announced the termination.

The second is to draw on the law of development, even if the clothing will be different from time to time and show corresponding changes, but due to the long-term similar ethnic cultures of each other and the fusion of different ethnic groups, the Han-style clothing has been to maintain the basic state and characteristics. For a national costume, the development mode of borrowing is constantly evolving with the continuation of national culture. Historically, inheritance and development used to be the main path for the development of clothing of all peoples and countries in the East and West. Due to the backwardness of productivity in ancient times, the ability of human beings to cross a larger geographical range was limited, so the borrowing of clothing between peoples and countries was confined to be carried out between the more neighboring peoples and countries. Inheritance and development is the main road of the development of Chinese clothing, borrowing development is always throughout.

The Qing Dynasty was an era of the greatest change in the history of China's clothing, but also a non-Han dynasty that retained the most of its own clothing traditions, known as the breakthrough period. After the establishment of the Qing Dynasty rulers forced the Han people to shave their hair and change their clothes, forcing the Manchu clothing styles to replace the traditional Han styles, resulting in men and women's clothing in the last feudal dynasty has undergone a major change. Men's clothing is mainly Manchu attire, thousands of years of traditional clothing system passed down from generation to generation due to the Qing soldiers into the country and was destroyed, replaced by unfamiliar foreign clothing, the customs of the flag people affect a large area of China. Men wore robes and coats, women wore cheongsams and dresses, except for the royalty, the clothing of the people outside the folk are becoming more and more simple and practical, a change in the past of the tedious clothing, clothing patterns are delicate and fine. This period of clothing fabrics, such as satin, satin fabrics, glossy, smooth, noble characteristics to the extreme, is the highest level of development of ancient Chinese embroidery.

China's clothing development of the modern period of the division of ideas and historiography of modern history is slightly different from the division of the modern history of historiography is from 1840, while the modern history of clothing development is divided from the end of the Qing Dynasty, which also reflects the particularity of clothing development. The modern period can be divided into two stages, namely, the Xinhai Revolution in 1912 to 1949 before and after the founding of new China to the end of the 20th century. The first stage is the period of modern clothing absorption, borrowing from Western clothing, such as cutting off hair braids, wearing Zhongshan and Western-style clothing and improved cheongsam, etc.; the second stage for the establishment of new China, the new system, new ideas, new fashions brought about by the new changes in clothing.