The Opportunity of China Costume Revival in the Late Qing Dynasty and the Early Republic of China

Abstract: "Restoring Chinese clothes" includes restoring the dominant position of the Chinese nation politically and ideologically; It also refers to restoring the external image and appearance of China people. The political changes in the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China provided historical opportunities for the revival of Han traditional costumes. Due to historical and practical reasons such as the "Westernization" orientation of clothing modernization, the appearance of China's clothing as an individual's "retro" complex has been ignored, and its political and cultural significance needs to be explored. Today, the reappearance of China's traditional costumes in the streets is just a repetition and continuation of previous events.

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In the rapidly changing clothing reform in the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China, the traditional clothing of the Han nationality (taking deep clothes as an example) was also a flash in the pan, which attracted people's attention and was seen in newspapers. Regrettably, the revolutionaries who took it as their duty to restore Hanfu, except a few others, did not show their due enthusiasm for this social phenomenon after overthrowing the Manchu government. Due to the lack of public understanding and government support, Han Zhuang finally lost a chance to revive. Looking back at this period of history now, even though more than one hundred years have passed, its cultural implications are still impressive. Historically, the ancestors living in the Central Plains were known as "Huaxia" as their surnames, and "Ten Years of Justice in the Spring and Autumn Period" contained "China has a great gift, so it is called Xia; There is a beauty of service badge called "China". Its significance includes not only paying attention to appearance, but also a set of rules and regulations to distinguish between inferiority and superiority by clothing, which makes strict grade control go deep into dressing and wearing hats, forming the dressing tradition of Chinese civilization. The embodiment of this tradition in the ideological field has become an important content of "distinguishing between China and foreign countries" and "defending against foreign countries in summer", while "wearing hair and keeping clothes" is a derogatory term for "Yidi" clothing. It can almost be said that the costumes of the Chinese nation are accompanied by a strong sense of nationalism. Therefore, any foreign change to this tradition means subversion of Chinese civilization and humiliation of the Chinese nation, which will inevitably lead to the resistance of the whole nation; Although not all foreign invasions require people to change clothes, there have always been cases in which the Han people call for the restoration of Hanfu to resist foreign rule. Obviously, Hanfu is not only a symbol of Chinese civilization and etiquette, but also a symbol of China people's external image and appearance. Therefore, the restoration of Hanfu has two meanings: one is to restore the political and ideological dominance of the Chinese nation; Second, in the external image, restore the appearance of China people, that is, clothing. The reason is that the composition of national culture includes not only written language, but also costumes, hairstyles and customs. If language is the connotation of culture, then clothes and hairstyles are the appearance of culture, and in many cases appearance is more important than connotation. The appearance is easy to see at a glance, and the connotation must be entered. In the feudal era when productivity was low and illiteracy and semi-illiteracy flooded the society, ordinary people may not understand the profound meaning of national culture, but they can distinguish "native" from "foreign" according to their appearance, which is almost everything to them.

The representative point of view is: "In modern times, the characteristics of traditional costumes, such as the praise of clothes and the elegant dance steps of long skirts, have become drawbacks, which are very uncoordinated with the accelerating pace of life. This kind of loose clothes is harmful to work and has been improved and modified for a long time. The strict hierarchy of clothing does not conform to the modern concept of equality, which inhibits the pursuit of elegant clothing by ordinary people and is difficult to adapt because it is very bulky. " Therefore, the restoration of traditional costumes of the Han nationality lacks practical needs and social foundation. The reappearance of traditional costumes of the Han nationality in the streets is only a display of personal "retro" feelings, and it is "moving against the trend" and has no special social significance. The historical process of China's acceptance of western civilization also shows that there is no need to restore the traditional costumes of the Han nationality. The above understanding tries to explain the significance of costume changes from a practical point of view, but ignores the political and cultural implication and historical connection of costumes, especially the explanation of China costumes reappearing in the streets at that time is quite simple. In fact, the revival of Han Zhuang at that time not only had a certain social foundation, but also had profound historical and practical significance.

First, the revival of Hanfu has a certain social foundation. Shaving one's head and leaving a braid after the Ming Dynasty humiliated the pain of Han people's national subjugation, which escalated again in the ethnic contradictions in the late Qing Dynasty. The desire to "restore Chinese clothes" is clearly expressed in the bourgeois democratic revolutionary thought: "Being close to the country shames its teachers, slashes its princes and suppresses its borders, making China look down on its neighbors and appreciate cultural relics less than foreigners." "Revenge, drive away foreigners and restore my crown." "Tangzi demon god, not the teaching of suburban hills; Braided tassels, not crowns; The book of honest officials' words is not what it looks like. " On the other hand, the traditional costumes of the Han nationality have also influenced the revolutionaries. "For more than 33 years, ... for more than 33 years, it was still taken by Emperor Rong. If you don't violate it, you can cut it, and the rest of the crime is also. I will tie up the recommended gentlemen and restore the past, and I will not give them clothes in the future. " Lu Xun also mentioned the influence of clothing when talking about Nanshe's "longing for the restoration of old things": "For example, people in Nanshe were revolutionary at first, but they held an illusion that as long as the Manchu people were driven away, everything would be restored to the dignity of the Han Dynasty. People wore long-sleeved clothes and strode in the street." Although there are some similarities and differences in the specific manifestations of "regaining my crown" at this time, there is no difference between them in overthrowing the rule of the Manchu Dynasty and mobilizing the people to support the revolution. Echoing the above remarks, as early as before the Revolution of 1911, some people advocated restoring ancient costumes and imitating the martial arts costumes in Water Margin and Elvis Presley. "The top of the head is high, the inside is tight, and the round neck is double-knotted." I think this kind of clothing is "beautiful and flexible, without losing the spirit of martial arts."

Until after the Revolution of 1911, 19 12 on March 5th, the interim President Sun Yat-sen ordered the whole country to cut braids. He also stressed: "The Manchu people stole the country and forced it to be compiled, which is known to the fish customs. At the beginning, Gao Shi was unyielding and unyielding, and he died calmly; Or escape to the stream for the rest of the year. ..... Today, the Manchu court replied, and the Republic of China succeeded. All my compatriots are allowed to clean up the old pollution and become the people of the new country. " "It is spectacular to get rid of customs." During the recovery of Lishui, Zhejiang Province, two people "wore square kerchief, ancient costume of Ming Dynasty and Longquan sword at their waist, and stood in the street to welcome guests." "Qian, who first put forward the idea of overthrowing Tongcheng's fallacy in the New Culture Movement, said that" * * * and Confucian classics can never coexist ".When he became the director of education in Zhejiang in 19 13, he reported to the military government in the black clothes of the Confucius era and published" Examining Deep Clothes "to promote it to the whole society. "At that time, in order to restore the costumes of the Han nationality, many people wore strange clothes. Some wear robes, some wear locks, some have long hair, and some have short hair. " There is no doubt that the social foundation for the revival of China's traditional costumes is weak, but it is true. The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's practice of "saving clothes and changing clothes" and the people's concept of "southern society" are precisely the embodiment of this social foundation, so it is too vague to assert that "retro" lacks a social foundation. The restoration of Hanfu requires the promotion and support of the upper class and the government of the Republic of China, but neither of them showed corresponding enthusiasm and few people responded. The reason is related to the direction of customs reform that has already begun before. The start of clothing modernization began with clothing reform, a custom improvement activity, which was outstanding in the reform movement. "Reformists Kang Youwei, Song Shu and others attach great importance to clothing reform. When a king changes his system, he must be easily moved. It is not easy to change his clothes and people's hearts. It is customary for the New Deal not to work. To cover the military and civilian affairs of Manchu and Han, we must start with the comparison of official system; If you want to communicate with officials and people, you must build your own house; Want to raise soldiers, farmers, fire and water

Learning must begin with changing the trial order. Before the third beginning, there was another beginning. It is said that to change the official system, establish a government and change the trial order, we must start with changing clothes. However, their clothing reform disappeared with the failure of the 1898 reform movement. The reformists regard dressing change as an important part of learning western civilization and carrying out the New Deal, and the starting point is completely different from the political appeal of "restoring my crown". The revolutionaries' understanding of the disadvantages of traditional costumes is no different from that of the reformists. However, after the Revolution of 1911 ended China's feudal monarchy which lasted for more than two thousand years, the etiquette system as a feudal rule also collapsed. The Provisional Covenant Law clearly stipulates that everyone is equal regardless of race, class or religion. The dress code for maintaining the feudal hierarchy was banned because of its inequality. Soon, Sun Yat-sen's four principles of clothing production really put an end to the concept of politicization of clothing ethics. In his reply to China Domestic Products Maintenance Association, he asked for the formulation of clothing styles, pointing out: "The main points of this kind of clothing style are suitable for hygiene, easy to move, economical and strong appearance." In the main understanding of the government and society about the new costumes of the Republic of China, the tone of "learning from the west" was first determined. "First, the new clothes of the Republic of China should adopt the principle of great harmony and egalitarianism, and the simple way to learn from the West should be Western-style. As mentioned above, the bourgeois revolutionaries at home and abroad are the most advanced and determined representatives who wear suits. Because of the victory of the revolution, they became the most important force affecting the new clothes of the Republic of China. " Although Sun Yat-sen also thought that suits were "not perfect" for dresses of the Republic of China, he pointed out that "it is urgent to be easy to wear after knitting, and it is urgent to get suitable clothes to meet the needs, so he bought woolen cloth and competed with the West, but foreign goods sold well, and domestic products were blocked, which was extremely harmful." However, the trend of learning western clothing styles is, after all, what people want. Therefore, the government of the Republic of China carried out the idea of "great harmony" in the clothing system promulgated, and recognized the rationality and legitimacy of learning western clothing styles. Therefore, although revolutionaries have a nationalist appeal and insist on extending this appeal to the field of clothing, their understanding of clothing still stays on the basis of practicality and economy, and they forget the understanding of "crown dress" when calling for revolution.

"In the climate where traditional culture is severely impacted by western culture, it is obviously not easy without the support of government forces". Since clothing modernization was obsessed with Westernization from the very beginning, neither reformists nor revolutionaries intended to "revive" China's traditional clothing, so the reappearance of China's traditional clothing in the streets not only aroused people's curiosity, but also few people explored the social reasons behind it.

Second, in the early years of the Republic of China, the confusion in costumes provided space for the revival of traditional costumes in China. Does the end of Manchu rule and the disintegration of clothing ethics politicization mean that China's traditional clothing has become history together? The problem is not that simple. National costume is an external symbol that distinguishes one nation from another.

Therefore, most ethnic groups in the world have their own unique costumes. In the early years of the Republic of China, although there was a "dress craze" in its heyday, it turned out that "women's clothes are fashionable and always follow the Shanghai style, regardless of whether the styles are mostly new." Men's clothes, or Beijing bureaucrats who claim to be rich, or arrogant and fashionable people. "This chaotic situation is obviously unfavorable to the image of the new government and people, which leads to Sun Yat-sen's above-mentioned sigh and anxiety of" eager to be well dressed to meet the needs ". As far as the national revolution is concerned, the success of the Revolution of 1911 only restored the dominant position of the Chinese nation, but did not restore the external image and outlook of the people of China. Although the "Zhongshan suit" pioneered by Sun Yat-sen was popular for a period of time, it did not gain the status of traditional clothing, and its universality similar to military uniform also made it not become a symbol of the international image of the Chinese nation recognized by the world. On the contrary, many years after Sun Yat-sen's death, robes and mandarin jackets are still widely used by people from all walks of life in China, representing the image of China internationally. This can only prove one thing: in turbulent times and changing times, clothing has always been an important means of self-identification, self-regulation and self-integration of various political factions or forces, and the existence strength of specific groups is demonstrated through the unity of clothing. For example, the producers of * * * in China have always regarded red signs and decorations as symbols of justice, revolution and progress, so primary school students in China still regard wearing red scarves as the supreme honor. The Kuomintang also regards the Zhongshan suit as a symbol of promoting the national revolution and building the Three People's Principles. " It can be seen that clothes with strong political color cannot be accepted by people for a long time, let alone become traditional clothes, or even completely replace the original foreign clothes. Just as after more than 200 years of tyranny in the Qing Dynasty, there is still a huge call for "restoring Hanfu", so Manchu costumes with strong national insults can not completely replace the traditional costumes of the Han nationality. The appearance of "deep clothing" has got rid of the individual meaning of "retro" and has the social significance of national re-identification. On the other hand, is it the only reason for "do as the Romans do" that it is inconvenient to take off the rich belt and elegant dress of the coat, or is it the only answer for "do as the Romans do"? The answer is of course no, otherwise we can't explain why neighboring Japan, which is far more advanced than China in modernization, still maintains its own national costume-kimono. Although I lost my hair and changed my clothes in the workplace, the international image of wearing kimono as a Japanese has never been doubted. At the same time, it cannot explain the resurgence of robes and jackets. It is not difficult to see that "taking off the coat has a wide belt and the long skirt has elegant steps" can still find harmony with modern civilization, and "surviving like Europe and America" does not simply mean wearing European and American costumes. In fact, because of the similarities between the traditional costumes of the Han nationality and Japanese costumes, revolutionaries studying in Japan love to wear kimonos, not only because they do as the Romans do, but also because they hate Manchu costumes and are attached to the traditional costumes of the Han nationality. Even many people still wear kimonos after returning to China: "1906 (in the thirty-second year of Guangxu), Hu attended Shanghai Chinese Public School, which is more reflected in decoration. Some of the intern teachers are wearing suits, some are wearing Japanese kimonos, and some are wearing long shirts and jackets, and their hair hangs down. " No matter from the angle of maintaining domestic products or from the angle of national revolution, the social transformation and the confusion of costumes in the transitional period have provided a stage for the revival of traditional costumes in China. Among the robes and mandarin jackets characterized by Manchu costumes, suits, Chinese tunics and traditional Chinese clothes, who is farther away from the political turmoil and who is more detached? When the political dust finally settles, who is more likely to become people's choice? The answer is almost self-evident. It is conceivable that the revival of Han Zhuang was not impossible under the situation of high nationalist sentiment at that time and the promotion of the government. Today, when someone pretends in the street, can we understand it as: "In the era of change, clothing can not only be used as an expression of political beliefs, but also mark and symbolize the ideas and cultural concepts of specific groups, highlighting the rebellion against traditional culture with personalized clothing and becoming a moving landscape in this century." If understood correctly, to what extent can this "rebellion against traditional culture" be regarded as a return to the revival of China's clothing in the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China? There is no doubt that clothing has surpassed the functional needs of human survival and life here, and has become an expression material and means of a specific cultural language, even the cultural language itself. Of course, today, when knowledge and democracy are highly advocated and respected, the sub-dimensions of the first two beliefs are increasingly blurred, because modern people have clearly realized that clothing is simply not enough to represent and define certain political beliefs and ideological and cultural concepts, and Bourdieu's' field' of human existence has no permanent and inevitable causal relationship with people's own clothing choices. However, in past lives, where the market economy promotes nationalism, there is a causal relationship between the "field" of human existence and people's choice of their own clothes, which is not necessarily permanent and inevitable. This causal relationship is decisive and even fatal for people who can only live in a specific short historical stage, just like people's choice of their clothes in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties.

Thirdly, because the significance of clothing in national identity cannot be underestimated, the changes of clothing in history always have a profound social and political background, and the ruling class often pays full attention to the political significance of clothing. Because culture is closely related to national identity and national identity, and national identity is a cultural issue, involving thinking mode, ethics, values, philosophical thinking, customs and habits. A person's national characteristics are deeply rooted in the cultural structure. As an important part of culture, clothing's unique intuition, continuity and connotation ideology are self-evident for national identity. Historically, the phenomenon of national identity arising from or related to clothing has occurred more than once. "The costumes of the Tang Dynasty are different from Hanfu. Hufu was worn by the northern minorities, which influenced the people in the Tang Dynasty. Hanfu has existed in the Chinese nation since ancient times. The evolution of costumes in the Tang Dynasty can be roughly divided into two stages: from the early Tang Dynasty to Kaiyuan and Tianbao, Hu Fu was fashionable and Hu Feng was very prosperous; After Zhenyuan and Yuanhe in the middle Tang Dynasty, until the end of the Tang Dynasty, although Chinese clothes and Hu clothes coexisted, the old view before Han and Wei Dynasties gradually recovered, Chinese clothes gradually flourished, and Hu clothes were generally rejected by people. This change not only reflects the evolution of Tang people's aesthetic fashion, but also hides the change of Tang dynasty's view of Yi Xia, which has a great influence on later generations. " Therefore, "people who have always discussed the history of the development of ancient culture attach great importance to the Middle Tang Dynasty and regard it as a key to the change of ancient and modern times." In addition to Han Yu's rejection of Buddhism and revival of Confucianism, Tang Wenhua's changes in clothing and appearance also reflect the tendency to oppose foreign cultures and return to national cultural traditions. All these directly influenced the development of traditional culture after the Song Dynasty, and formed the transformation from "Tang culture" to "Song culture". "After Zhu Yuanzhang established the Ming regime with the call of' expelling and restoring China', it was certainly to consolidate the' selfishness' of the rule, but the other side of' guarding against foreigners' was to strengthen the national identity of the Han nationality. The order of shaving in the Qing Dynasty made it difficult for China people's hairstyles and clothing traditions for thousands of years. " The clothes made in the Tang Dynasty are gone, which not only makes the Han people lose their pride, self-esteem and self-confidence, but also causes problems in the national identity of the Han people, and its influence is immeasurable. Hu Yuan and Wu Han were less fortunate than a hundred years ago. In recent ancient times, Guan Yi's clothing system still followed the Han Dynasty. At that time, he was a gentleman, half a teacher, inherited the theories of Zhao Jianghan and Liu Yin, distinguished between China and foreign countries, and was versatile. Therefore, Li Siqi and others cannot leave Shaanxi. Liu Ji, Xu Da, Chang Yuchun and Shen Hu all came out of Mingzu and died in groups. This event is very simple. "However," Manchuria stole the country for more than 200 years, and the charm of the old people in the Ming Dynasty was exhausted. For a long time, under the oppression of foreigners, literati and officialdom have been forgotten and feel ashamed and sad. Although Luo, Zeng, Zuo and Guo were famous as scholars, they did not understand the meaning of the Spring and Autumn Period. The Japanese fell into the strategy of attacking Han with Han, and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom finally perished. "After the founding of the Republic of China, the measure of" breaking clothes "did achieve the goal of" getting rid of vulgarity and looking spectacular ",but its starting point was not to restore the traditional costumes of the Han nationality, but to try to replace them with new costumes. If this substitution is really successful, it will naturally help to strengthen national identity. Unfortunately, as mentioned above, this substitution is not successful, so its influence on the new national identity should be limited. If the limitations of the Revolution of 1911 are attributed to the weakness and compromise of the bourgeoisie, the incompleteness of the revolution and the blind worship of the West, then its performance in clothing reform will be more full. There is no doubt that revolutionaries in China are more democratic and face the world than emperors, but they may not be able to surpass their predecessors in national consciousness, especially in ruling consciousness. Just like their political failure, it can also be said that the revolution has not been successful in the sense of clothing reform. Of course, due to the particularity and complexity of China's history and the influence of modern western civilization, it is difficult to ask the government of the Republic of China to promote China's traditional costumes. However, a fact that can't be ignored is that China's traditional costumes were indeed facing an opportunity of revival, but this opportunity was as real as a flash in the pan. The result of this is not only to disappoint those who fantasize about restoring the "official prestige of the Han Dynasty" to the "Southern Society". " Who knows that after the Manchu emperor was expelled, the Republic of China was founded, but the situation was completely different, so they were disappointed, and some even became reactionaries of the new movement in the future. "The regression of revolutionary will is so closely related to clothing that Lu Xun's words are not a joke. Xu Xun pointed out that cultural identity contained in national identity is more important to the legitimacy of a country than political identity. National identity is not a surname, and it does not involve occupation, gender or race. What is more important is cultural significance. Cultural identity is often associated with religious beliefs or ideologies, such as Catholicism, Christianity, Buddhism and Islam, as well as political and ideological beliefs, such as the Three People's Principles, materialism and liberalism. If a nation's faith is challenged or questioned, the category of national identity will be in crisis. Losing identity due to confusion and depression caused by cultural crisis is not only a sign of national decline, but also a national crisis. When national identity is no longer the source of strength for a country to integrate society, new social forces may emerge, and new identity will be established in the form of a country through social movements, reforms or revolutions. " After the founding of the Republic of China, warlords scuffled and fell apart, which is the best annotation to the above theory. The role of clothing itself may be limited, but when it appears as a synonym for culture, its significance is not the same. "From the overall concept of clothing, in any particular cultural model, the metaphorical rules of clothing are essentially an extension of social and cultural rules. The promotion, inheritance and renewal of costumes are not only for the purpose of survival, but also for aesthetic needs, and it is also derived from the deep interactive cultural genes behind costumes. " Therefore, no matter in the past or now, the reappearance of China's clothing can not be regarded as an isolated social phenomenon or individual behavior. There will be no nostalgic interest in the investigation of China's costume revival in the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China, and history has finally come back alive in reality. This is not a metaphor for clothing, but a "repetition" or "continuation" of the events of 100 years ago.