Introduction to the Horse Coat

The horse coat was originally a Manchu riding costume, in the robe outside the set of horse coat, "long robe and horse coat" is known as. Horse coat is divided into large lapel, lapel, pipa lapel and other forms, the Manchu riding wear a coat, after becoming a daily cover on the outside of the robe clothing. Lapel, four-sided open purification, long and waist, sleeves slightly shorter, robe sleeves can be exposed three or four inches, the robe sleeve rolled in the coat sleeve above, the so-called big and small sleeves. The Qing dynasty Shenyang Manchu poet Miao Runshi described: "long shirt with rolled up sleeves, cleverly will be the kind of fight dressing table, who knows the low protection of the lotus boat, and the skirt a hit." It can be seen at that time the Manchu rolled-sleeve dress was extremely fashionable. At the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, wearing a waistcoat is limited to the eight banners soldiers, to Kang Yong years Manchu men wearing a waistcoat custom has prevailed, young people like to wear a waistcoat in order to show martial arts. Later, as the Qing Emperor advocated riding and shooting, often rewarded with a lab coat, even become a "dress". The emperor rewarded the "yellow coat" also became a very high honor.

Horse coat, Manchu men often wear a coat when riding a horse. In order to ride a horse for convenience, in the robe outside the set of a body length to the umbilicus, all sides of the open purification of the short coat, lab coat to protect against the wind and cold. Now many Manchu people wear the lapel jacket, is evolved from the coat. Hakka also called the lapel shirt, lab coat set in the flag dress or said the outside of the Manchu tunic to wear, some similar to the undershirt or jacket, so wear neatly and called "long shirt and lab coat".

The waistcoat is a sleeved top, unlike the sleeveless vest. Divided into three kinds of lapel, lapel, pipa lapel. General length to the navel, sleeve to the elbow. Early in the Qing Dynasty, only Manchu people wear, due to the Manchu Qing dynasty forced Han people to shave their hair and easy to serve, Kangxi Yongzheng years began to be widely popular, divided into single, clip, yarn, leather, cotton and other types. In the Qing dynasty, the yellow waistcoat is the emperor's special gift guards warriors, military merit and line fence hunting outstanding achievements, on behalf of the royal grace. Therefore, no one else was allowed to wear the yellow lab coat.

Republic of China in the first year (1911), the Beiyang government promulgated the "service system case" will be listed as one of the men's robes and coats. In the 18th year of the Republic of China (1929), the Nationalist Government published the Regulations on the Clothing System, which officially listed the blue robe and the black waistcoat as the "national dress".

Most Chinese comedians and other opera singers still wear long robes when they perform, but after the founding of the Republic of China, they changed to Zhongshan suits, and nowadays they mostly wear shirts or suits. In Taiwan, when attending formal traditional religious ceremonies, the officiating and accompanying priests tend to wear waistcoats. In recent years, family members attending Buddhist-style funeral ceremonies have changed from the traditional mourning dress to a black lab coat.