Why is the cheongsam not a traditional Chinese garment?

The cheongsam is a women's fashion of the Republican period, evolved from the Manchu women's robes. Since the Manchu people are called "cheongsams", they are called "cheongsams". In the Qing Dynasty, women's clothing can be said to be the coexistence of Han and Manchu. At the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, Manchu women to robes, and Han Chinese women are still on the dress under the skirt for fashion; the middle of the Qing Dynasty, Han and Manchu have their own imitation; to the late Qing Dynasty, Manchu imitation of the Han's style, and even appeared "half of the flag dress to change the Han's clothes, the palace robes cut off as a short garment," the situation, and the Han imitation of Manchu dress style, but also at this time in some of the dignitary The Chinese imitation of Manchu clothing, but also at this time in some of the dignitaries popularized.

By the 1920s, the cheongsam was gradually popularized among women by the influence of Western dress and improvements. This cheongsam is the Han Chinese in the absorption of Western clothing styles, through the continuous improvement of Chinese, before entering thousands of households. There are many styles of cheongsam, such as Ruyi placket, Pipa placket, oblique placket, double placket; collar with high collar, low collar, no collar; cuffs with long sleeves, short sleeves, no sleeves; slits with high slits, low slits; there are also long cheongsams, short cheongsams, clip cheongsams, single cheongsams, etc. The improved cheongsam was popularized in the 20th century, after the Han Chinese absorbed the Western clothing styles, through continuous improvement. The modified cheongsam became almost a standard dress for Chinese women in the 1930s.

Popular in ethnic minority areas or nomadic robes, generally more tightly fitted to facilitate riding and shooting or other intense activities, this style of clothing more than the use of left-overlapping, narrow-sleeved, more modest robe. Historically, the Han people have also adopted this narrow fit robe style, Zhao Wuling Wang implemented by the Hu riding is a typical example. The Tang Dynasty Hu clothing was also popular for a while, Hu clothing in the Tang Kaiyuan, Tianbao years and Hu makeup, Hu ride, Hu music with the people tend to worship, can be counted as an exotic culture of a large area of popularity example, belonging to the street of Chang'an that year's "imported goods". In the Liao, Jin, Yuan and the Qing Dynasty and other minority regimes, fitted robes have once played a leading role in the dress, although they are experiencing or showing the process or trend of becoming broad. Since the Qing Dynasty lasted the longest, the robe can be regarded as a typical dress.

In the first year of the Shunzhi era (1644 AD), the Qing army entered the country and combined with the Han Chinese warlords and magnates to set the capital at Beijing and then united the country. With the initial stabilization of the regime, began to enforce the implementation of shaved hair and easy to dress, set off a great momentum of bloody killings, the strictness of the law of life and death, there is a "head, not hair, hair, not head," said the Han Chinese people to fight with, and efforts to preserve the Han Chinese dress, by the Manchu rulers of the suppression of the massacre. The most important question is, after the establishment of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, why to force the Han people to shave their hair and braid their clothes? According to common sense, what to wear, what hairstyle and rule does not have much to do, but the Manchurians into the customs and the establishment of the Qing Dynasty gave them a new connotation. The Han people could not accept foreign rule because they despised barbarism, and accepting barbaric rule was an insult to them. Han people have thousands of years of civilization, has a splendid culture, compared with the foreigners, the Han people have a strong sense of cultural superiority, compared to the Manchurian culture is really shallow, really feel inferior. This sense of national inferiority on the one hand, prompted the Manchurian aristocracy desperately learning Chinese culture, on the other hand, the Manchurian aristocrats are afraid that the Han people look down on them, so the best way to rule the Han people is to make the Han people to learn the customs of foreigners, the way to personality insults to make the Han people atrophy mentally, so that the Han people to lose self-esteem, self-confidence, to knock out the Han people in the bones of the sense of national superiority. Most of the traditional Han Chinese crowns and garments are forbidden to be worn, which is a national disgrace for the Han Chinese, and the dress pattern of the upper garment and lower garment, which has been passed down for thousands of years, is only preserved in the Han Chinese women's home dress and religious occasions such as opera. Celebration occasions regardless of men and women have to wear robes, all kinds of robes and costumes, there are a variety of robes, dragon robes, python robes and regular dress robes and other points. From the meaning of the word solution, cheongsam refers to cheongsam people (both men and women) wear robes, but only the eight banners of women wear daily robes with the later cheongsam has a blood relationship, used as a dress robe, python robes, etc. Customarily has not been categorized as "cheongsam" category. Manchu rulers emphasized the Manchu language riding and shooting, trying to maintain their inherent customs and ways of life, on the one hand, to assimilate the Han Chinese with Manchu clothing, while Manchu and Mongolian women are strictly prohibited to imitate the Han attire, from the top of the rule, the Jiaqing years of the repeated promulgation of the ban on Manchu women are prohibited to imitate the Han Chinese women's attire of the prevailing wind, it can be seen. To the late Qing Dynasty, there are also Han women imitate Manchu attire. The quiet intermingling of Manchu and Han Chinese women's clothing styles, so that the difference between the two sides of the dress is decreasing, and then became the prelude to the popularity of the cheongsam across the country.

In the late Qing Dynasty, the robes worn by women of the flag, the body is wide, the modeling line is straight and hard, the length of the clothes to the ankle. "Yuanbao collar" is very common, collar high cover the cheeks touched the ear, robe embroidered with colorful patterns, collar, sleeves, lapel, according to have multiple broad piping. To Xianfeng, Tongzhi years, rolled to the peak of the period, and some even the whole piece of clothing with lace rolled, so that it is almost difficult to recognize the original material. Banner women's gowns and clothes of the decoration of the tedious, a few to the peak of the situation. At this time the Qing dynasty is internal and external difficulties, in order to save the crisis, the Qing court foreign affairs put forward "secondary school for the body, western learning for use" strategy for national salvation, sending a large number of foreign students to study abroad, the army also changed to practice the new army. In the Chinese students and soldiers were the first to appear in the Western-style students, drill clothes, drill caps and Western-style uniforms, hats. The importation of foreign clothes provided another reference system for judging beauty, which directly affected the change of the social concept of dress. In the future, cheongsam evolved into a new style that integrates the East and the West, and the change of its influence by the West can be said to be the beginning of this.

In 1911, the Xinhai Revolution stormed, overthrowing the Manchu rulers, destroying the last feudal dynasty in China's history, clearing the political obstacles for the popularization of Western-style clothing in China, and at the same time, also put the traditional harsh rituals and concepts of decency aside, lifting the shackles of the strict hierarchy of the clothing system. The free change of clothing to civilianization and internationalization has come to fruition, and the cheongsam has thus removed the heavy burden of tradition. Due to the demise of the Manchu ruling regime, the cheongsam at this time very few wearers. Western-style Chinese dress up bustling and everywhere. The old-style cheongsam robes have been abandoned, the new cheongsam in the chaotic makeup began to brew.

At this time, the center of fashion has long been moved from Suzhou, Yang to Shanghai. The commercial port of Shanghai is open to the Chinese and foreigners, five parties live together, and become a place of luxury and prosperity. Shanghai is also the town of women seeking liberation. Missionaries, merchants, revolutionaries competing to establish women's schools, set off a wave of feminist movement, seeking liberation of the social climate cleansing the dress and makeup on the stereotypes. Clothing decoration swept away the Qing Dynasty style of ornamentation, tends to be simple, and the color tone to strive for elegant, focusing on the embodiment of the natural beauty of women. The cheongsam initially appeared in the form of a vest, which was as long as the back of the foot and was added to the short jacket. Later, the long vest was changed into a sleeved style, which became the prototype of the new cheongsam. It is said that the Shanghai schoolgirls were the originators of the popularity of the cheongsam. 30s and 40s were the heyday of the cheongsam, and its basic silhouette had reached maturity. After the 1911 Revolution, the new cheongsam became popular during the Northern Expeditionary War, which was different from the cheongsam's robe, and the improved cheongsam appeared in the late 30's. The cheongsam absorbed the western cutting method in the structure, which made the robe body more fit and proper, and this will be introduced in detail in the following chapters.