Historical Changes in Clothing (succinct description)

The earliest clothing should be in the labor origin. According to legend, the ancient Yan Di Shennong's image is: wearing a red ?à , arms wearing something shaped like arm bands, calves with tied legs, wearing a bird feather cap, foot leather shoes, hand-held agricultural tools, just like a picture of the farmer's portrait. And legend has it that what the common people wear on their heads is not a feathered hat, but a pointed hat or a cylindrical high hat. Legendary image portrayal may be from the unearthed artifacts in some of the image of the analysis; but prehistory is no record, it is incredible, so it may also be out of the speculation of the descendants.

In ancient times, the Yellow Emperor, Yao and Shun period began to have clothes, the end of the prehistoric state of the periwig. People wore this style of clothing to worship their ancestors and heaven and earth. People know from experience that in the morning before dawn, the sky is black (called "Xuan"), the upper garment is like the sky, so use the Xuan color; and the earth is yellow, the lower garment is like the earth, the color of the garment is yellow, as an expression of the worship of the sky and the earth. In ancient times, the upper garment and the lower garment represented the clothing style, and the upper garment and the lower garment were connected to the "deep clothing system", this deep clothing form at that time there was no difference between men and women.

Wei-Jin costumes

Wei-Jin costumes retained the basic form of the Han Dynasty, but in the style characteristics, but there are unique and prominent place, which is closely related to the creation of works of art and crafts at that time the idea of the style of homogeneity is more obvious.

The sixth century A.D. Persian patterns were introduced to China through the Silk Road, and had a considerable impact on textiles, clothing and other decorations. This is reflected in the Dunhuang murals.

The Wei and Jin dynasties stipulate that the court dress with red, often take purple. White was the color of the common people's clothes. At this time, the clothing style is still mainly 襦, skirt, fur is informal clothes. Women's decorations are more elaborate, there are gold rings, silver about the finger and around the wrist of the jump off and so on. In texture in the palace and outside the palace is still very different.

The most common form of armor in the Wei and Jin dynasties is two crotch armor, long to the knee, above the waist is the chest and back of the armor with a small piece of armor braided, some with a large piece of armor, armor identity before and after the two pieces of the shoulder and both sides of the belt with a bundle. Chest and back with round protection. Because most of them are made of copper and iron and other metals, and polished to a very bright, rather like a mirror. When the armor was worn on the battlefield, it was called "Bright Light Armor" because it emitted dazzling "bright light" due to the sun's irradiation. This kind of armor style is many, and the complexity is different, some just in the crotch on the basis of the front and back of the two pieces of round protection, some are equipped with shoulder pads, knee pads, complex and heavy shoulder pads. Most of the body armor is as long as the hips, and the waist is tied with a belt.

North and South Dynasties clothing

South Dynasty clothing style to 襦襦裙, women in particular to wear a skirt for the orthodox, not wearing a skirt and show pants people, is seen as rude behavior. At that time, women's heads were wrapped in white spandex scarves (a kind of scarf with green ribbons, which legend has it that Zhu Geliang usually wore in the Three Kingdoms), and the sleeves were long and narrow and carved in wisps with floral motifs. The dancers wear long shirts with very long bands on their bodies and dandy scarves on their heads.

The North and South Dynasties also have "robe" and "shirt", shirt in the Jin Dynasty has been a must wear clothes. Fur" at this time is extremely valuable, to ermine fur for the most." "is a young man's favorite clothing, thin young people more favorite colored" ""襦", "襦", "帔", "cape", "鹤氅", these are the popular clothing at this time.

Southern Dynasties basically inherited the Wei and Jin, due to war and frequent changes in the country, reflected in the dress code has also changed. Jiangnan clothing style than the northern short, but then it was popular to wear a small hat wearing a coat, sometimes a sleeve into two, a skirt cut into two skirts, some styles of large collars and large bands, some narrow sleeves, some skirt long trailing, some long clothing hidden feet. The court dress of the Southern Dynasties is still the basil coat. There were regulations on the materials used for the costumes. Officials below the third rank were not allowed to wear clothes made of mixed-color qi, and those below the sixth rank could only wear seven-color qi, and could not use raw silk. The artwork and clothing style of the Southern Dynasties, many of the excavated figurines, showing us a thin waist, round face type of women, face and expression is very beautiful, especially from the figurines from the South of Jiangnan more prominent features, which is the dress of the floor long skirt and wide cloak and belt are very coordinated.

North Dynasty dress, official formal occasions wearing vermilion-colored single garment, casual and military uniforms to the main. Wearing a red robe with a gold belt, wearing a small-sleeved long robe with a gold and jade belt. Civilian women wore jacket and coat as their regular clothes, which was no different from the Southern Dynasties. During the Northern Dynasties, the most expensive material for dress was damask brocade.

The scrolling grass pattern of the North and South Dynasties was developed on the basis of the cloud pattern of the Han Dynasty. Dunhuang made wells (individually suitable for patterns), triangular flowers (suitable for patterns) and striped flowers (two-sided continuous), flying skies, cloud patterns and other dynamic images are skillfully combined, both ancient, beautiful, but also subtle and soft. Woolen blankets, linen and silk were prevalent products at that time.

Western Zhou clothing

The establishment of the Western Zhou, so that the social productive forces have greatly developed and improved, the material is obviously rich, the social order is also towards the organization, and there are rules and regulations. Clothing system also due to the existence of the hierarchy of superiority and inferiority, the need for etiquette and further standardization, was included in the scope of the "rule of etiquette", inferiority and superiority, respectively.

This time the special boundaries of the dress level signs began to be clear, the variety of categories also increased accordingly, such as the court room to worship heaven and earth, to honor the gods and ghosts when the special sacrificial dress, the dynasty ceremony when there will be the court dress, military in the special from the military service, the wedding ceremony dedicated to the wedding ceremony, mourning and funeral service. Clothing is still used in the upper garment Xuan lower garment yellow, but in the official dress increased in the front lapel of the garment, big belt (big belt is made of silk or woof, four inches wide), jade (jade as raw material, to the ribbon attached to the waist of the pendant). In addition, the color of the clothes also began to have a hierarchical difference. Western Zhou dress in addition to the unique style of wide clothes and long belts, but also absorbed the northern Xianbei (now Xibo) to the belt hook waist dress color (in the ribbon joints, with gold, silver, copper or iron and other metals made of fine hooks or buttons).

Costumes of the Qin Dynasty

During the Qin and Han Dynasties, due to the unification of the country, the styles of clothing also tended to be consistent. The Qin Dynasty was the first feudal unified state in Chinese history with a large area and many nationalities. After Qin Wangzheng became the first emperor, he immediately began to implement a series of measures to strengthen centralization, such as the unification of weights and measures, criminal law and order, which also included the clothing system. However, due to the short period of time during which Qin Shi Huang was in power, the dress system was only the first of its kind and was not yet complete; only the colors of the clothes were unified. Qin Shi Huang was y influenced by the doctrine of yin and yang and the five elements, and believed that when Qin overcame Zhou, it should be water overcame fire, because the Zhou Dynasty was "fire over gold, and the color was red", so Qin overcame Zhou by the virtue of water, and the color was revered as black. In this way, in the Qin Dynasty, black is the color of honor, clothing is also black as the color of fashion.

Qin dynasty armor battle dress we can see from the unearthed artifacts. In Shaanxi Lintong unearthed terracotta warriors with armor should be the most common style of armor in the Qin terracotta warriors, is an ordinary warrior's attire, this type of armor has the following characteristics: the chest of the armor are the upper piece of the pressure of the lower piece of the abdominal armor, are the lower piece of the pressure of the upper piece of the armor, in order to facilitate the activities. From the center line in the middle of the chest and abdomen, all the armor pieces are stacked from the middle to the sides, and the combination of the shoulder armor pieces is the same as that of the abdomen. The armor pieces around the shoulders, abdomen, and under the neck are all connected by an armor band, and all of them have armor spikes, the number of which varies from two or three or four, up to a maximum of six. The length of the armor is equal in front and back, and the hem is usually rounded.

Costumes of the Han Dynasty

China's complete system of costume and clothing was established during the Han Dynasty. Dyeing and weaving crafts, embroidery crafts and metal crafts developed faster during the Han Dynasty, which promoted changes in clothing decoration.

When the Western Han Dynasty was established, it basically followed the clothing system of the Qin Dynasty. In the Eastern Han Dynasty, black clothes were worn with purple silk decorations. The "Long Crown Garment" was commonly used for ceremonies. The Queen's ceremonial dress was: the upper garment was in blue color, and the lower garment was in soap color. For the Empress' silk dress, the upper garment was made of cyan, and the lower garment was made of misty color (light yellow). When Emperor Wen of Han was in power, he was more frugal and wore black silk clothes and leather shoes himself. The general officials had to wear Zen clothes, also known as "godly clothes". During the 200 years of the Western Han Dynasty, the dress code was "Shamyi System", which was characterized by a cicada-like crown (hat), red clothes, a field-like collar, jade and red shoes. The Shamrock system was a system where the upper and lower garments were joined and sewn together, and the black edge was required to make the middle garment of the sacrificial service, and the red edge was required to make the middle garment of the pilgrimage service, which was extremely common for both men and women at that time. The general name of the garment was "Zen-yori". Zen clothes are single-layer outer garments. Zen clothes inside the middle garment, deep clothes, its shape and Zen clothes are not very different, only the sleeve shape has changed, all belong to a single layer of cloth and silk clothing. Officials are required to wear black Zen clothes when they go to court.

Han style to lapel classification, can be divided into two kinds: one for the "curved train Zen clothes", that is, the lapel is from the collar curved diagonal to the armpits; one for the straight train Zen clothes, is the lapel from the collar down to vertical, this kind of Zen clothes, also known as the " ". Curve train, that is, for the period of the Warring States period popular deep clothes. It was still used in the Han Dynasty, and by the Eastern Han Dynasty, there were not many men wearing deep clothes, usually with a straight train, but not as a formal dress. This type of clothing is both long and wide, from the style of the official people take basically no difference, but from the raw materials and colors, but can clearly show the different levels.

The color of the Han Dynasty court dress has specific provisions, according to the five seasons of the year, that is, the spring with green; summer with red; seasonal summer with yellow; autumn with white; winter with black.

The Han Dynasty clothing has seven characteristics:

Wearing outerwear, due to the collar is large and curved, wearing clothing must be exposed in the collar type;

Wearing clothing must be used * material to do so;

Sleeve width of one foot two inches;

Shirt sleeveless;

Wearing fur garments fur outward;

Wearing a waistband extremely exquisite, the use of the hooks made of gold in the shape of various beasts, such as the gold. The hooks used in the belt were made of gold in the shape of various beasts, such as praying mantis or pipa. The image is very vivid and interesting. General length of one and a half to six inches between, is the middle of the garment important decorations. Han belt hooks from the shape, color and craftsmanship have reached a very high level, compared to the Western Zhou and the Warring States period, in the design and production are much more exquisite. Therefore, quite popular with men, wearers of many;

Men maintain the custom of wearing a knife, but the knife worn by the shape of no edge, and therefore lost its practical value, mainly to show grooming.

The Han Dynasty ritual dress extension of the "big system", in accordance with the ancient rituals to wear a coronet, wear ribbons, wear jade. Emperors, ministers, vassals are used in the big, only in the texture of the tied jade beads or silk rope to distinguish. Empress Dowager, Empress Dowager, ministers and wives of the sacrificial service (visit the temple clothing), pro silkworm clothing, court dress and wedding clothes in the form of deep clothes system.

Laboring women in the Han Dynasty always wore a short jacket on top and a long skirt underneath, decorated with a long hanging belt around their knees. The regular dress of working men was a jacket on top and calf's pants underneath, with a cloth skirt over the outer garment; this attire was the same regardless of whether they were working slaves, serfs, merchants, or scholars.

Spring and Autumn and Warring States Clothing

Due to the successive wars, all kinds of rituals were gradually abolished and not used during the Warring States period. The costumes of the seven warring states Qi, Chu, Yan, Han, Zhao, Wei, Qin and the vassal states, due to the limitation of terroir, accordingly produce some changes. From the painted wooden figurines in the tombs of Warring States Chu unearthed in Changsha, Hunan Province in recent years, we can see the representative features of the costumes at that time. At this time the dress to the lower body along the wide edge of the winding type of fat clothes. Its winding is the front lapel to the back body wrap, that is, to take the horizontal line and diagonal line of the space complementary, to obtain the static in the movement and movement in the static decorative effect. Because of the thin material, in order to prevent the thin clothes from wrapping around the body, so the use of flat and stiff brocade fabric edging, and then decorated with cloud patterns on the edge, that is, "clothes for embroidery, brocade for the edge", will be practical and aesthetic skillfully combined. These ideas and production methods fully reflect the wisdom of the ancient design and intelligence. During the Warring States period, men wore clothes that were no longer than knee-length, decorated with continuous rectangular patterns and stripes, which were very similar to the lacquerware side decorations of the time.

Men's clothing was based on the basic style of crossed collars, narrow sleeves, and belts around the waist. The texture of the hooks in the Warring States period was mostly gold, silver, copper, iron and jade, and the hooks were engraved with floral motifs, sometimes with turquoise, to show that they were noble and rich. There is also a kind of gold and silver wrong handmade craft, the appearance of the gold and stone processing, its appearance is more exquisite and luxurious. Iron smelting industry in the Warring States period is relatively prosperous, can be made to hang on the man's body of the copper knife; technology is also superior, such as a 25-centimeter-long small curved knife, the back of the knife is carved with a variety of patterns, then widely loved and worn by the people, called "Rong knife". At this time the hanging knife, is not entirely practical, largely decorative instead of practical.

Commercial clothing

In ancient China, the Yin and Shang dynasties began to have a text, then the vast majority of the text is hieroglyphic characters, and even drawings. From the oracle bone inscriptions we can see characters reflecting dress attire, such as clothes, tracks, yellow clothes, belts, shirts and so on. From the unearthed figures, we see jade pendants, jade rings, earrings, necklaces, matrices, combs, as well as silk, linen and bronze ornaments, distinguishing fine ornaments and elaborate clothing, but these were all owned by the nobility. It shows that the clothing and dress system is being further improved.

The continuous appearance of clothing forms such as clothes, garments, crowns, shoes, hats and socks indicates that people's understanding of clothing is also increasing, gradually developing from purely practical functions to decorative embellishments, thus making the ancient costumes tend to be complete and unified.

Tang Clothing

Tang Dynasty also popular women wearing "Hu clothing". Hu clothing" is the clothing of the West. The form of the belt was also influenced by the hu clothes. Before this, people's waist is decorated with gold, silver, copper and iron, this time the popular tie "mincing belt", with gold ornaments on the belt, and buckle with a short and small small belt to tie things with. This belt to take the most prevalent is in the Tang Dynasty, and then extended until the Northern Song Dynasty.

After the Tang Dynasty, the influence of Hu clothing gradually weakened, the style of women's clothing is becoming wider and wider. In the late Tang Dynasty, this feature is more obvious, general women's clothing, sleeve width is often more than four feet. In the late Tang aristocratic dress, generally more important occasions to wear, wearing this dress, hairpin with gold and cui flower inlay, so also known as "inlay hairpin ceremonial clothing".

After Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty, the purple color for the three officials; light scarlet for the five officials, dark green for the six officials, light green for the seven officials, dark green for the eight officials, light green for the nine officials, yellow for the people outside the palace and the common people color.

Tang also has a great influence on neighboring countries. For example, Japan and obedience to the color greatly absorbed the essence of the Tang costume, Korean clothes also inherited from the form of the strengths of the Tang costume. Tang jacket 襦skirt line soft long, very beautiful and comfortable, the material is mainly silk fabric, so its clothing to "soft" and "soft" known. Tang clothing itself more categories, good changes, from the shape to the decoration are boldly absorbed foreign dress characteristics, more to Central Asia, India, Iran, Persia and the north and the western region of the foreign dress as a reference to enrich the Tang dress culture, so that the Tang dress rich and colorful and magnificent, unique style strange and colorful, become a flower in the history of China's clothing, the world attention.

Song Dynasty Clothing

The history of the Song Dynasty is characterized by the main trend of civilianization, and the clothing is also simple and plain, reflecting the tendency of the times.

Song women's clothing is divided into three kinds: one from the queen, consort to all levels of women used in the "public service", one for the common people used in the auspicious and fatal clothing called "dress"; one for the daily use of the regular clothes.

Song inherited the Tang, women's clothing is still to shirt, jacket, jacket, back, skirt, robe, coat, deep clothes. Most of them are straight collar and lapel style, no belt and no buckle, the outer edge of the neck is sewn with a protective collar. The clothes are cut in a way that the sleeves are connected to each other. Some of them are limited to the width of the fabric, so the back of the piece of clothing or sleeve Tsubaki part of the use of seams and appliqués. The single jacket has a short front and a long back, as well as a large sleeveless undershirt. The unearthed clothes were decorated with decorative patterns on the collar, sleeve edges, lapel edges, waist, and hem, using gold printing, embroidery, and color painting techniques, and decorated with flowers such as peonies, camellias, plum blossoms, and lilies.

The Song official system basically inherited from the previous generation, so the official dress in the palace is also similar to the previous generation, divided into court dress, ceremonial dress, public service, military service, funeral service and seasonal dress. The court dress is red red dress, wearing white Luo quality in the single, outside the Department of Luo material with a large belt, and scarlet Luo material cover the knee, hanging brocade ribbons, jade, jade bracelet, under the white damask socks and black leather shoes. In addition to this court dress is a unified style, the official position of the high and low is to match the different to distinguish. Mainly in the presence or absence of Zen clothes (in the single) and brocade ribbon pattern on the level of change. Wear court dress must wear "Jinxian crown" (a lacquered beam crown cap), "Sable Cicada Crown" (also known as "cage scarf", is woven into the shape of rattan silk, the top of the lacquered crown cap), Xiezhi Crown (Jinxian Crown is a class).

The public service that is, the regular dress, also known as "from the provincial service", with a curved collar and large sleeves, waist belt as the main form, and narrow-sleeved style also. This type of clothing to distinguish between levels of color. For example, above the ninth-grade officials with green; above the seventh-grade officials with green; above the fifth-grade officials with vermilion; above the third-grade officials with purple. To the Song Yuanfeng years with a slight change in color, more than four with purple; more than six with scarlet; more than nine with green. According to the provisions of the time, taking purple and scarlet (vermilion) clothes, should be equipped with hanging gold and silver decorated fish bag, high and low positions to this thing to clearly distinguish.

Seasonal clothing is given to the official ministers according to the season of clothing. To the generals of the emperor generals down to the guards of the infantry, give the varieties of robes, jackets, shirts, robes belly, pants and so on. Most of the clothing given is woven with birds and beasts of the brocade pattern.

Song men in addition to the official clothes in the dynasty, the weekday uniforms are also very distinctive, often called "private clothes". Song officials and the civilian population of the Yanju form of clothing is not too different. Only in the use of color has more obvious regulations and restrictions.

Song time, there are several kinds of regular clothing:

"Robe" has wide sleeves and narrow narrow body and narrow sleeves of two types of official position is a brocade robe, unofficial is a white cloth robe.

"襦" and "襦" and "袄" are the necessary clothes for commoners to wear in daily life.

"Short brown" is a kind of short and coarse cloth clothes for poor people.

"Shirt" is a man's long shirt with a horizontal hemline.

"Shirt", following the ancient system of clothes on top and clothes underneath. It is the style of coronation, court dress or private house dress. In the Song Dynasty, there was also a way of wearing a shirt under a garment. Men also wore long tops with black trimmed collars and yellow clothes. They did not tie their belts when they lived at home, but did so when they were entertaining guests.

The "straight jacket" is a long, wide garment. It is called a "straightjacket" because there is no slit at the hem but there is a center seam at the back.

The "crane cloak," which is long and wide, is a kind of fur coat made by twisting the feathers of a crane and other birds into a pile, and it is very expensive.

In addition to the Song Dynasty men's clothing, there are cloth shirt and shirt. Inside called sweatshirt, there are cross collar and jaw collar form. The material is very exquisite, mostly with silk, yarn, Luo. Color white, green, soap (black), apricot yellow, tea brown and so on. The material of the jacket is cloth, silk, Luo, brocade, silk and leather. The color of the jacket is green, red, date red, dark green, goose yellow and so on. The texture of the nobleman pants is also very delicate, more yarn, Luo, silk, silk, qi, damask, and have a plain pattern, jacquard, jacquard and other decorative motifs, pants color to camel yellow, brown, brown as the main color.

Yuan Dynasty clothing

Yuan Dynasty is the era of national integration in Chinese history, clothing and dress also fully embodies this feature. Yuan Taizu Genghis Khan since 1206 to build the capital, after the destruction of Western Xia and Jin, the ethnic composition is mainly Mongolia. Yuan dynasty due to the more acute ethnic conflicts, long in a state of war, textile industry, handicrafts have been greatly damaged. Palace service system for a long time to extend the Song style. Until l321 yuan yingzong period with reference to the ancient system, the development of the son of heaven and the officials of the upper and lower garment tight under the short, and in the waist plus crease accumulation, shoulder and back hanging large beads of the "quality of the Sun clothing" system, the han people say "one color clothes" or "quality of the Sun clothing". This is inherited from the Chinese and Mongolian national characteristics of the clothing system.

"Quality Sun clothing" to take a wide range of ministers can be worn in the Palace feast, musicians and guards also take. The difference between the upper and lower levels of this type of clothing is reflected in the texture of the different thickness. The son of heaven has fifteen levels (to quality grading level〉. Each level of raw materials used and the selection of color is completely uniform, clothes and hats consistent, the overall effect is very good. For example, if the clothes are gold brocade cut velvet, its hat is also necessarily gold brocade warm hat; if the clothes with * leather, its hat must be platinum answer the son of warm hat. The summer clothes of the Son of Heaven also have fifteen grades, similar to the winter clothes. There are nine grades of winter clothes for the hundred officials and fourteen grades of summer clothes, which are likewise distinguished by texture and color.

The "bishou" and "bijia" were also regular garments. Bishou" is a kind of lined with a slightly longer than the horse coat, the yuan dynasty mongolians called "loop ZiDaKu". Than armor" is easy to ride and shoot clothes, no collar, no sleeves, short in front and long in the back, connected to the loop of the plainclothes. Yuan dynasty men's public service more with the Han custom, the outside of the regular clothes, cover a short-sleeved shirt, women also have this custom (called 襦裙半臂).

Yuan women's clothing divided into two styles of nobles and civilians. The nobles are mostly Mongolians, to leather leather cap for the national costume, ermine and sheepskin clothing is more widely available, the style is more broad robe, narrow cuffs, sleeve body wide fat, because the clothes are long trailing the ground, the noble lady out of the line of sight, there must be a slave girl to pull. This robe style in the shoulder do have a cloud shoulder, the so-called "gold embroidered cloud shoulder jade tassel", very beautiful. As a dress robe, the fabric texture is very exquisite, using large red woven gold, brocade, velvet and very long felt fabrics. At that time the most popular taking color to red, yellow, green, brown, rose, purple, gold and so on. Yuan Dynasty civilian women wore Han Chinese jacket, half-arms were also quite popular, the look of Han Chinese clothes often appeared in the palace dance accompanist, and the narrow-sleeved shirts and hat style of the Tang Dynasty were also preserved. In addition by the influence of neighboring Goryeo, the capital of the noble consorts also have the custom of imitating Goryeo women's clothing.

Ming Dynasty clothing

To the Ming Dynasty clothing appeared a lot of new changes, the most prominent feature is to the front lapel buttons instead of thousands of years of band knots. But buttons did not start in the Ming Dynasty, from the Yuan Dynasty braided line jacket waist part had seen the form of pinned buttons. The use of buttons is also a change, reflecting the progress of the times. In addition, the prevalence of science also affects the style of clothing to a certain extent.

Ming clothes compared with the Tang Dynasty, lies in the obvious inversion of the proportion of the dress, from the short shirt under the garment long, gradually lengthened the upper garment, shorten the length of the skirt. Collar also metamorphosed from the Song Dynasty's collar to the round neck.

Ming Dynasty women's tops are three collar and narrow sleeves, body length of three feet, skirt two or three inches. At that time, Yangzhou popular a new style: women's shirt length of two feet eight inches, sleeve width of one foot two inches, outside the sleeve set brocade embroidery, winter set sable fox skin. Skirts in the early years of the Ming Dynasty with the color tends to be light. Skirt pleats are very prevalent, there are fine pleats, there are also large pleats. Pleated decoration is very elaborate. There is a kind of skirt called color stripes, each selected a color satin, each color satin embroidered on the bird and flower decorations, with the edge of the band inlaid with gold thread can become an independent strip, will be a number of such a variety of colorful strips put together in the waistband, it has become a colorful stripes fluttering skirt, so named "phoenix-tailed skirt". Some will also be the whole piece of satin hand-made pleated pattern, named "pleated skirt", a twenty-four pleated skirt named "jade skirt". Ming Dynasty, there is a special style of cape, due to its shape as beautiful as the color of the sun, it is named "Xiapi". This cape appeared in the period of the North and South Dynasties, the Sui and Tang dynasties to get this name. To the Song Dynasty it will be included in the ranks of the dress. The Ming Dynasty to take this type of more common, it is shaped like a long colorful tapestry, each cape width of three inches and two minutes, five feet seven inches long, taking around the neck, hanging in front of the chest, because the lower end of the pendant hanging with gold or jade, so more and more appear to be noble.

There is a kind of collarless lapel vest from the Yuan Dynasty, also known as "than the armor", is the Queen's special court dress. Later gradually spread to the people, expanding the scope of consumption. Than armor prevalent in the middle of the Ming Dynasty, mainly favored by young women. From the form of the half-arm with the Sui and Tang dynasties have a relationship, and later appeared in the Qing dynasty vest, is the deformation of this than armor.

Ming style clothing is another feature of the lapel Paijia ornaments, and very eye-catching. Are some gold, beads, jade and other materials made of various ornaments. One of the hanging in front of the chest is called "falling collar"; tied in front of the lapel is called "seven things"; walking with a loud sound is called "forbidden step", these ornaments are collectively referred to as the "Miscellaneous Pei". There is another special jewelry, is in a gold chain, connected to the ring hanging four small objects: tweezers, toothpicks, ear diggers and knives, are some of the women's life supplies.

Men's clothing in the Ming Dynasty to the square scarf round neck as the representative form, Confucian students wearing shirt and today's stage on the Beijing opera scholar's clothing is very similar. Characterized by wide sleeves, soap (black) color edge, green round neck, soap tapestry soft scarf hanging belt.

Official uniforms are cloud satin round neck robe, plus cloud satin jacket wear. The length of this robe is one inch from the ground, the sleeve is longer than the hand, the sleeve Chuan (refers to the sleeve body) is one foot wide, the cuffs are nine inches wide.

Shuitian clothes is the general women's clothing in the Ming Dynasty, is a colorful fragmented brocade material patchwork sewing made of clothing, similar to the robe worn by monks, because of the whole piece of clothing fabric color interlaced with each other in the shape of a field of water and its name. It has the special effect that other costumes cannot have, simple and chic, so it won the general favorite among the women in Ming and Qing Dynasties. It is said that some people used this method to make clothes in the Tang Dynasty.

Customs of the Qing Dynasty

The Qing Dynasty was a regime dominated by Manchu rulers, and the customs of the Manchu Banner people influenced the Central Plains. The traditional clothing system, which had been passed down from generation to generation for thousands of years, was destroyed by the entry of the Manchu Eight Banners soldiers. It can be said that this change is another leap in China's traditional clothing system, is the history of the "hu clothing riding", "open Tang" after the third obvious mutation.

Thousands of years of wide robes and big sleeves, dragging dresses and crowns, dashing, rich, slender and soft, and the body of the long, short and narrow sleeves of the Manchu form of dress, forming a sharp contrast. Flag dress with its material savings, easy to make and take convenient, instead of the ancient complexity of the dress, which is easy to accept the main reason for later generations.

Manchu's flag dress, the outer outline of a rectangle, saddle-shaped collar to cover the cheeks of the face, clothes up and down not to take the waist, the shirt does not reveal the outside, the partial overlap of the right side of the plate New York for the decorations, false sleeves two to three, horseshoe sleeves cover the hand, inlaid roll craft decorations, clothing plus clothing, increase the kangsheng or waistcoat. Its modeling is complete and rigorous, closed box-shaped body, so the image of solemn and dignified, high and unusual, and unique, breaking through the thousands of years of floating tower-shaped crown. To this day, it also has a certain influence on modern clothing. Especially with the development of the times, after processing the curve highlights the slender and beautiful cheongsam, has formed a representative of the Han Chinese national dress, showing the gentleness and connotation of the Oriental women, with the value of eternal existence.

The cheongsam or short dress has several different forms such as pipa placket, big placket and pair placket. The matching skirt or pants are decorated with all-over prints, embroideries and tucks. The lapel, collar and sleeve edges were decorated with inlays, rolls and embroideries. In the early Qing Dynasty, Manchu women dressed similarly to men, except that they wore ears in buns and unmarried women wore braids. Manchu women do not wrap their feet, do not wear skirts, clothes outside the shoulders and shirt level, long shirt within a small garment, equivalent to the Han women's bibs, clothes outside the clothes, also known as "wulong".

Traditional national costumes - cheongsam and waistcoat

The waistcoat and cheongsam are typical costumes for men and women in the Qing Dynasty. They have now become the traditional costumes of China.

The waistcoat is a short garment worn outside the robe, the length of the garment to the umbilicus, the sleeves only cover the elbow, mainly to facilitate horseback riding, so it is called "waistcoat". When the Manchus first entered the customs, limited to the eight banners soldiers to wear. Until the Kangxi and Yongzheng years, only began to popularize in the community, and the development of a single, folder, yarn, leather, cotton and other garments, to become a men's civilian clothes, can be worn by the public. Afterwards, it gradually evolved into a ceremonial clothing, regardless of status, are to the waistcoat set in the robe outside, appear elegant and generous.

The style of the waistcoat has three types: pipa placket, big placket and lapel. Pipa lapel coat, because of its right lapel shortage, also known as the lack of lapel coat, wearing it can move freely, commonly used to make traveling clothes. The large-breasted waistcoat, on the other hand, has its lapel open on the right side and is surrounded by a different color as the edge, and is generally used as a regular dress. Lapel coat, the color of the service in various periods there are a variety of changes: the first along the sky green, to the middle of the Qianlong period, but also rose purple, and then promote the deep reddish-red color (known as the "blessed color"), to the Jiaqing years, it is popular in the mud gold and light gray. Large-sleeved lapel coat can be used as a dress instead of a coat, the color is mostly azure, the size of the officials in the guest often wear this dress, because of its long sleeves and narrow, also known as the "long-sleeved coat".

There is a color in the waistcoat can not be used casually, that is yellow. The yellow waistcoat was a special gift from the emperor. Wearing this kind of clothing, there are three main categories: one is with the emperor "tour" of the guards, known as the "duty coat"; two is the line around the school shooting, in the target or more than those who were hunted, known as the "line around the coat"; three is in the governance or the war in the construction of meritorious achievements, known as the "martial arts coat," these people will be included in the history of the record. Only this imperial coat can be worn at any time.

The cheongsam is a rich ethnic flavor of women's clothing, the evolution of Manchu women's robes. Since the Manchu people are called "cheongsam", it is called "cheongsam". In the Qing Dynasty, women's clothing can be said to be Manchu and Han coexisted. At the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, Manchu women to robes, and Han Chinese women are still on the dress under the skirt for the fashion; the middle of the Qing Dynasty, the Manchu and Han have imitated; to the late Qing Dynasty, the Manchu emulate the Han's style, and even appeared "half of the flag dress to change the Han's dress, 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 dignitaries and noblewomen in the popularity of up.

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