Chinese Cultural Treasure: Han Clothing, Chinese traditional clothing

As we know, clothing is one of the first conditions of life. The Japanese have Kimonos, foreigners have suits, and Chinese have Han Clothing. Since ancient times, Han Clothing has always been regarded as the face of the country by their ancestors.  

For thousands of years, Chinese clothing carries not only a kind of life aesthetics, but also the continuation of countless Chinese way of life. I firmly believe that keeping Chinese Clothing is the foundation of retaining Chinese people.  

In drama The Legend of Miyue, the beauty Miyue has been displaced all her life, and in addition to those men, there are also some “Chinese Clothing” in her room that witnessed the change of her situation.  

After rich and poor, after life and death, Miyue dressed in a gold shirt, from shallow to deep gold-plated, elegant cloud flying sleeves, and exquisite embroidery patterns, all reveal her calm at all the time.  

And after the restoration of Qin, she finally put on the black and red Chinese Clothing, its meaning represents the earth.  

The black and red are the most dignified collocation in Chinese Clothing. This sacred and noble dress not only represents her highest status at that time, but also tells the secret that China has been crowned with clothing since ancient times.  

The secret of Han Clothing  

Han clothing refers to the traditional ethnic costumes of the Han nationality. Han clothing from “the Yellow Emperor hanging clothes and the rule of the world”, ended in the Qing Dynasty “shaving and easy to wear”.  

For thousands of years, Han Clothing has been embellished by many dynasties, but the original “Deep Clothing” is still the representatives of Han Clothing. 

Traditional Deep Clothing has three major fastidious points. One is to hand over the right lapel, where the front of the dress intersects from the left to the right, and the Han Clothing covers to the right. Second, “praise clothes wide sleeves”, Han clothing are loose, and sleeves are wide, longer than the arm. Third, “tie belt buckle”, Chinese Clothing mostly do not need buttons, but with rope tie.  

According to such characteristics, when the ancients were dressed in Han Clothing, they would naturally walk chic and elegant, waving their sleeves lightly and bringing a breeze.  

The ancients always feared heaven and earth and nature. They cut their jackets into four pieces, that is, to symbolize “Four Seasons”, and twelve pieces of their lower clothing to correspond to “Months”. Among them, the sleeve circle corresponds to the “Sky Circle”, and the collar overlaps into a rectangle to correspond to the “Place” in order to contain the “Sky Circle Place”.  

The ancients hid heaven and earth in their clothes in order to remind themselves at all times that they should not act willfully, and that there should be rules in life.  

Han Clothing in the past Dynasties  

Han clothing lasted for thousands of years, represented by Tang, Song and Ming dynasties. Because different dynasties have their own characteristics, Han Clothing has also evolved a different posture.  

Tang Dynasty  

The Tang women dressed in amorous feelings, but never coquettish. Tang women took fat as beauty, mainly dressed with low collar and large sleeves. Also because the figure was slightly fat, Tang Dynasty women were particularly fond of loose skirt dress. The shirt was short and small, and the skirt was fat and long. The skirt was fastened to the chest, even under the armpit, tied with ribbons, and the skin of the neck and chest is exposed, giving people an elegant, slender feeling.  

Song Dynasty 

Neo-Confucianism prevailed in the Song Dynasty. Under the moral restraint of "preserving Heavenly principles and destroying human desire", people abandoned their extravagant and flashy life style. At that time, it was popular to say that "women learn to be respectful and thrifty for thousands of years, while women only wear light makeup". 

People's attitudes have changed and their clothing style has naturally changed. The clothing of Song Dynasty advocated simplicity and elegance. In the Song Dynasty, the Han clothing were mostly made of yarn and embroidered with pearls and jade. In the middle of the skirt, a jade ring is often hung on the ribbon, which is used to hold down the hem of the skirt so that the skirt does not lose its elegance when it flutters in the wind.  

Ming Dynasty  

Contrary to Song Dynasty, Ming Dynasty was a dynasty that pursues magnificence. Ming Dynasty clothing, from dress material, color to decoration, was all gorgeous.  

In the late Ming Dynasty, the weather became cold. In order to keep warm, the Han jacket of Ming Dynasty was lengthened, the skirt was shortened, and the collar was changed from a pair of collars to the round collar. In Song Dynasty, the skirt edges of Han clothing were embroidered, and the patterns were gorgeous and complicated.  

Waiting for Han Clothing to return to China  

Today, China is almost the only nation in the world that has lost its traditional clothing. In Japan, Japanese woman walks on the street in Kimono and Clogs, and no pedestrian will look sideways. In Scotland, it's not surprising that a man wears a Scottish skirt.  

But if you wear Chinese clothing to the streets in China, people will think you are crazy, or they will mistake you as a Japanese wearing Kimono, which makes people sad and helpless.  

I think of the figure of ancient women dressed in Chinese Clothing that I saw in the images, their elegant figures leave indelible beauty in my heart.  

In my mind, the most beautiful destination of Chinese Clothing is that every traditional festival in China, we can solemnly change into our own national traditional Chinese Clothing, do some traditional customs full of rituals. 

Compared with those fashionable new clothes, it seems that only the Chinese Clothing lasting for thousands of years in China can support this role. And I also believe that one day, Chinese people in Chinese clothing will be able to amaze the whole world.