Chinese national costumes are traditional clothing that existed until the first quarter of the last century. They differ from each other in a number of ways. Only the Chinese national costumes of the upper echelons of society were the same practically throughout the country. Popular clothes have some local options.
Chinese national costumes. A bit of history
Traditional Chinese national costumes are clothing of wide layers of urban and rural population of the country, middle class and nobility, bureaucracy and intelligentsia. The emperor’s holiday dresses also belong to them. In tailoring, Chinese national costumes are one. They differ only in the quality of fabrics and a few structural details. This unity was especially strengthened after 1911. At that time, official Qing costumes adorned with lush decor, which had a hierarchical and symbolic meaning, went out of use. Over time, the skirt-plakhta also disappeared from everyday life. Women's costume began to resemble a men's one. The most uniform across the country are the elements of shoulder wear. All of it is swing.
Characteristics
The clothes are divided into three groups - winter, spring-autumn and summer. It differs depending on the presence or absence of a lining and a cotton padding. Clothing stands out with grace and elegance. In a word, beauty and sophistication - all this is a traditional Chinese national costume. The male version from the female in cut practically does not differ. This applies to pants, single-breasted and double-breasted clothing for the upper body, weekend and holiday clothes, etc.
Almost the same and the shape of the stand-up collar, free, with a cut in front. Its corners are straight or slightly rounded. The difference is only in height. In men's clothing, it does not exceed more than three centimeters. In women, it reaches almost eight.
Almost all jackets, sweaters and bathrobes have long slits at the bottom on the sides. The right smell is characteristic in clothes. The left sex, finding on the right, completely closes it. Clothing is usually sewn from five panels (two on the back and the left floor, one on the right). The number of button fasteners in a suit is always odd. They are sewn on the left floor.
Men's clothing
The Chinese national costume for a boy or a man is quite strict and concise. Summer clothes are made of thin cotton. It consists of a casual suit of a body shirt and pants. They are belted with a wide belt. In the cold season, the kit is complemented by a lined top jacket. In the recent past, a bathrobe was also worn. Sometimes a light raincoat soaked in tung oil is also added.
Kutsza pants have no pockets and buttons. A wide strip of white fabric is sewn to their upper edge. This is the Kuyao belt. When putting on his pants, he is firmly pressed to the body with his right hand, and the rest of it is wraped to the right with his left. A sash is put on top - kuyaodai. In front, he is tied with a flat knot. They hang a pouch on him and plug a pipe for him . Hanshanzi - a pectoral summer shirt - is tailored like a tunic. A single-breasted jacket (shanzi) is also covered. Demi-season vests are sewn with a warm lining, winter ones are stuffed with cotton or fur. During the ceremonies, the Chinese also put on a Hanfu - a long upper shirt to the knees.
Women's clothing
This is for men. But the Chinese national costume for women, similar in cut, consisted of short pants and an elongated jacket. Festive clothes differed from everyday expensive fabric, and also was sometimes decorated with colorful braid, rich embroidery and appliqués.
Kanchzyar - body vests with vertical straight cuts in front. They hugged the figure very tightly and fastened with 9-11 buttons. This clothing was a kind of replacement for a bra.
Another traditional set - shanqun - an elongated jacket with a skirt. The latter can be both narrow and wide. Zhujun is a similar suit, but the jacket in it is short. It looks almost like a sundress, but with long sleeves.
Changshan is a wide dress resembling a long robe-shirt. It hides the figure completely, leaving only the edge of the shoe, palms and head in sight. The pattern of the Chinese national costume is very simple in any case. And the outfits are just gorgeous.
Today, most often you can meet qipao on Chinese women - long beautiful dresses. Modern women also wear various jackets, short blouses, vests and jackets, sweaters and capes.
Color spectrum
What else can national clothing differ? Of course, the color scheme. For example, in the north of the country gray, blue, blue and black colors prevail. Brown and white are much less common. In the south - more often black, brown, white, gray, blue, less often - blue. This mainly applies to men's clothing. Women's outfits are more vivid colors.
Hats
The next element of the traditional costume is no less important. This is a hat. In the north, tou jin was used - a piece of white fabric, in the south - black. The Chinese also wear felt round caps and cloth caps with a bump on the top of their heads. A huge variety of shapes in the southern regions are wicker hats Li or Cao Mao. Wide fields help protect your head from the sun and tropical rain. Hats are made of bamboo and palm leaves split into strips. Often there are also rounded patterns resembling a mushroom in shape. Another option is a cone-shaped tall hat, decorated with painted ornaments. Only men wear hats. The Chinese national costume for a girl, girl or woman does not imply such accessories.
Footwear
And the final touch. These are the shoes. Most often, the Chinese wore light black shoes with a cloth top and a thick sole covered with white cotton fabric. Heels in such shoes were absent. The Chinese made them mostly on their own. Wealthy people wore silk-top shoes. A Chinese girl in a national costume, as a rule, could boast an ornament with beautiful embroidery. In the event of mourning, they wore white shoes.
The northerners wore zhan se. These are felt massive shoes. Often there were also leather shoes.
The rural population preferred to wear light woven sandals - rope, straw or hemp - with a low back and a square toe. Shoes were tied to the leg at the ankle with ropes, or fingers were slipped under a transverse jumper made of thick braid. Over time, cities began selling sandals with thick solid wooden soles. Dear women's shoes were covered with paint or varnish. Some models had a low heel.
In a word, this is what Chinese national costumes looked like. Today in the country, of course, they wear the usual European clothes for us. However, the Chinese do not forget about traditional dresses.