As most of you know already, the true traditional dress of the Han Chinese is the Hanfu and not the qipao. The qipao was imposed upon the Han Chinese by the Manchus. Sadly, since the Qing dynasty was the last dynasty, the qipao is still regarded as the national dress and has not be supplanted by the Hanfu.

However, for most of chinese history since the times of the fabled Yellow Emperor, the Chinese have worn Hanfu or various kinds of Hanfu. Unfortunately, many ignorant chinese on the mainland even today, confuse the Hanfu with the Kimono. Many young chinese of today organize Hanfu revivals where they go on the street dressed in traditional Hanfu and ignorant passerbys would think they are wearing kimono.



The quote above is from wikipedia.

Isn't it a shame that many Chinese don't even know what our own national dress looks like and think its a kimono?

The problem is, most chinese people do not care. It seems only young, educated, cultured people feel strongly about this. Except for in period dramas or film where the hanfu can be seen, I don't think this is enough.

I hope that in the Beijing olympics in 2008, the Hanfu will be shown to the world.

why not just make a statement, wear it out to all public gatherings, and when people confuse it, yell at them for ignorance and then smartly talk about the great chinese culture?

but Ithink the basics of the problem goes back to the fact that during one period of the communist party, and, to some extent, even now, the government encourages people to learn from, and in most cases, emulate the western societies. This is why the chinese people have all but forgotten the traditional chinese way of dressing.

Once Chinese socio-culture becomes dominant, chinese fashion designers might make hanfu designs and it will catch on with the public.

thats the problem. not enough people in China care. Most of the peasants are too busy making a living to care. The government clearly doesn't give a $hit. And the Chinese middle class people are too busy worshipping western culture to care about the traditional Chinese culture. Its fu-ked.

you must be bored.

The cultural revolution has something to do with this, blame Mao and the Manchus. I think it is hard to distinguish the Kimono and Hanfu....Anyone care to point out difference?

I blame Mao for not appreciating the ancient Chinese culture...

Any Beijingers here? When the Olympics come, you can wear hanfu out on the streets.

He did. Its just that he appreciated more of the philosophical/artistic (poetry) stuff. Plus, that kind of clothing went against the whole Marxist ideal that had been developed in the Soviet Union.

Yep, I know he loved Chinese poetry and also wrote poems himself. But things like our ancient clothing are too important to China's culture to just be ignored and thrown WAY in the background. It really is a huge shame that the hanfu, which the Chinese people have been wearing for more than 4000 years is practically unknown and unseen today...even mistaken for another culture's traditional costume.
What have the Japanese done that has so successfully made the kimono recognized all around the world as their traditional costume?

i think the qipao dress is sexy tho. it really flatters the woman's curves.

japanese culture is very popular worldwide due to their success of their economy.

when china becomes a richer and more educated society, i hope the chinese people will look back and realize the importance of the Hanfu and revive it.

sadly, it seems like only a small core of the young chinese people of today really care about the past so much.

don't any chinese people watch chinese dramas? the people wear hanfu

It doesn't have anything to do with communist or non-communist. Nor does it have anything to do with how westernized the average Chinese person dresses. It has to do with how the average Chinese thinks that the qipao is the de facto national dress, when the don't realize it's merely something the uncultured bastard manchus' imposed on society from the last dynasty. I mean... why didn't guys also keep their ridiculous looking male hair style too?



The original qipao worned by the Manchu aristocrats were quite different from the "sexy" ones you see today.

Now, I'm not trying to argue which one looks better and therefore justified which one should be made the national dress. Yes, Manchus' ARE Chinese, and no, I'm not preaching Han chauvinism. But China is a de facto Han nation. As Ling7 said earlier, HanFu dates back to 4000 years ago. It's a Chinese cultural tradition we need to revive. It really is a shame to compare ourselves as Chinese to our Korean and Japanese counterparts, who did a much better job at Westernizing, and yet at the same time, preserving cultural traditions.

That's the thing that gets me...

joost, a lot of Chinese people watch Chinese dramas I'm sure - so I'd be surprised if any Chinese person mistakes a hanfu for a kimono.

Duh! A dress is just a dress. Qipao is practical. Hanfu is not. You want to revive Hanfu by forcing people abadoning qipao? you might as well abolish Mandarin which is heavily influenced by Manchu language.

I don't know about the Manchu language influencing Mandarin bit but that's interesting. I think most people are aware that Hanfu is wore by Han people and Qipao is a Manchurian tradition, although I've met tons and especially Westerners who don't know this. But I choose function over fashion. A woman's gotta walk.

That is what confuses me...

Hanfu is beautiful and should be Chinese national costume.

Qipao we see today is modernized... traditional qipao is very unattractive to me

It's not about practicality...
I just want it to be known that the hanfu is China's traditional dress - because it IS. I'm not expecting to be wearing hanfu on the streets as if it were everyday clothes.

I'm not sure how much the aspect of practicality plays in traditional wear. I mean, seeing as how many heavy layers are worn for a kimono (not to mention the highly uncomfortable wooden footwear), it's pretty hard to walk in it, yet its the traditional wear of Japan. I would very much place my bet on the Hanfu with its light, breathable material against the kimono, in terms of mobility any day! I mean, our ancestor walked...can't be that hard, can it?

2 years old thread, close it.

Qipao was designed by the whore, how Qipao become China's traditional dress

The central government isn't going to promote HanFu, as it glorifies Han Chinese tradition and fear the backlash of other minorities raving over the subject. I've had such discussions on mainland Chinese forums, the interesting thing is besides the majority Han Chinese folks don't give a shyt "how are you going to dress like that to work? (cuz You don't, fukking idiot. it's a holiday custom, or you dress it in important event like a wedding)"isn't that kimono?" (and you get a mandatory slap-in-the face for saying it), the people who oppose it the firecest are the Manchu descent, I guess they have a feeling whatever that glorifies Han Chinese culture, automatically leads to crusifiction of Manchus and others who had something in play in history. and considering how Manchu descents are of significance in todays Chinese political and social environment, the central government isn't going to promote it.

Search on Baidu.com for Hanfu, you'll see a lot of modern Chinese students are trying to promote it and there are tons of pics, although often faced with ridicule from the crowd, it takes time to educate people of "new" ideas. I do have to admit, Hanfu looks good only in both men and women in long hairs, so maybe wearing a wig along should be mandatory.

Again, the problem lays in the foundamental idea of this obsurd "zhong hua min zu", it downplays every ethnicity's own culture and identity which only makes everybody unhappy.

the hanfu should be revived for special occasions, but for everyday practical dress, no its silly. not only that but i'm sure that not everybody will be able to afford one either and to add to that do you honestly think that ancient peasants wore extravagant and colorful hanfu while working in the fields all day?

I have one.

But, it's coming out again. Unfortunately, it is really a big hassle to put it on and everything, that's probably why people prefer the Qipao for traditional events rather than the Hanfu.

Ugly people always look ugly regardless wearing Hanfu or Qipao.

lol, i had a great laugh. lol

Hanfu can look very beautiful


but it looks kinda awkward if you wear it on the street today imo

^it looks awkward because those dummies are half assing it and wearing their ordinary clothes underneath. not to mention, not everyone can pull it off because China has a wide range in looks. you've got to look uber Han to make it look right in my opinion