ChineseClothing

漢朝Han Dynasty
People in the Western Han Dynasty used four seasons and solar terms to determine the colors of their clothing. For instance, when spring came, they dressed in blue. Women in the Han Dynasty dressed themselves in an outfit that consisted of a blouse and a skirt.
With the development of textile, more slight and soft cloth had been invented and thus gave more change in clothes. The characteristic of this era is low-cup, narrow sleeve, cape, clothes of women disguise as men, high-waist, tight-clothes, Ming-Yi(明衣), the clothes of other nationality (胡服).
Apart from dresses, women in Song dynasty wore pants as well. There was a special custom of foot-binding at that time. The Song people considered footbinding a symbol of beauty and elegance. Therefore, women would wear pants shorter than their legs to expose their bound feet to catch people’s eyes.
The Han Dynasty was powerful and its economy was steady, so its people had higher demands in make-up and clothing. Meanwhile, the famous Silk Road started and promoted the interchange between Chinese and Western cultures. Therefore, silk spread around the world through the Silk Road, and the western style in clothing also began to affect the Chinese. Through this assimilation, new trends emerged.

It was until the Northern and Southern dynasties that women’s clothes, which were influenced by the Northern Chinese, became more light and convenient than the clothing of Han dynasty.
隋唐Tang Dynasty
The Tang Dynasty was a great era where the frequent interchange of cultures between the East and the West happened, which transformed the traditional clothes into a brand-new trend.
元朝Yuan Dynasty
The Yuan Dynasty was influenced by the Han nationality. Clothing had become more and more gorgeous and featured on robe. Because of Mongol nationality’s custom, men in that time liked to grow plaited hair and wear earring. They wore a wide-brimmed rain hat in summer, while wore fur coat, leather boot and leather hat in winter. Many of mandarin’s clothes were robe had narrow sleeves.
先秦Pre-Qin
During the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, people wore a suit of clothes, which consisted of a long top part with a belt around the waist and a lower part. The top part came in five primary colors: blue, red, yellow, white and black. It had short sleeves with a hem that dangled to the knees. Also, the hems of the neck and sleeves would be beautifully embroidered.
Women usually wore dresses with a belt fastened above the breast. The colors of dresses mostly came in red, purple, yellow and green. The dress would contain a low-cut bodice with a cape behind. Besides, women would put on an additional dress made of transparent silk. The kind of dress used to be underwear before the Tang dynasty.
History Of Chinese Clothing
Teacher: 趙琪芬 (Laura Chao, Grade 11 English) Students: 廖元秀 蔡伯榮 劉懿庭 許婷姿
Da Zhi Senior High School
Foreword
Chinese clothing has a long-term history. For the ancient Chinese, the purpose of clothes was not just for protecting and covering the body, but for showing profound meanings which prevailed in society. Thus, observing the development of clothes gives us a chance to understand their society, economy, culture, and even their mentality.
魏晉南北朝 Wei, Jin, Northern and Southern dynasties
The Wei, Jin, Northern and Southern Dynasties were not stable. In fact, the society was in great turmoil. Therefore, the intellectuals avoided politics but resorted to the philosophies of Taoism and Buddhism, which affected their clothing. They preferred to wear loose clothes, mainly in white.
Women’s clothes of Song dynasty were very similar to those of Han dynasty. They were long dresses with narrow sleeves. Additionally, women would put on a long-sleeved.
宋朝Song Dynasty
This was the time for the emergence of li xue, a school of Confucianism in idealistic philosophy. Affected by the thoughts, the clothes of Song dynasty were usually plain. Most of vestments were big sleeve. They used different colors of clothes to tell their status.
Women’s clothing followed a similar trend. They especially liked to wear dresses with loose belts around the waist and pieces of triangleshaped cloth on the back of the skirt. They wanted to create the image of a bird flying when they walked.
During war time, more convenient clothes were needed, so a new type of clothing came into being. The long top part was replaced with a short form. The people began to wear trousers and boots, which made it easier to move in combat. This new type of clothing was popular at that time.