Ancient Chinese Clothing

During the Pre-Qing Dynasty (also known as the Manchu Dynasty was the last ruling dynasty of China from 1644 to 1912.); the prevalent ancient Chinese clothing was broadly referred to as hanfu with many variations such as traditional Chinese academic dress. Every individual stratum displayed a different fashion. In fact the military was totally distinctive in its appearance. As you can see, the Hanfu has a colorful history dating back 3000 years and more. In fact the dress was even worn by the legendary Yellow Emperor. It was popular since long before the Qing Dynasty came into power in the mid seventeenth century. Since the material of this ancient Chinese clothing was always silk, supposedly discovered by the Yellow Emperor's consort, Leizu, the Hanfu was also called 'silk robes'.

There is a great difference between the Han way of dressing and the Manchurian influence. It is as yet an unsolved problem which of the two would be the correct traditional costume of the ancient Chinese. Some costumes commonly thought of as typically Chinese, such as the qipao, are the result of influence by brutal laws (Queue Order) imposed by Manchurian rulers of the Qing Dynasty, and are regarded by some advocates as not being "traditionally" Han.The sleeves of the garments were wide, and loose fitting, with sashes being added as ornamentation. Darker shades were preferred over light ones. Lighter coloured clothing was worn more commonly by the common people. The original ancient Chinese clothing was referred to as the Han Chinese clothing. The outfit was called the Hanfu. With the coming of various dynasties, the hanfu underwent a lot of modifications.

The higher the rank, more flamboyant and ornate their attire. This included the length of a skirt, the wideness of a sleeve and the degree of ornamentation. Further, the Hanfu became looser. The sleeves were wider and the yi was fastened with a sash which was adorned with jade ornaments. Since left-handedness was looked down upon, the yi was essentially draped in a style known as jiaoling youren, or wrapping the right side over before the left.In the ancient Chinese clothing most of the traditional designs were unisex uncomplicatedly cut. However, as the dynasties changed, gender specificity came into the shenyi. The men typically wore pants and women, skirts. Each dynasty had their own styles of Hanfu as they evolved.