Chinese fashion show amazes Egyptian audience in Cairo

A Chinese costume fashion show captivated on Saturday the Egyptian audience who highly admired the Chinese designs.

The show, dubbed Silk Road Impression China Fashion Show, was held at the open-air theatre of Cairo's renowned Opera House and was attended by dozens of Chinese and Egyptian visitors.

The show, which was organized by the Chinese Cultural Center in Cairo, featured a large collection of colorful dresses and costumes that represent China and its culture.

Dressed in colorful dresses decorated with Chinese embroidery, Chinese and Egyptian models won the applause of the audience who showed admiration for the Chinese costumes.

"The fashion show is really amazing. The dresses are so beautiful and the colors are eye-catching," Mayar Mahmoud, a college student who came with her friends to attend the fashion show, told Xinhua.

Mahmoud said that it was her first time ever to attend a fashion show, noting that she was lucky enough that it was a Chinese fashion show.

"I loved the dresses, their colors and styles. They look very traditional, but at the same time they suit non-Chinese very much and can be dressed in several occasions," the young lady added.

The designs and colors of the costume did not only grab the attention of fashion lover, but also professional fashion designers.

Egyptian world-class fashion designer Hani Beheiri said that the show was a good message to introduce Chinese fashion to Egypt.

"I loved this fashion show because it reflected the spirit of China and it is really amazing to have such events in Egypt," the renowned fashion designer told Xinhua.

Beheiri noted that this show helped Egyptians know what Chinese fashion designs look like, adding that the collection was breathtaking.

"It showed that Chinese women love colorful silk clothes. Although the collection is generally modern, it bears very unique cultural characteristics that took us back in history," Beheiri said.

Famous Chinese fashion designer and the curator of the show Yang Beibei said the costumes on the show are a series that reflect China's 24 solar terms, which is very important in China's traditional culture.

"I designed one set of clothes for each solar term and decorated them with different flowers and plants according to the seasons. This is very representative of Chinese culture, so I want to show it to the Egyptian friends," she said.

The 24 solar terms, based on the sun's position in the zodiac, were created by farmers in ancient China to guide the agricultural affairs and farming activities.

The 24 solar terms reflect the changes in climate, natural phenomena, agricultural production, and other aspects of human life, including clothing, food, housing, and transportation.

The solar terms play important roles and have greatly influenced people's basic needs in life, and they still have an important function nowadays.

"I invited six Egyptian models and six Chinese models, reflecting the friendship and cultural exchanges between China and Egypt," she said.

"This is my second visit to Egypt. The last time was for an exhibition. I was very happy this time because I came with my designs," the Chinese designer said.

She stressed that Egypt is a country with an ancient civilization, expressing hope that she could integrate the Egyptian culture with the Chinese culture in future designs.

Laudable aim to revive tradition

THE qipao or cheongsam, with variations in style, are typically worn during Chinese festivals including Chinese New Year.

For something different this year, however, you might want to consider donning the hanfu instead, to usher in the Year of the Boar.

In 2007, non-governmental organisation Young Malaysians Movement (YMM) Taman Sri Petaling branch in Kuala Lumpur started the Hanfu Movement as they were keen to spread awareness of hanfu, Han etiquette and traditional Chinese culture.

YMM member Sin Chen Yeong said most Chinese in Malaysia are of Han descent and hanfu is the traditional outfit of the Han.

“Pioneer YMM members started the movement with hopes that local Chinese would more learn about Chinese culture.

“Many think the cheongsam is traditional Chinese attire, but it is actually Manchurian.

“The form fitting cheongsam you see today is a modified version of the loose-fitting Manchurian qipao.

“Many Han-Chinese adopted the Manchurian hairstyle and clothing to conform and avoid persecution during the Qing dynasty,” he said of the Manchus who were an ethnic minority in China then.

He stressed that YMM was not against wearing the cheongsam as it was also a variation of a Chinese outfit.

“We have nothing against the cheongsam.

“It is a free country and people can dress as they like as it is a personal choice.

“We just want to raise awareness that the hanfu was around even before the cheongsam came about,” said Sin.

He added that while it was nice to see the Malays and Indians wearing their traditional costumes regularly, it was a pity that the Chinese no longer do so.

“We have received positive feedback from other races who think our hanfu is beautiful. Some of them also enjoy trying it on during our events,” Sin said.

Appreciating the hanfuAccording to Sin, hanfu is a general term referring to the clothing of the Chinese, encompassing its many variations, similar to the baju melayu, a general term for Malay clothing.

“The basic form is the ‘Y’ collar.

“This style has also influenced the Japanese and Koreans as they are part of the Sinosphere (East-Asian cultural sphere).

“The robes of monks also have the same collar,” he said.

The was no obvious difference for men and women in the basic design, but women tend to prefer flowery patterns on their hanfu, said Sin, citing examples of theshuheand ruqun.

“It is important to note that the left lapel is draped over the right as the opposite direction is only used when one is deceased,” he said.

Sin also dispelled several misconceptions about the Han.

“Some think the hanfu originated from the Han dynasty, but this is not so. The hanfu was worn by the Han-Chinese throughout the various dynasties up till the end of the Ming dynasty,” he explained.

“People have this notion that the hanfu is bulky, but there are variations, worn according to the four seasons.

“There are even hanfu designs suitable for our hot climate.

“We can opt for cotton and lightweight materials, and a simpler sleeve design (as opposed to the ones with large sleeves),” he said.

Those interested in getting a hanfu can either get it tailor-made or purchased online, Sin shared.

“Previously, we could only get it from China, but these days, there are local tailors who are able to make the hanfu.

“Most Malaysian tailors are skilled in western cutting for clothes.

“To make a hanfu, you need tailors who know how to follow oriental designs and sew the clothes properly,” said Sin.

He was happy to see more people were embracing the hanfu, and the trend is growing.

“Of late, I have noticed people wearing the hanfu in areas where we have not been to promote them.

“Like in Melaka where I am from, I have noticed people wearing the hanfu.

“Some may think only the older generation are interested in traditional culture, but we were surprised to see youths joining us as they are interested to learn about more Chinese culture too.”

He added, “Ten years ago, you would get stares if you wear a hanfu, but in recent years, there has been more acceptance among the public.

“Some people mistake the hanfu for the traditional Japanese yukata or kimono, or the Korean hanbok,” he said.

He also related an incident where he was once mistaken for a monk in Melaka when wearing a hanfu to a Chinese temple.

“The temple caretaker thought I was a monk and clasped his hands together to greet me!” he laughed.

Traditional greeting stylesAside from clothes, the members also showed several ways of greeting people in the olden days.

The common form is gong shou, whereby one hand is wrapped over the fist, similar to how one would wish gong xi gong xi during Chinese New Year.

For men, the practice is to wrap the left hand over the right while for women, it is the other way round.

Ping yi is another greeting gesture, similar to gong shou except the palms are open and face inwards, not clenched into a fist like the gong shou.

A more formal way is to have your arms stretched further.

YMM Taman Sri Petaling branch chairman Wong Chin Loong said to promote hanfu and Chinese culture, the association organises several activities throughout the year such as etiquette workshops, hanfu tailoring workshops, archery classes and an annual cultural camp.

These activities are usually held in August or September.

The association will have its annual Han Feast in March to raise awareness of Chinese dining etiquette.

The Power, the Intrigue, the Clothes

Now that the awful heat is moderating, it’s time to ask: What was the most popular cultural phenomenon of the summer? Hint: It wasn’t “Crazy Rich Asians,” and it wasn’t the computer-animated “Incredibles 2,” despite its billion-dollar gross. Think bigger: The summer’s hottest property was “Story of Yanxi Palace” — a TV costume drama on a Chinese streaming service, whose tales of scheming empresses and backstabbing concubines in 18th-century Beijing have been watched 17 billion times, according to Maoyan, the Chinese online ticketing and statistics provider, or more than twice for every person on earth. Its ratings crush America’s most viewed shows dozens of times over, and “Story of Yanxi Palace” has had knock-on effects throughout China: for one, it’s filliped attendance at Beijing’s Palace Museum, housed in the Forbidden City where those aristocratic women preened and conspired.

You can stream the 70 episodes of “Story of Yanxi Palace” at your leisure, but you don’t have to go all the way to Beijing to discover the luxe lives of the Qing dynasty’s imperial women. Their gowns, their jewelry, their religious accouterments and the paintings they appreciated can now be found here in Massachusetts, in “Empresses of China’s Forbidden City”: a huge and opulent exhibition at the Peabody Essex Museum that excavates the lives of women behind the Forbidden City walls. The objects here date from the late 17th century to the foundation of the republic in 1912, and almost 200 of them are on loan from the Palace Museum, the bulk never before seen in the United States.

For all its splendor, “Empresses” is a gratifyingly rigorous show. Qing-era historians left only bare-bones outlines of women’s lives, and both the exhibition and a hefty catalog use clothing, paintings and the decorative arts to fill in big gaps in the Chinese historical record. It opens with a grand evocation of an imperial wedding in 1889, when the Guangxu emperor married the young Xiaoding in a midnight ceremony. One of Xiaoding’s silk wedding gowns is here, and its awesome detailing, from the roundels of gold dragons and phoenixes on the body to the groovy multicolored waves on its hem, signify her ascent to mother of the nation. In five paintings on paper, which make use of wonky, half-mastered western perspective, we see Xiaoding borne through the Forbidden City on a palanquin adorned with peacock feathers; courtiers and servants have packed the gardens and pavilions, and everyone is preparing for the court’s new calculus of power and prestige.

Each Qing emperor had several wives, only one of whom would be classed as “empress.” She sat atop a hierarchy of eight levels of imperial women, ranging from beloved consorts to concubines to glorified servants; above the empress herself was her mother-in-law, the dowager empress, who effectively picked her son’s brides. One’s place in the imperial harem was signified by exacting differentials in privileges: how many servants you got, what plates you could eat off and what colors you could wear. Only the empress, the empress dowager, and consorts of the second rank could wear the bright yellow gown here from the later 18th century, made of gleaming satin and bedecked with dragons and clouds of metal-wrapped silk.

The empress and top-tier consorts would also express rank through jewelry, whether ornate jade hairpins or tortoiseshell bangles that clinked on the arms. They also got the best shoes — the Qing elite were Manchus, from the northeast of China, and did not bind women’s feet. One extraordinary pair of pearl-festooned platform boots here, to be worn on horseback, would not have been out of place on “Soul Train.”

Though they sat at the heart of Chinese influence, the women at the Qing court were classified as the emperor’s “inalienable possessions.” Your best bet for moving up the ladder was to bear a son — since the imperial succession was merit-based, and any of the emperor’s boys could be his heir. A scroll painting here from around 1844 depicts the Daoguang emperor sitting beside a woman with a pinched faced and calm smile. Her name was Quan, and she entered the Forbidden City at the bottom of the heap, but was elevated in the imperial harem after giving birth to a boy. Check out the dress: she’s wearing yellow, and therefore has made it to the top.

Some empresses had little to no romantic attachment to the emperor, while others formed deep attachments to the monarch. The Qianlong emperor, one of China’s greatest cultural patrons, married the empress Xiaoxian before he ascended to the throne, and when she died young in 1748 he wrote an aching funeral elegy for her in watery, grief-haunted calligraphy. Yet this exhibition — like the hit soap opera “Story of Yanxi Palace” — is ultimately not about love but about power: how to get power, how to wield power, and how to maintain power in circumstances not propitious for your gender.

No one did it better than Cixi, the dowager empress and de facto ruler of China for much of the later 19th century. She too came up from the lower ranks of consorts after giving birth to a boy, and when her husband died she installed herself as her son’s regent, remaking Chinese politics in the process. Almost all the images of other empresses in this show would not have been seen outside the Forbidden City, but Cixi employed the newly arrived technology of photography to burnish her standing; at the dawn of the new century she posed in a resplendent silk robe, towers of plums by her side, the picture of stability. She also cunningly used religious imagery to solidify her status. One bizarre painting here depicts her as a bodhisattva, riding through the sea on a bed of lotus petals.

Cixi also cultivated foreign supporters, and this show closes with a large, Art Nouveau-ish portrait of Cixi by the American painter Katharine A. Carl, which she commissioned to charm American audiences after the anti-foreign Boxer Rebellion. Deathly two-dimensional, the painting shows Cixi in extreme stillness; pearls cascade down her neckline, and on her hands are green press-on fingernails as long as eagles’ talons. As a work of art, it’s ghastly. As a work of political craftsmanship, it is knavishly impressive.

“Empresses” has been organized by Daisy Yiyou Wang, a curator at the Peabody Essex, and Jan Stuart, a curator at the Freer and Sackler Galleries in Washington, to which this show will travel next year. It runs through February though the Palace Museum’s loan restrictions will require the curators to rotate new objects at the Peabody Essex in November and to send some of its current prizes back home. Whether you catch this cycle or the next, this is a rare glimpse of collections we rarely see in the United States — and as the world’s two superpowers butt heads, collaborations between Chinese and American museums deserve all the support they can get.

Travel Back in Time to China's Glorious Past Dynasties With Han Couture

China, with its 5,000 years of civilization, was once known as “Shen Zhou,” which translates to The Divine Land. It was said that the deities passed down this rich culture from the heavens, including music, medicine, calligraphy, and beautiful attire.

Most people perceive the “qipao” to be the quintessence of traditional Chinese dresses, but in fact, the qipao is the traditional clothing of the Manchus, and not the Han Chinese. Moreover, the modern qipao is very different from the traditional version.

The Han race is the largest ethnic group in China, and the Han have their own traditional clothing called “Hanfu,” or Han couture, which has been around for more than 3,000 years. Han couture almost disappeared following the Manchus taking power over China in 1644, when the Qing Dynasty was established.

Han couture, which includes prominent design styles from the prosperous Song Dynasty (960–1279 C.E.), to the magnificent Tang Dynasty (618–907 C.E.), one can appreciate each dynasty’s spirit embodied within. Han couture took on different styles with each dynasty due to the differences in cultural ideas and values.

Imagine traveling back in time by wearing the traditional clothes from China’s past dynasties? Would we be able to rediscover the nearly lost glorious culture that once flourished in the land of China, as well as the virtues that were prized dynasty after dynasty?

Envision yourself wearing one of the most popular classic dresses of the Tang Dynasty, the “Qi Xiong Ru Qun,” in which the short shirt jacket is tucked inside the high-waisted skirt. The skirt is tied very high up on the chest and under the armpits.

With the big-sleeved shirt, and the skirt that flows gracefully down from the chest, it produces both a majestic and slimming effect, making one look elegant and more slender.

Influenced by Confucian ideas of propriety, the people of the Song Dynasty favored simpler, more reserved, and delicate styles with narrow sleeves.

Picture yourself donning a Song-style Ruqun dress, which consists of a blouse, and a wrap-around skirt, and Beizi, and a knee-length outer jacket with a straight collar.

The pleated skirt looks very feminine, and the soft, delicate pattern exudes a quiet and refined charm.

During the Ming Dynasty (1368 to 1644 C.E.), dignified, subdued fashion was preferred.

Ming Dynasty clothing was influenced by the Mongol-led Yuan Dynasty.

Thus, when putting on the prominent dressing of the Ming Dynasty, the “Ao Qun,” in which a loose and billowing shirt is tucked outside an embroidered skirt with pleats, (unlike previous dynasties), you’ll feel it resembles the Korean Hanbok.

In traditional Chinese men’s attire, hats defined a man’s status, and robes were made for every occasion.

Scholars and officials wore high hats. Also, their sleeves were wider and the “yi” (a narrow-cuffed, knee-length tunic), was fastened with a wide belt adorned with jade ornaments.

The higher the status, the more complex and flamboyant the garments, and the more ornaments they displayed in their attire.

Though each dynasty had its unique styles, its basic style and characteristics remained the same.

Han couture generally includes a jacket for the upper garment and an ankle-length skirt for the lower garment; and the collar was always folded over to the right, implying the harmonizing of Yang (positive force) over Yin (negative force).

Interestingly, each aspect of Han couture has its inner meanings.

According to an NTD video, it states, “The large circular cuffs represents a round heavenly path,” while the straight seam in the middle of the back of the dress signifies “humans walking between heaven and earth” or “righteousness,” and the tied waistband “is a symbol of humans being tied to the heavenly rules.”

As stated in a report by PureInsight.org, the ancient Chinese hung a piece of jade on their belt to remind themselves to behave properly. According to Confucianism, jade represents the virtues of courage, wisdom, modesty, justice and compassion.

You may have already felt so yourself, and that is, an outfit can change a person from the outside in.

There’s no denying that these timeless garments, inspired by the divine, will bring about an air of refinement, graciousness, and dignity in the wearer.

The Manchurian Princess

The princesses of the Manchurian court and maidens of noble families were a signature sight of China’s last dynasty, the Qing (1644-1911 C.E.). These ladies wore elaborate headdresses, elevated shoes, and long qipao gowns with lavish embellishments along with their collars, hems, and slits made of heavy satin or silk. Perhaps for every fashionista, beauty comes at a price, and this was indeed the case for Manchurian women.

Manchurian ladies wore huge fan-shaped headdresses decorated with flowers on the front and back, with two strings of tassels running down each side. What’s more, the ladies’ pedestal shoes had “heels” in the middle of the footwear, which forced them to walk in tiny steps while gently swinging their arms to and fro. Sewn with beautiful floral designs and patterns, the shoes are made and set atop an elevated base creating a flower-pot effect; hence they’re called “flower-pot shoes.”

Now, it’s important we don’t confuse between the Manchurian and Chinese qipaos. These two qipaos have similar designs but are strikingly different in terms of style. The Chinese qipao originated from Shanghai and became popular during the 20th century. They were evening dresses for women and were designed to be sleeveless and tight-fitted. The Manchurian qipao, however, is attire that could be worn in all seasons. Greatly adorned and made with satin or silk, these one-piece dresses ran from the collar down to the ankle, with a small opening down the side of the calves. The dresses are also worn with matching pants, ensuring only the head, hands, and feet are exposed. In the winter, Manchurian qipao also often embeds cotton or fur to keep the ladies warm.

So, what exactly are these ladies called? Their title, “ge-ge,” originated from a Manchurian term meaning “miss” or “lady.” Ge-ge are known, even to this day, for holding themselves with dignified grace and beauty while strolling the halls of the Manchurian court. They presented perfect posture and etiquette, greeting their superiors with a gentle toss of their hand-held silk handkerchief, or curtsying on the side to express respect. In public view, the ge-ge were a symbol of ultimate beauty and elegance, so they always had to be mindful of their every move to stay graceful.

With such high demands, perhaps the happiest time in the day of these ladies was when they took off their flower-pot shoes. Yet, this way of life was also deeply rewarding for themselves and inspiring for those who looked upon them and admired the purity of their beauty.

An Elegant Manchurian Bookmark
What better way to capture the image of Manchurian grace than your favorite page holder? Featuring a beautifully colored silhouette of a Manchurian princess on 24K gold, this ultra-thin and ultra-light bookmark comes with a tassel that will conveniently help you pick up right where you left off. Stylistic and practical, this bookmark will surely be any bookworm’s best friend.

Why a Chinese dress set off a cultural debate about identity and history

Yet again a dress has sparked a furious debate over cultural appropriation in the US, this time after a high school graduate wore a qipao, a Chinese-style dress, to her prom. Twitter-user Jeremy Lam set off the current debate with a tweeted comment after seeing a photo taken at the prom: “My culture is NOT your goddamn prom dress.” Last year it was Karlie Kloss wearing a kimono for a Vogue cover. Only in America.

The responses to Lam’s tweet have included ethnic slurring, calls for tolerance, sympathy for Lam as the oppressed minority, sympathy for the girl in the prom dress, and claims and counter-claims about the status and meaning of the dress in question, the qipao (pronounced “chee-pow”). Is it “a sacred garment” as some have claimed, or, as the girl in the photo responded, is it just “a f***ing dress”?

With thousands of young Chinese-Americans attending high school proms each year, this is unlikely to have been the first time a qipao has served as a prom dress. The problem for Lam and his many “likers” is that in the tweeted photo of a prom in Utah last week, the girl wearing the red embroidered qipao is “white”. Her name is Keziah Daum and she joins venerable company. Among famous qipao-wearers of the Western world are Grace Kelly, Elizabeth Taylor, Nicole Kidman and Anne Hathaway.

In the course of this brouhaha, some odd statements have been made about the qipao. Lam himself bizarrely describes its origins as lying in a shapeless garment made for Chinese women to wear when they were doing housework. In its more shapely final form, he advises, it was a “symbol of activism” and an expression of “gender equality”.

Amy Qin was not much closer to the mark when she wrote in The New York Times: “In its original form, the dress was worn in a baggy style, mostly by upper-class women in the Qing dynasty, which ruled China for more than 250 years, until 1912.”

There is indeed a view that the qipao (literally “banner gown”) directly evolved from the clothing worn by women of the Qing ruling class, the Manchus, or Banner people. But the relationship is tenuous.

The origins of the dress

The word qipao did not make an appearance until the 20th century and was one of a number of words used to refer to the garment. Among those, the most familiar in the English-speaking world is the Cantonese cheongsam (literally “long garment”). Like many other signs of Cantonese culture in the greater Chinese diaspora, this one is gradually being buried under the weight of Mandarin usage, but it is a reminder that there is more than one way of talking about things in Chinese, and more than one set of attitudes.

It was in Shanghai that the qipao took definitive shape. A browse through fashion features in the Chinese press in the 1920s reveals a mix of elements in various novel designs before the familiar dress appeared. The familiar, figure-hugging dress with its mandarin collar and long side splits finally emerges in the late 1920s. Its status was cemented when the newly established Nationalist government recognised it as formal dress in 1928.

In the longer term, the dress has proved to have an ambivalent position in the Chinese cultural landscape. Historically it was more likely to be worn by a call girl than by an activist. During the Mao years it faded from popularity before disappearing altogether, having become a symbol of bourgeois decadence. In China today it is often worn by the bride to her wedding banquet, but is perhaps most commonly used as a uniform for female staff in stores and big hotels.

As long as champions of the qipao are calling for the importance of understanding its history before putting it on (and Lam does just this), its complex design origins and historical social status are relevant to the debate.
Questions of identity

New and revised values can certainly be attached to cultural objects and from this perspective the debate itself is more interesting than its subject. The twittering started in America, but soon enough embroiled mainland Chinese, Hong Kongers, Taiwanese and Singaporeans. Faultlines emerged between people in these various categories. One mainland Chinese person tweeted, “qipao is not a Chinese ‘traditional’ dress at all. I can’t stand these Americans calling it ‘sacred’ to the Chinese culture. What are you talking about lol.”

The Chinese-Americans have proved themselves not all daunted. They have all studied Identity 101: “It’s an asian-american thing,” tweeted Roses-are-red, “… because we’re specifically taught that we gotta hide our chinese identity and assimilate to white culture and then some white chick with a shallow appreciation of chinese culture gets to wear a qipao and suddenly it’s ~cool and quirky~”

Such visceral reactions from both sides suggest that Chinese-white relations constitute only one of many factors shaping attitudes to Chinese culture in the USA. Chinese migration from the mainland is remaking what it means to be Chinese-American. This latest debate is a sure sign that the process is creating anxieties for many.

An Ancient Secret Society of Possessed Executioners

The Duk Duk is a secret society of the Tolai people in Papua New Guinea. This ancient secret sect has played an important social role for centuries and continues to operate today, although with a very different focus. Members of the Duk Duk played the role of judge, jury, and executioner, though it is believed that they were possessed by spirits while performing these tasks. During the colonial period, efforts were made to stamp out the Duk Duk. Although this secret society stills exists today, it no longer carries out its former function and serves mainly as a tourist attraction.

The name ‘Duk Duk’ is believed to be derived either from the Tolai word ‘dekdek’, meaning ‘strong’, or ‘douk’, meaning ‘cruel’. This secret society is part of the social structure of the Tolai people, the name given to the indigenous people who inhabit the Gazelle Peninsula of New Britain, an island in Papua New Guinea . It may be added that secret societies like the Duk Duk may be found in many other Melanesian societies as well.

A Different Definition of Secret Society

Although considered to be a secret society, the Duk Duk is not such an establishment according to the Western understanding of the term. The Duk Duk is a secret society in the sense that its rituals and ceremonies are known only to its members. On the other hand, the identities of its members are known to the rest of the community, even among the uninitiated. Additionally, the Duk Duk had the task of administering justice in Tolai society, and such actions were done openly rather than in secret, when its members decided that the time was right for them to do so.

One of the most notable features of the Duk Duk is the two types of ceremonial costumes worn by its members, both of which consist of a cone head and a leafy body. The difference between the two costumes lies in the facial features on the cone. One of these is faceless and referred to as a Duk Duk, while the other which has large eyes and a thin crescent-shaped mouth, is called a tubuan. The former is believed to attract male spirits, while the latter female ones. Both costumes, however, were worn by men, as women were prohibited from joining the Duk Duk.

What Are the Ritual Grades?

Those who intend to become members of the Duk Duk are required to progress through a series of ‘ritual grades’. There are five of these in total, the first four of which are aimed at differentiating a male from the females by incorporating him into a male community, while the last one serves to differentiate a male from most other males. The first ‘ritual grade’ involves the taking of a boy to the men’s ground, known as a ‘taraiu’. During the second and third ‘ritual grades’, the boy learns that there is a human being within the costume of the tubuan and the Duk Duk.

During the next ‘ritual grade’, the man is required to purchase a Duk Duk costume which involves the expenditure of a considerable amount of divara (shell money). Most men stop at this stage, though the completion of the final stage is a requirement for those who intend to become ‘big men’. The final ‘ritual grade’ involves the buying of a tubuan costume, which not only includes the costume itself, but also the ritual knowledge needed to construct one. The owner of a tubuan costume has the right to sponsor a mortuary ceremony which would earn him prestige.

Justice Administered

In order to administer justice, members of the Duk Duk would begin by dancing in their costumes. They believed that by doing so, they would be possessed by the spirits of their ancestors. In the meantime, the tribal chiefs would carry out discussions, including the need to punish those who broke the law. After the dance, shamans would confirm that the dancers were indeed possessed, and the secret society would travel across the island to execute the sentences proclaimed by the chiefs. These sentences sometimes involved the death of the wrong-doer. Nevertheless, as the executioner was in theory possessed, he was not responsible for his actions and need not feel guilty for killing another person.

During the colonial period, the Duk Duk was seen as a threat to European authority and measures were taken to eradicate this practice. The Christian missions were especially successful in this, as they converted the Tolai to Christianity, thereby getting rid of these ‘heathen practices’ from their culture. In spite of that, the Duk Duk has survived till this day, though without the same importance that was attached to them before the Tolai converted to Christianity . Today, the dance of the Duk Duk is performed for tourists visiting Papua New Guinea without any ritual significance.

The Cambodian designer making Barbie dolls in traditional costume

Despite initially facing disapproval from his family, Cheab Sibora continued to design and produce intricate outfits for the dolls in traditional Khmer style.

"Although I did not receive much support at first, my friends and family have really got behind my project – making Khmer designed outfits for Barbie dolls," he said.

Invented by Ruth Handler in 1959, Barbie is the most successful doll of all time, selling more than one billion of them since it was first launched.

Now Sibora hopes to add to that legacy by giving the dolls, for the first time, a traditional Khmer twist.

He says each costume is inspired by the different cultures and identities across the Kingdom's 25 provinces and cities, with the outfits proving popular among the Cambodian diaspora and foreigners as well.

"Most people who bought them are Khmer people in Cambodia, but I've also had many foreigners. I've not opened a formal design studio for the business yet as I'm currently responding to a backlog of preorders from clients," he says.

The 26-year-old is a self-taught artist and spends two to three days finishing one doll, which sells for $30-$50 each.

"Each doll needs a lot of work and attention to design the embroidery. The fabric needs to be sewn with small beads and sequins one-by-one to create the traditional Khmer designs," he said.

Among the designs is Reachny Ney Krong Kuch (Empress of Pearl Capital), representing Phnom Penh. As part of this design, the Barbie is dressed in a sparkling silver costume adorned with embroidery and pearls from head to toe.

For Pailin Province, famous for its traditional peacock dance, the Moyurana costume is made from bird feathers that compliment the blue pattern silk skirt, all finished with a golden peacock head.

Another outfit representing the ancient capital in Siem Reap, named Neang Tep Apsara, incorporates the Apsara sculptures and carvings of the city's iconic temples.

Sibora's passion for fashion and design began in 2011 when he was a high school student where he drew inspiration from traditional Khmer art, paintings and history books. In 2013, he began his current project.

"Although I did not study art skill, I liked watching fashion shows, browsing catalogues and reading arts book. I was so interested that I decided to try them out even though it was the exact opposite of my studies in IT."

The young designer said he was inspired by a book written by well-known arts scholar Pich Tum Kravil named Khmer Dance.

Tum Kravil's book explored ancient Khmer scripts discovered at Lor Ley Temple dating from the 9th century, describing scenes of a woman dressing up and dancing for holy spirits. This inspired him to bring this ancient beauty into the modern era through the medium of Barbie.

While his classmates encouraged and praised his work, his family initially proved less enthusiastic.

"As my family is very poor, they were concerned that I would not be able to make any money from this and asked me to stop. But because I love what I'm doing, every day and night I would continue in secret without them knowing," he said.

With years spent designing and producing these costumes, Sibora's aspiration is to take his work to the public through a formal exhibition to promote Khmer heritage and culture.

"I've received an offer to display my work. I hope to make younger generations interested in Khmer identity, and help preserve our beautiful tradition and culture passed down by our ancestors," he said.

Sibora publicises his designs through Facebook. For more information, visit his Facebook pages Bora Apsara or Banjureth Art Page.

How authentic are the accessories worn by the empress and concubines in hit TV drama?

The 70-episode Qing dynasty imperial drama Story of Yanxi Palace concluded on August 27 on video platform iQiyi, garnering more than 15 billion views by its finale. Yet, in Hong Kong, the final episode will air on TVB Jade this Saturday.

The whole city is astir over the drama, from its Qing dynasty settings to the ancient Chinese make-up and the intricate costume design.

What made the drama so successful? Thanks to the high standards and meticulous research of the production team, which made the whole drama come alive and immerse its viewers, employing an array of highly authentic props and remaining true to history.

Here we take a look at the accessories of the concubines who appear in the drama, find out the origins of these items and compare some of them with authentic ones from the Palace Museum in Beijing, in order to appreciate the Chinese imperial aesthetic.

Binge-watching, China Style

It's not even October, but already the 70-episode Chinese soap opera "Story of Yanxi Palace" is poised to be one of the biggest Chinese pop culture phenomena of the year. Since its first episodes were uploaded to the Chinese streaming platform iQiyi less than three months ago, the series has drawn more than 15 billion total views, making it one of the most-watched TV shows in Chinese history.

In terms of content, "Yanxi Palace" is typical of the sudsy Chinese genre known as "palace dramas," which has origins in the 2004 Hong Kong TV series "War and Beauty." As the name suggests, palace dramas are generally centered around the vicious court struggles of imperial China, and set against lush, opulent backdrops. Although this description may call to mind Western dramas such as "The Tudors" or "Game of Thrones," palace dramas are unlike these shows in that they are distinctly female-oriented — they focus not on the deeds of brave knights or ambitious lords, but the emotional entanglements and political power struggles of royal concubines as they vie for the emperor's affections.

Yet while "Yanxi Palace" clearly draws on this genre for inspiration, its runaway success is at least partly due to the way the series innovates structural conventions found in palace dramas. These tweaks have resulted in a show so addictive that netizens have coined a new word to describe it: shuangju — a term that roughly translates to "a show that demands to be binge-watched."

The word shuangju is actually an adaptation of a literary term: shuangwen — a binge read. Shuangwen are common in China's massive internet fiction industry, in which binge-ability is a key element of the business model. Popular internet novels such as "Fighter of the Destiny" and "Martial Universe" tell the tales of hot-blooded young men from the bottom rungs of society who, with the help of fate, are able to master mystical martial arts and transform themselves into legendary warriors — one chapter at a time. These novels — some of which have been adapted into shuangju of their own, though none as successful as "Yanxi Palace" — keep their readers engaged by offering up a steady stream of villains for their heroes to defeat as they rise through the ranks and eventually bring peace and prosperity to all the land.

Shuangju follow a similar pattern. By focusing relentlessly on the rise of an audience-insert underdog character, they give watchers frustrated with their own lots in life a chance to live vicariously through the action onscreen. No matter how banal or unremarkable our real lives may be, these bingeable stories offer an escape to a world in which the heroes — us — always win, and the villains — the people in our lives with power and authority over us — get what's coming to them, swiftly.

This last point is key. What makes shows like "Yanxi Palace" so addictive is the immediacy and frequency with which they provide viewers the emotional high of vicarious victory. In classic palace dramas, protagonists suffer frequent defeats. Their triumph is a long and incremental process, delaying viewers' sense of gratification until the very end of the series — if it comes at all. In "War and Beauty," for example, the emperor's concubines continue to scheme and fight, even as rebels storm the castle walls. In the end, they are all either driven from the palace or killed. It may be cathartic to see them get what's coming to them, but it's not particularly empowering.

"Yanxi Palace" dispenses with these narrative conventions in favor of an almost video game-like structure, with the show's audience-insert character — Wei Yingluo, a young woman from a good, though not particularly high-status background — jumping quickly from one level to the next. From the moment she enters the palace on a quest to avenge her murdered sister, hardly an episode goes by without her outwitting or outfighting one of her many rivals — the show's equivalent of a boss fight. It's an intoxicating formula, and one that lets viewers live out their own fantasies of empowerment and social mobility.

Unlike other popular genres — such as China's star-power-driven "idol dramas" — while "Yanxi Palace" has romantic subplots, it never loses sight of this central conceit. The show seems to recognize that its biggest draw — and what keeps viewers coming back for more — isn't romance, but Wei Yingluo's rise to the top.

Not everything about "Yanxi Palace" is new, however, and at times the show's palace-drama DNA betrays itself. Although the Chinese government has recently evinced concern over the morals and values being espoused by popular television programs, the characters in palace dramas in particular can be almost aggressively amoral. Although good — personified in this case by Wei Yingluo — always triumphs over evil, justice on these shows bears a distinct resemblance to eye-for-an-eye mentalities, and Wei is just as likely to poison her enemies outright as to try and get them arrested.

Also indebted to the conventions of palace dramas are the show's sexual politics. Although, like many palace dramas, the cast of "Yanxi Palace" is almost entirely female, many of the women on the show are depicted as conniving sex objects, constantly bickering with one another in their attempts to win male attention and approval. Even Wei Yingluo falls into this trap at points: Once her sister is avenged, she becomes just another concubine fighting for the emperor's affections.

What's more, for all the ways the show indulges in wish-fulfillment and empowerment fantasies, it never actually considers that Wei Yingluo could work her way to the true top of the food chain. She may be able to win over the show's avatar for patriarchy, but she'll never supplant him. And the show never even considers that she might not want to struggle at all, but rather leave the palace entirely and live out her own life in peace.

For those wondering how a show with such retrograde sexual politics could be so popular with modern viewers, it may be because they can sympathize. In "Yanxi Palace," the emperor is the ultimate authority: He has the power to make or break anyone at any time. The only way for the women of the palace to acquire a share of this power is to win the emperor's affection — most often by forcing their rivals out of the picture. While this may sound antiquated, it's not all that far-removed from the reality of modern Chinese society. In the workplace, for example, men dominate the managerial ranks, while women are often hired or promoted based on their looks and willingness to entertain their bosses' advances as much as for their professional qualifications. And with so few management slots open to non-male applicants, competition between women can be cutthroat.

Yi Zhongtian, an author and scholar of ancient Chinese literature at Xiamen University, once pointed to classic Chinese works ranging from "Zuo Tradition" to "Dream of the Red Chamber" as evidence that China has historically had a fascination with infighting — whether among the rich and powerful or the family next door. The days of true palace intrigue may be in the past, but these struggles clearly still resonate with Chinese audiences who see in them shades of their own experiences.

Young people in China can sometimes feel like crabs trapped in a bucket: stuck, and unable to get out without someone else pulling them back down. It shouldn't be a surprise, then, that both male and female viewers alike have found something to admire in Wei Yingluo's ruthless competence. Since "Yanxi Palace's" premiere, there has been a wave of online articles claiming to teach readers how to apply lessons from the show in the workplace or the dating scene.

The incredible success of "Yanxi Palace" is sure to spawn a raft of imitators. Some of these will be good, some will be bad; but as long as many Chinese feel vulnerable and disempowered in their real lives, there will continue to be an audience for escapist fare that lets viewers imagine, if only for an hour or two — or 70 — that they're the hero of the story.

Quasi-religious callout culture

Against the background of the more individualized lives of citizens in postindustrial nations like America today, social media callouts provide a potent means for participating in ersatz collective identities and ersatz social justice movements. They enable people to mobilize quickly behind vague, racialized notions of "Asian” or "black” culture and against equally vague, essentialist notions of white supremacy, and to claim cultural ownership, or gatekeeping authority, over the wearing of kimono, cheongsam, cornrows and dreadlocks, over hip-hop performance, or over choices of actors for "Asian”-themed movies.

The quasi-religious character of this callout culture finds expression in ritualized shaming and demands for atonement, and for recognition of cultural ownership from those who sacrilegiously transgress against it; and in the ritualized atonement and recognition duly offered up by repentant transgressors.

Cultural appropriation outrage persists because — at the touch of an electronic screen — it serves powerful emotional needs to belong to a particular collective identity, and to social justice causes with highly inclusive lists of victims, such as those with no plausible national connection to the "appropriated” culture. All this is bad news for advocates for the popularization and internationalization of Japanese arts, anime, manga, cosplay and kimono fashion. What should they do?

They can take to social media to highlight the incoherence in cultural appropriation outrage, and show that more racialized understandings of culture play into the hands of actual white supremacists and nationalists, who are busy creating their own Wagnerian variations on the themes of "white” and "European” culture.

They can remind Twitter and Tumblr that Japanese practitioners of traditional arts like the shakuhachi are gladly sharing that art with non-Japanese musicians. They can also point to the internationalist ambitions of kimono designers such as Hiromi Asai, who explained her vision to me as follows: "I believe kimono is a universal fashion that is beyond cultural and ethnic boundaries.”

Rather like Johann Herder and his intellectual heir, Lafcadio Hearn, they can demonstrate that the survival and flourishing of minority and non-European arts, folklores and traditions can depend upon their internationalized transmission.

Venerating the past, traditional costume fever grips Thailand

“Out of the 30 years I’ve been running this shop, this is the peak for us,” 53-year-old Siri told Reuters as she stitched a Thai sarong for a client.

History fever is gripping Thailand and a growing number of Thais are wearing traditional dress, a phenomenon encouraged by the junta and the palace, and fueled by a popular television soap opera.

But the trend, which began with a ‘winter fair’ initiated by King Maha Vajiralongkorn in February, has also been criticized by some as an attempt to glorify an era of absolute monarchy and gloss over the junta’s shortcomings nearly four years after it took power.

“History has long been used by the elite to maintain their status in politics,” said Anusorn Unno, Dean of the Faculty of Sociology and Anthropology at Thammasat University.

“Right now the junta is facing new challenges from a new generation of people so they have retreated to history to say that the past is better and more suitable for Thailand.”

Among the popular costumes are those worn during the reign of former King Chulalongkorn, known as Rama V, who ruled from 1868 to 1910 and is credited with saving Thailand from Western colonialism.

Television has also played a part.

“Love Destiny”, a soap opera set during the 1656 to 1688 reign of King Narai the Great, has taken Thailand by storm.

Many Thais are visiting the ancient capital of Ayutthaya, north of Bangkok, where scenes from “Love Destiny” take place. They pose for “selfies” dressed in traditional garb against the backdrop of the ruins.

Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha met with cast members this week at Government House and hailed the series as an example of the government’s longstanding policy of promoting ‘Thai-ness’.

Prayuth’s own cabinet has held some recent meetings in the traditional dress of a 19th century elite. He dressed in a buttoned up silk jacket, breeches and a wide sash.

A coup led by Prayuth in 2014 followed months of unrest as demonstrators supporting the urban middle class and military-backed elite demanded the resignation of then-Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, whose biggest following was among the rural poor.

That long-standing division shows little sign of having disappeared despite four years of military rule.

Although the junta has now promised elections for February 2019, signs of frustration over repeated delays to the ballot have prompted protests in recent weeks.

Colorful and Majestic Costa Rican Costumes

Costa Rica is identified as a country full of love for its culture, generated precisely from the multicultural ancestry. Before talking about the typical costumes, it is important to know a little bit about the history and traditions that originated all those typical costumes are used for both women and men.

This country is part of Latin America and like other countries in the same continent, they often include in their clothing a diversity of colors, accompanied by an authenticity that makes them be different and widely recognized all around the world.

Costa Rica’s society takes into account that the elaboration of its typical costumes must be perfectly made. That is why those costumes are usually based on their cultural traditions.

In the case of women, they use to wearing a skirt adorned with a lot of bright colors, drawing much attention from the surroundings. For the top, it is usual to wear a shirt which reaches the shoulders preferably white since it cannot be as colorful as the skirt so they can stand out at the same time. The hair should be full of showy flowers.

With regard to men, Costa Rican culture focuses on making them look like gentlemen. This is always achieved by placing a completely white suit with a bright color handkerchief that attracts a lot of attention.

The typical Costa Rican costumes demonstrate how friendly this culture is, through the chosen colors that will highlight all the typical costumes that exist.

Typical costumes always keep the features of the ancient indigenous tribes that populated this territory. Costa Rica has an extraordinary wealth of cultural manifestations, legends, popular festivals, music, local traditions, and dance. All that is an important part of the nation´s identity.

When one refers to a typical costume of a country, it goes hand in hand with other important aspects of the culture like its meals, the way of speaking, expressions, customs, symbols of identity, flags, dances, and so on.

Much of the typical costumes of the country are used in specific scenarios: festivities, carnivals, or other events that commemorate facts of the history of Costa Rican society. Let’s mention some examples:

Province of Guanacaste. The typical costumes of this province will depend on the celebration and have evolved according to their history. However, one of the most common dances is the Batijuela, with costumes characterized by its abundant lace, high hairstyles divided according to the age of the ladies taking part. The younger wear a blanket; the older ones put on a pair of pants.

There is no variation to the typical costumes of Costa Rica for men. In general, it is practically the same with a red scarf, but without a hat.

Province of Puntarenas. They maintain a classic range of clothing brought from colonial times. During Holy Week they were characterized by a scarf full of sequins and bright colors

Province of Heredia. This province differs from the others because it does not use lively colors like the others, instead characterized by using dark and opaque colors. Silk and cotton is the ideal for their clothing. This fabric can be either unicolor or printed. The type of dress of Heredia is extremely conservative, distinguished by having details with buttons,

Province of San José. Women often use many decorations in their hair, which they wear with natural flowers. They usually identify themselves by including colors like purple and white, while men are dressed in black.

Province El Limón. They usually use turbans made with colored fabrics, this is an essence of the Afro-Caribbean garments, and the rest is very similar to the typical national costume.

Women wear white with colorful fabric ornaments. A turban is always worn in carnival dresses, the skirt of high flights up to the ankles, elastic at the waist. Men are accompanied by a machete, a kind of long knife, a colored belt, cut down pants and leather shoes.

Cartago. Some of the costumes were brought from Great Britain, adorned with fine laces. Men wear ties of canvas, jackets or vests, and hats in white or black.

Reliquary

Known as an indispensable part of the national costumes of Costa Rica, it consists of a burgundy colored ribbon, the function of which is the same as a usual string. Most women used this as a symbol of love, as they carried pieces of hair of their loved ones inside the reliquary.

Garments

They use large rings around the ears, likewise decorating their hairstyles with generally natural flowers. Within the garments, we can mention the selection of underpants with abundant laces and, in the case of women, reaching the knees.

Kalak, a Kyrgyz woman's proud headwear

Haznihan Turdi is proud that she makes the best Kalak, a traditional headwear for Kyrgyz women, in her village. The wedding headwears of most girls in Gaizi village of Aketao County, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in northwest China are made by the 65-year-old woman.

Haznihan's hands are swift and nimble, but it took her 10 years to make a headwear for each of her five daughters.

Perhaps, however, the proudest thing for her is that her youngest daughter Gulisari has learned the craft from her. Before that, the woman worried that the heirloom of her family might someday get lost in the world.

Like other old traditions, the Kalak is in the danger of vanishing as few young women can rival the old in needlework, let alone the most intricate skill in making the Kalak. Kalak making involves sophisticated stitching, tassel weaving and horse mane coiling. Every step requires patience. Haznihan spent three years imparting the craft to her daughter.

Besides, ancient coins, the most important ornament in Kalak, are hard to find in recent years.

Actually, every household in Gaizi, like Haznihan, boasts an old Kalak that might have been passed on and carefully preserved for generations. The oldest Kalak in the village is said to be three or four hundred years old.

The Kalak is deeply rooted in the Kyrgyz culture. According to the Epic of Manas, a centuries-old epic extolling a tribal leader named Manas, Kanykei, wife of Manas, wears a Kalak headdress everyday in her life. As time fleets, Manas and Kanykei are nowhere to find, but the Kalak remains intact in the unobtrusive village of Gaizi.

The making of the Kalak consumes not only time but also sumptuous raw materials. To complete a Kalak headwear, one needs a length of 45-meter white cloth as the interior adornment. On the exterior, a lot of precious decorations will be used, like silver and gold, ancient coins, corals, agate and precious stones among others. All the things together weigh tens of kilograms.

In that case, the Kalak headwear is rare and precious, and is usually passed on for generations. Women in Gaizi prepare the headwear a few years before wedding as their dowry.

Thanks to cultural protection efforts from the government, Haznihan's worry wanes lately as the Kalak headwears are regaining eminence in her hometown on the Pamir Plateau. Once a reserved gift at weddings, the sumptuous headdress is also making increasing appearance during festivals. In Aketao County, an institution has been founded to promote the ancient costume to a wider market.

Haznihan and several other Kalak makers have started a business in the village. They work hand in hand to make tailored Kalak headwears for tourists. Each one is worth 3,000 yuan ( roughly 440 U.S. dollars) to 10,000 yuan as to how exquisite it is.

The woman is glad that her precious heirloom has found a way to keep fresh and alive.

The History Of Men & Skirts

In the UK, where I live, a debate has recently erupted over student dress codes, as gender-neutral uniforms will soon be instituted at at least one school. Though the actual issue at hand has to do with students feeling free to express their gender identity and is rather complex, the media narrative is a bit more simplified: should boys be allowed to wear skirts, just as women can now wear pants?

But what you might not get from the current discussion is the notion that pants are masculine — and skirts are feminine — is much newer than most of us think. The entire idea of skirts as specifically female dress was brought about in European thought by a combination of tailoring innovation and particular occupations; and the tradition of men in cloth wraps, skirts, tunics, robes and other non-pant items is vast and ancient. So why are we getting our minis in a twist about private school kilts being available to all students?

Skirts on men have, of course, been used as a quick method of signaling gender-conforming behavior for decades, from the glorious gown-wearing David Bowie to Kurt Cobain and Nirvana sulking around in floral dresses. However, the movement to make skirts socially acceptable wear for men — something ordinary instead of a sign of specific thought or intent — is garnering strength on the world's catwalks and among certain millennial men. What's often missing in the discussions of skirts on men is historical context, so let's get into the realities of how men have been sporting flowing hemlines for eons.

Ancient World: Skirts For All Except Horse Riders

Skirts were the matter-of-fact wear of many of humanity's most ancient civilizations, on both sides of the gender divide. Gauzy wraps and loincloths for Egyptians, togas denoting class and status for Greeks and Romans, ornate military costumes for Aztecs: many ancient costumes were based around the idea of the skirt, purely because they were easy to construct and created huge freedom of movement. Whether you were fighting, building, farming or engaging in some kind of religious ritual, skirts provided cheap and efficient use. Short skirts among soldiers from the height of the Roman Empire, noted an exhibition at the Met called "Braveheart: Men In Skirts," were considered proof of virility, and allowed for swiftness while in combat.

14th-15th Century Europe: Suddenly, There's Hosiery

However, the demarcation between trousers-for-men and skirts-for-women wasn't actually completely set in stone until around the 19th century. For an extremely long time, the tunic or short skirt was a key part of the male outfit in medieval and Renaissance Europe; just going out with hose wasn't seen as acceptable. And even when the tunic overlay fell out of fashion, trousers themselves would swell to skirt-like proportions among the fashionable; 16th and 17th century nobles in England and elsewhere, for instance, were sometimes expected to wear hose, perhaps a codpiece, and giant breeches puffed to high heaven.

Even in the 19th century, as the paint-like breeches beloved of such dandies as Beau Brummel set the hearts of ladies aflutter (because they revealed everything of a gentleman's legs and buttocks), skirted garments were still acceptable in many contexts in European society. Academics, monks and men of leisure wore gowns, all of which are still in use today.

19th Century US & Europe: Male Children Start Wearing Pants

However, in the 19th century, the practice of "breeching" came into fashion, in which small boys, somewhere between the ages of 4 and 7, were given their first pair of trousers (breeches) to show that they'd gone beyond infancy. Part of this was due to new ideas about childhood and children's brains, but it was also down to shifting perspectives on what made a "man"— which led to skirts becoming less and less acceptable for young male children.

Modern Day: Skirts For Men Are Only Taboo In Certain Cultures

Fashion, as 1883 Magazine points out, is having a decidedly male-skirted moment; many contemporary menswear lines are sending skirts down the runway, though it remains to be seen whether the look will actually percolate into the mainstream (and not just on professionally quirky fashionable types, like Jared Leto). Men's skirts have received mainstream resistance — often based around the idea that, since the skirt is inherently feminine, a man wearing one is either feminine and therefore weakened, harkening back to a less sophisticated past, or looking for attention. But the idea that skirts are entirely feminine is in fact very Western-centered.

Ancient Chinese dress finds a new following

“I felt a strong sense of affection and belonging,” the Guangzhou University design student said in an interview with the South China Morning Post. “I like the traditional culture behind it.”

Luo, a sophomore, now wears Hanfu once a week. He also joined the Hanfu Society at his school. Its members celebrate traditional Chinese festivals, clad in Hanfu, and go into the community to lecture about their garments.

Luo is by no means alone in venerating traditional Chinese attire. An increasing number of Chinese argue that Hanfu, which characterised the Han ethnic group for more than three millennia, is worthy of far greater attention today – both at home and abroad.

After vanishing from history for about 400 years, the style has gained a substantial number of followers on the mainland in the past 15 years as the country attaches more importance to tradition and calls on the public to be proud of Chinese culture.

Hanfu, Luo said, had a “more broad historical context” than he expected. He said he also admired the “historical origins and historical tales” in its components.

Most Hanfu enthusiasts, like Luo and his peers at the university, reserve their outfits for traditional festivals; only a small proportion wear them every day.

A university student recently made headlines on Chinese media for dressing in Hanfu for more than 300 days in a single year to promote the style and culture.

To complement his traditional robe, Kang Wei, a commerce and management student at Southwest Petroleum University in Chengdu, Sichuan province, wore shoes made from black cloth and, on rainy days, carried an umbrella made from oil paper, Chengdu Business News reported.

“I admire Kang’s courage to wear Hanfu every day,” Luo said. “This kind of dress is different from what people wear nowadays.”

Gao Zhiluo, a photographer from Luoyang in central China’s Henan province, is another diehard Hanfu supporter. She has worn the apparel almost every day since 2014.

When she is out and about, she said people often misunderstand her. Lots of people stare, she said, and some mock her for wearing what they assume is a cosplay outfit. Others, with a nationalistic or patriotic bent, get annoyed because they think her traditional robes are Japanese or South Korean.

“I’m never put off by what they think because I know I’ve done nothing wrong or broken any rules,” she said. “But I am sad that people have such a lack of awareness of Hanfu. They don’t know that this is what our Han ancestors wore for thousands of years.”

4 Winter Solstice Rituals From Around the World

Thousands of people around the globe will herald the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere, with centuries-old rituals like soaking in fruit-filled baths and dressing up as a devilish folklore legend that punishes naughty children around Christmas.

The solstice, which falls on Dec. 21 this year, marks the first day of winter. It starts the moment the Northern Hemisphere is pointed at its farthest distance from the sun. The winter solstice is considered a turning point in the year in many cultures. The sacred day is also called Yule to pagans celebrating the birth of the new solar year, according to Circle Sanctuary, a prominent pagan group in America. Dozens of pagans and druids head to Stonehenge, an iconic site in England, to pay tribute to the sun during the solstice.

Getting scared by Krampus in Austria
Hordes of revelers descend on Hollabrunn, Austria each year during the winter solstice to watch a swarm of people dressed like Krampus — the half-demon, half-goat counterpart to Santa Claus — terrorize and tease the crowd in horned masks, fur body suits and whips. “It is weird, but it’s fun,” said Natalie Kononenko, a professor and Kule Chair in Ukrainian Ethnography Arts at the University of Alberta in Canada.

Krampus is a figure that punishes bad children by whipping and snatching them, according to Germanic folklore. The traditional Krampus run in Austria is believed to ward off bad spirits near the winter solstice, but it is also a source of local entertainment, Kononenko said. Last year, the creatures wielded torches, charged at delighted guests and jumped over security gates to lightly whip people, according to footage from the Associated Press.

While many of the costumes include giant horns, sharpened teeth and mangled faces — features that might be considered nightmarish to an ordinary person — the Krampus run annually amuses those in attendance. “It’s sort of like Halloween,” Kononenko said. “You get to dress up in these really disgusting costumes. You get to do stuff you don’t normally get to do.”

This year’s family-friendly Krampus run in Hollabrunn’s main square takes place Dec. 16. “To be really afraid again and experience evil with fun is the motto,” its organizers wrote on the event’s website.

Taking in a once-in-a-lifetime sight in Ireland
Dozens of people, lucky enough to be selected through an annual lottery, get the chance to stand inside the Newgrange monument in Ireland and absorb the first rays of the day as they fill the ancient chambers during the winter solstice.

Newgrange is a burial mound in Ireland’s Boyne Valley that is over 5,000 years old. The Stone Age monument contains a 62-foot passage that leads into a chamber that is aligned with the sun as it rises during the winter solstice, according to its website. Between Dec. 19 and Dec. 23 around dawn, sunlight pierces through the top of the chamber and slowly illuminates the room for about 17 minutes.

More than 32,500 people applied for a spot inside the chamber this year, according to Newgrange’s website. Only 60 of them were picked from the lottery to partake in this winter solstice ritual.

Soaking in baths full of fruit in Japan
In Japan, people traditionally soak in hot baths with the yuzu citrus fruit to welcome the winter solstice and protect their bodies from the common cold. During last year’s solstice celebration, children from a local preschool shared a dip in a traditional yuzu tub in the city of Toyooka as dozens of the yellow yuzu fruits surrounded them on the surface, according to Japan’s daily newspaper Asahi Shimbun. Similarly, the bath has become custom for animals in some Japanese zoos. Photos from the local media show Japanese macaques, hippos and capybaras enjoying fruit-filled baths last December in their enclosures at the Fukuoka City Zoological Garden and the Izu Shaboten Zoo.

In Korea, good luck on the solstice is associated with red bean porridge. Koreans will often make the dish both to eat and spread around the house to keep evil spirits away, according to Seungja Choi, a senior lector of East Asian Languages and Literatures at Yale University. Besides its believed spiritual benefits, Choi said, the meal also contains a lot of nutrition. “If you eat this, you get healthy,” she said.

Catching the sunrise at Stonehenge
England’s famous Stonehenge lures thousands of visitors during the summer and winter solstices. Revelers gather at the prehistoric site of ancient stones in Wiltshire to sing, dance, play instruments, kiss the stones and do yoga as they wait for the sun to rise. The iconic Stonehenge is known for its precise alignment with the sun’s movement and may have been a sacred place of worship and celebration for solstices for thousands of years, according to English Heritage, which manages the popular destination.

Lewes Bonfire night parade's 'racist' costumes to be axed

Members of Lewes Borough Bonfire Society traditionally wear black face paint and extravagant accessories for the annual parade in the Sussex town.

But the leader of a Zulu dance troupe booked to perform at the event said the costumes were "incredibly offensive".

The society agreed to alter the costumes.

Thousands attend the event, which is famed for its raucous atmosphere.

Members of six bonfire societies march through the town, carrying effigies of famous or controversial figures which are eventually set alight.

Thandanani Gumede, leader of dance troupe Zulu Tradition, initially accepted an invitation to perform, but said he was inundated with images of performers in offensive dress.

'Viking and showgirl'

He said the first picture he saw - from a bonfire society's pamphlet - showed an acceptable version of the costume.

He said: "It didn't offend me because it was clear they had taken to time to make the details of the costume correct. They had the leopard skin umqhele, the 'crown', similar to my own, beads and sympathetic body paint."

However, he found subsequent images "disrespectful", and was alerted to a 1,600-strong petition to stop "the offensive practice of blacking up".

"I was really disappointed," he added, "bones through the noses, dead monkeys, skulls, horns, huge feathered headdresses.

"They looked barbaric, like a cross between a Viking and a showgirl. It was incredibly offensive. Nothing about those outfits resembled a Zulu warrior."

Mr Gumede said the society was receptive to his suggestions, and he did not believe anybody had intended to cause offence.

Mick Symes, of the society said: "These costumes have been used for 100 years, and during parades things do get a bit over-styled.

"We lost our way a bit, but we are delighted to welcome Zulu Tradition to what will be a most wonderful night."

The skulls, bones, dead monkeys and black face paint will now be omitted and more traditional headpieces created for next year.

A counter petition has the support of 600 people, and some locals commented that the tradition of painting faces had been going on for years.

Taiwan's tribal matchmaking festival

As night falls on a square in the village of Matai'an, young women cast critical eyes over a dancing circle of men in embroidered skirts and feathered head dresses as part of an ancient match-making ritual.

Known as "Lovers' Night", it is the grand finale of the annual harvest festival in the settlement which belongs to the Amis tribe, the largest of the 16 recognised indigenous groups in Taiwan.

Near the island's rugged east coast, the village is a collection of basic, low-lying houses along meandering streets, located in a valley between two mountain ranges.

The harvest festival -- which usually runs between June and August, with each village holding it at a different time -- is the biggest and most important celebration for the Amis tribe, and in Matai'an it culminates with single women taking their pick of eligible bachelors.The centuries-old custom is a reflection of the tribe's matriarchal system, which sees women make key decisions including managing finances and men marry into their wives' families.

As the singing and dancing men pick up their pace, the women move in behind their chosen love interest and tug on a multicoloured cloth bag slung on their target's shoulder.

To spark interest, the men wiggle and flex their muscles, the most popular among them accruing a queue of interested women.

If a man reciprocates the approach, he will give his bag -- known as an "alufo" -- to the woman, marking the beginning of a courtship.

In the past, the ritual would commonly lead to marriage and even now still sparks relationships, but it is also a chance for Amis community members who are working in the cities to return and socialise.

"Lovers' Night is to make friends," said Cheng Ying-hsuan, 22.

Dressed in a red traditional outfit adorned with green beads and her own sequined alufo, she had returned to the village from the city of Hualien, where she now lives, an hour's drive away.

When asked if she hoped to find a boyfriend, she laughed and said coyly: "That's also a possibility."

Matai'an is one of the biggest Amis settlements and is home to around 500 people -- mostly elders and children.

- Time to reconnect -

"We like the feeling of everyone coming back together and reconnecting. For us this is the most important," said Liao Ching-tung, 28, who lives in the capital Taipei.

Each harvest festival, hundreds who have moved away to work or study return to join in the festivities.

The indigenous community -- which remains a marginalised group in Taiwanese society -- has seen its traditional culture eroded since immigrants started arriving from China centuries ago.

Since President Tsai Ing-wen came to power in May 2016, her government has been pushing for greater indigenous rights and preservation of tribal languages and culture.

But some groups have criticised Tsai for not going far enough and have clashed with authorities over land rights policy, demanding their ancestral areas be returned.

In Matai'an, tradition is alive and kicking.

Lamen Panay, 41, who goes by her tribal name, says the matchmaking event is still meaningful to her even though she is no longer single.

She has a collection of lovers' bags from past harvest festivals, but has since settled down with her long-term boyfriend, living with him in Taipei.

The couple are both from the village and Lamen still makes a point of picking him out during the matchmaking ritual.

"We are both usually very busy with work," she said.

"It's necessary to rekindle the flames."

Palace Museum gets digital renovation

Nevertheless, huge crowds, especially during peak times, have sparked growing frustrations for museum officials and visitors.

Confronting challenges, museum staff have agreed to work with hi-tech companies to develop a digital museum that allows users to view its 1+ million items of rare relics and ancient cultural artifacts with APPS that provide an in-depth understanding on Chinese emperors' lifestyles under dynastic rule.

1st of its kind

After three years of efforts, the Palace Museum announced on August 1, 2017 that its entire collection has been stored into a digital community with the launching of nine APPs.

The museum's curator Shan Jixiang played a leading role to create a digital Forbidden City that integrates an intelligent museum with stronger security and communications systems.

By utilizing new advanced technologies and equipment, the smart museum taps into Big Data, Virtual Reality, 3D (three-dimensional) imagery and video games to provide valuable information for the public in an entertaining format.

For example, Xinhua cites the Night Revels of Han Xizai APP, where users on smartphones can click to uncover insights of the painting that depicts luxurious court life during the 5 Dynasty period - (906-960AD).

The painting comes to life on the APP as viewers can witness ancient performance art that had been composed of music and dance from the era.

Fun & cool APPs

There's other trend-setting APPs as well. The Qing Emperor's Wardrobe APP helps the public distinguish the differences between real imperial dress of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911AD) and what many Chinese have seen actors wearing on popular TV dramas that featured scenes from that part of history.

Users obtain explanations of Qing Dynasty court functions and ceremonies that were celebrated along with descriptions of the attire worn by imperial families, court officials, and ladies-in-waiting.

Another APP offers a digital map and information of the Forbidden City's 1,200 buildings and 9,371 rooms. Actually, the museum has over 1 million artifacts and artworks, but never more than 1 percent of items are set for display at a given time, while just a third of the buildings are open to the public.

VR and 3D tours

APP users can receive background information of each piece under the possession of the Palace Museum. Meanwhile visitors are encouraged to visit the physical site where they can go straight to the Hall of Supreme Harmony Sanxitang (Room of Three Rare Treasures).

Visitors are provided with VR (virtual reality) devices and given a VR tour. They can look at high-resolution images and listen to audio narration.

For added fun, The Hall of Supreme Harmony has placed 3D images on display that make the relics and artwork come to life. The computer giant IBM in 2008 had agreed to invest in a US$3million joint project with the Palace Museum to develop the project.

Japan-based Toppan Printing had also signed on to build a Cultural Assets Digitalization Research Center of the Forbidden City, which was launched in Oct. 2014 with a RMB37 million investment.

Viewing the benefits

"For many people, the Palace Museum experience can be enhanced as they use our APPs," Yu Zhuang, head of New Media at the Palace Museum, told China Daily. "The Internet has provided us with more channels to expand museum influences to more corners in people's everyday lives."

Yu highlighted the museum's calender APP, '365 Days of Masterpieces.' The APP features 1 piece for each day of the year. The user can click to receive cultural background on it.

Google Arts & Culture has agreed to place 100 artifacts from the museum to go online. Google only features famous artworks from around the world.

Most of all, digital users can capture a better understanding of what life was really like for Chinese emperors and the courts. A virtual tour named, ‘Beyond Space & Time' had been set in a computer game format.

Visiting from afar

In 2008, the then-director of the Palace Museum information department, Hu Chui, announced the Forbidden City would go digital during an interview with PC World magazine.

"The project has several purposes, mainly to allow people who cannot visit Beijing to experience the Forbidden City and for those who have visited the physical premises to learn more about it."

The staff were proud of the Palace Museum's rich cultural heritage and sought to bring greater attention to the world.

Many APPs encourage users to share their experiences with others while asking them to submit articles and photos that delve deeper into ancient Chinese history.

A museum is more than just a museum and when the Forbidden City had gone digital, it opened its doors to the world.