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.