Traditional Chinese Costumes 中国传统服饰.doc

Traditional Chinese Costumes 中国传统服饰英语话中国课程论文专业： 指导教师： 学号： 姓名： 日期： 2013年6月18日 Traditional Chinese CostumesAbstractThis paper on the cultural development of ancient Chinese costumes carding intellectual history, from the functions, shapes, technology, culture, society, etc. Analysis of the impact of several aspects of ancient Chinese clothing culture and change the factors that follow, it indicates that Chinese clothing cultural development within Han, Tang and Qing is with the Chinese traditional culture and the Chinese nation, unity of national character, its development is followed by two types of movement and change intertwined together results. Ancient Chinese clothing in the development of Chinas changes reflect the local penetration, competition and integration, and its part of the same followed in turn reflects the national cultural and philosophy are mature and profound .The development process from the costumes can be seen in the history of change, economic development and the evolution of culture, reflecting the extensive and profound Chinese culture.Key words: Costumes; Follow; The changesI. IntroductionChina is a historical country with splendid civilizations, in which the Chinese costume is an important part. From the change of Chinese costumes, we can see the political change, economic development and customs evolvement through the long history. The Chinese costume, which itself has over 5,000 years history, is just like a long river, and today we are going to present them in three parts, namely Han Dynasty, Tang Dynasty and Qing Dynasty.II. Traditional Chinese Costumes Each era of unique clothing has its respective features. Dynasties of the development of economic, political, drive the development of culture. And clothes change and development, is the embodiment of the cultural development.2.1 Costumes in the Han DynastyChinas complete code of costume and trappings was established in the Han Dynasty (206BC-220AD). The yarn-dyeing, embroidering and metal-processing technologies developed rapidly in the period, spurring changes in costume and adornments.The costume code of the Western Han Dynasty (206BC-8AD) followed the one established in the Qing Dynasty (221-206 BC). In the Eastern Han Dynasty, people in black had to wear purple silk adornments to match their clothes. People usually wore costume with a long hat at grand ceremonies offering sacrifices to gods or ancestors. The dress of the queen in these ceremonies consisted of dark-purple frock and black trousers. The silk dress of the queen consisted of cyan frock and buff trousers.The Western Han Dynasty implemented the Shenyi (long coat) system, which featured a cicada-shaped hat, red clothes and “田”-shaped collar. In addition, people of that time wore jade articles and red shoes. The frock and skirt were sewn together in the Shenyi system. Underpants for memorial ceremonies were decorated with black brims, and those for court dress in feudal China were decorated with red brims. All the garments were collectively called as Chanyi (unlined garment).Costumes in the Han Dynasty fell into two categories according to Yijin (one or two pieces making up the front of a Chinese jacket or grown). There were two types of garments: the curving-front unlined garment with buttons deviously down from the collar to the axilla; the straight-front unlined garment with buttons were straightly down from the collar to the lower part. Curving-front garment originated from the Shenyi (long coat) prevalent in the Warring States Period, and was still in use in the Han Dynasty. But few people wore the Shenyi garments during the Eastern Han Dynasty.There were specific stipulations on colors of court garments in the Han Dynasty. Officers must wear garments according to the five time periods, i.e. cyan garments in the spring, red in the first two months of the summer, yellow in the last month of the summer, white in the autumn and black in the winter.Costumes of the Han Dynasty had 7 features: 1. Wearers must expose underpants collar form , as the collar was big and curving;2. Clothes must use white cloth as lining;3. The width of sleeve was 0.4 meters;4. The blouse had no sleeve;5. Wearers of fur clothes should have the fur facing outside;6. Waistband was very exquisite. Belt hook was made of gold in various lively and interesting animal figures;7. The male kept the habitude of wearing walking sabers without blades for decoration only.Their knees were always decorated with long hanging waistbands. Male laborers often wore jackets and calf-nose trousers with aprons around the garments. Farmers, workers, businessmen and scholars were all in the same dressing style at that time 1.2.2 Costumes in the Tang DynastyIn Chinas history, the Tang Dynasty was a period when the polity and economy were highly developed and the culture and art were thriving in Chinese history. The clothing materials were exquisite, the structure was natural, graceful and elegant, and adornments were splendid. Though the forms of garments were still the continuation of the Han Dynasty (206BC-220AD) and the Sui Dynasty (581-618), they were influenced by cultures and arts of the Western Regions. Especially, the national power of the High Tang was strong. The trades and cultural exchanges with Korea, Vietnam, Japan, Persia and other countries gradually became frequent, and they mutually dispatched emissaries and accepted students of other countries. In this way, a special open and romantic style of dress and personal adornments was formed.Because of communication with the Western Regions, the influence of dressing culture of other minorities on the Tang court also reflected the change of thoughts and concepts. Chinese women were seriously restricted by the old Confucian or feudal ethical code all through the ages. The social status of ancient women was very low: they often served as Jileren (music performer), Guanji (official performer), Gongji (palace performer) and Jiaji (family performer), and were regarded as the playthings and goods that can be sold and bought by rich people. Some females had rebel spirit in the Tang Dynasty, so they climbed or jumped over the walls and went to the nature to view the beautiful scenes and/or go sightseeing in the spring by riding horses with men. Just as recorded by many historical materials, some girls therefore dressed as boys in order to go out.It was a fashion for women to wear Hufu (garments of the Tartars or those who lived in the Western Regions). After the High Tang, the influences of Hufu were gradually weakened and womens garments became broad and loose day by day. As to ordinary womens garments, the width of sleeve was always more than 1.3 meters.After the reign of Tang Emperor Gaozong, purple was used as the garment color for officials above the third grade; light red for officials above the fifth grade; dark green for officials above the sixth grade; light green for officials above the seventh grade; dark cyan for officials above the eighth grade; light cyan for officials above the ninth grade; and yellow for ordinary people and those who did not live in the palace.The garments in the Tang Dynasty also greatly affected the garments of neighboring countries. For instance, Japanese kimono adopted the elites of the dresses of the Tang Dynasty in terms of colors, and the Hanbok (traditional Korean clothing) also adopted the advantages of the dresses of the Tang Dynasty. The dresses of the Tang Dynasty were mainly made of silk, so dresses were famous for softness and lightness. The dresses of the Tang Dynasty boldly adopted the features of foreign garments in terms of forms and adornments; i.e. they mainly referred to the garments of other countries (such as the Central-Asia countries, India, Iran, Persia, northern countries and the Western Regions) and used them to improve the habilatory culture of the Tang Dynasty 2.2.3 Chinese CheongsamDuring the Qing Dynasty, clothes were elegant and poised. People at that time wore clothes befitting their social status, official ranks and lifestyle according to the regulations of the Qing government. As Manchu is the minority in power of Qing Dynasty the Qing clothing shows a strong nomadic characteristics.The cheongsam, or qi pao in Chinese, is evolved from a kind of ancient clothing of Manchu ethnic minority. In ancient times, it generally referred to long gowns worn by the people of Manchuria, Mongolia and the Eight-Banner. In the early years of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), long gowns featured collarless, narrow cuff in the shape of a horses hoof, buttons down the left front, four slits and a fitting waist. Wearers usually coiled up their cuff, and put it down when hunting or battling to cover the back of hand. In winter, the cuff could serve to prevent cold. The gown had four slits, with one on the left, right, front and back, which reached the knees. It was fitted to the body and rather warm. Fastened with a waistband, the long gown could hold solid food and utensils when people went out hunting. Mens long gowns were mostly blue, gray or green; and womens, white. Another feature of Manchu cheongsam was that people generally wore it plus a waistcoat that was either with buttons down the front, a twisted front, or a front in the shape of lute, etc. From the 1930s, cheongsam almost became the uniform for women. Folk women, students, workers and highest-tone women all dressed themselves in cheongsam, which even became a formal suit for occasions of social intercourses or diplomatic activities. Later, cheongsam even spread to foreign countries and became the favorite of foreign females. After the 1940s, influenced by new fashion home and abroad, Manchu mens cheongsam was phased out, while womens cheongsam became narrow-sleeved and fitted to the waist and had a relatively loose hip part, and its lower hem reached the ankles. Then there emerge various forms of cheongsams we see today that emphasize color decoration and set off the beauty of the female shape 3.Manchu flag costume , the outline of rectangular, clothes do not get the waist down, shirt is not exposed, the right-side lapel of junction decorated with buttons , false sleeves 2-3, Horseshoe-shaped sleeve cover hand , set rolling craft decoration, clothing plus clothing, increase waistcoat or jacket . . The modern version, which