Chinese clothing, Chinese dress, Arts and crafts..

The Yandi Emperor also prospered...

2006-04-03T08:49:00.000-07:00

The Yandi Emperor also prospered in areas to the east of Qishan Mountain in Shaanxi Province. Because he lived in the Jiangshui River area, he used Jiang as his surname. Compared with that of the Yellow Emperor, the Yandi Emperor's development route slanted south, extending eastward along the Weishui and Yellow rivers, reaching Henan and Shandong provinces, and then going southward to the Jianghan Plain and Hunan Province.

Since both of them had created the ancient civilization of the Yangtze and Yellow river valleys, laying the foundation ofr the 5,000-year mansion of Chinese civilization, the Yandi and Yellow emperors were honored as the earliest Chinese ancestors by the Chinese people both at home and abroad.

During the process of the continuous multiplication and development of the clans and tribes, the Yandi tribe collided with the Jiuli tribe in the southeast. Yandi asked the Yellow Emperor for help when he was defeated. The Yellow and Yandi emperors then jointed hands and defeated Chi You at Zhuolu. But then a battle broke out between the two former allies at Banquan, ending in the failure of Yandi. Finally, the Yellow Emperor was honored by the tribal chiefs as the leader of the tribal alliance formed at the meeting initiated by the Yellow Emperor, thus settling China's basic domain. The integration of the clans was accelerated in the post-war period, culminating in the formation of the Huaxia tribe, the main body of the Chinese nation.

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The Yellow Emperor and the Dragon Culture

2006-03-18T11:49:00.000-08:00

During the primitive clan commune period 5,000 years ago, two tribal chiefs-the Yellow Emperor and Yandi Emperor-lived int eh Yellow River Valley. They were regarded as the earliest ancestors of the Chinese nation.

The original surname of the Yellow Emperor was Gongsun, and because he lived in the Jishui River area, he later changed it to Ji. He prospered on the Loess Plateau of Shaanxi Province, hence his name. Five thousand years ago the Yellow Emperor led his tribe to rise to the north of the Weishui River in Shaaxi Province, and then gradually to move eastwards to reach the Yellow River bank in the southern part of Shanxi Province, and Zhuolu in Hebei Province.

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The Romantic King of Wu: Brocade Sails

2006-03-16T09:50:00.000-08:00

A dozen of Suzhou's street names are associated with silk, among which Jinfan (Brocade Sail) Road is the best-known. According to records, at the end of the spring and autumn Period, King Fu Chai (?-473 B.C.) of the State of Wu, once went on a spring cruise on a boat with a sail made fo brocade. Some people are skeptical: can silk, so light and thin, be used as a sail on a boat? Scientists have proven that the stretching resistance of silk is equal to that of copper wire; thus parachute covers are mode of silk.

According to records, officials of Wu all wore silk robes. There are also accounts of Wu people trading silk cloths and fabrics in the Central Plains. After the "Silk Road" was opened during the Han Dynasty, silk was transported to West Asia and Europe continuously from Suzhou.

Since the Song Dynasty (960-1279), silk enters had moved south. The Song court and those of the later dynasties set up special departments in charge of tribute silk production. In the beginning, Suzhou, Hangzhou, and Nanjing was equal in strength as silk producers, but why did Suzhou outshine the other two later? One senior silk craftsman explained, "There was definite division of lavor among the three cities; dragon robes (worn only by the emperor) were produced in Nanjing; robes for ranking officials, empresses, and imperial concubines were made in Suzhou; and clothes of palace maids, eunuchs, and common officials were made in Hangzhou." Dragon robes used only by the emperors were needed less, so its place of production declined quickly; while production and marketing of Suzhou silk thrived because of its high qulaity and large quantity.

Tang Dynasty Silk: Beauty and Color

2006-03-15T11:40:00.000-08:00

The Zijin Nunnery on Suzhou's East Hill is small and remote, but art connoisseurs have been attracted there to examine the 18 exquisite clay arhat statues, often carried away by the various facial expressions of the figures, to the neglect of their lifelike floating garments.

A silk expert once made some new discoveries here. He was amazed to find that the handkerchiefs in the arhats' hands, the garments draping over their bodies, and the canopy over the great merciful Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara, together with the red-flower adornments, were all of pure silk!

During the Tang Dynasty (618-907), Jiangnan Circuit (Suzhou being under its jurisdiction) presented more silk as tribute to the imperial court than other counties and prefectures, most of it being produced by Suzhou.

Silk

2006-03-14T11:11:00.000-08:00

With its long history, Chinese silk has been one of the oldest "envoys" of Chinese culture. As early as the third century B.C., when colorful Chinese silk made its appearance in West Asia and Europe, a king of the Western world was shocked to see before his eyes the fleecy cloud-like silk fabrics. It is said that a European emperor marveled at Chinese silk, exclaiming, "This is just like a dream!"

Suzhou is the generally recognized home of Chinese silk, or the silk capital of China. It is known to people who are interested in Chinese silk, that 90% of the genuine-silk trade in the world comes from China, and of the silk products exported from China, one third is from Suzhou. The large assortment of Suzhou silk, long known for its quality and beauty, finds a brisk market in more than 100 countries and regions around the world. It has been praised as a "mythical fairy".

Silk production in Suzhou has a history of more than 2,000 years. During the Western Zhou Dynasty (1046-771 B.C.), people in the Suzhou area began to grow mulberry trees, raise silkworms, reel silk and weave silk cloth. Later, Suzhou became the production and trade center in the Taihu Lake valley. In the latter half of the 20th century, silk industry attained a proportion never before known.

Today's Kimono and the Homophones

2006-03-13T09:30:00.000-08:00

A japanese scholar wrote in The History of Textile Technique, that "In the Qin Dynasty (221-206 B.C.), someone left Suzhou (called Wu at that time) for Japan to pass on the skill of weaving hefu (kimono) and wufu (or Wu robes) are homophonic in Suzhou dialect.

This is probably the historical origin of Wuxian County in Suzhou being the chief base for making kimono and obi for Japan.

Kesi weaving (a type of silk weaving done by the tapestry method) is another kind of artistic work in silk, and it is done completely by hand. First, vertical silk threads are set down. The out line of patterns and characters is woven on the background according to a draft. Colorful threads are woven into background horizontally. After the Song Dynasty, dragon robes were mostly made in the kesi style.

Drastic Changes in the modern Era

2006-03-12T05:47:00.000-08:00

China's fairlure in the Opium War in 1840 opened China to the outside world, and Chinese clothing came to be influenced by Western culture.

Young scholars bravely wore Western-style suits, abandoning robes and mandarin jackets and cutting their braids. In 1911, Dr. Sun Yat-sen led a bourgeois democratic revolution, or the Revolution of 1911, and the republican government promulgated an "Order on Cutting Braids," abolishing millennia-long traditions and rules on designating sttus by one's attire.

Toward the end of the 1920s, the replublican government issued "Regulations on Uniforms," providing for the uniforms of men and owmen civil servants. The Chinese tunic suit became popular, a design based on Japanese students' uniforms. With a straight turndown collar, a single row of five buttons and a tight waist, it combined the convenience of western suits and the comfort of Chinese graments. As it was popularized and worn early by Dr. Sun Yat-sen, it was regarded as a symbol of the democratic revolution and also known as "Sun's Suit."

In that period, Western suits and Chinese tunic suits were popular in major cities, where people were more open-minded, especially among the elite and intellectualls. In rural areas, ordinary people still wore robes and mandarin jackets.

Before the 1920s, women's garments remained two-piece, with little defference from Qing Dynasty garments. Shortly after the Revolution of 1911, as more Chinese students studied in Japan, the influence of japanese women's wear on young Chinese women could be seen in a narrow, long blouse with a high collar and a long black skirt. Known as "modern garments," these clothes were accompanied by little jewelry.

In the 1920s, Chines women started to be conscious of "the beauty of curvaceousness," and traditional straight, loose garments were replaced by close-fitting ones. Women of that period wore blouses narrow at the waistline, with small stand-up collars, sleeves reaching the elbows, and a curving hemline. The blouses were decorated on the collar, sleeves, front and hem. The skirts, which earlier had been pleated and reached the feet, were not pleated and shorter, though the hem still fell below the knees. The skirts were also decorated along the hem, sometimes with colorful, speakling jewelry.

The major feature of modern Chinese women's wear was the qipao, which originated from the Manchu. After the 1920s, Han women started to wear qipao, changing and improving the original design until the qipao became common wear among Chinese women. The qipao became popular for two mains reasons. Women's attire previously had consisted of a blouse, trousers and a skirt. Now a qipao replaced all of them, and a qipao cound be made at lower cost. Second, as a one-piece dress, the qipao set off a woman's figure, especially in high-heels.

Common Traits

2006-03-09T08:06:00.000-08:00

Some consistency exists in the styles, patterns and colors of Chinese garments even as they have experienced infinite changes throughout the millennia.

Basically all Chinese clothing can be divided into either one-piece garments or two-piece garemtns.

Garments before the Shang and Zhou dynasties were generallly two-piece as were the garments of the northern and western tribes and women's blouses and skirts of later times. One-piece garment sappeared between the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, which ware the predecessors of robes. In the history of clothes, two-piece garments were mostly women's wear and lsted for a relatively long time. Men after the Sui and Tang dynasties mostly wore robes.

Decorative patterns included animal, plant and geometric patterns that evolved through abstract, standard and realistic stages.

Patterns before the Shang and Zhou dynasties were similar to primitive Chinese characters, beingsimple an dabstract. After the Zhou Dynasty, decorative patterns truned orderly, balanced and symmetrical. This was especially striking in the Tang and Song dynasties. In the Ming and Qing dynasties, patterns became realistic. Clusters of flowers, flocks of butterflies were depicted as lifelike. This feature was even more striking in the late Qing Dynasty.

The theories of Yin-Yang and Five Elements influenced the color of garments. Yellow, regarded as the noblest, symbolized the center; blue symbolized the east; red, the south; white, the west; and black, the north. These five colors were "principal colors," and in some dynasties were exclusive to the garments of emperors and officials. Common people were allowed to wear only secondary colors.

Looking at eh overall history of fashion design in China, we can see that clothes of the remote ages were in relatively simple, bright colors, similar ot the colrs of pottery of the same period. With economic and cultural development, taste about colors changed, and complicated, harmonious color replaced bright, simple colors. Contrasting colors like red and green, yellow and purple, and blue and orange were used together less; while similar colors such as red and yellow, yellow and green, and green and blue were used more. Hues gradually turned more discreet and subdued, but sill with some contrast. Garments generally displayed harmonious colors as a whole, with some accents of contrasting colors, for an overall elegant and splendid effect.

Clothing Style in the Qing Dynasty

2006-03-08T10:29:00.000-08:00

Combining some features of Han customs and some of Manchu customs, the dress code of the Qing Dynasty style was the most complicated in Chinese history.

Men's garments including robes, outer garments, coats, shirts and trousers. Robes and jackets were major ceremonial garments. Officials and scholars wore robes with two splits at the bottom, while members of the ruling house wore robes with four splits and common people wore robes with no split. The cuffs were usually turned up, then were turned down when paying respect to a superior. Officials and wives of senior officials wore robes with python designs over their outer garments. Men's outer garments were generally reddish black, while those for funerals were black.

In the Qing Dynasty, the empress, imperial concubines and wives of senior officials wore phoenix headdresses and embroidered capes with tassels and emblems in the center. Ordinary women were allowed to wear these only at their weddings or at their funerals. Their ceremonial attire consisted of a cape, a blouse and a skirt. The cape was worn as an outer coat, and there were strict color regulations. Underneath the cape was a full blouse that could be unlined, lined, padded or leather. And undergarment was worn beneath the blouse that could be red, pink or cerise. Skirts were in many styles, which changed over time. Red skirts were regarded as the most elegant, but widows were not allowed to wear red. Some skirts were decorated with many small ringing bells.

Women's garments in the early Qing Dynasty were of quiet colors, decorated with narrow bands on the collar and cuffs. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, the bands were wider and more numerous. Some garments had fronts and lower hems decorated with floral patterns formed with jewels of various colors, or open patterns cut by scissors.

Conservative, simple dress in the Song Dynasty

2006-03-07T11:56:00.000-08:00

Generally speaking, the economy, politics, ideology and culture of the Song Dynasty produced a style of dress that was conservative, simple and quiet, with little variety in style, and duller colors comared with the Tang Dynasty. yuan Cai wrote in his book Social Standards, "one should be dressed in clean, simple clothes. No clothes can be worn that do not conform to the generally accepted style." The emperors also reiterated that the people should "wear simple clothing," with "no lavishness or other noncompliance with dress code."

Song Dynasty garments were divided into official garments, men's wear and women's wear.

Women's garments were elegant, and tended to be loose with more variety in style. Women of that time loved the effect of "garments flowwing in the autumn wind." Skirts were mostly made of thin silk or gauze. Long, floating dresses were popular, especially pleated dresses, which went beautifully with short, tight blouses. Noblewomen wore loose dresses with long, wide sleeves on ceremonial occasions. For casual wear, they favored long, more close-fitting dresses.

Unlike women's garments in Sui and Tang that were usually of primary colors with circular flower patterns, women's garments in the Song Dynasty displayed such soft and elegant colors as pale purple, greenish white, and silvery gray. Designs included twigs with blossoms, or balanced patterns, that looked lively and natural.

Song Synasty women also wore a kind of "narrow-sleeved blouse," that was tight and formfitting, similar to the modern qipao (a close-fitting dress with high neck and slit skirt), showing off a women's curves. Pleated long skirts were popular, which, in northern areas, could reach the ground, covering the feet.

As for men-civilians, servants and laborers wore black head-coverings; warriors, court officers in the judiciary, scholars, etc. wore head=coverings of different styles. Their robes buttoned in the front on the right, with wide sleeves and an apron around it. According to a person's social status, the border of the apron was decorated with gold, silver, jade, stone, copper, or horn-shaped objects.

In the Song Dynasty, the emperor and officials wore garments of the same style, which was different from other dynasties. Rank was determined only through different patterns and emblems on these same-style garments.

Brilliant Fashions in the Tang Dynasty

2006-03-06T10:12:00.000-08:00

During the rapid social and economic development of the Sui and Tang dynasties (581-907), feudal cultre in the Central Plains witnessed its height of development. It was a period of wide cultureal exchange and merging of social customs - including dress. For example, the attire of the flying Apsaras in the Dunhuang murals clearly originates from India. Popular jackets with a turndown collar were form northwestern people. The unification of the country with its thriving economy allowed innovations in textile technique and design. The variety of products, quality of weaving and sophistication of color reached new levels. Recorded materials included cotton cloth, thin silk, gauze damask, silk gauze, brocade, and embroidered woven silk. Silk fabris were discovered in recent years in such places as Turpan and Bachu of Xinjiang, and Dunhuang of Gansu Province - proof of the rich variety of textile design tna dexcellent weaving and dyeing techniques of that time. Color analysis shows over 20 hues in the silk unearthed in Turpan.

With teh developments in dyeing, textile, embroidery and silk weaving, the garment industry entered a flourishing period. The file quality of fabrics, brilliance of colors, variety of styles, flamboyantdesigns, and skill of tailoring all reached a peak in the garment culture of feudal times.

Tang Dynasty garments were characterized by elegance, beauty and daring. Women's garments were mostly low-cut and of translucent silk or gauze. Women wore no undergarments, only wrapping a piece of gauze around them. Many Tang Dynasty women wore blouses and skirts. Makeup and hair ornaments were very important, with a rich variety of hair styles and jewelry.

Tang Dynasty men wore robes with a round neck. Traditional ceremonial caps and garments were worn only on grand occasions such as sabrificial rituals. In everyday life men wore robes and head-coverings. Officials of different ranks wore different colors. Officials above the Thrid Rank ore purple, and those below the Third Rank and above the Fifth Rank wore red. The color of the Sixth Rank was green, and that of the Eighth and Ninth was black, which was later changed into bluish-green. This dress code changed in the reigns of later emperors.

Gorgeous Dress and Accessories in the Qin and Han Dynasties

2006-03-05T08:53:00.000-08:00

In the Qin and Han dynasties (221 B.C. - 220 A.D.), people became more style-conscious and wanted more elaborate clothing. According to historical records, while Emperor Wendi of the Han Dynasty was on the throne (179 - 156 B.C.), in noble families even the servants wore expensive jewelry. In the Roadside Mulberry, a poem included in a Han Dynasty collection of folk songs and ballads, the hairstyle and dress of Luo Fu - a woman who was collecting mulberry leaves - was described:

Her hair was done in a bun,
Moon-like pearl earrings adorned her ears.
She donned a light-yellow damask skirt,
And wore a purple blouse to match.

The blouse reached to the waist and usually was worn with a hemless skirt made of four pieces of plain silk, narrow at the top and wide at the bottom, with two strings sewn to both ends of the silk top.

Men's garments in the Qin and Han dynasties could be divided into pleated and non-pleated. People of higher ranks wore robes, and officials usually wore robes without a lining. Robes had wide sleeves and open collars, both with hands. To facilitate their work, ordinary men wore tight cotton jackets with narrow cuffs, a plain gauze robe unearthed from the No.1 Han Tomb at Mawangdui in Changsha, Hunan Province, was discovered to be "as thin and delicate as a cicada's wing and as light as smoke and fog," weighing less than 50 grams. Dating back to over 2,000 years, the robe is still strong in texture and brilliant in color. It demonstrates the excellent textile techniques of the Qin and Han dynasties.

Colorful Dress in the Warring States Period

2006-03-02T10:48:00.000-08:00

In the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods (770-221 B.C.), the textile industry in both urban and rural areas produced more varieties of silk textiles along with more advanced techniques of weaving, dyeing and printing. The gao (a kind of white silk) produced in the State of Lu and the xiu (a raw silk fabric) of Chenliu in modern Henan province were both famous in their time. And because the best textiles were found in the states of Chu and Qi, each came to be regarded as a "world of Fashion".

In an era characterized by great social changes, all schools of thought same into being, such as Confucianism, Taoism, and Legalism - and all these schools influenced how people dressed. Following the division of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty into many vassal states, different styles of dress characterized each state and people.

In the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476 B.C.), chariots were used in war. IN the Warring States Period when wars extended from plains to mountain areas in north China, rulers of the states abandoned chariots for cavalry and infantry. "Hu Dress"(clothes worn by nomads or semi-nomads in northwest China and suitable for riding horses and shooting arrows) was closely associated with horsemanshop and archery.

King Wuling of the State of Zhao (325-299 B.C.) decided to introduce "Hu Dress" to strengthen his military force, but his decision was opposed by some ministers who said it violated traditional rites. The king insisted that "laws and regulations should be as adaptable and suitable as clothes and weapons." The jacket, trousers and leather boots favored by the nomads then became popular in the Central Plains.

Chinese Dress and Accessories in Various Periods

2006-03-01T07:29:00.000-08:00

China has gained a reputation as "a country of fashion" with distinctive styles of dresses associated with different periods of history.

The Beginnings

Ancient Chinese began to sew clothes 5,000 to 6,000 years ago when a primitive textile industry followed the appearance of primitive agriculture, and people began to lead a stable life. People spun thread from bast fibers on spinning wheels of stone or pottery, then wove the fabric to make clothes. From relics excavated from tombs, we know that decorative headwear and necklaces were made of various matericals such as the skin and teeth of animals, fish bones, and shells. Clothes were designed not only for modesty and protection but also for a display of bravery skill and acheevements.

By the Shang Dynasty (C. early 17th century - 11th century B.C.), Chinese had already acquired high technical skill in silk weaving. A new device for the loom was invented in this period to enable more complex patterns of weaving.

By the Zhou Dynasty (c. 11th century - 256 B.C.), the dress of Chinese ancestors had tended to be bright and colorful. According to inscriptions on bronzeware as well as records in The Book of Songs and Rites of Zhou, the royal court set up a dress code with a special official in charge of implementing the code and attending to the king's wardrobe...

Bridge and Silk in Suzhou

2006-02-28T10:38:00.000-08:00

As the "Venice of the East", Suzhou has a maze of bridges. Therefore, even stories of Suzhou's silk production is linked with bridges, as manifested in the following records of the silk textile workers in Suzhou of the 14th-19th centuries:

"In the east side of the city, almost all the people learned silk-weaving techniques. Weavers in Suzhou were paid by their regular employers on a daily basis... Those without regular employers stood on a bridge early in the morning, waiting for their names to be called for work. There were cotton weavers and spinners as well as silk weavers. They gathered in groups of tens or handreds and would disperse of their own accord if on a given day, no work was available. If there was not enough work, they could not feed and clothe themselves properly!"

There is a "Jiao Xie" (call or rest) tablet beside Jiao Xie bridge in Suzhou. Whether spinners could have work, and thus feed themselves, depended only on whether they were called by employers or if not, just rested. The rough tracks on the bridge might be workers footprints while waiting for calls from employers.

Suzhou, Silk weaving, Chinese bridges, silk-weaving techniques

Itroduction to the Chinese fragrance cloud silk

2006-02-27T09:42:00.000-08:00

The fragrance cloud silk, ""Xiang Yuan" voile in Chinese, dated back to the Ming, Qin dynasty rein. It is a product specialized by the people in the pearl triangle area of South China. The whole process uses only natural dyeing material, and the plant which used to produce the colors has the function of cooling down the internal heat and removing the silt up of the human body, so the finished garment is not only soft and pleasantly cool, but also it is environment protection garment.

Taking the white silk from Zhejiang and Jiangshu province as raw material, they use herbal color materials to dye the raw fabric. After dazons of processes, the fabric takes on the colors of clay, black, coffee, brown, etc..

After applying the elegant traditional patterns to the fabric, we make it all the more endearing.

Oriental grace Chinese traditional matching set

2006-02-24T06:34:00.000-08:00

Using plain pure silk material with the dazzling Suzhou silk as the trim, with a lovely Chinese trousers, it's so endearing and graceful.

Jacket fabric 100% silk
Suzhou silk border
Chinese frog buttons
Washing Instructions: Dry clean

This is custom-made item, we will make it exactly according to your body measurements so that it fits well. Please let us know in the order comments area your body measurements in the following format: Bust/Waist/Hips/Height/Weight/Shoulder width/Lower neck girth/Armhole/sleeve length/pants waist/outseam length/inseam length/thigh circumference.

Attention:Waist doesn't refer to the pants waist, it is the circumference of the narrowest of your natural waistline around the stomach area.

Blue iris shoulderless sexy Chinese dress

2006-02-23T12:04:00.000-08:00

[HH240237]

A sexy design of Chinese traditional style dress; Having a beautiful patterned lace layer with a pale blue silk lining, it's sexy and attractive.

Lace with silk lining
Shoulderless design
Chinese flower button
Washing Instructions: Dry clean

Lavendar flowers Chinese silk short qipao

2006-02-22T11:34:00.000-08:00

This is an elegant looking Chinese style silk qipao. It is traditional styled, but it 's knee length qipao which add a bit of modern touch to it. It comes with a full lining. Compared to the similar Chinese traditional dresses from other sellers, it is quite reasonable in price. We can wear it to attand parties, informal occasions. It will also be wonderful gift to your family members or friends.

Keywords: Chinese silk dress, traditional Chinese dress, silk qipao, knee length cheongsam dress

Chinese style phoenix party dress

2006-02-21T13:16:00.000-08:00

It is a unique and exotic chinese style short dress with dazzling silver phoenix flower prints on the fabric. It will surely make you eye-catching in the next hottest occasion in town. Click the product picture to buy in the Chinese clothing store.

Chinese clothing shop openning

2006-02-20T23:45:00.000-08:00

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