Huaxia dresses brilliantly for thousands of years. How rich is the Chinese traditional wear? Follow the INSTITUTE FOR PLANETS to enjoy a journey through a thousand years of Chinese costumes.   Huaxia Dresses - Prehistory to Shang & Zhou Period Looking back tens of thousands of years ago, human beings learned to sewn clothes with Guzhen (骨针, bone needle). Perhaps inspired by making ropes and bamboo baskets, around 7,000 B.C., Chinese ancestors began to weave fabrics with plant fibers. In order to improve the weaving efficiency, the Fanglun (纺轮, spinning wheel) was created that used pottery sheets to rotate inertial for twisted threads. There is also the Yaoji (腰机, waist machine) that is used to bind lines and make them tight and easy to knit. In that era of extremely backward productivity, it was not easy to get fabric, so the shape of clothes was relatively simple. Two narrow pieces of cloth were directly combined and then tie a straw rope, which may be the daily dress. With the continuous development of society, the function of clothing has long been more than just covering up and keeping warm, it has also been endowed with a lot of aesthetic concepts, which is…

"Collar" refers to not only the area of a piece of clothing around the neck, but also the fabric below that. Since hanfu is almost always constructed of two pieces of fabric that aren't fully connected at the front, and put on like a jacket, collar also refers to ways that these two piece of fabric connect once the piece is on your body.   交領/交领/jiao1 ling3/Crossed Collar Probably the first type of collar that you’ll see—the crossed collar, or jiaoling. This collar consists of two overlapping pieces and is usually secured with two to three ties, with a thicker or contrasting border along the edge of each piece. It’s almost always right over left, or if you think about it in terms of how to put it on, you tie the left ties before you tie the right ties. The result is a y-shaped collar when viewed from the front. Ming dynasty people may have done it the other way, as well as various non-Han groups and clothes put on the deceased at funerals, but it’s generally a good rule of thumb to follow right over left. as it’s one of the most important cultural concepts in hanfu. These…

In 2013, the TV series "Legend of Lu Zhen" hit the air, and the story of Lu Zhen's promotion from an ordinary palace maid to a high-level female official attracted many people's attention. Are you also curious about the history of ancient Chinese female officials? Let's talk about it today.   Pre-Zhou Dynasty Women were already involved in political activities as early as the pre-Zhou Dynasty. The Classic of Poetry records that a significant leader of the Zhou family, King Tai of Zhou, who coordinated the move of the capital, and his wife, Tai Jiang (太姜), who was responsible for surveying the location of the new capital. The wife of Wu Ding (武丁, Shang dynasty King), Fuhao (妇好), also had an outstanding performance in the activities of the outer court. According to historical records, she once led 3,000 troops to conquer the Qiang (羌) and returned with complete victory. It was the highest number and scale of military campaigns in the current oracle bone recorded during the reign of Wu Ding.   Zhou Dynasty The Western Zhou Dynasty was the earliest period in which the texts related to "female officials" were recorded in the existing testable materials. According to the…

As one of the main composition elements of hanfu tops and robes, sleeves can have a lot of variation. They mostly fall into a couple categories that we have recovered historical artifacts from, though a lot of manufacturers end up with some variation in their patterns. Today we’ll go over a whole ten sleeve types, a bit of historical context, and some of the variations they can go through. Before we get into that, though, let’s go over a little basic information that applies to (almost) all hanfu sleeves. One of the defining characteristics of the hanfu is the 接袖/接袖/jie1 xiu4/sleeve connection. What this means is that the sleeve is not connected to the body of the top or robe at the shoulder, but at a point partway down the upper arm, with the body of the clothing and part of the arm being made up of one piece of fabric, and the rest of the sleeve of another. These are stitched together to create the whole sleeve. The rest of the sleeve is also made of one piece of fabric both front and back, folded over the top and stitched together at the bottom. Some exceptions to this are…

The construction of the body of most hanfu tops and robes is what usually decides what ’type’ of hanfu it is. We’ll go over a few common types of hanfu and what features they have. There are, however, a few rules that pretty much all hanfu tends to follow: First, there’s always a seam down the middle of the back, meaning that the piece of clothing is made up of one piece of fabric on the left and one on the right, stitched together in the center. There’s also never a seam at the shoulder like we have in modern clothing—instead of the front and back being two different pieces of fabric, the front and back are made up of the same piece, just folded over the shoulder. Another thing to note is that while we often refer to tops and robes in hanfu as the two main categories, that isn’t how hanfu is really categorized, just a way for us to talk about the shape of things in English. Instead, we have the 長/长/chang2/long versions and 短/短/duan3/short versions of clothing, which can be applied to most categories of clothing that we separate by construction—the only difference is length. Short…

First installment of the Hanfu in Components series is up! As a reminder, if you haven’t already, check out the introductory article to best find out how to use this guide, otherwise some things might not make sense to you. If you’ve done that already, charge on forward! To kick off the series, this is a brief article explaining how exactly we’re going to break down hanfu into its basic components. We’re still in the introductory stages here, but bear with me and we’ll get to the fun stuff soon.   WHAT MAKES HANFU, HANFU? What defines 漢服/汉服/han4 fu2/hanfu? What sets it apart from everyone else? How do we know when something is truly hanfu, as opposed to hanfu-inspired? These questions can be kind of scary when you first look at them, scared of making a mistake—don’t worry, it’s actually pretty simple! First, we should understand that hanfu isn’t just something that we derived off of paintings and imperial dramas. Every type of hanfu that we have today was recovered as a rotting piece of cloth that we dug up from the ground, studied by historians and made into clothing patterns (‘pattern’ refers the shape of the fabric pieces and…

With oriental mythology as the base to interpret the magnificent three realms, the traditional cultural core to build a solid humanistic heritage, the traditional Chinese intangible cultural heritage elements perfectly mixed into the scene creation, the oriental fantasy romance cdrama "Love Between Fairy and Devil" through the new world view, the audience can totally experience what is the immersive oriental cultural imagination. "Love Between Fairy and Devil (苍兰诀)" is a costume fantasy cdrama starring Yu Shu Xin and Dylan Wang, with Xu Hai Qiao and Cristy Guo in special roles. The drama is adapted from the novel of the same name by Jiu Lu Fei Xiang, which tells the story of a sweet and sadistic love story between the fairy Xiao Lan Hua and the Moon Goddess Dong Fang Qing Cang, who accidentally swap bodies. The drama aired on August 7, 2022. The Xi Lan family was exterminated, the goddess of Xishan, Xiao Lan Hua, was protected by the clan and was reborn as a low-level fairy in the heavens after ten thousand years, and she accidentally resurrected the Moon Goddess Dong Fang Qing Cang who was trapped in the Haotian Tower. To gain freedom, Dong Fang Qing Cang has…

In ancient China, there was no tap water, no washing machines, and no cleaning products such as laundry detergent, so how did ancient people launder hanfu and daily care for it?   Ancient laundry hanfu supplies: soap 1.1: Zhou Dynasty - plant ash soap In modern life, soap is the most basic of laundry clothing. However, soap was also used as a cleaning agent to wash clothes in ancient time. Ancient soap was made from "plant ashes", which is the residue of burning plants (herbs and woody plants). It was used to make soap because it was easy to get and store. The ash contains many mineral elements, including potassium carbonate, which removes stain. In the Book of Rites, a document reflecting the history and culture of the Zhou Dynasty, it is written that when the hatband and clothes were dirty, they were washed with plant ashes. “冠带垢，和灰清漱；衣裳垢，和灰请澣。” 1.2: Qin Dynasty - plant ash & shell ash soap During the Qin Dynasty, soap was further upgraded with the addition of a substance called "shell ash". The ash produced by burning shells, when mixed with plant ashes, produces potassium hydroxide, a strong alkali. To make silk soft and white, the ancients…

Kesi (缂丝), the most traditional type of silk weaving in the Chinese silk industry, which is highly appreciated for its decorative qualities. Kesi is a kind of pattern with warp and weft, forming a pattern border, with the effect as if was carved, and rich two-sided three-dimensional sense of silk crafts. The knitting technique of Kesi is different from the embroidery and brocade. Suzhou Kesi painting is also known as the "Four Great Weavers" of China, along with Hangzhou silk painting, Yongchun paper painting and Sichuan bamboo curtain painting. The Kesi technique has appeared many times in the collection of ancient costume dramas, such as the delicate Kesi fans in the hands of the concubines of “Story of Yanxi Palace”, adding endless style to them. The another drama “Marvelous Women” which take the Qing Dynasty as the background, has restored the weaving scene of the Kesi.   The Uniqueness of Kesi Different from the weaving method of Song brocade, Shu brocade, cloud brocade which are woven through the warp and weft. Kesi with raw silk as the warp, a variety of colorful cooked silk threads for the weft, which are dug and woven by the method of passing through the…

Not a week later and I'm back again with the details on our even larger, even longer hanfu outing just last weekend on Saturday, August 13th! You can check out our absolutely PHENOMENAL photographer this time at @Ryfucius on Instagram, he was incredibly dedicated and we couldn't have done it without him. Inspired by the fun we had on the East Coast New England outing, Yulan and I decided to plan a second outing for our SF Bay Area friends on the West Coast too. This time with a party of 14 and a whole day's time, our itinerary was expanded to include multiple photo locations and a karaoke session at the end of the day—and hey, I got to participate this time! Our first stop was the Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, a beautiful park with a lot of natural beauties. Our main target location was the Chinese Pavilion, an incredible work of archtiecture gifted to San Francisco by Taiwan. With a pointed roof and some enchanting carvings in the pillars and benches surrounding the pavilion, it was a perfect spot for a group photo as well as a lot of solo shots. We couldn't waste the rest…

Earlier, Liu Yifei's new costume drama "A Dream of Splendor" was aired, and after 16 years Liu Yifei's acting in a costume drama has gained extraordinary popularity and attention. Liu Yifei has always been called the goddess of costume drama, in "A Dream of Splendor", she acted as Zhao Pan'er, seemingly soft and unsupported, but actually intelligent and powerful, with independent and beautiful femininity. Despite Liu Yifei's appearance has not changed, but her temperament is more introspective and tough, beautiful with power, and Zhao Paner's persona also fits better. In addition to Liu Yifei, we will introduce you to several other costume drama goddesses in this article, who are known to the audience for their high-quality costume drama roles.   Liu Yifei (Crystal Liu) Liu Yifei's costume drama masterpieces: A Dream of Splendor (2022) Return of the Condor Heroes (2006) Chinese Paladin (2005) Demi Gods & Semi Devils (2003) Liu Yifei's first costume drama is the Demi Gods & Semi Devils in 19 years ago, she starred in the role of Wang Yuyan. This is undoubtedly a successful role, and even the original author Jin Yong has written a message for her: "Miss Liu, with you as Wang Yuyan, readers will…

Youku's pending fantasy drama "Till The End of The Moon" returns to the online game style and moves towards a new design direction. Not wanting the confusion of costume shapes in period-specific costume dramas, these dramas that pursue traditional Chinese costume forms such as "The Longest Day In Chang'an" and "Royal Feast" were also well received by the audience. In the newly launched drama projects, even the emotional-based ancient costume idol dramas, have begun to try their best to choose a style in line with today's hanfu culture in the design of clothing. Looking back on Chinese ancient costume dramas, in addition to the antique classic stylings in the audience's impression, such as "Journey to the West" and "Dream of the Red Chamber", there are also some pioneering, trendy, and bold ancient costume styles time. The stylings design of ancient costume dramas has great styles and aesthetic differences due to different themes and story backgrounds. This article will review the styling history of Chinese costume dramas from the two types of fairy chivalrous and realistic retro, combined with hairstyle, hair accessories, and clothing.   01 Evolution of Xianxia hairstyle In the early ancient costume dramas, there was no concept of "XianXia (仙侠)". "Xian"…

Hey everyone—a little busy as of late, but rest assured that I am not dead! I just had to pop back to belatedly report on the 2022 Scholar's Garden Hanfu Outing organized by Yulan/Chlobaltblue in our hanfu discord server community! This half-day event consisted of a photoshoot and group dinner on July 30th, 2022 in the New York Chinese Scholar's Garden with a small group of eight people attending. People from all over New England joined us for this outing, from Conneticut residents to Boston students flying all the way up to Staten Island. Unfortunately I was not one of those people, but I'm here to share with you all the pictures and experience that my sister provided! I'll also be doing a brief summary of some of the outfits that everyone is wearing. Some of our members had their own sets, while others borrowed from each other. A majority of our outfits were Wei/Jin Style (魏晉風)  outfits which consisted of a zhequn, cross collar top, and daxiushan. Ani also wore a Ming-style summer set, with a modified zhuyao with pearl buttons in the front to mimic the zimu buttons of a zhuyao and a Ming helingshan, a style that greatly resembles…

Have you ever watched the Dream of the Red Chamber (1987 TV series)? The costume styling of this drama can be called the pinnacle of classical Chinese costume aesthetics. Compared to the diverse styles of costume dramas in recent years, the classical style aesthetic seems to have gradually suffered from indifference and become rare. However, there are still someone who is trying to spread classical aesthetics, and she is the main character in this article, the Hanfu & Classical Aesthetics content creation blogger, @我是411 (I'm 411). She hopes to bring classical aesthetics back into the public through her own efforts and restoration. "The GREAT SHOKUNINI" recently interviewed this 27-year-old Xi'an girl. Like most girls, 411 loved the classical style when she was a child: comic books with traditional stories, calendar illustrations with classical ladies, ancient frescoes and illustrations of ladies in textbooks, and the Dream of the Red Chamber that she watched over and over again. In her opinion, the classical aesthetic was disseminated in the past through refined literary works that did not deviate from tradition, but now, there are many important things that are dying out. Along with the initial heart and sense of mission, 411 set up…

In the Chinese lunar calendar, the 15th day of the seventh month is the traditional Zhongyuan festival (Ghost festival). There is a folk saying that "At the half of the seventh month, the gate of ghosts will be opened", just like the plot of the movie "Coco". But is this really the case? And why is the Zhongyuan festival commonly considered to be a ghost festival? How did the ancient people spend this festival?   Zhongyuan Festival = Ghost Festival? Zhongyuan festival has a thousand-year history, and is also known as "Qi Yue Ban (七月半)" and "Yulanpen Festival (盂兰盆节)", each name representing a different ideological origin of the Zhongyuan festival. Simply put, it originated as a folk custom of ancestor worship, and later incorporated the ideas of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism. When it comes to traditional folklore ancestor worship, we have to mention the "Qiu Chang (秋尝)": an ancient sacrificial ritual held in July. Autumn is the harvest season, and ancient people offer the ripe grains to their ancestors to pray for a good harvest in the coming year. In the beginning, there was no fixed date for "Qiu Chang". As the 15th day of the 7th lunar month is…

Cultural variety shows and historical dramas have opened up a new trend of Chinese celebrities' traditional costume styling. Starting with "National Treasure" in 2017, celebrities frequently time travel to various dynasties to experience the life of ancient people. Yang Zi acted in many Xianxia dramas (such as Ashes of Love, and Immortal Samsara), but in "National Treasure", she had the opportunity to talk with Princess Wencheng across time and space. The appropriate gold ornaments, together with the flower inlay between her eyebrows, highlight her dignified and luxurious side. Zhang Zifeng, transformed into a Qing Dynasty astronomer, Wang Zhen Yi. With her plain attire and calm and quiet temperament, you seem to be able to see the majestic universe in her heart. The 2019 suspense drama "The Longest Day In Chang'an", the thrilling investigation process, with a rich display of Tang Dynasty styling, adds a lot of features to this drama. In the show "Meet the temple of heaven" 2019, has a number of actresses changing into Qing Dynasty attire, which combined with the scenery of the Temple of Heaven, really gives a feeling of history shining into reality. Compared to Xianxia and Wuxia dramas, cultural shows and historical dramas usually…

Unlike the noble and elegant clothes of women in the Tang Dynasty, when it comes to Song Dynasty women costumes, maybe we are thinking of a graceful and restrained and a plain and neat feeling. The Song Dynasty was the dynasty with the most prosperous literati temperament in Chinese history. Women’s clothing in the Song Dynasty not only inherited the women's clothing system in the Tang Dynasty, moreover, combined with the characteristics of the times, created a dressing mode that belongs to the Song Dynasty. Its aesthetic standard is skinny beauty with fresh and elegant. It advocates slenderness and fit, exquisite material processing, soft tone, lightness, softness, elegance, and it has a strong atmosphere of life. So what kind of clothes did the women wear in the Song Dynasty thousands of years ago? In this article, ArtMoment will introduce 11 classic Song Dynasty women costumes to you.   1-Top In the Song Dynasty, women’s clothing was basically still coat and dress shape, divided into different forms. Tops mainly have Moxiong, Shan, Ru & Ao, Pao, Beizi, Banxiu, and so on. Moxiong Moxiong (抹胸, bandeau) is the most close-fitting clothing for women in the Song Dynasty. Its function is like today’s…

Can foreigners wear Hanfu? Which dynasty's Hanfu style is more suitable for non-Chinese people, Tang, Song, or Ming? Wearing Chinese hanfu costumes, tasting traditional Chinese food, and learning traditional handicrafts, three young ladies from different countries immersive experienced Chinese culture, in the recently released Chinese traditional culture creative short film "They Are All From China" by the Sichuan Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism, China. https://youtu.be/Ufvs8bqcYgA   Traditional Chinese Hanfu Costume Hanfu is the traditional national costume of the Han people and has a history of over 3,700 years, with different costumes and makeup for different dynasties. In this video, Ms. Ting Yue, the Chinese costume enthusiast and promoter, leads three foreign friends in a special Chinese cultural experience. They put on different dynasties Hanfu to achieve a "gorgeous transformation".   Tang Dynasty Hanfu The Tang Dynasty saw an unprecedented flourishing atmosphere of feudal society, with advanced society, cultural prosperity, advanced silk weaving techniques, and a nationwide tea drinking culture, making it a dynasty in which China exported a great deal of culture, art and technology to surrounding countries. At this time, clothing styles, colors, patterns, and so on, all presented a new situation, the gorgeous crowns and clothing are…

Introduction Yunjian (云肩), is considered to be one of hanfu's accessories. It is often matched with Ming Dynasty clothing, such as long tops (长袄) and folded skirts, known as mǎ miàn qún (马面裙). Those interested in hanfus might be interested in making their own, including yunjian. But, when it comes to making yunjian, there have been little videos that give the full process of making it from scratch. There are, however, kits that can be bought and you just have to attach the pieces. Or, you can just buy the finished product from stores that sell it to match your hanfu set. The reason that there haven’t been many tutorials for yunjian making could be because of the complicated embroidery techniques that are used. Despite yunjian being something small, the intricate designs can require long hours just on sewing itself. If you have a sewing machine, it’ll fasten your pace on the designs, making it much easier for you to do the DIY process. I’ve looked through videos and articles showing steps of yunjian making and I’ll group them here for anyone interested. The steps may be rough, but you’ll get the overall idea of what’s occurring to get the…

With the popularity of "A Dream of Splendor", the Chinese traditional folk life of the Song Dynasty shown in the drama has set off a retro craze in reality. The audience's focus on ancient costume dramas is no longer limited to makeup and costumes, but seeks to examine and explore deeper content. In recent years, it is common that ancient costume dramas based on historical research and restoration of ancient life, but most of them are still embodied in costumes and etiquette, do not fully restore the life of ancient China. So, what is traditional Chinese folk life like? STUDIO SHENLOUZHI (蜃楼志), as if they had traveled from ancient China, recreates the traditional Chinese folk life for the audience with their almost perfect short films. On June 10, 2019, their first work, "VAGUELY DREAM IN HOKCHEW - Short Film of Traditional Life in Late Ming Dynasty" suddenly becomes popular on the Internet, with more than 700,000 views. The creative team members are all post-90s traditional culture enthusiasts, who had no experience in film production or acting in any drama before. The short film shows the folk life in Hokchew City (Fuzhou) during the Chongzhen period of the late Ming Dynasty…