cheongsam-Charming and Sexy Chinese dress

[Heracles]

If we have to choose one dress that can best set off the beauty of Chinese women, it should definitely be cheongsam.

First, let’s give a short look at the history of cheongsam. The name cheongsam, meaning simply long dress, entered the English vocabulary from the dialect of China’s Guangdong province. In other parts of the country, including Beijing, however, it is known as Qipao which has a history behind it. When the early Manchu rulers came to China proper, they organized certain people (mainly Manchus) into banners-Qi and called them banner people-Qi Ren. The Manchu women normally wore a one-piece dress which came to be called Qipao or the banner dress. Although the 1911 Revolution toppled the rule of Qing Dynasty, the female dress survived the political change, and with later improvements has become the traditional dress for Chinese women. Easy to slip on and comfortable to wear, the cheongsam fits well the female Chinese figure and it reached its prime in 1930s.

A short review of the history of cheongsam brings us a remarkable memory of certain famous Chinese beauty wearing Qipao. According to the time sequence, they include the last queen of Qing Dynasty-Wan Rong, singer Zhou Xuan, former Premier’s wife- Wang Guangmei, actress Yue Di, actress Zhao Yazhi, singer Cai Qin, actress Gong Li, actress Li Jiaxin, actress Tan Jing, and actress Gao Yuanyuan.

What are the major features of a traditional Qipao? The neck is high and the collar is closed. Its sleeves may be short, medium or full length, depending on season and taste. The dress is buttoned on the right side with a loose chest, a fitting waist and slits up from the sides, all of which combine to set off the beauty of the female shape.

What about the modern cheongsam? With more exchange with the outside world, today’s cheongsam combines both Chinese and western characteristics, traditional and modern features. There are bold changes and innovations. Whatever it is, cheongsam on one hand can still create an impression of simple and quite charm, elegance and neatness. On the other hand, blended with modern features, they can also show people’s individuality and distinctiveness. No wonder cheongsam enjoys a growing popularity in the international world of high fashion.

There is also a video verison in youtube, hope you will like it

[knight778]

I cant agree more... A girl in cheongsam is hotter than one in bikini..

I dont understand why women in china no longer wear it....

[liuzhou]

I dont understand why women in china no longer wear it....

I see them every day. I saw six about ten minutes ago.

[shanghaikai]

This thread is worthless without pictures!

[mr.stinky]

here's one to start:

[Quest]

I dont understand why women in china no longer wear it....

It's not considered everyday dress anymore, so it's only worn on certain occasions.

A recent reassessment of history by the young also triggered a movement to discourage wearing of the Manchu dresses, which were bloodily imposed on the Han Chinese population, and led to the extinction of the tradional Chinese dresses.

[simonlaing]

Qi Paos are sexy , but the woman has to have a good figure to wear it.

Espicially in the the thin stomach region. It also shows how a lot of Chinese women don't have much of a rear-end.

Plus if the female is well endowed in the chest region these qipao can be difficult to wear.

But since thin is beautiful in China, most of these issues are not big problems.

I've found Chinese women wear them more in the hotter summer months than in the winter...

have fun,

Simon:)

[shanghaikai]

These outfits are typically relegated to restaurant hostesses in my experience unless there's some particularly special occassion like a wedding.

Thin is not necessarily beautiful in China. Rather, thin is beautiful the world over and the Chinese buy into that pop culture image too. For the most part, the people here are thin due to dietary reasons as opposed to a concerted effort to remain thin. Let's just say, compared to the west, the girls here don't have to work as much to stay thin. ;)

[liuzhou]

thin is beautiful the world over

Not true.

For the most part, the people here are thin due to dietary reasons as opposed to a concerted effort to remain thin.

Really?

But if we are going to make wide generalisations, in China, tall is beautiful.

[shanghaikai]

Yes, I'm making generalizations, but they're premised on some arguable measurement of truth. Like it or not, current pop culture and media still holds "thin" as being beautiful. The whole "let's use slightly less thin models" movement in the fashion world just started this year.

Oh, and tall is considered an attractive attribute around the world too. ;)

[simonlaing]

I personally prefer the Tang and Song dynasty version of chinese beauties that were well endowed. I used to live in Suzhou. They were the capital of one of them and also had different sense of beauty.

丰满Fengman, mmm is much better than 苗条

Talk to an Italian about beauty and they will tell you unless they have curves they are not beautiful.

have fun,

Simon:)

[shanghaikai]

Oh yeah, sure, there are obviously different definitions of beauty. There's the black big booty phenomenon too just like many Italians like curves. Yet, even the Italian fashion houses and the runways feature thin, waif, anorexic chic, etc. As I said, there's something of a concerted effort to move away from this trend, but just looking at Britney Spear's latest debacle, we can see how pervasive and commonplace "thin is beautiful" still is. We can list exceptions, but I reckon you have to admit that my statements here are not wrong and are more true than not. Cheers, mate.

[Heracles]

The video version will give you a intuitionistic understanding of the dress:mrgreen:

[CheukMo]

I like short, thin women. Hmm...

卓武

[Lu]

in China, tall is beautiful

Hm, not really. It's more: in China, 1.70 m is considered tall. 1.70 m is considered beautiful. Hence, the Chinese think they like tall. But at the same time Chinese men don't like to look up to women, so woe betide the woman over, say, 1.72. I know a woman of 1.77, she is nice, fun, smart, over 30, and blames her unmarried status on her height. Shops here rarely sell high-heeled shoes over size 39, only flat-heeled shoes. Maybe I'm paranoid, but to me that reads as: if your feet are that big, chances are you're tall enough without high heels, so wear low heels, you giantess.

For the most part, the people here are thin due to dietary reasons as opposed to a concerted effort to remain thin. Let's just say, compared to the west, the girls here don't have to work as much to stay thin.

The scary part is that those girls who are thin to begin with (be it for genetic or dietary reasons) start to think they should jianfei, because jianfei seems to be the thing to do to be beautiful. Plenty of girls here with their bones sticking out of their elbows, with thights the size of my wrist. I wish I was exaggerating. A friend told me about a friend of hers, who only works out and doesn't eat, to be thin. She faints sometimes, the friend told me. It's scary.

[shanghaikai]

The only anorexic women I've seen here in China are Westerners. It actually makes me a lot happier to be surrounded by women who generally do not worry about their weight or what they eat. The food consumed on a daily basis here would make most self-conscious ladies back home reel in fright.

[liuzhou]

Somewhere I have a picture of me wearing a Qipao.

As I am not Chinese, male and over 6 feet tall, I am clearly not about to post it here.In fact I didn't even tell you that!

Alcohol was involved!

[shanghaikai]

Yeah...better leave that for when you want to alienate everyone from a thread...