Traditional clothes

[zhiaimao]

Da jia hao!

I have been surfing around the Internet looking at various weblogs of tourists who been to China. All the Chinese in the background are wearing Western type clothes.

If a Chinese put on something traditional and walked out, would other Chinese look at them 'funny'?

As for Chinese children, I see them wearing traditional Chinese clothes. Or at least with Chinese characteristics. Why is it common sight to see children in something traditional, but when grown, they wear something Western?

[miss_China_so_much]

Are you expecting seeing the majority of Chinese wearing "traditonal" style clothes in there daily life? That's really funny!

However, sometimes you do see adults,especially women, wear full "traditional" style clothes or clothes with some traditional elements. This is because Chinese "traditional" style is some kind of fashion, not only in China but worldwide

[yorkie_bear]

I'll always remember spending Chinese new year in HK and wearing my newly made gold Chinese style silk jacket, because traditionally you should wear red (or gold will do) , and being stared at everywhere I went. I felt like I was a waitress in a gimmicky restaurant.

[Celso Pin]

specially in São Paulo City, I think you can see more (women) in chinese tradicional cloathes then in china... :)

My sister uses chinese clothes a lot...

but usually, it is fashion for other cultures: Its really easier to see someone with chinese (trad) clothes then brazilian tradicional clo...

[geraldc]

Women still wear "traditional" dress when they get married, or if they're a waitress in a plush restaurant.

Men generally don't anymore, unless you're someone like David Tang, but that's his image, and he's promoting his own fashion line.

However the same could be said why don't you see people in the UK wear Elizabethan ruffs and collars anymore, and why don't americans wear Lincoln type stove pipe hats. Fashion moves on, and "traditional" fashions are for special occasions and TV dramas.

[liuzhou]

You don't say where you are from, but I'm prepared to bet that the locals don't cut about doing their shopping in 16th century garb. They may put it on for certain festivities or theatrical performances. Why do you think China would be different?

[Battosai]

You don't say where you are from, but I'm prepared to bet that the locals don't cut about doing their shopping in 16th century garb. They may put it on for certain festivities or theatrical performances. Why do you think China would be different?

I suppose that depends on your point of view.

Some people would claim that 'modern' clothes are 'Western'. An English businessman wearing a suit is wearing something that evolved naturally from old English clothes. A Chinese migrant worker wearing a suit (and they all seem to ,at least in Shanghai) can be seen as breaking away from tradition and adopting something 'Western'.

Others would say that modern clothes are ‘international’.

I think it would be good (both culturally and economically) for China to have its own style of clothing. The Hanfu in a modernised version would be a good choice. It's not so interesting when the whole world wears the same clothes.But I don't have a very good dress sense (as my wife will gladly testify) so perhaps I’m the wrong person to give advices in this matter…

[zhiaimao]

I don't mean traditional like traditional with full qipao dress and high class wuxia custome stuff. Just some Chinese charateristics on it. (No, not talking about the t-shirts with the Chinese word "Love" or "Dragon" on it.)

I already know that traditional clothes are worn on special events, fashion, and such. No need for further mention of it.

When I look at the albums posted by tourists. I see the Han in westernised clothes. And other minorities are dressed up in traditional and colourful stuff. They were doing everyday stuff in it. Not some dance for a celebration or something.

I seen tourists' online albums on neighbouring areas like Pakistan, Nepal, and Mongolia. Some still wear their traditional clothes.

So why is it that the Chinese have dismantled it at such extent that it is only noticeable during weddings, fashion, dancing events, etc.?

Also, why is it more much common to see Chinese children and elders in something more traditional than the youth or mature population?

[Long Zhiren]

[edited in response to zhiaimao's msg #10 criticisms]

"All the Chinese in the background are wearing Western type clothes."

It's debatable that most people in the West wear Chinese clothes (Chinese-made means Chinese right?)! You must be talking about people in the cities. In the rural & agricultural areas, things haven't yet gotten so uniform.

This, in fact, means that the designs have not only been adopted by Chinese but heavily influenced and maybe even now owned by them. The history of "Western" fashion reveals that commoners' clothes have been heavily influenced by weaving instruments. Therefore, one needs to trace the origin of those influences...back to China?

In modern times, the cultural revolution probably turned things around. Anybody with any real desire to avoid the Mao uniforms was probably shot. When the revolution ended [extra descriptor deleted for those who insist that everything be dead serious.], the population naturally started wearing the other styles of the age. On the other hand, if you see contemporary government officials (especially police & military, and also in Taiwan & Hong Kong), you will see that their uniforms are most certainly not exactly Western. They're fashionably quite competitive. [Zhiaimao, there is no sarcasm here. This is 100% truthful. If anything's meant to be sarcastic or funny, I'd put smileys next to it. Do you need links to photos to believe this?]

[zhiaimao]

It's debatable that most people in the West wear Chinese clothes (Chinese-made means Chinese right?)!

Talking about design here; not manufactor. You knew this from the start. Stop trying to be funny.

When the revolution ended, rather than go naked, I suppose the population just started wearing whatever.

Hopefully, if you should reply again or when other do. The response will be more rational.

On the other hand, if you see government officials (especially police & military, and also in Taiwan & Hong Kong), you will see that their uniforms are most certainly not exactly Western. They're fashionably quite competitive.

And much less sarcastic. Prefered no sarcastism at all.

[geraldc]

Traditional clothes are old, and pretty impractical. No zips, no velcro, no elastic, no modern fibres. They're either cotton or silk, so tend to be very cheap or very expensive. You can put kids in them because they look cute. e.g the little pill hat with a button on top. Kids look cute in that, adults look like 老夫子

I was trying to think how Chinese clothes differ from western clothes, and so far have come up with:

Trousers for old ladies in China end a couple of inches above the ankle, in the west they'd end a bit lower.

Slippers, everyone in HK and southern China wears flip flops round the house, in the west they'd wear slippers.

[Long Zhiren]

Besides ladies' trousers and slippers, here's a glimpse of other modern Chinese clothing designs that differ quite a bit from the "West."

http://www.anatol.org/images/taiwan/taipei/images/police-1.jpg

http://www.booksamillion.com/bam/covers/0/80/483/271/0804832714.jpg

http://graphics.cs.ucdavis.edu/~jchen007/Photo/Me/MP_1.jpg

http://i.timeinc.net/time/daily/2001/0104/army0426.jpg

Notice the extents of tailoring and different functional design. Who else in the world still wears these kinds of hats or wears ties under their uniforms like this? They're somewhat unique. What's Western about them? not much.

These photos are from Taiwan, they're Chinese too.

[geraldc]

That reminds me of a photo my brother took in Taiwan. I think with military uniforms the PRC's are influenced by Russia's, and Taiwan's are influenced by the US.

[Quest]

I already know that traditional clothes are worn on special events, fashion, and such. No need for further mention of it.

When I look at the albums posted by tourists. I see the Han in westernised clothes. And other minorities are dressed up in traditional and colourful stuff. They were doing everyday stuff in it. Not some dance for a celebration or something.

I seen tourists' online albums on neighbouring areas like Pakistan, Nepal, and Mongolia. Some still wear their traditional clothes.

So why is it that the Chinese have dismantled it at such extent that it is only noticeable during weddings, fashion, dancing events, etc.?

Because the minorities had not been westernized?

Also, Han traditional clothes were long lost.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qing_Dynasty

The Manchu rulers antagonised the Han Chinese only as a result of enforcing the "queue order", which forced the Han Chinese to adopt the Manchu hairstyle (the pigtail or the infamous "queue") and Manchu-style clothing. It was designed to massacre both the Han Chinese bodies and their souls, in the physical as well as spiritual sense. During the 268 years of Manchu rule, numerous Chinese rebellions had occurred because of the strict rule of haircutting, which decreed that all Han Chinese males shave off the hair on the front half of the head and braid the remaining hair into a long pigtail. The pigtail story might be related to the early Tobas of the 4th-6th century. The Tobas were called suo lu, namely, pigtail styled robbers. (A better English wording for 'lu' would be enemies or savages.) The Chinese had no choice, either hair or head to be cut. The traditional Chinese clothing, or Hanfu was also replaced by Manchu-style clothing. Qipao (or Chinese dress) and Tangzhuang, which are usually regarded as traditional Chinese clothing nowadays, are actually Manchu-style clothing.

[zhiaimao]

Thread hijacked.

From traditional clothes to military uniforms. <_<

***

Despite the fact that I have mentioned not traditional as in like the old days. But merely the charateristics. But some still think I am talking about it.

And I don't see why the cotton and silk cannot be updated with "modern" fabrics.

[geraldc]

I still don't really know what sort of clothes you'd consider as having Chinese characteristics...

At one time or another the state or fashion has placed pretty high demands the Chinese populous, the haircuts under the qing, the fashion for footbinding, the mao suits under the communists etc. Now people have the choice to wear what they want, so if they want to wear clothes with "Chinese characteristics" they can. It's not as if everyone sat down and decided to wear "western" clothes to annoy the tourists. The only clothes I can think of that are called "western" would be a suit 西装, I don't think people really consider T shirts or even trousers as western.

Also now homes have air-con, and the jobs that people do have changed, there's no need to wear coolie hats, as most people don't grow their own rice anymore, and civil servants and magistrates clothes are no longer at the whim of imperial edict etc.

Chinese jewellery is still traditional, in HK at least, solid gold necklaces and jade pendants and bangles etc.

The ethnic minorities tend to be much smaller in number and still make their own clothes etc.

Military clothing is very important to clothing in general, it explains why mens coats button the way they do, and then there was the period where the PLA would distinguish rank by the number of pockets that someone had on their uniform or something.

[skylee]

People occasionally dress in traditional style (or improved traditional style), especially during festival seasons. I myself like to wear clothes/scarves of Shanghai Tang in the winter. But my colleagues seem to find them strange.