I fully support he hanfu movement, and just like you I am disappointed by its lack of progress. “I simply like this clothing, it’s beautiful,” she said, adding that it was “nonsense” to link Hanfu with nationalism. This period witnessed the flourishing of Hanfu clothing, characterized by its elaborate designs and luxurious materials. In the Tang dynasty, it was also popular for people to use fabrics, including brocade, to decorate the collars, sleeves and front of the yuanlingpao; this practice of clothing decoration is known as “partial decorations of gowns” and was influenced by the Sogdians of Central Asia, who had entered China since the Northern and Southern dynasties period. The design of the Chinese comb introduced in Nara period was different from stick-shaped hair prongs that had been used by the Japanese before. 528 The Ming dynasty only wanted the Vietnamese to wear long hair and to stop teeth blackening so they could have white teeth and long hair like Chinese. While Chinese people have traditionally favoured light skin tone as part of their traditional Chinese aesthetic; they did not favour the white skin tone of European people which was looked down as being pale and unhealthy as the colour white was the symbolic colour of death and mourning in traditional Chinese culture.

Structurally, it looks similar to the jifu; it is typically blue, grey, and reddish brown in colour. Red makeup was an important colour for facial cosmetics for the Chinese people; for example, in the Tang dynasty, red makeup included rouge and lip glosses made of cinnabar. Red, for example, represents good fortune and joy, making it a popular choice for festive occasions and ceremonies. In 2021, the Hong Kong cheongsam making technique was successfully listed on the fifth National List of Intangible Cultural Heritage. Thus, a Han Chinese person who is born in the UK as a British national must wear British court dress if he or she wears court dress. Those who hold dual citizenship of Britain and China (inc. HK, etc) may wear British court dress or whatever dress they see fit as for Non-British Han Chinese. Secondly, those who live as a British national are therefore subject to the rules and customs of Britain, including what court dress to wear. A Non-British Han Chinese however may wear whatever they feel fit, including Hanfu if they subscribe to that as their national dress but not Hanfu court dress as they are not entitled to it by virtue of no regining Emperor of China to give entitlement to wear it, otherwise it would be classed as ‘fancy dress’.

It was a government-led civic campaign in the 1930s Republic of China to promote cultural reform and Neo-Confucian social morality and to ultimately unite China under a centralized ideology following the emergence of ideological challenges to the status quo. For those who are new to styling hanfu, looking for inspiration on social media platforms or dedicated hanfu forums can be a great starting point. Through the resurgence of hanfu, we glance back at the rich tapestry of Chinese civilization and forward to how heritage can interlace with future aspirations. 84 Others may wear the cheongsam as an attempt to reconnect with their Chinese heritage and/or to show appreciation to the dress. But the kimono is distinctly Japanese, while the hanfu represents Chinese fashion heritage. The kurotomesode and irotomesode are formal kimono with a design solely along the hem, and are considered the most formal kimono for women outside of the furisode. The reason is, as I said above, that there is no reigning Emperor of China to grant such governmental posts that would make the said people in these posts entitled to Hanfu court dress, nor are there any noblemen in China anymore. If you visit mainland China you will see that the “bandit government” is pouring lots of money into preserving, restoring, and reconstructing traditional architecture in every city from as early as the Han dynasty.

So why is it that the “bandit government” supports traditional feudal architecture but not traditional fashion? Traditional architecture supports the economy by increasing tourism, hanfu doesn’t. Anything but hanfu. Is the Free Democratic Taiwanese government also oppressing the Han Chinese population in Taiwan? I wouldn’t call Taiwan all that “liberated” myself and in their case, they have the added problem of an identity crisis. And, in neither case, have they had their culture suppressed to the same extent that people on the mainland have (like when Mao made everyone dress alike and even considered replacing names with numbers). A Chinese male Hanfu is a traditional Chinese garment with components like Yi (upper garment), Chang (lower garment), and Pao (robe). Still, undoubtedly fewer people care about it than I would like. As the kun-trousers did not conform to the traditional culture of the Han, the kun was mainly worn by warriors and servants, but kun were not used by the general population as people found it hard to adjust the use of kun in their daily activities.