What Is China'S National Costume?

"Clothing is a tiny thing, but it is part of the etiquette system of the past dynasties."

This is what Wang Guanshi, a scholar in Taiwan, wrote in the preface of "etiquette and costumes".

Historically, dress system has been combined with etiquette system, and clothing has always been one of the forms of etiquette.

China has always been "in history".

With the development of history, our traditional etiquette has been broken, and our clothing culture has broken down.

Costumes are symbols and symbols of the nation. Without their own national costume, efforts to promote their etiquette culture will be greatly reduced.

Therefore, there is no need for dress etiquette in a discussion of traditional etiquette remodeling.

Japan has kimono, South Korea has Hanfu, Vietnam has long gown, India has sari, what does China have? What is our national costume?

In March 17, 2006, the international fashion forum of Shanghai International Fashion Culture Festival invited the experts from home and abroad to find the answer for the Chinese costume with the theme of "harmony, fashion and national costume".

In academic circles, the discussion of national costume like this is getting more and more lively.

On the eve of the clothing festival, Donghua University held the first invitational tournament of "costume design" in my mind for the first time in fashion colleges.

However, in the eyes of young college student fashion designers, the national costume is fashionable, which is similar to our imagined cheongsam and Zhongshan.

Professor Yang Yixiong of Donghua University is positive about this. "The design of national costume is not to dress up modern people as ancient people.

The design of national costume should reflect the concept and spirit of Chinese culture. At the same time, there is no lack of fashion and personalization.

In fact, it is difficult to have a unified standard in the "national costume" in my mind. There are one hundred kinds of national costume images in the eyes of one hundred people.

The memory of our latest national costume image was presented at the APEC conference held in Shanghai in 2001. Leaders dressed in "Chinese Tang costume".

This has made it popular among Chinese at home and abroad.

Although it is designed on the basis of the Qing Dynasty Liriodendron, it is improved by design. But in the new era, Chinese people's national pride and cultural pride have made some people's perception and impression of the new Tang suit completely different from that of the gown of nearly a century ago. This is a reason why it can be popular.

However, after the rapid popularity, the new Tang costume gradually faded away from people's vision, and finally failed to become our national costume.

Yang Yuan, curator of the National Costume Museum of Beijing Institute Of Fashion Technology, reflected on this phenomenon. She thought that the new Tang suit could not and could not become a national costume mainly because of the following reasons: lack of fashion beauty and no feeling of getting out of the mandarin jacket; many Chinese did not like it; the shadow of that history still remained in the hearts of the Chinese people, reminiscent of the shame of the people in that period and unacceptable feelings; for the Han people advocating "Hanfu", the new Tang costume is not the Han nationality's national costume, and lacks identity.

Hanfu is not equivalent to national costume.

On the eve of the Mid Autumn Festival of 2006, 30 young people dressed in ancient costumes and ancient ornaments appeared in Tianjin ancient culture street.

The team was led by two young men in the hands of "Zheng Zheng Hua Xia", "the mid autumn festival full moon" red banner, and slowly marching towards the ancient culture street.

Every time there is a memorial archway, the team stops. A leading man walks out of the team, imitating the ancients in various forms of worship. After the ceremony is completed, the team continues to move forward.

This is a campaign launched by a website in China to wear Hanfu, ancient etiquette and traditional festivals. The purpose is to "promote Hanfu".

Over the past two years, there has been a burst of "Hanfu" fever in China, and even a considerable number of people think that national clothing should be named "Hanfu".

Yang Yixiong believes that China is a multi-ethnic country with 56 nationalities. As a factor in rejecting other ethnic costumes, it is biased to restore the simple Han dress.

"In the course of history, a nation is bound to integrate with other cultures.

In the early years, our ancestors had broad mind, instead of the so-called lineage as a yardstick, but as a symbol of Chinese culture.

Similarly, the development and evolution of national costume is also a process of absorbing foreign cultures and blending with each other. "

Therefore, he believes that in the process of interpreting "national service", we should advocate the unity of diversity and harmony.

Yang Yuan also suggested that national costume can choose elements in many ethnic costumes, choose elements from ancient clothes, and learn from the advantages of western style clothing to create a series of costumes shared by ethnic groups.

From this point of view, Hanfu can not be equated with national costume.

The naming of national costume has become a sensitive topic.

The respondents who accept the "well-off" think that "Chinese clothing" is a relatively suitable appellation.

Characteristics of national costume

But whatever the name is, national costume must reflect a common national identity.

The Chinese tunic suit was once recognized by the world as China's "national costume". Its popularity has been close to a century.

Until now, Zhang Yimou, Kaige Chen, Jet Li and others have been accustomed to choose Zhongshan dress in international occasions.

Yang Yuan believes that this is a manifestation of national identity, national cultural identity is often expressed through national costumes, national costume must have this characteristic.

The Chinese tunic suit embodies such characteristics.

After the abolition of the feudal dynasty in 1911, the revolutionaries revolved around the issue of dressing.

At the end of the debate, Sun Zhongshan proposed the introduction of Japanese student clothes and Western military uniforms to form a new form of world uniform, which is the later "Zhongshan suit".

"Zhongshan dress" is not a simple introduction and improvement of Japanese student clothes and Western uniform.

According to the content of Zhou Dai's etiquette in the book of changes and so on, Sun Zhongshan put the meaning of the Zhongshan suit in a sense: the four pockets of the predecessor represent the four dimensions of the country (ritual, righteousness, honesty and shame), and the five buttons of access control are different from the separation of five powers in the western three powers (administration, legislation, judicature, examination, supervision), and the three buttons of the cuffs represent the three principles of the people (nationality, civil rights, people's livelihood), and the back does not break the gap to represent the great meaning of national peaceful reunification.

In that era, as the dress image of the country, the "Chinese tunic suit" was related to the national identity and national pride, and also the cohesion of the nation.

Yang Yuan believes that the design of today's national costume must also reflect the characteristics of the times and positive mental outlook.

Because it is a symbol of the country and a symbol of the nation.

National clothing needs standardization

Therefore, the national costume is not equal to the ancient costume. The design of the national costume can be fashionable and personalized.

South Korea's Hanfu and Japan's kimono experience can be used for reference.

Professor Zhang Shulin of Harbin university clothing Institute said that today's kimono or today's Hanfu are constantly improved on the basis of tradition.

In particular, Hanfu, in terms of material and style, is very different from ancient times. "Now we see very beautiful Hanfu from Korean dramas. Most of them are improved versions."

Many domestic scholars believe that the design of national costume should meet the needs of different occasions, "should be a series".

But in this series, dress is the main form and appears on some solemn occasions.

As a manifestation of ceremonial image, national costume should be advocated as a spiritual carrier to permeate the etiquette culture of folk customs.

Therefore, Yang Yixiong believes that "national costume can be used not only for official contacts, important political and cultural occasions, but also for important traditional festivals, weddings, adult rites and ceremonies."

Yang Chenggui, a famous Tang costume master, suggested that the three most typical festivals in China, such as the national day, the Mid Autumn Festival and the Spring Festival, should be designated as the national service days.

The market potential of national costume is huge, and the current national costume has not yet formed the standard of garment production and industrial production.

With the continuous expansion of the market, the traditional workshop mode of manufacture will no longer suit the production of national clothing.

Yang Yixiong thinks that the standardization and ready-made clothes of national costume are the trend. It is also a difficult problem to be solved in the popularization and popularization of national costume.

In recent years, there are more and more clothing brands which are mainly made up of Chinese clothing. For example, the costumes of "Tai Zi Long" with strong national colors, the "seven card" men's clothing with "Chinese collar" going abroad.

The cultural awareness of operators' national etiquette is constantly increasing.

In November 2006, on the China Fashion Week, NE TIGER, a wedding show with "phoenix" as its theme, is being staged: "phoenix" as its theme, "cloud brocade" as its fabric, "China Red" as its tonal, and "four famous embroidery" as its craft, it is the classic and elegance of Chinese summer dress civilization etiquette.