Hanfu is a term used for the historical styles of clothing worn by the Han people in China. (The Han people are the main ethnic group in China and the most populous ethnic group in the world.)
Traditionally, the hanfu consisted of a robe or shirt worn as the upper garment, with a pleated skirt commonly worn as the lower garment.
Following the Han dynasty, this clothing had developed into a variety of styles utilising fabrics that encompassed a number of complex textile production techniques, particularly those used to produce silk. Han Chinese clothing has influenced the traditional clothing of many neighbouring cultures and directly lead to the development of the Japanese Kimono, Korean hanbok, and the Vietnamese ao Giao linh.
Modern archaeology has revealed that China had a primitive textile industry during the Neolithic period, but it was not until the Yin and Shang dynasties that a definitive system of the costume was established.
In a general sense, the system of Chinese costume originated during the Shang and Zhou dynasties and has since been passed down through the centuries, through many dynasties, and with the fusion and absorption of the costumes of the nomadic peoples of the north and even the western regions in different periods of history, a costume system with distinctive Chinese characteristics has naturally emerged throughout this process, which is what we call today the hanfu.
In the 21st century, a fashion and social movement named the Hanfu movement to seek the revival of ancient Han Chinese clothing. The revival of Hanfu is in fact the revival of the unique ideological, cultural, artistic and aesthetic heritage of the Han nation in the form of a dress system.
There are so many different forms of Chinese costume and their evolution is very complex. In addition to common clothes, there are also various court dresses, gowns, auspicious clothes and mourning clothes, so it is far from easy to get a clear picture of the variety.
Why revitalise the Hanfu?
In China, the Han Chinese are the main ethnic group and the most populous in the world. Han Chinese clothing is the traditional clothing system of the Han people, which dates back to 4,000 years. Everyone knows that the traditional costume in Japan is the kimono, but when it comes to China, Hanfu is not well known, and even many Chinese people see it as the costume of another country or think it is a play. Everyone has forgotten the roots of their own nation. Young people in China, in particular, lack knowledge of history and these traditions. So people from other countries don’t know what Chinese clothing is either. Therefore, by creating this website, I want to attract the attention of society. First of all to let Chinese people know what Hanfu is, to understand the country’s traditional culture, to build cultural confidence and also to introduce this culture to the world. Share it with the world.
