First of all, the Hanfu is not just a piece of clothing, but the Hanfu that we are discussing now should be more of a culture, a civilisation. So what we are passing on now should be a national culture rather than a dress culture.
We all know that Chinese dress is one of the oldest national dresses in the world. From the time of the Yellow Emperor’s “Huang Di’s “dressing and ruling the world”, we established dress as a cultural expression for the first time, and after the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, the dress system was initially established and gradually perfected during the Western Zhou Dynasty, forming a civilisation of dress for future generations based on the book which named “Zhou Guan” and “Li Ji”.
It has been proven that the upper garment and lower garment style already existed during the Shang dynasty, and this would have been the first style of the Chinese clothing system, which was the most original in the later period. The greatest contribution of the Western Zhou and its influence on later generations was the perfection of the dress system. The ‘ritual’ here refers to the etiquette used to regulate society and stabilise the world, and the dress system was, at the time, a symbol of class, so the dress system could be said to be one of the foundations of the establishment of government in feudal society.
When it comes to revival, one of the most important figures in the history of the development of Hanfu is Emperor Ming of Han, who adopted the Book of Rites and Rituals of The Zhou Dynasty and changed his dress to the imperial costume. This was a cultural revival of the Chinese nation in the field of clothing and costume, following the ideology of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, who “dismissed the hundred schools and revered only Confucianism”. The Han dynasties after the Ming dynasty mostly continued the Zhou system with some gains and losses, forming a lineage of Chinese clothing for all generations. Each period has seen more or less changes in dress.
In Chinese history, practically every Han dynasty was a revival of hanfu culture. At the beginning of the Ming dynasty, the Ming emperor took the Zhou and Han dynasties from above and the Tang and Song dynasties from below, establishing the tone of Ming clothing, and it can be said that the Ming dynasty was the period with the highest degree of Chinese clothing fusion restoration.
Many people in Chinese costume circles know the saying, “China has great manners, so it is called Xia; it has the beauty of the costume, so it is called Hua.” This quote is from the Spring and Autumn Zuo Zhuan (The Righteousness of Zuo Zhuan), so does it mean that reviving hanfu is actually reviving etiquette as well?
In the contemporary social context, while we are building a sound society based on the rule of law, we are actually highlighting the importance of moral etiquette, public order and morality. Hanfu is the traditional dress of the Han nation, but it is not just a piece of clothing, it carries a culture and a spiritual outlook, the evolution of the dress is actually a reflection of an idea, regardless of the inheritance of Hanfu in all periods, it reflects a national spirit, and this should be the most essential expression of our efforts to inherit Hanfu.
We should be positive, progressive, tolerant and persistent at the same time. The hanfu that we are reviving needs to fit in with modern cultural trends, the background of the times and the environment, all of which should be reflected in the hanfu, restoration is a tribute to history and innovation is a response to the times. We are a people of Chinese origin and we trace our roots back to our origins, so every revival of Chinese costume is a respect for the rites of the Zhou and a response to the times.
Hanfu is very old and also very young, and we have countless companions who are marching together on this road of heritage revival. If you like it, then please wear Hanfu and try to understand the culture and the history. Let the Hanfu on you be more than just clothes, it is national self-confidence.
The evolution of Hanfu culture fits in with historical developments and is the way we need to explore at the moment on the road to the heritage revival of Hanfu.
