The Ancient Chinese Clothing has undergone many changes, variations, and influences since the ancient times. Even today, many of the Chinese dresses have adopted the ancient Chinese style and design.
The Ancient China Clothing has its own beauty and grace. These are popular not only in China but across the globe. Because of this, many of the ancient styles are prevalent even today.
The ancient Chinese clothing has been influenced by many dynasties. Their mark was distinctly visible in all the dress forms, whether it is the long robes or full sleeves or anything. The ancient clothing mainly conspired of long robes. For women, it was the long tunics touching the ground whereas, for men, tunics reaching the knees were mainly worn.
The sleeves were generally very wide and loose. Sashes were added to them as a mark of ornament. Darker shades were generally preferred over the lighter shades. Mostly the common people wore the lighter shades. The yellow color was reserved for the Emperor only. Green, red, white and black were symbols for north, south, east and west.
Fabric Used for Ancient Chinese Clothing
The use of fabric, color, and decorations was the representation of the particular class and position to which the wearer belongs. The finest of silk was mainly worn by the people of elite class.
Peasant wore a long garment like a shirt which was made out of hemp fiber. Wealthy people wore long robes tied with a sash. The most common fabric found in China was silk. Silk weaving and embroidery have been the 2 greatest Chinas gifts to the world.
It was in the Han Dynasty that the history of ancient Chinese clothing began. The outfit was known as the Hanfu. It was a knee length tunic tied with a sash, with narrow cuffs, and an ankle length skirt called Shang. This elaborative detail of Hanfu was made during the Shang Dynasty (1600 BC-1000 BC).
During the Western Zhou Dynasty, the outfit became a bit complex. It included the length of a skirt, widened sleeves fastened with a sash as a piece of an ornament. During this period, a social system was enforced in the ancient Chinese clothing. Another modification made during this period was that the left end of the dress was reshaped into a kind of border which further could be fastened in front of the chest.