the ancients: china

so we've featured greece, rome and egypt in our ancient fashion so far but no journey will be complete if a discussion on china is not done. the recorded history of china begins with the xia dynasty and till this day, there are arguments if it even existed. however there are a couple of significant contributions that china made to the fashion industry of the ancients. their primary role would be the textile trade or the silk road.

the exchange of luxury textiles was predominant on the silk road, a series of ancient trade and cultural transmission routes that were central to cultural interaction through regions of the asian continent connecting east and west by linking traders, merchants, pilgrims, monks, soldiers, nomads and urban dwellers from china to the mediterranean sea during various periods of time. trade on the silk road was a significant factor in the development of the great civilizations of china, egypt, mesopotamia, persia, the indian subcontinent and rome. it also help to lay the foundations for the modern world.

silkworm spinning its cocoon

the earliest evidence of silk production in china was found at the sites of yangshao culture in xia, shanxi, where a cocoon of bombyx mori, the domesticated silkworm, cut in half by a sharp knife is dated between 5000 and 3000 bc.

image from century china

under the shang dynasty, han chinese clothing or hanfu consisted of a yi, a narrow-cuffed, knee-length tunic tied with a sash, and a narrow, ankle-length skirt, called shang, worn with a bixi, a length of fabric that reached the knees. clothing of the elite was made of silk in vivid primary colours.

Hanfu movement

the concept of hanfu is distinguished from the broader concept of traditional chinese clothing. this excludes the main changes and innovations in the dress of the han chinese people since 1644, the founding of the qing dynasty, on the basis that such changes were imposed by force or adopted through cultural influence from the ruling manchu ethinicity. thus, the qipao, while widely regarded as an example of traditional chinese clothing, is not an example of hanfu since it derives from a manchu clothing style. these days, the only significant population segment which wear hanfu regularly on a day-to-day basis are religious priests and monks.

fash'on... BAM!