There are two countries which have strong impacts on oriental culture in the history of Asia. One is India and the other is China. From the clothes point of view, it seems that the influence of China is more important than India as India has more influence on the religious side. The countries around China eg Korea and Japan have a very similiar culture as China and their clothing styles in the ancient times are very similiar to the Chinese styles. For a long time, Chinese people live in a very conservative environment and the ladies dress in clothes with fabric wrapping around most of the body. Even the elbows should not be exposed. This style may be originated from the general concept that women should stay at home and handle the family issues while men should go out to gain a living and fight for their country. Therefore, women should learn more cultural knowledge such as music and drawing to entertain their husbands instead of their body shapes.

These kinds of style of Chinese clothes have been lasted for a long time over the Chinese history with minor modifications in fabric and styles. The general idea was just to make them more elegant but not revolutionizing the dressing styles. However, after the invasion and rule of Manchu from the northern part of China ie the Qing Dynasty (1644~1911), the Chinese style clothes has been changed a lot due to the mixture of different cultures. Manchu was established in the northern grassland of China and the ladies have been grown to be stronger and took up some of the responsibilities of men such as herding sheep and cows. Their dressing styles are more casual and open. The mixture of two kinds of dressing styles during the rule of Manchu over China then laid the foundation of the modern well known Chinese dressing : cheongsam / close-fitting woman's gown.

Posted by Administrator: Friday, 29 July 2011 0:47 AM »