Thread: I will capitalize the latest Twitter Cultural Appropriation outrage to have a teachable moment on the historical background of Chinese dress Cheongsam/Qipao 1/ 
During Ming dynasty which was established after collapse of Mongol Yuan Dynasty, Chinese women’s dress looks like this. 2/
Modern reconstruction of Ming dynasty women dress
Portrait of elite gentry during Ming 4/
Famous Late Ming courtesan Liu Rushi 5/
Then in 1644, Ming rule was toppled by massive peasant rebellion, Ming border commander welcomed semi-nomadic Manchu horsemen to enter South of the Great Wall. Manchu conquerors demanded Han Chinese men to shave head braid hair into queue Manchu style and wear Manchu robe 6/
But Han Chinese women retained traditional dress because well, they weren’t considered that important. Most women from well to do families are secluded from the public anyway 7/
But as Manchu Qing Dynasty ruled China for 268 years, gradually Han Chinese women dress also start to adopt elements of Manchu style. This is reconstruction of late Qing dress that was popular in Southern China 8/
Qing Imperial rule was overthrown in 1911. While Han Chinese men continue to wear Manchu style robe, very few Han Chinese women actually wear Manchu dress. This is the Manchu dress of an Imperial Concubine 9/
Manchu robe wore by Manchu women. Manchu and Han women continue to wear different clothing as ethnic marker til the end of Qing. But this is about to change! 10/
In 1920s Republican China, bourgeois young women started to demand equality of sexes. One way was to adopt men’s originally Manchu based 1 piece robe. Shanghai tailor modified it to body hugging Western cut. Viola Modern Cheongsam/qipao is born! Zhouxun, Shanghai movie star 11/
From 1931 picture of Hong Kong’s richest family the Eurasian Ho-Tung to whom Bruce Lee is related to thru his mother, you can see women still wore traditional two piece Han dress 12/
But very soon Cheongsam/Qipao fashion will catch up with them 13/
The woman who helped popularize Cheongsam/Qipao is Madam Wellington Koo, born Oei Hui-Lan from a wealthy Chinese-Indonesian family. Married to the most famous pre-Communist Chinese diplomat, She was a well known international socialite and style icon. 14/
Madam Wellington Koo is the owner of this Cheongsam/qipao made in 1932, now displayed at New York Metropolitan Museum of Art 15/
Madam Wellington Koo , her husband and her in body hugging cheongsam/Qipao. Cheongsam is Cantonese for long dress, Qipao is Mandarin for Manchu style robe. 16/
I am trying to find younger Madam Wellington Koo In Cheongsam/Qipao but no luck. Anyway her style helped propel Cheongsam/Qipao to became fashion wear 17/
Older Madam Wellington Koo in Cheongsam/Qipao 18/
Modern Cheongsam/Qipao wore by Chinese actress Liu Yufei who will star in Disney’s live action Mulan 19/
Summary: Evolution of Chinese women’s dress the timeline 20/
Hopefully this fix the thread continuity problem:
Maggie Cheung Man-yuk in “In the Mood for Love” which depict 1962 Hong Kong. Cheongsam /Qipao aka “Chinese dress” is really a modern invention of 1920s. Combining Manchu dress with Western form fitting cut. Adopted by young Chinese women as modern fashion. 21/
This is 1920s men’s robe, which evolved from Manchu robe that was imposed on all Han Chinese men after Manchu conquest as sign of subjugation. Chinese women who demanded equality of sexes adopted the male dress n combined w Western body hugging cut to create Cheongsam/Qipao 22/
Tuva throat singing group Alash Emsemble with traditional Tuvan robe which retained the look of Qing Dynasty Manchu/Mongol robe. Tuva was part of Qing Empire until Qing Imperial government was overthrown by Chinese revolution of 1911 23/
George Bernard Shaw and richest man in Hong Kong Ho Tung in Chinese robe (which drives from Manchu robe) in 1950 24/
Famous Chinese writer Lu Xun in men’s Cheongsam with George Benard Shaw. Cantonese Cheongsam 长衫 （Mandarin Changshan) means Long coat. After women took to wear Cheongsam in 1920s, English usage refers to just female version. Mandarin also calls 马褂 magua horseriding coat 25/
Then there’s Young Mao who sported men’s cheongsam in his days organizing coal miners and railroad workers in Anyuan 26/
Eleanor Roosevelt and Madame Chiang during a 1943 visit. (AP Photo). Madame Chiang also helped popularized Cheongsam/Qipao as THE Chinese dress in her visit to United States 27/
In China today, Cheongsam/qipao is not really seen as a traditional clothing (it isn’t) , it holds no scared value, it’s just something that foreigners usually associate with China. It can function as a nice evening dress. 27/
In fact after Cheongsam/Qipao became popular in 1920s it was soon taken up by Shanghai prostitutes who improvised by increasing the side slit to reveal more legs. This innovation later caught on and the style gradually became generally adopted
Can foreigners wear Cheongsam/Qipao? Absolutely! Most people in China are more than happy to see foreigners wearing Cheongsam/Qipao, because it’s seen as appreciation of Chinese culture. 👇Chinese clothing designer using foreign model to model their Cheongsam/Qipao 28/
Big difference in attitude toward Cultural Appropriation between Chinese in China and people in United States. Chinese in China are firmly grounded in their identity which is not under threat whereas minoritiy groups may feel marginalized in US. Complex issue I will not get into.
Culture is always changing. What is “traditional” usually highly specific to certain period. This is Tang Dynasty clothing from the reign of Emperor Taizong 1400 years ago. Also note Sogdian flap collar in Pic 2 which is borrowed from Central Asia. 30/
Thanks for following along this long thread on history of Chinese dress cheongsam/Qipao ❤️
