CLOTHING

**Chinese Clothing ** by Mary C. and Alissa C. Clothing is unique for every country. A normal outfit for you may be jeans and a T-shirt. However, in ancient China, clothing styles were very different from that. Take a look at your clothes. Are you wearing bright, sunny colors or darker ones? Or in-between? The types of clothing you wear tell a lot about yourself. Just as clothing helps you to express your personality, clothing helped to express an important part of Chinese culture. The color, fabric, and design of the clothing told a lot about the wearer's social status. For example, what the poor wore and what the wealthy wore were very unalike. **Main Idea 2:** The Upper Class all got to wear colorful, silk clothing, but the styles they would wear depended on their age and gender. Men, women and children each wore something different. __Key Terms to Know__ **Clothing Colors** - by Mary C. One of the easiest differences to spot were the colors. In traditional China, clothing colors showed what a person’s social status was. The commoners wore very different clothing than the royality on top. This was most obvious at the emperor's palace where colors were reserved only for certain ranks. For example, the color yellow was reserved only for the emperor (see the picture on the left). The next highest officials wore purple and crimson. Other than the palace, the upper classes were mainly able to choose to wear whatever color they felt like. They mostly wore bright colors to show off their social rank. Although the wealthy could wear whatever they wanted, the poor could not. There were harsh guidelines that limited the colors they were allowed to wear, like black and blue. For these reasons, clothing colors became related to certain social statuses.
 * Main Idea 1:**
 * Social Status** - what rank you are (for example, a soldier would have a lower rank than the military general.)
 * Lower Classes** - the poor, farmers, and ordinary people
 * Upper Classes** - the rich, educated people, and officers
 * Silk** - a soft, shiny fabric usually reserved for the wealthy
 * Hemp** - a rough fabric that the lower classes made their clothing out of
 * Imperial** - royalty
 * Embroidery** - Sewing, needlework

**Fabrics** - by Mary C. Even though China has such a long history, “the fabric they [made clothing of] did not” (Destiny).  For dynasties, the upper classes wore **silk**, a soft shiny fabric. (Fabric by the way, is another word for cloth, or the material used to make clothing.) Silk was so popular with the wealthy that in some time periods, commoners weren't even allowed to wear it. Merchants who sold silk to the upper class were “forbidden from wearing silk themselves and could be severely punished if they tried” (Salisbury). So, commoners usually stayed away from wearing “upper-class” materials. Also, since the lower class often had to do manual labor, they wore loose-fitting clothes made of materials that wouldn't wear out as easily, such as **hemp**, a fabric woven from plant fibers, and simple straw shoes for field work. The differences between the fabrics was clear – silk for the upper classes and hemp for the commoners. This made it easy to tell which class a person belonged to.

**Designs** - by Mary C. Like color and fabrics, the design of the clothing also told people about the wearer. You can probably guess that the upper class had more decorated clothing than the poor. Well, you're right. A person’s position decided what kind of decoration they had sewn on their clothing. On top of all the social ranks was the **imperial** family. They wore clothing decorated with very complicated needlework. A lot of the times it took a group of people working together for many years to complete just one robe for the emperor. This was because each robe had to be **embroidered** with symbols like dragons, the sun, the moon, stars, mountains, and fire. Officers and scholars wore hats with emblems that showed off their rank, while their wives and daughters dressed their hair with long pins and fancy jewelry. Meanwhile, peasants and the ordinary people had plain clothing. Decorations to clothing were clearly different for the poor and the upper class. So you can imagine that clothing designs had such a HUGE effect on Chinese society.

**SUMMARY**: Revisit the Main Idea
In ancient China, the color, fabric, and design of a person's clothing told a lot about the wearer. The upper classes wore bright, sunny colors, while the poor were often restricted to wearing dull colors. The wealthy wore silk and other soft fabrics while the poor wore rough materials like hemp. Royalty and high-ranking officials wore detailed embroidery, and the lower social classes wore plain clothing. <span style="display: block; color: #a77c39; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive; background-color: #e8d8c0; text-align: left;">**Wealthy Men's Clothing** - by Alissa C. <span style="font-size: 12pt; color: #a77c39; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive; background-color: #ffffff; msofareastfontfamily: 'Times New Roman'; msobidifontfamily: Arial;"><span style="color: #a77c39; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive; background-color: #ffffff;"> <span style="color: #a77c39; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive; background-color: #ffffff;">Wealthy men didn’t have a very big variety of clothing to pick from. There were a few items that they could wear that would be considered acceptable, but that was all. Their most popular piece was a long robe tied with a sash. They could also wear a tunic that went down to their knees, but it was a lot more casual and not as good quality as the robes. That was why they weren’t as popular. Not only did men have to wear certain clothing, but they also had to wear their hair a certain way. It had to be shaved in the front and grown in the back. The hair left to grow in the back of the head could be worn in a bun tied with silk or in a braid. As you can see, Chinese men had to wear specific things and look a certain way to show how wealthy they were. <span style="font-size: 12pt; color: #a77c39; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive; msofareastfontfamily: 'Times New Roman'; msobidifontfamily: Arial;"> <span style="display: block; color: #a77c39; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive; background-color: #ffffff; text-align: left;"><span style="display: block; color: #a77c39; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive; background-color: #e8d8c0; text-align: left;">**Wealthy Women's Clothing** - by Alissa C. <span style="font-size: 12pt; color: #a77c39; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive; background-color: #ffffff; msofareastfontfamily: 'Times New Roman'; msobidifontfamily: Arial; msothemecolor: accent2; msothemetint: 153;"> <span style="color: #a77c39; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;">Out of women, men, and children, women __easily__ had the most clothing choices. It was also the most complicated. They could wear robes, like men except their robes were "made of silk, dyed and embroidered with elaborate designs" (Traditional), much fancier than mens'. The types of dresses they could wear were endless. They could wear cheongsams, which were long beautifully decorated dresses that had a high neckline. A Qipao was dress similar to the cheongsams, but theses dresses had a slit in the skirt. Then there were fancier ones that involved overlapping layers and fastenings on the shoulder, which were breathtaking, but very confusing. Women always had to have on platform shoes to keep their dresses from trailing in the dust or mud. Hair had to be worn in a bun, but was decorated with pretty pins or silk to give a more elegant look. Women had to dress with elegance and beauty to show that they were wealthy.

<span style="display: block; color: #a77c39; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive; background-color: #e8d8c0; text-align: left;">**Wealthy Children's Clothing**<span style="color: #a77c39; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive; background-color: #e8d8c0;"> - by Alissa C. <span style="color: #a77c39; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"> <span style="font-size: 12pt; color: #a77c39; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive; msofareastfontfamily: 'Times New Roman'; msobidifontfamily: Arial;"> <span style="color: #a77c39; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"> <span style="color: #a77c39; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive; background-color: #ffffff;">Children had very simple and very few types of clothing to wear. Because they were young, it wasn’t as important to show how rich they were as it was to men and women. Girls had the choice of wearing suits, cheongsams, and dresses. They had to grow out their hair long and braided (until they were married). Boys could wear robes, but they mainly just wore kung fu suits or normal suits. They wore their hair in pigtails traditionally because they stood for manhood and dignity. But as time passed, it was more usual to shave off all of their hair except for in the front. Although they were young, there were still a few guidelines children had to follow in order to look rich. <span style="font-size: 80%; color: #a77c39; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive; msothemecolor: accent2; msothemetint: 153;"><span style="color: #a77c39; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;">

<span style="display: block; color: #a77c39; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive; background-color: #e8d8c0; text-align: left;">**SUMMARY:** Revisit the #2 Main Idea.
<span style="color: #a77c39; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"> The Upper Class were allowed to wear colorful, silk clothing, but the styles they would wear depended on their age and gender. Men, women and children wore different types. <span style="display: block; font-size: 110%; color: #a77c39; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive; text-align: center;"><span style="display: block; color: #a77c39; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive; background-color: #e8d8c0; text-align: left;">Works Cited (Pictures and Sources) <span style="display: block; color: #a77c39; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive; text-align: center;"> <span style="color: #a77c39; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive; text-align: left;"> <span style="display: block; color: #a77c39; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive; text-align: center;">"Ancient Chinese Clothing." __Solomon Home Page__. 24 Feb. 2009 <http://www.solomon.cps.k12.il.us/roeschleyindex.html>.

"Asian Wedding, Clothes and Gifts." 2008. 24 Feb. 2009 <http://www.geocities.com/qipaostyle/>.

"Chinese Boy's Hairstyles: Pigtails." Historical boys Clothing. 24 Feb. 2009 <http://histclo.com/country/other/china/hair/chs-pig.html>.

"Destiny, the Culture of China – Way of Life." Oracle ThinkQuest Library. 24 Feb. 2009.<http://library.thinkquest.org/20443/way_of_life.html>.

Embroidery. [Online Image] Available http://www.china-tour.cn/images/Chinese-Arts/Chinese-embroidery.jpg, March 22, 2009.

Emperor's Clothing. [Online Image] Available http://community.travelchinaguide.com/photo/7072/70725050120695.jpg, March 10, 2009.

Green men's robe. [Online Image] Available https://www.chinesemoods.com/images/P/am100002gu.jpg, March 10 2009. Hemp

Clothing Fabric. [Online Image] Available http://www.alleco.com.au/images/hemp%20fabrics.jpg, March 10, 2009 Lu, Yang. "Chinese Clothing." UCLA Department of Information Studies. 24 Feb. 2009<http://polaris.gseis.ucla.edu/yanglu/ECC_CULTURE_CLOTHING.HTM>.

Salisbury, Tonya. "Traditional Chinese Garments and their History." The Cleveland Museum of Art. 24 Feb. 2009 <http://cma.org/educef/asianodyssey08/pdf/TonGarmentES.pdf>.

Silk. [Online Image] Available https://www.chinesemol.com/member/upload/product/2792062/20073923303936566.jpg, March 10, 2009.

Wealthy Child's Clothing. [Online Image] Available http://www.dkimages.com/discover/previews/993/10094365.JPGMarch 10, 2009.

Women's hairstyle. [Online Image] Available http://www.cultural-china.com/chinaWH/images/arbigimages/e1986898f39a7429b0bb3823a04b9ddb.jpg March 21, 2009.