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The academic dress of China has a long history. The ancient dress is based on the robes of officialdom and the 'degrees' were earned through the imperial civil service examinations, while the modern dress is partially influenced by the Western (more so United States) academic dress. Ancient China consisted of official dress. Official dress was used to represent an official in society and a scholar at the same time. [1]
Since Chinese academia was more or less connected with officialdom, the academic dress of ancient China is essentially that of official dress. This basically consists of a red long round-collar robe with long sleeves called a Panling Lanshan (盤領襴衫) worn with a cap called a futou (幞頭) which was almost always black and had curved wings which was typical of the Tang dynasty. Other dynasties had similar dress with their own take on it, but they basically follow the same pattern and are distinctive from common dress.
Another form of dress was those of the literati and scholars who wore simple everyday dress but wore hats that distinctively indicated their status, such as the si-fang pingding jin (四方平定巾; or simply, fangjin: 方巾), the Chinese equivalent of the "mortarboard".
Starting from the Tang dynasty, the official robes were divided into colors, depending on both position and grade. "Officials with high positions and low grades are still dressed according to the original products." The six kinds of coronal clothing were abolished after Qin Shihuang unified the whole country, except for the black Xuanmian that would serve for sacrificial purposes. During the Qin dynasty everyone, from emperor to civilians, wore black for one very specific and unique reason. They believed that they were "in line with the water virtue, according to the five elements theory, and that water was in harmony with black." Since Qin abolished the old ritual system, there were no uniforms left in the early Han dynasty. That being said the official robes of Han dynasty were simply robes. Since they all wore the same official uniforms, the only thing distinguishing the officials were the crowns, due to their differences. [2]
From 618 to 907, official and academic dressing consisted of panling lanshan. This was a "long, red, round-collar robe with long sleeves". Such an outfit was worn with "putout, which had a curved brocade brim". The Tang dynasty lead a standard of official and academic uniforms for the periods after them. [1]
During the Song dynasty the official uniforms were a little different. They were simple but in a way that they looked clean and capable. These uniforms were also graded by color. The uniforms of the Song dynasty were also graded by color: purple belonged to more than three, vermilion to more than five, green to more than seven, and lastly, cyan was only used by nine product sesame officials.
There was racial discrimination during the Yuan dynasty, and for that reason there were strict rules to follow when it came to clothing. There were two basic types of clothing during the Yuan dynasty: one was the clothing of the Mongolian ethnic group, who usually had a small lock of hair on their foreheads, like a peach, and the rest was braided into two braids, which were then twisted into two large loops and hung behind their ears, with hats on their heads. The second one was the clothing of the Han ethnic group.
The regular service, or civil service system of all officials, was the most typical and probably the most important civil service system during the Yuan and the Han dynasties.
The Empire of the Great Ming dated from 1368 to 1644. In this period it was the accessory-hat that defined the "role and status of scholars and literati (scholar-bureaucrats or scholar officials)". [1]
It was however after the 1911 Revolution of Sun Yat-sen that Western ideas of academic unifora influenced Chinese academic dress.
The current modernized academic dress of China is very different from the ancient form. The current forms have been standardized since 1994. [3] Gowns are closed at the front and are colored depending on the level of the degree; typically, black for bachelors, blue for masters and a combination of scarlet and black for doctoral gowns. The hood is a simple piece of triangular cloth which is colored depending on the faculty. The mortarboard is similar to American ones, except they may have string at the back of the skullcap to tie and secure the cap to the head.
Officers' robes are typically all red (including the mortarboard) with three gold bands on the sleeves, similar to Thai academic dress.
Cheongsam or zansae, also known as the qipao and sometimes referred to as the mandarin gown, is a Chinese dress worn by women which takes inspiration from the qizhuang, the ethnic clothing of the Manchu people. The cheongsam is most often seen as a longer, figure-fitting, one piece garment with a standing collar, an asymmetric, left-over-right opening and two side slits, and embellished with Chinese frog fasteners on the lapel and the collar. It was developed in the 1920s and evolved in shapes and design over years. It was popular in China from the 1920s to 1960s, overlapping with the Republican era, and was popularized by Chinese socialites and high society women in Shanghai. Although the cheongsam is sometimes seen as traditional Chinese clothing, it continues to evolve with the times, responding to changes in contemporary modern life.
Hanfu Movement, also known as the Hanfu Revival Movement, is a homegrown, grassroots cultural movement seeking to revive or revitalize Han Chinese fashion. It finds its manifestation in the wearing in public of the traditional Han attire of pre-Qing era. It began as the elegant pastime of a historically-conscious subculture and has evolved into a trendy nationwide movement boasting millions of young consumers and led by fashion-conscious youth. It has also slowly gained traction amongst the overseas Chinese diaspora, especially in countries like Singapore.
Chinese clothing, including traditional Hanfu, ethnic minority garments, and modern adaptations of indigenous styles, is a vital aspect of Chinese culture and civilization. For thousands of years, Chinese clothing has evolved with dynastic traditions, foreign influences, and cultural exchanges, adapting to the needs of each era. Each dynasty maintained specific styles, colors, and forms that reflected social class distinctions and regional diversity. Beyond its practical functions—such as protection from weather and modesty—clothing also served as a cultural marker, distinguishing social roles, rank, and relationships. Ancient Chinese attire reflected the social and political structures of its time, while also showcasing textile, dyeing, and embroidery techniques. It stands as a testament to the creativity and ingenuity of the Chinese people, as well as the rich intercultural exchanges that shaped its development across centuries.
Gwanbok is a Sino-Korean term derived from the terms guanfu and guanfu. The term gwanbok is a collective term which refers to historical official attire, which was bestowed by the government court, including Chinese courts of various dynasties. The guanfu (冠服) system was a court attire system in China which also formed part of the Hanfu system. This system was them spread to neighbouring countries and was adopted in Korea since ancient times in different periods through the ritual practice of bestowal of clothing. Acknowledgement through bestowed robes and crowns (冠服) from the Emperor of China, who held hegemony over East Asia, would give support to Korean Kings and successors, as being the authentic rulers of their country as well as confirmed the political status of the Korean kingdom in the rest of the Sinosphere. The gwanbok system in Korea was different for each kingdom and changed throughout different periods. For example, initially given by the Chinese court in ritual practice, successive gwanbok were more often than not locally manufactured in Korea with different colours and adopted into hanbok. The gwanbok, which was used as the uniform of court officials, formed part of the gwanbok system and was used like the suit is nowadays.
Ruqun is a set of attire in Hanfu which consists of a short jacket typically called ru worn under a long Chinese skirt called qun. However, when use as a general term, ruqun can broadly describe a set of attire which consists of a separated upper garment and a wrap-around lower skirt, or yichang, in which yi means the "upper garment" and the chang means the "lower garment". In a broad sense, ruqun can include the shanqun and aoqun in its definition.
Zhiduo, also known as zhishen when it is decorated with outside pendulums, and haiqing, refers to two types of traditional changyi or paofu which were worn as outer robes by men in the broad sense; i.e. the casual zhiduo in Hanfu and the priests’ zhiduo, in the broad sense. As a specific term, the zhiduo refers to the former. The zhiduo was also called daopao by Wang Zhishen in the Ming dynasty although the daopao refers to another kind of paofu. Nowadays, the haiqing is sometimes referred as daopao. In present days Taiwan, the haiqing is also worn by the Zhenyi Taoist priests. The term "haiqing" can also be a specific term which refers to the long black or yellow robe worn by Buddhist monks.
Banbi, also known as banxiu and sometimes referred as beizi or half-beizi before the term beizi eventually came to refer to a long-sleeved beizi in the Song dynasty, and referred as dahu in the Yuan dynasty, is an upper garment item in Hanfu. The banbi is in the form of a waistcoat or outerwear with short sleeves, which could either be worn over or under a long-sleeved ruqun. The style of its collar varies; it can also be secured at the front either with ties or a metal button.
A yuanlingshan is a type of round-collared upper garment in the traditional Chinese style of clothing known as Hanfu; it is also referred to as a yuanlingpao or a panlingpao when used as a robe. The yuanlingshan and yuanlingpao were both developed under the influence of ancient Chinese clothing, known as Hufu, originating from the Donghu people during the early Han dynasty and later by the Wuhu, including the Xianbei people, during the Six Dynasties period. The yuanlingpao is an article of formal attire primarily worn by men, although in certain dynasties, such as the Tang dynasty, it was also fashionable for women to wear. In the Tang dynasty, the yuanlingpao could be transformed into the fanlingpao using buttons.
Panling lanshan (盤領襴衫), also referred as lanshan (襴衫), is a traditional Chinese attire for men. It is a specific form of round collar robe, known as yuanlingpao, which is characterized with the use of hem, called hanglan (横襕), also referred as lan (襕)). The panling lanshan was a new type of garment, developed in the Northern and Southern dynasties through the localization of the round-collar garments which had been introduced by the ethnic minorities, such as the Xianbei. Panling lanshan continued to be worn in the Tang dynasty. The panling lanshan along with the futou was used as the Tang dynasty attire of scholars and officials. The scholars' attire in the succeeding dynasties followed the style of the panling lanshan of the Tang dynasty. It is also a formal attire worn by scholars and students (生員) taking the imperial examination in Ming dynasty.
Shenyi, also called Deep garment in English, means "wrapping the body deep within the clothes" or "to wrap the body deep within cloth". The shenyi is an iconic form of robe in Hanfu, which was recorded in Liji and advocated in Zhu Xi's Zhuzi jiali《朱子家禮》. As cited in the Liji, the shenyi is a long robe which is created when the "upper half is connected to the bottom half to cover the body fully". The shenyi, along with its components, existed prior to the Zhou dynasty and appeared at least since the Shang dynasty. The shenyi was then developed in Zhou dynasty with a complete system of attire, being shaped by the Zhou dynasty's strict hierarchical system in terms of social levels, gender, age, and situation and was used as a basic form of clothing. The shenyi then became the mainstream clothing choice during the Qin and Han dynasties. By the Han dynasty, the shenyi had evolved into two types of robes: the qujupao and the zhijupao. The shenyi later gradually declined in popularity around the Wei, Jin, and Northern and Southern dynasties period. However, the shenyi's influence persisted in the following dynasties. The shenyi then became a form of formal wear for scholar-officials in the Song and Ming dynasties. Chinese scholars also recorded and defined the meaning of shenyi since the ancient times, such as Zhu Xi in the Song dynasty, Huang Zongxi in the Ming dynasty, and Jiang Yong in the Qing dynasty.
Hanfu, are the traditional styles of clothing worn by the Han Chinese since the 2nd millennium BCE. There are several representative styles of hanfu, such as the ruqun, the aoqun, the beizi and the shenyi, and the shanku.
The Round collar robe, also called yuanlingpao and yuanlingshan in China, danryeong in Korea, was a style of paofu, a Chinese robe, worn in ancient China, which was long enough to cover the entire body of its wearer. The Chinese yuanlingpao was developed under the influences of the Hufu worn by the Donghu people and by the Wuhu. Depending on time period, the Chinese yuanlingpao also had some traces of influences from the Hufu worn by the Sogdian. The Chinese yuanlingpao continued to evolve, developing distinctive Chinese characteristics with time and lost its Hufu connotation. It eventually became fully integrated in the Hanfu system for the imperial and court dress attire. Under the influence of ancient China, the Chinese yuanlingpao was adopted by the rest of the East Asian cultural sphere.
Mianfu is a kind of Chinese clothing in hanfu; it was worn by emperors, kings, and princes, and in some instances by the nobles in historical China from the Shang to the Ming dynasty. The mianfu is the highest level of formal dress worn by Chinese monarchs and the ruling families in special ceremonial events such as coronation, morning audience, ancestral rites, worship, new year's audience and other ceremonial activities. There were various forms of mianfu, and the mianfu also had its own system of attire called the mianfu system which was developed back in the Western Zhou dynasty. The mianfu was used by every dynasty from Zhou dynasty onward until the collapse of the Ming dynasty. The Twelve Ornaments were used on the traditional imperial robes in China, including on the mianfu. These Twelve Ornaments were later adopted in clothing of other ethnic groups; for examples, the Khitan and the Jurchen rulers adopted the Twelve ornaments in 946 AD and in 1140 AD respectively. The Korean kings have also adopted clothing embellished with nine out of the Twelve ornaments since 1065 AD after the Liao emperor had bestowed a nine-symbol robe to the Korean king, King Munjong, in 1043 AD where it became known as gujangbok.
Paofu, also known as pao for short, is a form of a long, one-piece robe in Hanfu, which is characterized by the natural integration of the upper and lower part of the robe which is cut from a single fabric. The term is often used to refer to the jiaolingpao and the yuanlingpao. The jiaolingpao was worn since the Zhou dynasty and became prominent in the Han dynasty. The jiaolingpao was a unisex, one-piece robe; while it was worn mainly by men, women could also wear it. It initially looked similar to the ancient shenyi; however, these two robes are structurally different from each other. With time, the ancient shenyi disappeared while the paofu evolved gaining different features in each succeeding dynasties; the paofu continues to be worn even in present day. The term paofu refers to the "long robe" worn by ancient Chinese, and can include several form of Chinese robes of various origins and cuts, including Changshan,Qipao, Shenyi,Tieli, Zhisun, Yesa.
Jisün, also known as zhisunfu or Zhisun, zhixun, jixun, zhama or Jisun, was a very important male Mongol garment during the Yuan dynasty. They were also known as Mongol "robes of honour" (khil'at). The zhisun was a form of ceremonial clothing, which was worn during the jisün banquets, which were the most important ceremony of the Yuan dynasty court. The zhisun were made of textile woven with gold and silk of one colour. In China, the zhisun was introduced during the Yuan dynasty and was inherited by the Han Chinese during the Ming dynasty. In both the Yuan and Ming dynasty, the zhisun is a single-coloured court robe. The zhisun is a type of Mongol terlig.
After the fall of the Tang dynasty, the Khitans, a branch of the Eastern Xianbei tribes, established Liao dynasty in northern China. The Liao dynasty comprised two regions: the Northern and Southern Divisions. The Northern divisions of Liao was mainly composed of tribal Khitan people while the Southern regions was composed of the Han and other sedentary groups. The rulers of the Liao dynasty adopted a clothing system which allowed the coexistence of Han and Khitan clothing.
Hufu, also referred as Hu clothing, nomadic dress, 'barbarian' clothing or dress, or foreign dress, is a generic term which refers to any clothing which was worn in ancient China and its surrounding regions by non-Han Chinese people. This term is also used to refer to clothing of foreign origins in ancient China. The introduction of Hufu-style garments and attire in China occurred by the time of King Wuling of Zhao.
Qizhuang, also known as Manfu and commonly referred as Manchu clothing in English, is the traditional clothing of the Manchu people. Qizhuang in the broad sense refers to the clothing system of the Manchu people, which includes their whole system of attire used for different occasions with varying degrees of formality. The term qizhuang can also be used to refer to a type of informal dress worn by Manchu women known as chenyi, which is a one-piece long robe with no slits on either sides. In the Manchu tradition, the outerwear of both men and women includes a full-length robe with a jacket or a vest while short coats and trousers are worn as inner garments.
Fanlingpao, sometimes referred to as kuapao and hufu in the Tang dynasty when they feature double overturned lapels, is a type of paofu with lapels. It was categorized as Hufu instead of Hanfu due to its association with clothing of the foreigners who came from the Silk road. Fanlingpao were first introduced in China during the Northern Wei dynasty and became popular in Northern Qi. The custom of wearing fanlingpao were then inherited and further developed in the Sui and Tang dynasties. The fanlingpao could be transformed into a round collar robe, called yuanlingpao, in the Tang dynasty through the use of buttons. The fanlingpao shows foreign influences, which are mostly likely from the Persian, Sassanian Persian, Iranian Sogdian, and Turkic. Fanlingpao were popular fashion during Tang dynasty for both men and women and showed the popularity of Hufu-style clothing during this period; it was considered hufu while yuanlingpao was categorized as a form Hanfu.
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