Chinese patchwork is a traditional form of Chinese needlework which has been widely circulated in Chinese folk arts. [1] In China, patchwork has been used for millennia. [2]
Chinese patchwork is made by sewing scraps of fabric together into a desired shape to form design art with a distinctive theme. [3] This technique is still used in Chinese quilting. Silk or cotton is used to make the patchwork. The design for the patchwork often told a story of Chinese folklore. [4] Traditional Chinese patchwork continues to exist in many rural areas in China; it is made by women. [1]
Baijiayi (Chinese: 百家衣) or baijia pao (Chinese: 百家袍), [5] also known Hundred-Families robe, [6] or One hundred families robe, [5] or One hundred families clothing, [7] is a form of Chinese patchwork jacket, particular for male children. [8] The baijia yi is used as a protective talisman for a child. [8] [9] [5] [6] It is a traditional Han Chinese custom. [8] [5]
Baijia bei (lit. translated as "one hundred families quilt"), also known as the "100 Good Wishes Quilt" or "one hundred families bedcovers", [2] [10] is a Northern Chinese patchwork tradition; it is customary to seek 100 people to donate a square piece of cloth in order to contribute to the quilt. [2] These pieces of donated fabric are then sewn into a quilt which embodies the good wishes, luck and energy of the quilt contributors. [2]
Although the Chinese word "bei" is translated as "quilt" in English, it does not conform to the Western definition of a quilt, i.e. a three-layers bed covering held together with quilting stitch. [2]
Jia sha (Chinese :袈裟) is a form of patchwork robes worn by Chinese buddhist priests to demonstrate their commitments to asceticism. [2] [12] It was made of fabric donated by patrons, often wealthy patrons, who give them silk fabrics out of charity and in order to collect spiritual merits. [12] The small pieces of fabric were sewn together before being decorated. [13] The jia sha was derived from the kasaya (i.e. Indian Buddhist robe). [12]
Shuitianyi is a form of women's patchwork garment which was popular in the Ming dynasty. [2] It was made of irregular fabrics sewn together. [2] [14] This form of garment reflected the Ming dynasty's tendency towards fashion novelty. [2]
Yanchuan patchwork is a distinctive form of traditional Chinese patchwork which is performed by a great number of people in the Yanchuan region of northern Shaanxi province in China. [3] It uses combines the use of sewing and embroidery along with a variety of colours, textures and cloths of different shapes to create patterns. [3] It originated as a mean to extend the use of damaged clothing by sewing and mending it into traditional patterns while simultaneously increase its aesthetic value. [3]
The uses of Chinese patchwork are not limited to traditional clothing but have been widely used in modern society for curtains, children's shoes, caps, dudous, scarves, women's handbags, aprons, men's cigarette cases and wallets. [15]
One Hundred Good Wishes quilt (acronym: OHGWQ) is an early 21st century commemorative form of quilt which is made by American families to welcome a Chinese child adoptee. [2] [12] This practice originated from a northern Chinese patchwork practice and spread quickly through the China adoption community through the use of the internet. [2] This form of hybrid quilting projects are also described as "baijia bei" (百家被) on OHGWQ websites. [12]
It may have been inspired by the baijia yi. [12] It is made of donated fabric from friends, family members, and internet acquaintances who may have themselves adopted Chinese children. [2] The quilt also contains both Chinese and American culture elements (i.e the use of quilt as a commemorative object in US and the protective aspect of Chinese patchwork) and represent a point of contact between these two cultures which are distinctive from each other. [2]
The patches are cut into similar sizes and shapes and then leave at least 1/2-inch on each side of the patch for a seam. Arrange them in patterns or at random. Hold two patches face-to-face and stitch them together. Continue this process until the front of the quilt has been sewn into one solid piece. [16]
Many patterns exist, while the quilting block is one that is widely used. Other patterns include the Chinese coin, 100 good wishes and lattice. [4] Some may include squares, triangles, hexagons and diamonds.
Traditional culture and folk legends are often the themes for patchworks, such as the Qilin Bringing the Child, Door Gods, the Dragon King and the Kitchen God. [17]
Some Chinese patchwork are made of pieces of fabric which are adorned with embroideries; this marks a difference from the Korean patchwork which are usually made of pieces of unadorned fabric instead of embroidered fabrics. [18]
Patchwork or "pieced work" is a form of needlework that involves sewing together pieces of fabric into a larger design. The larger design is usually based on repeating patterns built up with different fabric shapes. These shapes are carefully measured and cut, basic geometric shapes making them easy to piece together.
A quilt is a multi-layered textile, traditionally composed of two or more layers of fabric or fiber. Commonly three layers are used with a filler material. These layers traditionally include a woven cloth top, a layer of batting or wadding, and a woven back combined using the techniques of quilting. This is the process of sewing on the face of the fabric, and not just the edges, to combine the three layers together to reinforce the material. Stitching patterns can be a decorative element. A single piece of fabric can be used for the top of a quilt, but in many cases the top is created from smaller fabric pieces joined, or patchwork. The pattern and color of these pieces creates the design. Quilts may contain valuable historical information about their creators, "visualizing particular segments of history in tangible, textured ways".
A patchwork quilt is a quilt in which the top layer may consist of pieces of fabric sewn together to form a design. Originally, this was to make full use of leftover scraps of fabric, but now fabric is often bought specially for a specific design. Fabrics are now often sold in quarter meters. A "fat quarter" is one square meter folded into four and cut along the folds, thus giving a relatively square piece of fabric 50 cm on a side, as opposed to buying a quarter of a meter off the roll, resulting in a long thin piece that is only 25 cm wide.
Kāṣāya are the robes of fully ordained Buddhist monks and nuns, named after a brown or saffron dye. In Sanskrit and Pali, these robes are also given the more general term cīvara, which references the robes without regard to color.
Chinese clothing includes the traditional hanfu and garments of ethnic minorities, as well as modern variations of indigenous Chinese dresses. Chinese clothing has been shaped through its dynastic traditions, as well as through foreign influences. Chinese clothing showcases the traditional fashion sensibilities of Chinese culture traditions and forms one of the major cultural facets of Chinese civilization.
A bojagi is a traditional Korean wrapping cloth. Bojagi are typically square and can be made from a variety of materials, though silk or ramie are common. Embroidered bojagi are known as subo, while patchwork or scrap bojagi are known as jogak bo.
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.
Daopao, also known as xuezi when used as a Xifu during Chinese opera performances, and deluo when it is blue in colour, is a traditional form of paofu in Hanfu and is also one of the most distinctive form of traditional clothing for the Han Chinese. The daopao was one of the most common traditional form of outer robe worn by men. Daopao literally means "Taoist robe"; however, despite its name, the daopao were and is worn by men, and did not imply that its wearer had some affiliation to taoism. The daopao can be dated back to at least the Ming dynasty but had actually been worn since the Song dynasty. Initially the daopao was a form of casual clothing which was worn by the middle or lower class in the Ming dynasty. In the middle and late Ming, it was one of the most common form of robes worn by men as casual clothing. The daopao was also a popular formal wear by the Ming dynasty scholars in their daily lives. It was also the daily clothing for the literati scholars in the Ming dynasty. In the late Ming, it was also a popular form of clothing among the external officials and eunuchs sometimes wore it. The daopao was also introduced in Korea during the Joseon period, where it became known as dopo and was eventually localized in its current form.
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.
Dragon robes, also known as gunlongpao or longpao for short, is a form of everyday clothing which had a Chinese dragon, called long (龍), as the main decoration; it was worn by the emperors of China. Dragon robes were also adopted by the rulers of neighbouring countries, such as Korea, Vietnam, and the Ryukyu Kingdom.
Hanfu, are the traditional styles of clothing worn by the Han Chinese since the 2nd millenium BCE. There are several representative styles of hanfu, such as the ruqun, the aoqun, the beizi and the shenyi, and the shanku.
Shuitianyi, also known as “paddy field garment”, "Shuitian clothing", or "rice-paddy robe", is a non-religious Chinese patchwork gown which was made and worn by women in China during the Ming dynasty and Qing dynasty; it was made by using many pieces of fabric sewn together ; the clothing reflected the era's tendency towards fashion novelty during the Ming dynasty.
The fashion in the Yuan dynasty of Mongol (1271–1368) showed cultural diversity with the coexistence of various ethnic clothing, such as Mongol clothing, Han clothing and Korean clothing. The Mongol dress was the clothing of elite for both genders. Mongol attire worn in the 13th-14th century was different from the Han clothing from the Tang and Song dynasties. The Yuan dynasty court clothing also allowed the mixed of Mongol and Han style, and the official dress code of the Yuan dynasty also became a mixture of Han and Mongol clothing styles. After the founding of the Yuan dynasty, the Mongols strongly influenced the lifestyle and customs of the Han people.
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.
Terlig, also known as tieli or bianxianao or Yaoxianao[zi] in Chinese, or commonly referred as Mongol dress or plait-line robe, is an archetypal type of Mongol clothing for men.
Ucinaasugai, also known as Ryusou and referred as ushinchi in Okinawan, is the traditional dress of the Ryukyuan people. Ryusou is a form of formal attire; it is customary to wear it on occasions such as wedding ceremony and the coming-of-age ceremony. The ryusou became popular during the Ryukyu Kingdom period. It was originally worn by the members of the royal family and by the nobles of Ryukyu Kingdom. The Ryukyu Kingdom was originally an independent nation which established trade relationship with many countries in Southeast Asia and East Asia; they held their relationship with China as especially important. The development of the ryusou was influenced by both the hanfu and the kimono, demonstrating a combination of Chinese and Japanese influences along with local originality.
Daojiao fushi, also known as Taoist clothing, are religious clothing and adornment worn by devotees and practitioners of Taoism, an indigenous religion and life philosophy in China. Chinese culture attaches great importance to "cap and gown" are seen as important signs of levels of etiquettes; it is also a visible marker of the Taoist identity. Taoist ritual garments (sometimes referred as daoyi are forms of ritual clothing. These clothing worn by the Taoist priests are inherited from the Han Chinese traditional clothing and holds clear Taoist cultural meaning. When performing rituals and important rituals, Taoist priests wear ceremonial attires which appear to be aligned with elements of Chinese cosmology; these ceremonial attires are therefore strong spiritual intermediaries acting on the part of the Taoist devotees community. Different forms of clothing will be worn by Taoist priests in accordance to ritual types and obvious distinctions are found in the attire of Taoist priests based on their different positions to the altar. There were also codes which would stipulate the appropriate Taoist attire to be worn during both ritual performance and when being off duty.
Chinese auspicious ornaments in textile and clothing refers to any form of Chinese auspicious ornaments, which are used to decorate various forms of Chinese textile and clothing, fashion accessories, and footwear in China since the ancient times. Chinese auspicious ornaments form part of Chinese culture and hold symbolic meanings. In ancient China, auspicious ornaments were often either embroidered or woven into textile and clothing. They are also used on religious and ritual clothing and in Xifu, Chinese opera costumes. Auspicious symbols and motifs continue to be used in present-day China in industries, such as home textiles and clothing; they are also used in modern design packaging and interior design. Some of these Chinese auspicious ornaments were also culturally appropriated by European countries during the era of Chinoiserie, where they became decorative patterns on fashionable chinoiserie fashion and textiles.
Baijiayi, also known as baijiapao and sometimes referred as One hundred families robe, Hundred-Families robe, or One hundred families clothing in English, is a form of Chinese patchwork jacket, particular for male children. The baijiayi is used as a protective talisman for children. It is a traditional Han Chinese custom garment, which has been passed down for centuries.
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