Example of traditional Chinese-style wedding dress
Traditional Chinese wedding dress is a collective term which refers to all the different forms and styles of traditional wedding attire worn by the Han Chinese when performing their marriage ceremony, including the traditional Chinese marriage.[1] There are various forms of traditional Chinese wedding dress in the history of China.[2] Since the Zhou dynasty, there have national laws and rules which regulated the different categories of clothing and personal accessories; these regulations have created various categories of clothing attire, including the traditional wedding attire of the Chinese people.[3]:3
Chinese bride wearing cheongsam with a honggaitou covering her face for wedding ceremony.
The cheongsam (Chinese:旗袍), or zansae also known as qipao, sometimes referred to as the mandarin gown, traces its origins to the Qing dynasty.[4]Cheongsam was the dress for Manchu women which become popular in Hong Kong and Shanghai after the fall of the Qing dynasty in 1912.[5] Nowadays, the cheongsam can also be worn as a wedding dress.[2]
Ming dynasty noblewomen wearing a blue embroidered xiapei over her red robe
The fengguan xiapei (Chinese:凤冠霞帔) is a type of wedding set of attire categorized under Hanfu. It was worn in Ming and Qing dynasties.[6] The fengguan xiapei attire was composed an upper and lower garment following the traditional yichang system.[7]
In the Qing dynasty, it was composed of an ao, a type of upper garment, called mangao (Chinese:蟒袄; lit.'python jacket') and a qun, lower skirt, called mangchu (lit.'python skirt').[8]
The mangao was a type of yuanlingshan fashioned in the style of the Ming dynasty which was red in colour; it used to be worn by the Han Chinese women as a court robe.[8]
The mangchu was a qun which could either be red or green in colour; it was embroidered with dragons and phoenixes on the front and back lapel of the skirt.[8] The two accessories items from which the set of attire of gained its name was the fengguan, which was a type of guan, and the xiapei (Chinese:霞帔).[8]
The appearance of the xiapei appearance and construction differed depending on the time period: in the Ming dynasty, the xiapei was similar to a long scarf or stole in appearance; however, it became a type of waistcoat in the Qing dynasty.[8] The fengguan xiapei was sometimes adorned with the yunjian.[8] Following the wedding ceremony, married women were expected to wear the fengguan xiapei on formal occasions, however, Chinese trousers or leggings were worn beneath instead of the skirt.[8]
The qungua, also commonly known as longfenggua, guaqun or longfeng qungua is a set of attire which follows the traditional yichang system. It is a composed of a jacket called gua (Chinese:褂) and a long qun (Chinese:裙) which could be straight in cut[9] or have pleated sides.[10]
The tradition of wearing the qungua as a wedding dress originated in the Qing dynasty during the 18th century.[11] Initially, the qungua was sewn by the mother of the bride as soon as the bride was born due to the time-consuming process of the handcraft; it would then be given later on as the part of the bride's dowry from her family when she would get married. There are 5 different types of qungua (Guahuang, Guahou, Dawufu, Zhongwufu, Xiaowufu) which are based on the amount of embroideries which were crafted on the dress.[12] Nowadays, the qungua has been commercialized and remains a popular form of wedding dress.[12]
The precursor of the Xiuhefu can be traced back to the Qing dynasty where a Qing dynasty-style aoqun, consisted of liling dajinchangao and a mamianqun, was worn as a form of wedding dress during this period.[6] What is currently known as the Xiuhefu became popular in 2001 when Zhou Xun, the actress who played the role of Xiu He, wore a modern recreation version of the Qing dynasty wedding aoqun in the Chinese television dramaOrange turned red (Chinese:橘子紅了) thus gaining its contemporary name from name of the character, Xiu He.[6][13]
↑ Yang, Feng gang; Tamney, Joseph B. (2012). Confucianism and spiritual traditions in modern China and beyond. Religion in Chinese societies. Leiden Boston: Brill. ISBN978-90-04-21239-8.
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