CHINESE CLOTHING Katie Elias

Bound feet In the sung dynasty, about 1100, a fashion started at the emperors court. Women had to bind their feet. Women thought to be beautiful they had to have tiny feet, three inches long! They had these tiny feet by wrapping tight bandages around their feet about on five or six year olds. The bandages were so tight they broke the girls toes and bent them underneath their feet and they had to walk on their feet just like that. Women could not walk well so they had to crawl when they worked in the fields.

Silk and Cotton In the Yuan dynasty the Mongols brought cotton to china. First people did not want to grow cotton, because the people running the silk industry wanted to keep people buying silk. But the Mongol invasions in the 1200s Destroyed a lot of mumble trees that were needed to buy silk. The Mongolian emperors like Kublai Khan turned to cotton to fill the gap. In 1289 they ordered special openings to teach farmers how to grow cotton and in 1296 they ordered the farmers who were growing cotton to pay lower taxes. Soon everyone liked cotton better than hemp or ramie cotton was warmer, softer, stronger and cheaper. Silk can be used for celebrations weddings and birth of a son. Silk worms from mulberry trees and cocoons are used to make silk. Silk is a wonderful light soft and sensuous fabric it can be used for all sorts of things it can be very colorful.

Colored/Symbolized clothing Traditional Chinese clothing can represent a lot of things like color symbolization. Colors represented the season’s. Tapestry was used for ceremonial clothing while the common people wore lighter colors. For thousand’s of years the clothing of every China dynasty symbolized the social status of the wearer each dynasty brought its unique style of dress.

Types of clothing The members of the court had three sets of clothing designs. Ceremonial imperil clothing were made with silk silver gold and jade rubies and some more thread was made from peacock feathers. Imperil clothing had lots of design silk, robes and ceremonial clothing. In ancient china there were three clothing designs all featuring a loose fit with roomy sleeves the pientfu the chipao and the most popular the shen-I.

Men and Women wearer The Chinese clothing today is an ancient classical design and contemporary ideas. At social occasions men may wear traditional Chinese long gown. While Women may wear the “ch’i-p’ao, a fashion adapted the ching dynasty for formal gatherings.