Characteristic Chinese Clothing in Qin and Han Dynasty

Characteristic Chinese Clothing in Qin and Han Dynasty

2014-06-04

“Hanfu” which appears frequently these years as a symbol of China is commonly referred to as traditional Chinese clothing all around the world. Actually throughout the Chinese history of more than 5,000 years, clothing style went through considerable changes from ancient times up until the modern era. Each historical period features different characteristics.

The Qin Dynasty (221 BC–206 BC) was the first Imperial dynasty of China. With the establishment of extremely strict hierarchy among the society of the time, clothing styles underwent prominent changes from the Warring State Period (475 BC–221 BC) which consisted of several independent states. In the Qin Dynasty black was used as a superior color to symbolize the power of water, thus clothing and adornments of noble people were all of dark color or simply black while common people could only wear cloth made of linen, colored with white, buff or pale yellow. The traditional daily costumes of people in the Qin Dynasty was the robe, people of different social status wore accessories made of different materials. For example the Emperor wore a hat decorated with jade while ministers could only use bronze.

The Qin Dynasty had a short history of only 15 years. The next dynasty called Han Dynasty extended and further developed Qin Dynasty’s clothing styles. Costumes of the Han Dynasty had 6 features. Collar of underpants was exposed; clothes must be sewn with white thread; the width of sleeve was 0.4 meters; blouses had no sleeves; fur must face outward, and waistbands were always exquisite.

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