Traditional Jingju costumes evolved from both historical clothing and costumes of previous performance styles, each contributing distinct images onstage. The relationship between historical and stage forms of dress evolved by happenstance rather than plan. Without a designer to shape and fashion garments according to character and theatrical intent, the costumes evolved through the spontaneous inventions of actors and practitioners. Connections between reality and theatricality can be made now through the advantageous lens of hindsight.

Throughout the history of imperial China, Han rule alternated with that of non-Han invaders, and the leaders of each succeeding Han dynasty chose to return to the designs of earlier Han forms of dress. Cross-cultural influences in clothing existed in the intervening periods, when invaders took over the rule of the country and established their own form of clothing. As a result, a range of ethnic and period clothing styles were worn at any given period in time. In the Qing dynasty (1644–1911), for example, official clothing was regulated, and all in attendance at court were required to dress in the Manchu style of the rulers, regardless of their ethnicity. However, dress at home was not under court edict, and the majority Han people continued to wear their own style of clothing for private functions. In addition to dress from different ethnicities and eras being worn simultaneously, hybrid clothing developed fromthe interplay of cultures in the country, which resulted in historical garments that combined Han characteristics with those of other tribes. The Qing dragon robe (longpao, later renamed jifu, lit. “auspicious coat”), is an example; it has the cut of a Manchu garment with the decoration of Han Chinese cosmology.

Onstage, a similar blending of cultures occurs in the mang (court robe) costume, which has the cut of a Ming dynasty (1368–1644), or Han, robe, and a Qing dynasty Manchu version of Han surface ornamentation. The environment of dress that intermingled real life models combined with nonrealistic influences inherited from dance and other theatrical forms has contributed to the current interpretation of clothing on the traditional Jingju stage. Rather than being out of harmony by combining costumes of different times and places, the Jingju costumed image may be considered a logical theatrical interpretation of the larger Chinese cultural context. 

The costumes in traditional Jingju can be loosely ascribed to three sources: Han-style clothing from the Ming and earlier times, Manchu clothing of the Qing dynasty, and theatrically invented garments. In actuality, most, if not all, costumes have been transformed in some way from their original historical appearance, making theatrical style a significant component of all of the costume imagery. The following sections detail the three sources and offer examples of costumes that may be attributed to each category.

In Asia, three distinct traditions evolved for the production of clothing. In India, Malaysia, and other countries in Southeastern Asia through the islands of the archipelagos, clothing derived from woven and uncut cloth that was wrapped around the body in a sari or sarong fashion that involved minimal sewing. The garment was essentially created each time it was worn by being draped around the wearer. From Southern China to Japan and Korea, clothing again derived from woven cloth, but the peoples in these areas added seaming and minimal cutting to minimize waste of the lengths of fabric. The resulting clothing was based on large rectangular blocks for the body and sleeves. The third tradition of clothing production developed in Northern China, Manchuria, and Mongolia. In this region, body coverings were created from the hides of local animals, using shapes that fit well on the prepared skins, but these forms did not transfer to a layout on fabric without producing waste in the scraps. Clothing of this type fit more closely to the body and arms, recreating the shape of the animal on the human form.3 The latter two of these traditions figured prominently in the evolution of garments in Chinese history and therefore in the development of costuming on the stage.