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Cheongsam

Cheongsam
Qipao woman.jpg
A woman in a cheongsam
Type Dress
Material Silk, cotton
Place of origin China
Cheongsam
Cheongsam (Chinese characters).svg
"Cheongsam" in Traditional (top) and Simplified (bottom) Chinese characters
Traditional Chinese
Simplified Chinese 长衫
Literal meaning "long gown"

The cheongsam (/ˈɒŋˈsæm/,/ˈɒŋˈsæm/ or /ˈɒŋˈsɑːm/) is a body-hugging one-piece Chinese dress for women, also known as qipao (from Mandarin Chinese: ; pinyin: qípáo; Wade–Giles: ch'i-p'ao; IPA: [t͡ɕʰǐ pʰɑ̌ʊ̯]), and Mandarin gown. The stylish and often tight-fitting cheongsam or qipao (chipao) that is best known today was created in the 1920s in Shanghai and made fashionable by socialites and upper class women.

The English loanword cheongsam comes from chèuhngsāam (; "long shirt/dress"), the Cantonese pronunciation of the Shanghainese term zǎnze or zansae, by which the original tight-fitting form was first known. The Shanghainese name was somewhat in contrast with usage in Mandarin and other Chinese dialects, where chángshān (Mandarin) refers to an exclusively male dress (see changshan) and the female version is known as a qípáo.


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Wikipedia

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