Chinese clothing

Chinese clothing is ancient and modern. Chinese clothing has varied by region and time, and is recorded by the artifacts and arts of Chinese culture.

Depending on one's status in society, each social class had a different sense of fashion in ancient China. Most Chinese men wore Chinese black cotton shoes, but wealthy higher class people would wear tough black leather shoes for formal occasions. Very rich and wealthy men would wear very bright, beautiful silk shoes sometimes having leather on the inside. Women would wear silk shoes, with certain wealthy women practicing bound feet wearing coated Lotus shoes as a status symbol until in the early 20th century. Men's shoes were usually less elaborate than women's.

Chinese civil or military officials used a variety of codes to show their rank and position. The most recognized is the Mandarin square or rank bad In. Another code was also the use of colorful hat knobs fixed on the top of their hats. The specific hat knob on one's hat determined one's rank. As there were twelve types of hat knobs representing the nine distinctive ranks of the civil or military position. Variations existed for Ming official headwear. In the Qing Dynasty different patterns of robes represented different ranks.

The rise of the Manchu Qing Dynasty in many ways represented a new clothing styles were required to be worn by all noblemen and officials. Eventually, this style became widespread among the commoners.

A new style of dress, called tangzhuang, included the changshan worn by men and the qipao worn by women. Manchu official headwear differed from the Ming version, but the Qing continued to use the Mandarin square. It was around this time that foot binding became more popular.

The abolition of imperial China in 1912 had an immediate effect on dress and customs. The largely Han Chinese population immediately cut off their queues they had been forced to grow in submission to the overthrown Qing Dynasty. Sun Yat-sen popularised a new style of men's wear, featuring jacket and trousers instead of the robes worn previously. Adapted from Japanese student wear, this style of dress became known as the Zhongshan suit (Zhongshan being one of Sun Yat-sen's given names in Chinese).

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