Qizhuang

(), also known as () and commonly referred as Manchu clothing in English, is the traditional clothing of the Manchu people. in the broad sense refers to the clothing system of the Manchu people, which includes their whole system of attire used for different occasions with varying degrees of formality. The term can also be used to refer to a type of informal dress worn by Manchu women known as , which is a one-piece long robe with no slits on either sides. In the Manchu tradition, the outerwear of both men and women includes a full-length robe with a jacket or a vest while short coats and trousers are worn as inner garments.

The Manchu people have a history of about 400 years; however, their ancestors have a history of 4000 years. The development of , including the precursor of the cheongsam, is closely related to the development and the changes of the Manchu Nationality (and their ancestors) throughout centuries, potentially including the Yilou people in the Warring States Period, the Sushen people in the Pre-Qin period, the Wuji people in the Wei and Jin period, the Mohe people from the Sui and Tang dynasties, and the (known as Jurchen) in the Liao, Song, Yuan, and Ming dynasties. The Qing dynasty was a period when the Manchu's clothing development stage reach maturity. In the Qing dynasty, the clothing culture of the Manchu people contradicted and collided with the clothing culture of the Han Chinese due to their cultural differences and aesthetic concepts. Some Qing dynasty court dress preserved features and characteristics which are distinct the clothing worn by the Manchu prior to their conquest of the Ming dynasty. The Qing dynasty officials also wore court dresses, which were variants of Manchu clothing at the court.

Characteristics and cultural significance

Characteristics of

The Manchu clothing contrasted to the , Han Chinese clothing, worn in the Ming dynasty; ''"in contrast to the ample, flowing robes and slippers with upturned toes of the sedentary Ming, the Manchu wore the boots, trousers, and functional riding coats of nomadic horsemen''".
Manchu of both sex wore trousers to protect their legs from the horse's flanks and from the elements. Their boots had rigid soles to facilitate archery on horseback by allowing the riders to stand in the iron stirrups. The Manchu people also wore hoods which provided insulation and were essential to protect its wearer from the cold Northeast Asian winters.

Manchu coats (and robes) were typically closed fitting and had 4-slits opening on 4 sides (2 sides of the garment, back and front) to facilitate ease of movements when horseback riding; their sleeves were long and tight with their sleeves cuff ending in the shape of a horse's hoof, referred as (), which was meant to protect its wearer's back of the hands from the wind. The Manchu's robes were overlapping in the form of a lute-shaped (or slant/curved) front, a Manchu innovation, which was used distinguished the Manchu robes from the similar-looking clothing worn by the Mongol and by those worn by the Han Chinese. The Manchu robes were fastened with loop and toogle buttons at the centre front of the neck area, right of the clavicle, under the right arm and along the right seam; this ways of closing their clothing differed from the Han Chinese who fastened a knotted button at the right neck opening near the shoulder line. and slanted opening remained main features of the Manchu dress until the collapse of the Qing dynasty in 1911.

Their male traditional hairstyle is the queue, which is called in Chinese and soncoho in Manchu language.

Emphasis on Manchu cultural identity

The Manchu elites perceived themselves and the emperor as being Manchu first with a long tradition rooted in riding horses, shooting arrows, and hunting; they saw their clothing as having been designed to be suitable for their lifestyles and practices. Their clothing was associated with martial vigour; Manchu clothing allowed greater ease of movement while the Han Chinese wide and long-sleeved robes limited movements.

According to the ''Documents of History of Qing dynasty, Yufu zhi'': "''Manchu people are good at riding and shooting. If we adopt Han people's clothes easily and gradually lose the skill of archery and horse riding and no longer worship martial arts, isn't that a pity that we will keep these weapons but have no reasons to practice them''".

The Manchu elites saw these characteristics of the Manchu culture as very important, which needed to be preserved and fully emphasized and expressed in their rule. Therefore in the early Qing dynasty, the Manchu rulers emphasized that the Han Chinese had to follow the dressing code of the Manchu.

However, not every Han Chinese were required to wear Manchu clothing under the Tifayifu policy due to another mitigation policy adopted by the Qing court typically referred as the "ten rules that must be obeyed and ten that need not be obeyed", advocated by Jin Zhijun.

Ethnic markers between Manchu and Han Chinese women

Through a mitigation policy to the Tifayifu, the Han Chinese women were allowed to keep the style and characteristics of the Ming dynasty's women clothing; allowing the coexistence of Manchu and Han Chinese women clothing. Manchu and Han Chinese women differed from each other in their dressing style.

Han Chinese women followed the long tradition of ''liangjie chuanyi'' (), which refers to the wearing of two-part top-bottom garment style, when wearing their hanfu. This tradition persisted throughout centuries up to the early 1920s. ''Liangjie chuanyi''-style clothing became one of the ethnic markers of the Han Chinese women identity.

On the other hand, Manchu women wore a one-piece long dress. However, they borrowed some elements from each other in the Qing dynasty, for example, wide robe sleeves which are typical features in the Han Chinese women's clothing was adopted in the informal daily outfits of the Manchu women. The Manchu women's clothing were therefore influenced by the Han Chinese clothing culture. Manchu women also had natural feet and did not engage in foot binding as opposed to the Han Chinese women.

Pre-Manchu History

Sushen/ Yilou people

In the Shang and Zhou dynasties, the earliest ancestors of the Manchu were the Sushen people who lived in the Songhua river basin in China. Their clothing culture was influenced by their productivity and geographical environment; the Sushen people lived on fishing and hunting; therefore, their clothing were made out of wild animal fur. According to Guo Pu's commentary in Shanhaijing, the Sushen people resided north of the Liaodong Commandery lived in caves and only wore pig hides for clothing and in winter, they would smear grease on their bodies to protect themselves from the wind and cold.

According to the Book of Jin, the Sushen (also known as Yilou) lived north of the Changbai Mountain; Sushen man would stick feathers in a woman's hair and if the woman accepted, he would propose her to be his wife and marry her in a formal and respectful way; a custom which was passed down to the Yuan and Ming dynasties.

Mohe people

In the 7th century Tang dynasty, the descendants of the ancient Sushen people were known as the Heishui Mohe (; ). Another descendants branch of the Sushen, Yilou, and Wuji people were the Sumo Mohe who established the Bohai kingdom; a kingdom which was made up of a large number of Mohe tribesmen in terms of population while the ruling class was composed mostly of Goguryeo people. Some Mohe people however managed to become part of the ruling elite of Bohai. Bohai eventually fell under the Khitans in 926 and the Goguryeo elites of Bohai became refugees in Goryeo leaving the indigenous Mohe people behind, who then became the subjects of the Liao dynasty.

The Heishui Mohe had the customs of using wild boar tusks and pheasant tail feathers for their headdress. According to the Old Book of Tang