(), also known as (), or (), or (), is one type of two-piece ceremonial traditional Chinese wedding set of attire, which is composed of a jacket called () and of a long Chinese skirt called (). The ' is a type of

Hanfu ''Hanfu'' () is the traditional styles of clothing worn by the Han Chinese. There are several representative styles of ''hanfu'', such as the (an upper-body garment with a long outer skirt), the (an upper-body garment with a long underskirt ...

worn by

Han Chinese The Han Chinese () or Han people (), are an East Asian ethnic group native to China. They constitute the world's largest ethnic group, making up about 18% of the global population and consisting of various subgroups speaking distinctive va ...

brides and originated in the 18th century during the Qing dynasty. It eventually became the traditional wedding attire of

Cantonese Cantonese ( zh, t=廣東話, s=广东话, first=t, cy=Gwóngdūng wá) is a language within the Chinese (Sinitic) branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages originating from the city of Guangzhou (historically known as Canton) and its surrounding are ...

brides in the

Guangdong Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020) ...

regions. It is traditionally handmade and is decorated with dragons and phoenixes embroideries. Nowadays, the ' is still popular as a wedding dress in

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

, including in

Hong kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

and

Macau Macau or Macao (; ; ; ), officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (MSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. With a pop ...

Origins and tradition

Back in

Ming dynasty The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last ort ...

, the women wedding dress worn by nobles and commoners was known as ' () composed of the ' and '. The wedding dress worn in Ming dynasty continued to influence the wedding dress of the later centuries. What is known as ' only started to be worn in the 18th century during the

Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...

. The 'originated in

when Liang Zhu'','' a Guangdong

politician, was rewarded with a silk wedding dress embroidered with dragons and phoenixes by the Qing Emperor at the time of his daughter's wedding. This led to the use ' in the Guangdong area. In 18th century, Chinese mothers would start to sew the ' as soon as a daughter was born in the family. The ' would then be placed as a part of the daughter's bride dowry when she gets married. The ' follows the ancient traditional system of ' (; upper and lower garment).

Construction and Design

The ' is composed of two separate garments: a (), which is a Chinese jacket which closes at the front with buttons, and a (). The ' worn in the ' is typically straight in cut. The skirt could be pleated.

Colour

While Western wedding dress tends to be white in colour, Chinese traditional wedding clothing favours the use of red and gold colour. The ' was originally black in colour while the skirt was originally red in colour. The which is completely red in colour only appeared in the 1960s. Since then the traditional black and red ' started to be used for the bride's mother instead of being worn by the brides themselves. File:Thomas Child, Bride and Groom.jpg, Bride wearing Qing dynasty ''qungua''. File:Old Chinese wedding dresses.jpg, ''Qungua'' (left) worn by Chinese brides, 1900s. File:Dress, two piece (AM 2013.18.1-8).jpg, ''Qungua'' is a two-piece garment attire: black ''gua'' and red ''qun.'' File:Dress, two piece (AM 2013.18.1-26).jpg, Long skirt ''qun'' File:Chinese bridal wedding gown.jpg, Red ''gua'' File:Dress, two piece (AM 2013.18.1-7).jpg, Construction of a black ''gua'' jacket. File:Chinese wedding jacket, early 20th century, East-West Center.JPG, Black ''gua''

Embroidery

The ' is typically embroidered with the Chinese dragons called ' () and the Chinese phoenix called ' (). It can also be decorated with other auspicious symbols, such as pomegranate (symbolism for fertility), peony flowers, lotus flowers, bats, goldfish, butterfly and birds. Nowadays, there are 5 different types of ' which is named accordingly to the percentage of embroidery covering the dress: # ' (): 30% covered with embroidery, # ' (): 50% covered with embroidery # ' (): 70% covered with embroidery # ' (): 90% covered with embroidery # ' (): 100% covered with embroidery

Derivatives and influences

Betawi Bridal dress

The Betawi bridal dress, partly influenced by

Chinese culture Chinese culture () is one of the world's oldest cultures, originating thousands of years ago. The culture prevails across a large geographical region in East Asia and is extremely diverse and varying, with customs and traditions varying grea ...

and by

Indonesian culture The culture of Indonesia has been shaped by long interaction between original indigenous customs and multiple foreign influences. Indonesia is centrally-located along ancient trading routes between the Far East, South Asia and the Middle East, r ...

, looks similar to the Chinese '. Like the ', the Betawi bridal dress is a two-piece set of attire which composed of an ankle-length with wider bottom skirt called ''kun'' and an upper garment called ''tuaki''. The ''tuaki'' is decorated with Chinese auspicious symbols. One difference from the ''qungua'' is the use of ''Betawi Lotus'', also known as ''Betawi pomegranate'', a separate ornamental garment which covers the chest and shoulder areas (similar to the ' of the Chinese people). The ''Betawi'' ''lotus'' was used to denote the origins of the Betawi bride, but it was eventually replaced by beads which typically follows the Spanish cherry floral pattern. The kun and tuaki must match in colour. File:Chinese Bride in Batavia WDL2912.jpg, Chinese Bride in Batavia in her wedding dress, 1870. The dress is heavily influenced by Chinese culture but also shows subtle differences. File:Betawi wedding.jpg, Betawi bride and groom, 2008.

Differences with other garments

Fengguan xiapei

The ' is different from the ' (), another type of Traditional

wedding set of attire, which was worn in

Ming The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last ort ...

and

Qing The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speaki ...

dynasties in terms of composition of garments and accessories which the qungua lacks of. The ' is a set of attire which was composed of red ' (), which is a type of Ming dynasty-style round-collar robe decorated with dragons, which was worn by Han Chinese women as a court robe; a ' (), which is a type of long scarf in Ming and a type of stole in Qing dynasty; a ' (), which is a skirt which can be red or green and is embroidered with

dragons A dragon is a reptilian legendary creature that appears in the folklore of many cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but dragons in western cultures since the High Middle Ages have often been depicted as ...

and phoenixes on the front and back skirt lapels), and the ', the phoenix coronet. The Wedding attire is sometimes decorated with Chinese cloud collar known as '. File:Qing Dynasty Lady in a red robe.jpg, Portrait of lady in ''fengguan xiapei'' in Qing dynasty, File:七十一代衍聖公元配陳夫人衣冠像.jpg, Qing dynasty ''fengguan xiapei'' (凤冠霞帔), a

yunjian (), also known as Cloud collar in English and sometimes referred as châr-qâb, is a Chinese term which can either to a four-lobed motif (more rarely an 8-lobed motif), or to a traditional Chinese garment accessory item in , the Traditional cl ...

is on top of the attire.

Xiuhefu

The ' is distinct from another Chinese wedding set of attire called ' (). The ' typically has an overlapping jacket which closes to the right side (instead of the ' central closing jacket) which is worn with an A-line skirt ('')'' which looks similar to a ' instead of a straight cut skirt. The ' is typically embroidered with flowers and birds to symbolize love for whole seasons. File:A bride in Xiuhe dress between Taihedian and Zhonghedian (20220218120518).jpg, A bride in ' between Taihedian and Zhonghedian, 2022 File:A bride in Xiuhe dress near Xiehemen (20220218110303).jpg, A bride in ' near Xiehemen, 2022

Cheongsam

The ' is different from the

cheongsam ''Cheongsam'' (, ), also known as the ''qipao'' () and sometimes referred to as the mandarin gown, is a Chinese dress worn by women which takes inspiration from the , the ethnic clothing of the Manchu people. The cheongsam is most often see ...

which can also be worn as a Traditional Chinese wedding dress. The ' is a two-piece garment composed of jacket and skirts while the modern cheongsam is currently a one-piece robe. Prior to the 1930s and the 1940s, the cheongsam was also a two-piece set of garment which was composed of a long robe and was worn with a pair of trousers.

References

{{Reflist Chinese traditional clothing Marriage in Chinese culture Wedding dresses Embroidery