Traditional Chinese Wedding Dress

Traditional Chinese wedding dress is a collective term which refers to all the different forms and styles of traditional wedding attire worn by the Han Chinese when performing their marriage ceremony, including the traditional Chinese marriage. There are various forms of traditional Chinese wedding dress in the history of China. Since the Zhou dynasty, there have national laws and rules which regulated the different categories of clothing and personal accessories; these regulations have created various categories of clothing attire, including the traditional wedding attire of the Chinese people.

Types of attire

Attire for brides

Nowadays, the can also be worn as a wedding dress.

The () is a type of wedding set of attire categorized under . It was worn in Ming and Qing dynasties. The attire was composed an upper and lower garment following the traditional system.

In the Qing dynasty, it was composed of an , a type of upper garment, called () and a , lower skirt, called ().

The was a type of fashioned in the style of the Ming dynasty which was red in colour; it used to be worn by the Han Chinese women as a court robe.

The was a which could either be red or green in colour; it was embroidered with dragons and phoenixes on the front and back lapel of the skirt. The two accessories items from which the set of attire of gained its name was the , which was a type of , and the ().

The appearance of the appearance and construction differed depending on the time period: in the Ming dynasty, the was similar to a long scarf or stole in appearance; however, it became a type of waistcoat in the Qing dynasty. The was sometimes adorned with the . Following the wedding ceremony, married women were expected to wear the on formal occasions, however, Chinese trousers or leggings were worn beneath instead of the skirt.

'

The ', also commonly known as ', is a set of attire which follows the traditional system. It is a composed of a jacket called ' and a long which could be straight in cut or have pleated sides.

The tradition of wearing the ' as a wedding dress originated in the Qing dynasty during the 18th century. Initially, the ' was sewn by the mother of the bride as soon as the bride was born due to the time-consuming process of the handcraft; it would then be given later on as the part of the bride's dowry from her family when she would get married. There are different types of ', which are based on the amount of embroideries which were crafted on the dress. Nowadays, the ' has been commercialized and remains a popular form of wedding dress.

'

The ' () is a set of attire which follows the traditional system; it is a composed of a waist-length and a long A-line , which looks similar to a . The is typically embroidered with flowers and birds to symbolize love for whole seasons.

The precursor of the can be traced back to the Qing dynasty where a Qing dynasty-style , consisted of ' and a ', was worn as a form of wedding dress during this period. What is currently known as the ' became popular in 2001 when Zhou Xun, the actress who played the role of ', wore a modern recreation version of the Qing dynasty wedding ' in the Chinese television drama "Orange turned red"《橘子紅了》thus gaining its contemporary name from name of the character, '.

Accessories

Brides

File:TraditionalChineseWeddingDress.jpg, alt=, (also known as phoenix coronet)
File:Traditional Chinese wedding ceremony (Honggaitou).jpg, alt=,
File:China, Qing Dynasty, late 19th century - Woman's Bridal Dress, Tabard - 2005.135.3 - Cleveland Museum of Art.jpg, alt=,
File:Honggaitou and blue yunjian (wedding attire).jpg, alt=,
File:Circular Silk Fan with the Calligraphy & Painting and a Lacquered Handle 2013-07.JPG,

See also

* Hanfu
* Ruqun

References

{{Types of Han Chinese clothing
Chinese traditional clothing
Marriage in Chinese culture
Wedding dresses
Embroidery