A person who wears shorts and a tank top to a formal wedding is likely violating a

Not to be confused with Hanbok.

Hanfu [simplified Chinese: 汉服; traditional Chinese: 漢服; pinyin: Hànfú] is the traditional styles of clothing worn by the Han Chinese. There are several representative styles of hanfu, such as the ruqun [an upper-body garment with a long outer skirt], the aoqun [an upper-body garment with a long underskirt], the beizi and the shenyi,[1] and the shanku [an upper-body garment with ku trousers].[2]: 24

Traditionally, hanfu consists of a paofu robe, or a ru jacket worn as the upper garment with a qun skirt commonly worn as the lower garment. In addition to clothing, hanfu also includes several forms of accessories, such as headwear, footwear, belts, jewellery, yupei and handheld fans.[1] Nowadays, the hanfu is gaining recognition as the traditional clothing of the Han ethnic group, and has experienced a growing fashion revival among young Han Chinese people in China and in the overseas Chinese diaspora.[1][3][4][5]

After the Han dynasty, hanfu developed into a variety of styles using fabrics that encompassed a number of complex textile production techniques, particularly those used to produce silk.[6]: 3 Hanfu has influenced the traditional clothing of many neighbouring cultures, including the Korean hanbok,[7][8] the Japanese kimono [wafuku],[9][10] the Okinawan ryusou,[11][12] and the Vietnamese áo giao lĩnh [Việt Phục].[13][14] Up to a certain extent, hanfu has also influenced some elements in Western fashion, especially those influenced by Chinoiserie fashion, due to the popularity of Chinoiserie since the 17th century in Europe and in the United States.[15]: 52 [note 1] Silk remains a core element of Hanfu and Chinese traditional clothing.

Early history

Hanfu comprises all traditional clothing classifications of the Han Chinese with a recorded history of more than three millennia.[16][17] Each succeeding dynasty produced their own distinctive dress codes, reflecting the socio-cultural environment of the times.[18][19] Clothing made of silk was initially used for decorative and ceremonial purposes. The cultivation of silk, however, ushered the development of weaving, and by the time of the Han dynasty, brocade, damask, satin, and gauze had been developed.[20]

A painting of the Yellow emperor, painting dating from 151 AD, Han dynasty

From the beginning of its history, hanfu [especially in elite circles] was inseparable from silk and the art of sericulture, supposedly discovered by the Yellow Emperor's consort Leizu, who was also revered as the Goddess of sericulture.[21][22] There is even a saying in the Book of Change, which says that:[23]

"Huang Di, Yao, and Shun [simply] wore their upper and lower garments [衣裳; yī cháng] [as patterns to the people], and good order was secured all under heaven".

Hanfu had changed and evolved with the fashion of the days since its commonly assumed beginnings in the Shang dynasty. Many of the earlier designs are more gender-neutral and simpler in cut than later examples. Later garments incorporate multiple pieces with men commonly wearing pants and women commonly wearing skirts. Clothing for women usually accentuates the body's natural curves through wrapping of upper garment lapels or binding with sashes at the waist.[citation needed]

From ancient times, the ru upper garments of hanfu were typically worn wrapped over the front, in a style known as jiaoling youren; the left side covering the right side and extend to the wearer's right waist. Initially, the style was used because of the habit of the right-handed wearer to wrap the right side first. Later, the people of the Central Chinese Plain discouraged left-handedness, considering it unnatural, barbarian, uncivilized, and unfortunate. The youren collar follows the yin and yang theory, wherein the left lapel represents the yang [which symbolizes life] suppresses the yin [which symbolizes death]; therefore, youren is the clothing of the living while if it is worn in the opposite way in a style called zuoren, the clothing then becomes burial clothing and is therefore considered a taboo.[19] Zuoren is also used by some minority ethic groups in China.[24][25]

Many factors have contributed to the fashion of ancient China: beliefs, religions, wars, and the emperor's personal liking.[26] Following the Qin dynasty, colours used in the sumptuary laws of the Han Chinese held symbolic meaning, based on the Taoist Five Elements Theory and the yin and yang theory; each dynasty favoured certain colours.[27] Some elements of Hanfu have also been influenced by neighbouring cultural clothing, especially by the nomadic peoples to the north, and Central Asian cultures to the west by way of the Silk Road.[note 2][28]: 44–46 [29][30]: 312

Shang dynasty

A standing dignitary wearing yichang and bixi, Shang dynasty, 12th-11th century BC

Human figure excavated from the tomb of Fu Hao, Shang dynasty

In China, a systemic structure of clothing was first developed during the Shang dynasty, where colours, designs, and rules governing use was implemented across the social strata.[6] Only primary colours [i.e. red, blue, and yellow] and green were used due to the degree of technology at the time.[31]

The rudiments of hanfu was developed in this period; the combination of upper and lower garments, called yichang, was usually worn with a bixi.[32][33][34][31] The jiaoling youren yi a style of upper garment, started to be worn during this period.[35] In winter, padded jackets were worn.[31] The ku or jingyi, which were knee-high trousers tied onto the calves but left the thighs exposed, were worn under the chang.[36] During this period, this clothing style was unisex.[31] Only rich people wore silk; poor people continued to wear loose shirts and ku made of hemp or ramie.[31] An example of a Shang dynasty attire can be seen on an anthropomorphic jade figurine excavated from the Tomb of Fu Hao in Anyang, which shows a person wearing a long narrow-sleeved yi with a wide band covering around waist, and a skirt underneath.[37][38][39] This yichang attire appears to have been designed for the aristocratic class.[37]

Zhou dynasty

Following the Shang dynasty, the Western Zhou dynasty, established a strict hierarchical society that used clothing as a status meridian, and inevitably, the height of one's rank influenced the ornateness of a costume.[24][40]: 255–261 Such markers included the fabric materials, the shape, size, colour of the clothing, the decorative pattern, the length of a skirt, the wideness of a sleeve, and the degree of ornamentation.[40]: 255–261 There were strict regulations on the clothing of the emperor, feudal dukes, senior officials, soldiers, ancestor worshippers, brides, and mourners.[40]: 255–261 [41]

A standing figure wearing a yichang with quju youren opening, Eastern Zhou dynasty, 4th century BC.

The mianfu was the most distinguished type of formal dress, worn for worshipping and memorial ceremonies; it had a complex structure and there were various decorations which bore symbolic meaning; there were six ranked types of mianfu which were worn by emperors, princes and officials according to their titles.[34] The emperors also wore bianfu [only second to mianfu] when meeting with officials or if they had to work on official business.[34] When the emperor were not at court, they wore the xuanduan.[40]: 255–261 [42] Xuanduan could also worn by princes during sacrificial occasions and by scholars who would go pay respect to their parents in the morning.[34] The mianfu, bianfu, and xuanduan all consisted of four separate parts: a skirt underneath, a robe in the middle, a bixi on top, and a long cloth belt dadai [Chinese: 大带].[34] Similarly to the Western Zhou dynasty, the dress code of the early Eastern Zhou dynasty was governed by strict rules which was used maintain social order and to distinguish social class.[37]

In addition to these class-oriented developments, the daily hanfu in this period became slightly looser while maintaining the basic form the Shang dynasty[24] in the wearing of yichang.[43] Broad and narrow sleeves both co-existed. The yi was closed with a sash which was tied around the waist; jade decorations were sometimes hung from the sash.[24][44] The length of the skirts and ku could vary from knee-length to ground-length.[24] Common people in the Zhou dynasty, including the minority groups in Southwest China, wore hemp-based clothing.[20]

The Zhou dynasty also formalized women's wearing of ji with a coming-of-age ceremony called Ji Li, which was performed after a girl was engaged and the wearing of ji showed a girl was already promised to a marriage.[45] Men could also wear ji alone, however more commonly men wore ji with the guan to fix the headwear.[46]

Spring and Autumn period, Warring States period

During the Spring and Autumn period and the Warring States period, numerous schools of thought emerged in China, including Confucianism; those different schools of thoughts naturally influenced the development of the clothing.[44] Moreover, due to the frequent wars occurring during the Warring States period, various etiquette were slowly revoked.[47] Eastern Zhou dynasty dress code started to erode by the middle of Warring States period.[37] Later, many regions decided not to follow the system of Zhou dynasty; the clothing during this period were differentiated among the seven major states [i.e. the states of Chu, Han, Qin, Wei, Yan, Qi and Zhao].[6][40]: 255–261 [47] Moreover, the year 307 B.C. also marked an important year with the first reform of the military uniform implemented by King Wuling of Zhao. This reform, commonly referred as Hufuqishe, required all Zhao soldiers to wear the Hufu-style uniforms of the Donghu, Linhu and Loufan people in battles to facilitate fighting capability.[34][40]: 257 [48] The hedangku with a loose rise was then introduced.[34][36][49]

Shamans wearing jiaoling yoren ruqun, Chu culture, Warring States period, 4th-3rd century BC

Based on the archaeological artifacts dating from the Eastern Zhou dynasty, ordinary men, peasants and labourers, were wearing a long youren yi with narrow-sleeves, with a narrow silk band called sitao [Chinese: 丝套] being knotted at the waist over the top.[37][43] The youren yi was also worn with ku [in a style generally referred as shanku] to allow greater ease of movement, but was made of plain cloth instead of silk cloth.[37] The shanku of this period also influenced the Hufu.[37] Aristocratic figures did not wear those kind of clothing however, they were wearing wider-sleeved long paofu which was belted at the waist; one example can be seen from the wooden figures from a Xingyang Warring States period tomb.[note 3][37][43] The youren closures could be found in different shapes, such as jiaoling youren and quju youren.[37]

Skirts also appear to have been worn during the Warring States period based on archaeological artifacts and sculpted bronze figures,[50] and was worn in the shanqun or ruqun.[note 4][51] An archeological example of a bronze figure wearing shanqun is the bronze armed warrior holding up chime bells from the Tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng.[51] A dark yellow-skirt, dating from the late Warring States period, was also found in the Chu Tomb [M1] at the Mashan site in Jiangling County, Hubei province.[52][53][54]

Attendant wearing a qujupao shenyi, a typical clothing of its period, Warring States Period

Women and men wearing shenyi, Jingmen Tomb of the State of Chu

During the Warring States period, the shenyi was also developed.[55]: 9–14 [40] The qujupao, a type of shenyi which wrapped in a spiral effect and had fuller sleeves, was found to be worn by tomb figurines of the same period.[2]: 24 [56] Unearthed clothing from tombs show that the shenyi was worn by aristocrats in the state of Chu.[57] The increased popularity of the shenyi may have been partially due to the influence of Confucianism.[24] The shenyi remained the dominant form of Hanfu from the Zhou dynasty to the Qin dynasty and further to the Han dynasty.[58][40]: 255–261

Qin dynasty

Although the Qin dynasty was short-lived, it set up a series of systems that impacted the later generations greatly. Following the unification of the seven states, Emperor Qin Shihuang ordered his people, regardless of distance and class, to follow a series of regulations in all forms of cultural aspects, including clothing.[40] The clothing style in Qin was therefore unitary.[59] The Qin dynasty adopted a coloured-clothing system, which stipulated people who held higher position [officials of the third rank and above] wore green shenyi while common people wore normal white shenyi.[60]: 183 [34] The Han Chinese wore the shenyi as a formal dress and was worn together with a guan and shoes.[34]: 16 The guan was used to distinguish social ranks; the use of guan was one of the distinctive features of the Hanfu system, and men could only wear it after the Adulthood ceremony known as Guan Li.[34]: 16 And, although the Qin dynasty exempted Zhou dynasty's mianfu ranking system, the emperors alone still wore mianfu as a ceremonial dress, while officials simply wore black robes.[2]: 24 [60]: 183 In court, the officials wore hats, loose robes with carving knives hanging from the waist, holding hu, and stuck ink brush between head and ears.[2]: 24 [60]: 183 There was an increase in the popularity of robes with large sleeves with cuff laces among men.[2]: 24 [60]: 183

A kneeling Terracotta army archer wearing with a shirt, an armoured jacket, a short skirt with underneath trousers, and a shallow-mouth shoes, Qin dynasty

Terracotta army soldiers in colours wearing shangru under their daru with ku trousers, Qin dynasty.

In ordinary times, men wore ruku whereas the women wore ruqun.[34]: 16 Merchants, regardless of their wealth, were never allowed to wear clothing made of silk.[61] The commoners and labourers wore jiaolingpao with narrow sleeves, trousers, and skirts; they braided their hairs or simply wore skull caps and kerchiefs.[2]: 23–33 [60]: 183 [52] The making of different kinds of qun [裙; 'skirt'; called xie [衺] in Qin dynasty], shangru [上襦; 'jacket'], daru [大襦; 'outwear'] and ku-trousers is recorded in a Qin dynasty's bamboo slip called Zhiyi [制衣; 'Making clothes'].[52][53] The Terracotta army also show the differences between soldiers and officers' clothing wherein the elites wore long gown while all the commoners wore shorter jackets; they also wore headgears which ranged from simple head cloths to formal official caps.[62] Cavalry riders were also depicted wearing long-sleeved, hip-length jackets and padded trousers.[62]

Han dynasty

By the time of Han dynasty, the shenyi remained popular and developed further into two types: qujupao and zhijupao.[55]: 9–14 The robes appeared to be similar, regardless of gender, in cut and construction: a wrap closure, held by a belt or a sash, with large sleeves gathered in a narrower cuff; however, the fabric, colours and ornaments of the robes were different between gender.[48] However, later during the Eastern Han, very few people wore shenyi.[63]

• A female servant and a male advisor in Chinese shenyi, ceramic figurines from the Western Han period [202 BCE – 9 CE]

• Fresco of two Men from a Han Dynasty Tomb in Sian, Shensi, Western Han dynasty [202 BC - 9 AD]

• A man dressing in the Han dynasty style shenyi

• An Eastern Han carved stone tomb door showing a man wearing trousers underneath a long robe with a hat, stored in Sichuan Provincial Museum in Chengdu

• An Eastern Han carved stone tomb door showing a man wearing a long robe with apron, stored in Sichuan Provincial Museum in Chengdu

In the beginning of the Han dynasty, there was no restrictions on the clothing worn by common people.[6] During the Western Han, the imperial edicts on the use of general clothing were not specific enough to be restrictive to the people, and were not enforced to a great degree.[6] The clothing was simply differed accordingly to the seasons: blue or green for spring, red for summer, yellow for autumn and black for winter.[6][41][55]: 4 It was the Emperor Ming of Han formalized the dress code of Han dynasty in 59 AD, during the Eastern Han.[40]: 255–261 According to the new dress code, the emperor had to be dressed in a black-coloured upper garment and in an ocher yellow-coloured lower garment.[40]: 255–261 The Shangshu – Yiji 《尚书益稷》records the 12 ornaments used on the sacrificial garments which were used to differentiate social ranks in the earlier times.[64][65] In addition, regulations on the ornaments used by emperors, councillors, dukes, princes, ministers and officials were specified.[40]: 255–261 [64] There were distinct styles of clothing based on social ranks, these regulations were accompanied with Confucian rituals.[59] Different kind of headgear, weaving and fabric material, as well as ribbons attached to officials seals, were also used to distinguish the officials.[34]: 16 [59] The official seal was then placed in a leather pouch, was put on its wearer's waist and the ribbon, which came in different colours, size, and texture to indicate ranking, would hang outside the pouch.[59]

Throughout the years, Han dynasty women commonly also wore ruqun of various colours.[6] The combination of upper and lower garments in women's wardrobe eventually became the clothing model of the Han ethnicity of the later generations.[55]: 4 During the Qin and Han dynasties, women wore skirts which was composed of four pieces cloth sewn together; a belt was often attached to the skirt, but the use of a separate belt was sometimes used by women.[44]: 36

The male farmers, workers, businessmen and scholars, were all dressed in similar fashion during the Han dynasty; jackets, aprons, and dubikun or leggings were worn by male labourers.[36][63][48] The jackets worn by men who engaged in physical work is described as being a shorter version of zhijupao and it was worn with trousers.[44][48] The jingyi continued to be worn in the early period of Han dynasty; other forms of trousers in this period were the dakouku and dashao; both were developed from the hedangku loose rise introduced by King Wuling.[36] Men in the Han dynasty also wore a kerchief or a guan on their heads.[60]: 181–203 The guan was used as a symbol of higher status and could only be worn by people of distinguished background.[60]: 181–203 [34]: 16 The emperors wore tongtianguan when meeting with their imperial subjects, yuanyouguan were worn by dukes and princes; jinxianguan was worn by civil officials while military officials wore wuguan.[34]: 16 The kerchief was a piece of clothing that wrapped around the head, and it symbolized the status of adulthood in men.[60]: 181–203 One form of kerchief was ze [帻]; it was a headband that keep the head warm during cold weather.[60]: 181–203 Men and women also wore a lined, long robe called paofu.[55]: 12–13

As Buddhism arrived in China during late period of Han dynasty, robes of Buddhist monks started to be produced.[26][62] The attire worn in the Han dynasty laid the foundation for the clothing development in the succeeding dynasties.[44]

• A male dancer wearing a black jiaolingpao over a pair of red trousers, Dahuting tomb, Eastern Han dynasty

• A reconstruction of the Daoyin tu [an exercise chart showing "Guiding and Pulling Chart"], excavated from the Mawangdui Tomb 3 [sealed in 168BC] in the former kingdom of Changsha

• Minor military official depicted on Han dynasty stone relief found in Deng county, Henan. The "Wuguan"[武冠] hat with pheasant-tail decorations denominates martial status.[66][67]

• Scholars depicted on Han dynasty pictorial brick, discovered in Chengdu. Scholars wore hats called Jinxian Guan [进贤冠] to denominate educational status.[68]

Ornaments and jewelries, such as rings, earrings, bracelets, necklace, and hairpins, and hair sticks were common worn in China by the time of Han dynasty.[69]: 384–417 [70] The original hair sticks ji evolved to zanzi with more decorations.[71] And a new type of women hair ornament invented during Han dynasty was the buyao, which was zanzi added with dangling decorations that would sway when the wearer walk and was unique to the Han Chinese women.[69]: 384–417 [72][73]

Three Kingdoms, Jin dynasty

The paofu worn in the Han dynasty continued to evolve. During this period, 220–589 AD, the robe became loose on the wearer's body so a wide band functioned as belt was in use to organise the fitting, and the sleeves of the robe changed to "wide-open" instead of cinched at the wrist; this style is referred as bao yi bo dai, and usually worn with inner shirt and trousers.[55][30]: 312–330 [48] In some instances, the upper part of the robe was loose and open with no inner garment worn; men wearing this style of robe was featured in the painting Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove.[30]: 312–330 The bao yi bo dai style appears to have been a northern Han Chinese style, and the popularity of the robe was a result of the widespread Taoism.[30]: 312–330 [44] In the Jin dynasty, in particular, while many clothing of the Han dynasty were maintained, scholars and adherents of Neo-Taoism rejected the traditional court dress and retreated from the rigid Confucian system; this showed up in how they would dress themselves.[74] The style of men's paofu gradually changed into a more simple and casual style, while the style of women's paofu increased in complexity.[55] During the Three Kingdoms and Jin period, especially during the Eastern Jin period [317 – 420 AD], aristocratic women sought for a carefree life style after the collapse of the Eastern Han dynasty's ethical code; this kind of lifestyle influenced the development of women's clothing, which became more elaborate.[55] Typical women attire during this period is the guiyi, a wide-sleeved paofu adorned with xian [髾; long swirling silk ribbons] and shao [襳; a type of triangular pieces of decorative embroidered-cloth] on the lower hem of the robe that hanged like banners and formed a "layered effect".[75][55][76][77] The robe continued to be worn in the Northern and Southern dynasties by both men and women, as seen in the lacquered screen found in the Northern Wei tomb of Sima Jinlong [ca. 483 A.D]; however, there were some minor alterations to the robe, such as higher waistline and the sleeves are usually left open in a dramatic flare.[48]

• A man wearing paofu.

• Back view of a man wearing paofu with trousers under his robe

• A man wearing paofu and a woman wearing guiyi; lacquer painting, Tomb of Sima Jinlong, Northern Wei, c.484 AD

Shoes worn during this period included lü [履; regular shoes for formal occasions], ji [屐; high, wooden clogs for informal wear], and shoes with tips which would curl upward.[30]: 312–330 [70] The shoes with tips curled upward would later become a very popular fashion in the Tang dynasty.[70] Leather boots [靴, xue], quekua [缺胯; an open-collared robe with tight sleeves; it cannot cover the undershirt], hood and cape ensemble were introduced by northern nomads in China.[30]: 312–330 Tomb inventories found during this period include: fangyi [方衣; square garment], shan [衫; shirt], qun, hanshan [汗衫; sweatshirt], ru [襦; lined jacket], ku [裤], kun [裈], liangdang [两裆; vest], ao [袄; multi-layered lined jacket], xi [褶; a type of jacket], bixi; while women's clothing style were usually ruqun [lined jacket with long skirt] and shanqun [衫裙; shirt with long skirt], men's clothing styles are robes, shanku, and xiku [褶裤; jacket with trousers].[30]: 312–330 During this period, the black gauze hats with a flat top and an ear at either side appeared and were popular for both men and women.[44]

Although they had their own cultural identity, the Cao Wei [220–266 AD] and the Western Jin [266–316 AD] dynasties continued the cultural legacy of the Han dynasty.[69]: 384–417 Clothing during the Three Kingdoms era and the clothing in Jin dynasty [266–420 AD] roughly had the same basic forms as the Han dynasty with special characteristics in their styles; the main clothing worn during those times are: ruqun [jacket and skirt], ku, and qiu [裘; a fur coat].[78] During this period, elites generally wore paofu while peasants wore shanku consisting of short jackets and ku.[2]: 23–33 Male commoners wore similar dress as Han dynasty male commoner did; archeological artefacts of this period depict male commoners wearing a full-sleeved, knee-length youren jacket; man's hairstyle is usually a topknot or a flat cap used for head covering.[30]: 312–330 Female commoners dressed in similar fashion as their male counterpart but their jacket was sometimes depicted longer; they also wore long skirt or trousers. Attendants [not to be confused with servants] on the other hand are depicted wearing two layers of garment and wore a long skirt reaching the ground with long flowing sleeved jacket.[30]: 312–330 The jacket is sometimes closed with a belt or a fastener.[30]: 312–330 White colour was the colour worn by commoner people during the Three Kingdoms and Jin period.[78] Commoner-style clothing from this period can be seen on the Jiayuguan bricks painting.[30]: 312–330

The dakouku remained popular.[36] Dakouku that were bounded with strings at the knees were also called fuku, During the Western Jin, it was popular to use a felt cord to bind dakouku.[30]: 312–330 [48] It was worn with a knee-length tight cotton-padded robe as a set of attire called kuzhe.[36] The kuzhe was a very popular style of clothing during the Northern and Southern dynasties and was a Hanfu created by assimilating non-Han Chinese cultures.[36] New forms of belts with buckles, dubbed as "Jin style", were also designed during the Western Jin.[69]: 384–417 The "Jin style" belts were later exported to several foreign ethnicities [including the Murong Xianbei, the Kingdom of Buyeo, the early Türks and the Eurasian Avars]; these belts was later imitated by the Murong Xianbei and Buyeo before evolving into the golden parade belts with hanging metal straps of Goguryeo and Silla.[69]: 384–417

Sixteen Kingdoms, Northern and Southern dynasties

Due to the frequent wars in this era, mass migration occurred and resulted in several ethnics living together with communication exchange; as such, this period marked an important time of cultural integration and cultural blending, including the cultural exchange of clothings.[60]: 181–203 [79] Han Chinese living in the south favoured the driving dress of the northern minorities, trousers and xi [褶; a tight sleeved, close fitting long jacket, length reaching below crotch and above knees], while the rulers from northern minorities favoured the court dress of the Han Chinese.[34] Near the areas of the Yellow River, the popularity of the ethnic minorities' hufu was high, almost equal to the Han Chinese clothing, in the Sixteen Kingdoms and the Northern and Southern dynasties period.[40]

Liangdang [两裆; 兩襠] is a type of undershirt or waistcoat worn in Northern China during the Sixteen Kingdoms period;[80][81] it is not to be confused with a type of doubled-faced cuirass armour, also named liangdang, which was worn during this period.[30]: 333–334

During the Northern and Southern dynasties, the dressing style followed the style of the Three Kingdoms and Jin dynasty; robes, skirts, trousers, short jackets, sleeveless jackets were worn while fur coats, especially marten coats, were very rare.[82] Young people liked to be dressed in trousers; however, it was not well-perceived for women to wear trousers; women wore skirts.[82] Based on tomb figures dating from the Southern dynasties, it is known that the robes worn during those period continued the long, wide-sleeves, youren opening tradition.[70] The robes continued to be fastened with a girdle and was worn over a straight-neck undergarment.[70] Tomb figures depicted as servants in this period are also shown wearing skirts, aprons, trousers and upper garments with vertical opening or youren opening.[70] Servants wore narrow-sleeved upper garment whereas attendants had wider sleeves which could be knotted above the wrist.[70] The court dress was still xuanyi [玄衣; dark cloth]; however, there were regulations in terms of fabric materials used.[82]

• Men wearing kuzhe with xi depicted on a Southern dynasty brick relief, unearthed in Dengxian, Henan, 1958. depicted on a Southern dynasty brick relief, unearthed in Dengxian, Henan, 1958.

• Scholars [and maids] wearing xi with robes [and shirt with long skirt] underneath, depicted on a Southern dynasty brick relief.

• A candle stick holder depicting a man in a robe with a youren opening, Southern dynasty [420-589 AD].

• Earthenware Nanjing female figure wearing youren upper garment and a skirt with a straight-necked undergarment; d. Southern dynasty.[83]

In the Northern dynasties [386 - 581 AD], ordinary women always wore short jackets and coats.[82] The ethnic Xianbei founded the Northern Wei dynasty in 398 A.D. and continued to wear their traditional, tribal nomadic clothing to denote themselves as members of the ruling elite until c. 494 A.D. when Emperor Xiaowen of Northern Wei decreed a prohibition of Xianbei clothing among many other prohibition on Xianbei culture [e.g. language, Xianbei surnames] as a form of sinicization policies and allowed the intermarriage between Xianbei and Chinese elites.[18][24][84][85] The Wei shu even claimed that the Xianbei rulers were descendants of Yellow Emperor, just like the Han Chinese, despite being non-Chinese.[85] The Wei shu also records that Emperor Xiaowen of Northern Wei promoted Chinese-style long robes and official crowns in the court to display the wearer's rank and his hierarchical position in the court and ritual functions.[86] For example, both male and female patrons appeared in Xianbei-style attire during the 5th century AD, this can be seen particular at the Yungang caves temples near Datong and in the earliest carvings at Longmen, whereas in the first third of the 6th century, the patrons tend to appear in Chinese-style clothing in the majority of Northern Wei caves at Longmen; this change in clothing style has been suggested to be the result of sinicization policies regarding the adoption of Chinese-style clothing in the Northern Wei court.[48][69]: 384–417 Earliest images of nomadic Xianbei-style dress in China tend to be depicted as a knee-length tunic with narrow sleeves, with a front opening, which can typically be collarless, round-collared, and sometimes be V-neck collared; men and women tend to wear that knee-length tunic over trousers for men and long, ground-length skirts for women.[48][85][87] When their tunics had lapelled, the lapel opening was typically zuoren.[69]: 384–417 [88] Xianbei people also wore Xianbei-style cloaks and xianbei hat [鮮卑帽; xianbei mao].[30]: 312–330 [85]

• Emperor Xiaowen with his entourage, Central Bingyang cave, Longmen, Zhejiang; Northern Wei c.522-523.

• Procession of the Empress as Donor with Her Court, Chinese, from the Binyang Cave, Longmen, Henan Province, Northern Wei Dynasty, c. 522 AD.

• Procession of tomb occupant and his wives, mural painting from the tomb of General Cui Fen; Northern Qi.

• Procession, Gongyi, Henan Province, Northern Wei dynasty.

• A pottery figure wearing Han Chinese style attire, Northern Wei [471 - 499 AD]. The garment has a youren opening.

• Male xianbei warrior wearing a cloak and xianbei hat, Northern Wei dynasty.

• Female xianbei warrior wearing a cloak and xianbei hat, Northern Wei dynasty.

• Example of a female attendant wearing an early Xianbei garb, the opening is zuoren, unearthed in Sima Jinlong tomb, Northern Wei, 484 AD.[89]

Despite the sinicization policies attempted by the Northern Wei court, the nomadic style clothing continued to exist in China until Tang dynasty.[30]: 312–330 [90] For example, narrow and tight sleeves, which was well adapted to nomadic life-style, started to be favoured and was adopted by Han Chinese.[30]: 424 In the Shuiyusi temple of Xiangtangshan Caves dated back to Northern dynasties, male worshippers are usually dressed in Xianbei style attire while women are dressed in Han Chinese style attire wearing skirts and high-waisted, wrap-style robes with wide sleeves.[48] Moreover, after the fall of the Northern Wei, tensions started to rise between the Western Wei [which was more sinicized] and the Eastern Wei [which was less sinicized and resented the sinicized court of Northern Wei].[90] Due to the shift in politics, Han and non-Han Chinese ethnic tensions arose between the successor states of Northern Wei;[90] and Xianbei-style clothing reappeared; however, their clothing had minor changes.[69]: 384–417

At the end of the Northern and Southern dynasties, foreign immigrants started to settle in China; most of those foreign immigrants were traders and buddhists missionaries from Central Asia.[91] Cultural diversity was also the most striking feature in China in the sixth-century AD.[90] From the mural paintings found in the Tomb of Xu Xianxiu of the Northern Qi, various types of attire are depicted which reflect the internationalism and multiculturalism of the Northern Qi; many of the attire styles are derived from Central Asia or nomadic designs.[92] The wife of Xu Xianxiu is depicted with a flying-bird bun; she is wearing a Han Chinese cross-collared, wide-sleeves attire which has the basic clothing design derived from the Han dynasty attire with some altered designs, such as a high waistline and wide standing collar.[48][92] Xu Xianxiu is depicted wearing a Central Asian-style coat, Xianbei-style tunic, trousers, and boots.[48][92] Some of the female servants depicted from the tomb murals of Xu Xianxiu are wearing what appears to be Sogdian dresses, which tend to be associated with dancing girls and low-status entertainers during this period, while the ladies-in-waiting of Xu Xianxiu's wife are wearing narrow-sleeved clothing which look more closely related to Xianbei-style or Central Asian-style clothing; yet this Xianbei style of attire is different from the depictions of Xianbei-style attire worn before 500 AD.[48][92] The men [i.e. soldiers, grooms and male attendants] in the mural paintings of Xu Xianxiu tomb are depicted wearing high black or brown boots, belts, headgears, and clothing which follows the Xianbei-style, i.e. V-neck, long tunic which is below knee-length, with the left lapel of the front covering the right; narrow-sleeved tunic which is worn on top of round-collared undergarment are also depicted.[48][92] High-waisted skirt style, which likely came from Central Asia, was also introduced to Han Chinese during the Northern Wei dynasty.[93]

• A Northern Qi dynasty mural of a gate guard from the tomb of Lou Rui [婁叡].

• The wife of Xu Xianxiu is wearing Han Chinese style clothing which derived from Han prototype with altered details such as high-waist and wide standing collar; Mural from Xu Xianxiu Tomb, Northern Qi, 571 AD.

• A warrior in Xianbei-style costume, Northern Qi. The opening of the upper garment is zuoren.

• Sogdian figures, wearing Sogdian clothing, Tomb of An Jia, 579 CE.

Of note, significant changes occurred to the form of the garments which had been originally introduced by the Xianbei and other Turkic people who had settled in northern China after the fall of the Han dynasty; for example, in the arts and literature which dates from the 5th century, their male clothing appeared to represent the ethnicity of its wearer, but in the 6th century, the attire lost its ethnic significance and did not denote its wearer as Xianbei or non-Chinese.[48] Instead, the nomadic dress had turned into a type of male ordinary dress in the Sui and early Tang dynasties regardless of ethnicity.[48][94] On the other hand, the Xianbei women gradually abandoned their ethnic Xianbei clothing and adopted Han Chinese-style and Central Asian-style clothing to the point that by the Sui dynasty, women in China were no longer wearing steppe clothing.[94]

Sui, Tang, Five dynasties and Ten kingdoms period

The Sui and the Tang dynasties developed the pinsefu [品色服], which was a colour grading clothing system to differentiate social ranking; this colour grading system for clothing then continued to be developed in the subsequent dynasties.[95][96]

Sui dynasty

Following the unification of China under the Sui dynasty, the Sui court abolished the Northern Zhou rituals and adopted the rituals, practices and ideas of the Han and Cao Wei dynasties, and the clothing code of the Han dynasty was restored.[55][90] The Sui system was also based on the system of Western Jin and Northern Qi.[97] The first emperor of Sui, Emperor Gaozu, would wear tongtianfu on grand occasions, gunyi [衮衣; dragon robe] on suburban rites and visits to ancestral temple.[97] He also set the colour red as the authoritative colour of the court imperial robes; this included the clothing of emperors and the ceremonial clothing of the princes.[98] Crimson was the colour of martial clothing [i.e. chamber guards, martial guards, generals and duke generals] whereas servants would wear purple clothing, which consisted of hood and loose trousers.[98] During Emperor Gaozu's time, the court official garment was similar to the clothing attire of the commoners, except that it was yellow in colour.[97] Court censors during Emperor Gaozu wore the quefeiguan.[97]

Emperor Yangdi later reformed the dress code in accordance of the ancient customs and news sets of imperial clothing were made.[97] In 605 AD, it was decreed that officials over the fifth-ranks had to dress in crimson or purple, and in 611 AD, any officials who would follow the emperor in expedition together had to wear martial clothing.[98] In 610 AD, the kuzhe attire worn by attending officials worn during imperial expeditions was replaced by the rongyi [戎衣] attire.[97] Emperor Yangdi also wore several kind of imperial headgears, such as wubian, baishamao [白紗帽; white gauze cap], and the wushamao.[97] Civil officials wore jinxianguan, and the wushamao was popular and was worn from court officials to commoners.[97] The quefeiguan was also replaced by the xiezhiguan, which could also be used to denote the censor's rank based on the material used.[97]

During the Sui dynasty, an imperial decree which regulated clothing colour stated that lower class could only wear muted blue or black clothing; upper class on the other hand were allowed to wear brighter colours, such as red and blue.[99] Women wore ruqun consisting of short jackets and long skirts.[55] The women's skirts were characterized with high waistline which created a silhouette which looked similar to the Empire dresses of Napoleonic France; however, the construction of the assemble differed from the ones worn in Western countries as Han Chinese women assemble consisted of a separate skirt and upper garment which show low décolletage.[2]: 23–33 In this period, ordinary men did not wear skirts anymore.[100]

• Painted pottery of a female attendant, Sui dynasty [581–618 AD]

• Painted pottery of a male attendant, Sui dynasty [581–618 AD]

• Female figurines of musicians, Sui dynasty from Zhang Sheng's Tomb

Tang dynasty and Five dynasties and Ten kingdoms period

Many elements of the Tang dynasty clothing traditions was inherited from the Sui dynasty.[60]: 181–203 During the Tang dynasty, yellow-coloured robes and shirts was reserved for emperors; a tradition which was kept until the Qing dynasty.[60]: 181–203 Moreover, the subjects of Tang dynasty was forbidden from using ochre yellow colour as Emperor Gaozu used this colour for his informal clothing.[60]: 181–203 [98] The guan as replaced by futou.[34] Scholars and officials wore the futou along with the panling lanshan.[101] Clothing colours and fabric materials continued to play a role in differentiating ranks; for example, officials of the three upper levels and princes had to wear purple robes; official above the fifth level had to wear red robes; officials of the sixth and seventh level had to wear green robes; and official of eighth and ninth levels had to wear cyan robes.[34][60]: 181–203 Dragons-with-three-claws emblems also started to be depicted on the clothings of court officials above third ranks and on the clothing of princes; these dragon robes were first documented in 694 AD during the reign of Empress Wu Zetian.[102]: 33 Common people wore white and soldiers wore black.[34]

Common women attire in the Tang dynasty included shan [衫; a long overcoat or long blouse], ru [襦; a short sweater], banbi, pibo [披帛], and qun [裙; usually wide, loose skirt which was almost ankle-length]. The pibo [披帛], also known as pei [帔] in the Tang dynasty, is a long silk scarf; however it is not used to cover neck, sometimes it covers shoulders and other times just hangs from elbow.[40][103][104][105] Regardless of social status, women in the Tang dynasty tend to be dressed in 3-parts clothing: the upper garment, the skirt, and the pibo [披帛].[40] During the Tang dynasty, there were 4 kind of waistline for women skirts: natural waistline; low waistline; high waistline which reached the bust; and, high waistline above the bust, which could create different kind of women's silhouettes and reflected the ideal images of women of this period.[106] This Tang dynasty-style ensemble would reappear several times even after the Tang dynasty, notably during Ming dynasty.[62] One of Tang dynasty's ensemble which consisted of a very short, tight-sleeved jackets and an empire-waisted skirt tied just below the bust-line with ribbons also strongly influenced the Korean Hanbok.[62]

The women's clothing in the early Tang dynasty was quite similar to the clothing in the Sui dynasty; the upper garment was a short-sleeved short jacket with a low-cut; the lower garment was a tight-fitting skirt which was tied generally above the waist, and sometimes even up to the armpits, and a scarf was wrapped around their shoulders.[2]: 23–33 [107][108] The banbi was commonly worn on top of a plain top and was worn together with high-waisted, striped or one-colour A-line skirt in the seventh century.[105] Red coloured skirts were very popular during the Tang dynasty.[6]: 5

• Female dancer wearing a tanling ruqun, Tang Dynasty, 8th century AD.

• A Group of Tang Dynasty Musicians from the Tomb of Li Shou [李壽] [577-630 AD], early Tang dynasty.

• A Tang Dynasty Woman with Flower, dressed in ruqun.

• A Young Girl, Fresco from the Tomb of An Yüen-shou [安元壽] [607-683 A.D.], early Tang dynasty.

In the middle of the Tang dynasty, women who had a plump appearance were favoured; and thus, the clothings became looser, the sleeves became longer and wider, the upper garment became strapless, and a silk unlined upper garment was worn; they wore "breast dresses".[109] This change in the ideal corporal shape of women body has been attributed to a beloved consort of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, called Yang Guifei, although archeological evidence shows that this ideal form of female body had emerged before Yang Guifei's ascension to power in the imperial court.[110]

• A sancai figurine of a plump lady holding a Dog, Tang dynasty.

• Sancai glazed female figurine Tang dynasty 618–907.

• Tang Dynasty, sancai pottery, woman figurine.

• Court lady figurine [Tang Dynasty 618 - 907], Heritage Museum Sha Tin Hong Kong.

• Anonymous-Astana Graves Courtesan, c. 744, Tang dynasty.

Another form of popular fashion in women's attire during the Tang dynasty is the wearing of male clothing; it was fashionable for women to dress in male attire in public and in everyday live, especially during the Kaiyuan and Tianbao [742 -756 AD] periods; this fashion started among the members of the nobility and the court maids and gradually spread in the community.[111][109] Men's attire during the Tang dynasty usually included robes which was worn with trousers, yuanlingpao, belt worn at the waist, futou, and dark leather boots.[1][36][55][112] The Tang dynasty inherited all the forms of belts which were worn in the Wei, Jin, Northern and Southern dynasties and adopted them in the official costumes of the military and civil officials.[69]: 384–417 In some instances, however, Han Chinese-style robe continued to be depicted in arts showing court officials.[48] In the Tang dynasty, the yuanlingpao was worn by both men and women.[1]

• Figures in a cortege wearing round-collar robe, from a wall mural in the Tang Dynasty Chinese tomb of Li Xian, 706 AD.

• Palace ladies; from Li Xian's tomb, Tang dynasty, 706 AD. The girl in the middle is wearing a yuanlingpao.

• Female servant in Tang dynasty dressed in a yuanlingpao; mid 8th century AD.

The shoes worn by Han Chinese were lü [履], xi [shoes with thick soles], women's boots, and ji [屐; wooden clogs] with two spikes were worn when walking outside on muddy roads; in the South, xueji [靴屐; a type of boot-like clog] was developed.[112] Some shoes were commonly curved in the front and was phoenix-shaped.[6]: 5

The Tang dynasty represents a golden age in China's history, where the arts, sciences and economy were thriving. Female dress and personal adornments in particular reflected the new visions of this era, which saw unprecedented trade and interaction with cultures and philosophies alien to Chinese borders. Although it still continues the clothing of its predecessors such as Han and Sui dynasties, fashion during the Tang dynasty was also influenced by its cosmopolitan culture and arts. Where previously Chinese women had been restricted by the old Confucian code to closely wrapped, concealing outfits, female dress in the Tang dynasty gradually became more relaxed, less constricting and even more revealing.[113] The Tang dynasty also saw the ready acceptance and syncretisation with Chinese practice, of elements of foreign culture by the Han Chinese. The foreign influences prevalent during Tang China included cultures from Gandhara, Turkestan, Persia and Greece. The stylistic influences of these cultures were fused into Tang-style clothing without any one particular culture having especial prominence.[62][114]

An example of foreign influence on Tang's women clothing is the use of garment with a low-cut neckline.[40] Women were also allowed to fashioned themselves into hufu.[note 5][115][116][105] Popular menswear such as Persian-style round collared robes with tight sleeves and a central band decorated with flowers on the front was also popular among Tang dynasty's women;[93] this Persian-style round collared robe is different from the local worn yuanlingpao. Long Persian trousers and knickers were also worn by women as a result of the cultural and economic exchanges which took place.[36] Stripped trousers were also worn.[106] The Chinese trousers during this period were narrow compared to the dashao and the dakouku which were worn in the preceding dynasties.[36] In the 7th and 8th centuries, the kuapao, which originated from Central Asia could be worn by men and were also used as main garment for cross-dressing attendants or could be draped across the shoulders like a cloak.[93]: 311 [117] The headwear of the women in Tang dynasty also demonstrates evidence of foreign clothing inclusion in their attire. In Taizong's era, women wore a burqa-like mili which concealed the entire body when horse back riding; the trend changed to the use of weimao during the reign of Emperor Gaozong of Tang and Wu Zetian; and after that, during the early reign of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, women started wearing a veil-less hat called humao; women eventually stopped wearing hats when horse riding, and by the 750's, women dressing in men's garments became popular.[115][112][118] Noble women of the Tang dynasty wore the veil, and after the Yonghui reign the veil with hat was worn.[119][120][121] After the mid-seventh century, the social expectation that women had to hide their faces in public disappeared.[94]

It was also fashionable for noble women to wear Huihuzhuang after the An Lushan Rebellion.[122][105][110][123] Another trend which emerged after the An Lushan Rebellion is the sad and depressed-look while looking exquisite which reflected the instability of the political situation in this period.[124] Of note, just like women in the Tang dynasty period incorporated Central Asian-styles in their clothing, Central Asian women were also wearing some Hanfu-style clothing from the Tang dynasty and/or would combine elements of the Han Chinese-style attire and ornament aesthetic in their ethnic attire.[125]: 74 [126] In 840 AD, the Uyghur empire collapsed, the Uyghur refugees fled to Xinjiang and to the Southeast of Tang frontier to seek refuge, and in 843 AD, all the Uighur living in China had to wear Chinese-style clothing.[127]

The influence of hufu eventually faded after the High Tang period, and women's clothing gradually regain a broad and loose fitting, and more traditional Han style clothing was restored.[116][107] The sleeve width of women's garments for ordinary women was more than 1.3 meters.[116] The daxiushan, for example, was made of an almost transparent, thin silk; it featured beauty design and pattern on it and its sleeves were so broad that it was more than 1.3 meters.[44] Based on the painting, "Court ladies adorning their hair with flowers" [簪花仕女圖; Zanhua shinü tu], a painting attributed to the painter Zhou Fang, women clothing was depicted as a sleeveless gown which was worn under a robe with wide sleeves, with the use of a shawl as an ornament; some of the women painted are fashioned with skirts while others are seen wearing an overskirt above on an underskirt; it is speculated that shawls and cloaks during this period were made from a silk-netted sheer gauze fabric material.[110][105]

Song dynasty

The Song dynasty clothing system was established at the beginning of the Northern Song dynasty. Clothes could be classified into two major types: officials garments [further differentiated between court clothing and daily wear], and the garment for ordinary people.[40][128]: 1–7 Some features of Tang dynasty clothing were carried into the Song dynasty, such as court dress.[129]

Song dynasty court dress often used red colour, with accessories made of different colours and materials, black leather shoes and hats.[40][129] The officials had specific clothing for different occasions: [1] the sacrificial dress, a vermillion colour garment worn when attending ancestral temple or grand ceremonies, which they had to wear with the proper hats, i.e. jinxianguan, diaochanguan, and xiezhiguan; [2] the court dress, which was worn when attending court meeting held by the Emperor and sometimes during sacrificial rituals; and [3] the official gown, worn daily by officials who held ranks.[128]: 1–7

The form of officials' daily dresses had the same design regardless of rank: yuanlingpao with long and loose sleeves; however, the officials were bound to wear different colours according to ranks.[40][60]: 181–203 [128]: 1–7 As the Song dynasty followed the Tang dynasty's clothing system, officials of third ranks and above wore purple gown; fifth ranks officials wore vermillion gown; seventh ranks officials and above wore green gowns; and the ninth rank officials and above wore black gown.[128]: 1–7 However, after the Yuanfeng period, changes were imposed on the colour system of the official gowns: officials of the fourth rank and above wore purple gown, the sixth rank and above wore crimson gown; and the ninth rank and above officials wore green gown; this noted the removal of black colour as a colour for the official dress.[128]: 1–7 Officials also wore leather belts and kerchiefs as ornaments.[40][128]: 1–7 If senior officials were allowed to wear purple or crimson official garments, they had to wear a silver or gold fish-shaped bag as ornament.[40][128]: 1–7 The official gown were worn with different styles of futou and guan. For example, jinxianguan was worn by general officials; diaochanguan was worn by senior officials; and xiezhiguan was worn by enforcement officials.[34][128]: 1–7 Flowers pinning was a well-liked custom in the Song dynasty; people regardless of their age, gender, and social ranks would pin flowers on themselves; these flowers could be either artificial flowers [i.e. made of silk, rice-paper plant flower, coloured glaze flower, etc.] or natural fresh flowers.[128]: 645–648 Since the early Song dynasty, the Emperor would bestow valuable flowers to the his officials.[128]: 645–648 Court eunuchs would pin flowers on the futou of the Princes and the Grand councillors whereas other officials would also ornate their futou with flowers by themselves.[128]: 645–648 This custom was developed and extended up until Southern Song, when regulations on the number of flowers which could be worn based on the official's rank were made.[128]: 645–648 These rules on these flower ornaments on futou could not be broken without permission.[128]: 645–648 The apparels for court gathering in the Song dynasty was tongtianguanfu; it was worn by the most senior officials who served the emperor directly; it was the most important clothing after the clothing worn by the emperor.[123]

• Song dynasty imperial procession, Northern Song.

The clothes worn by Song dynasty emperors are collectively called tianzi apparel [天子服饰; the emperor's apparel].[128]: 1–7 The apparels worn when attending sacrificial and worshipping ceremonies were daqiumian [大裘冕; a type of mianfu], gunmian [衮冕; a type of mianfu], and lüpao [履袍].[128]: 1–7 The emperor's daily wears were shanpao [衫袍] and zhaipao [窄袍]. The yuyue fu [御阅服] was the formal military uniform worn by the Song dynasty Emperors and only came into existence in the Southern Song dynasty.[128]: 1–7 The crown prince would wear the gunmian [衮冕] when he would accompanied the emperor to sacrificial ceremonies, and he would wear yuanyouguanfu [远游冠服] and zhumingfu [朱明衣] on less formal but important occasions such as nobility conferring and appointment, when paying visits to the founding ancestor's temple and when attending court meetings which are held by the Emperor.[128]: 1–7 The Crown prince also wear purple official dress, gold and jade waistband, and wore a folding-up black muslin scarf on his head.[128]: 1–7

Although some of clothing in the Song dynasty have similarities with previous dynasties, some unique characteristics separate it from the rest.[60]: 181–203 [129] While most of them following the Tang dynasty style,[60]: 181–203 the revival of Confucianism influenced the women clothing of the Song dynasty; Confucians in the Song dynasty revered antiquity and wanted to revive some old ideas and customs and encouraged women to reject the extravagance of the Tang dynasty fashion.[130] Due to the shift in philosophical thought, the aesthetics of the Song dynasty clothing showed simplicity and became more traditional in style.[44] Palace ladies searched for guidance in the Rites of Zhou on how to dress accordingly to ceremonial events and carefully chose ornaments which were graded for each occasion based on the classic rituals.[130] While women of the Tang dynasty liked clothing which emphasized on body curves and sometimes revealed décolletage, women in the Song dynasty perceived such styles as obscene and vulgar and preferred slender body figure.[130] Donning clothing which looked simple and humble instead of extravagant was interpreted as expressing sober virtue.[130] The Song dynasty clothing system also specified how women of the imperial court had to dress themselves and this included the Song empresses, the imperial concubines, and the titled gentlewomen; their clothing would also change depending on occasions.[128]: 1–7, 31 Song dynasty empresses wear the huiyi;[44] they often had three to five distinctive jewelry-like marks on their face [two side of the cheek, other two next to the eyebrows and one on the forehead].[131] The everyday clothing of the Empresses and Imperial concubines included: long skirts, loose-sleeves garments, tasselled capes and beizi.[128]: 1–7, 31 Imperial concubines like the colour yellow and red; the pomegranate colour skirt was also popular in the Song dynasty.[40][6]: 5 Collar edges and sleeve edges of all clothes that have been excavated were decorated with laces or embroidered patterns. Such clothes were decorated with patterns of peony, camellia, plum blossom, and lily, etc.[129] Pleated skirts were introduced and became the characteristic skirts of the upper social class.[6]: 5

• Portrait of Song Taizu wearing a white round-collar gown and a zhanchi futou [展翅幞頭; lit. spread wings hat], c.1000 AD.

• Empress Cao wearing a huiyi with two court ladies wearing a round-collar gown with red pleated skirts, Song dynasty.

• Emperor and empress, Fresco from the Temple of Enlightenment - Life of Buddha, Song dynasty.

According to the Song dynasty's regulations, ordinary people were only allowed to wear white clothes; but at some point, the regulations changed and ordinary people, as well as administrative clerks and intellectuals, were able to wear black clothes.[40] However, in reality, the clothing worn by civilians were much more colourful than what was stipulated as many colours were used in the garments and skirts.[40] Ordinary people also dressed differently accordingly to their social status and occupations.[44]

One of the common clothing styles for woman during the Song dynasty was beizi, which were usually regarded as shirt or jacket and could be matched with ru, which was a necessary clothing for daily life of commoners, a qun [裙; skirt] or ku [袴; trousers].[40][128]: 32–59 There are two size of beizi: the short one is crown rump length and the long one extended to the knees.[131] According to the sacrificial and ceremonial apparel system drafted by Zhu Xi, women should wear an overcoat, a long skirt, and the beizi.[128]: 32–59 Women also wore the liangpian qun [两片裙], a wrap skirt which consist of two pieces of fabric sewn to a separate, single waistband with ties.[50][132]

• Song dynasty women wearing beizi; Northern Song dynasty.

• Song Dynasty Tomb Painting Found in Tengfeng City 6.

A painting, called Sericulture, by the painter Liang Kai in Southern Song dynasty depicts rural labourers in the process of making silk.[133] Foot binding also became popular in the Song dynasty at the end of the dynasty.[40][130]

• Man wearing shanku, Weighing and sorting the cocoons, from the painting Sericulture, Southern Song dynasty, c.1200 AD.

• Women wearing ruqun. Trousers could be worn under the skirt.

• Song dynasty painting, 12th century.

• A working woman who is wearing trousers, Song dynasty painting.

• Rural women wearing pleated skirts with a shan and ru, Song dynasty.

Other casual forms of clothing included: the pao [袍; the gown which could be broad or narrow-sleeved], ao [襖; a necessary coat for commoner in their daily lives], duanhe [短褐; a short, coarse cloth jacket worn by people of low socioeconomic status], lanshan, and zhiduo.[129]

• Children Playing in an Autumn Courtyard, 12th century AD, Song Dynasty.

• Playing Children, Painting from the mid-12th century; Song dynasty.