Hanfu Movement

Hanfu Movement
Two Hanfu promoters at the Chinese Cultural Festival in Guangzhou
Simplified Chinese汉服运动
Traditional Chinese漢服運動
Literal meaning"Hanfu Movement"
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinHànfú yùndòng

Hanfu Movement (simplified Chinese: 汉服运动; traditional Chinese: 漢服運動; pinyin: Hànfú yùndòng), also known as the Hanfu Revival Movement (汉服复兴运动; 漢服復興運動; Hànfú fùxīng yùndòng),[1] is a homegrown, grassroots[2] cultural movement seeking to revive or revitalize Han Chinese fashion. It finds its manifestation in the wearing in public of the traditional Han attire of pre-Qing era. It began as the elegant pastime of a historically-conscious subculture and has evolved into a trendy nationwide movement boasting millions of young consumers and led by fashion-conscious youth.[3][4][5][6] It has also slowly gained traction amongst the overseas Chinese diaspora, especially in countries like Singapore.

The Hanfu movement developed in China in 2003. Its emergence can be credited to Singaporean-Chinese Zhang Congxing, who wrote an article about Wang LeTian, a man from Zhengzhou who was spotted dressed in a homemade shenyi (a type of attire).[1][7][8][9][10][11][12] This spurred online discussion and spontaneous acts of imitation, culminating in the formation of a quickly growing organic movement. Its ready adoption by young and trendy fashion-conscious women has been accelerated by social media, which has helped to propagate the trend. Platforms such as Bilibili, Douyin, Instagram and others have contributed to its resurgence by allowing youth to showcase their dressing online.[13] Elements of retro-cool permeate the movement. The desses worn are typically those of royalty and aristocrats, court officials and soldiers.

The popularity of the movement - especially gen Z and gen Y, can be attributed to a burgeoning desire to reconnect with the past, to draw sustenance from it, and to express a national and cultural identity, along with a growing self-confidence in that identity.[14][15] The fact that Han traditional dress has a universally pleasing and classically elegant aesthetic and is therefore apt to produce socially acceptable, flattering images that can be readily shared on social media has driven its popularity. Lastly, it is seen as a more authentic form of clothing than the cheongsam and qipao, which are now seen products of repression, and as imposed from the outside.[16] It can be seen as an attempt to redeem an important part of Han culture, to restore the classical norms of beauty prevailing in earlier times.

  1. ^ a b Shi, Songge (2021). Travelling With Hanfu: A Social Media Analysis of Contemporary Chinese Travelling for Artistic Photographs (Master of International Tourism Management thesis). Auckland University of Technology.
  2. ^ Ying Dai. "Modern Chinese Nationalism and the Han Nation: An Analysis Based on the Hanfu Movement". The International Conference on Interdisciplinary Humanities and Communication Studies.
  3. ^ Wang, Ellena. "The History of Hanfu Design and Its Influence Today". The Science Survey. Retrieved 2024-07-03.
  4. ^ China’s ancient hanfu: a visual guide to the clothing’s history and revival (scmp.com)
  5. ^ "A return to tradition: how Hanfu returned as a modern style statement". Harper's BAZAAR. 2021-07-16. Retrieved 2024-07-03.
  6. ^ Ke, Meng-Yun Wang,Peng (2021-03-08). "Meet Shiyin, the Fashion Influencer Shaping China's Hanfu Style Revival". Vogue. Retrieved 2024-07-03.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  7. ^ Ying, Zhi (2017). The Hanfu Movement and Intangible Cultural Heritage: considering The Past to Know the Future (MSc). University of Macau/Self-published. p. 12.
  8. ^ Zhao, Fujia (2018). "On the Educational Significance of Hanfu to Modern Society under the Background of Cultural Rejuvenation". International Journal of Social Science and Education Research. 1 (4): 74–80.
  9. ^ Yeung, Juni L. (24 May 2016). "The Hanfu Revival Movement in Toronto". Torguqin. Toronto Guqin Society. Retrieved 28 June 2019.
  10. ^ Leibold, James (September 2010). "More Than a Category: Han Supremacism on the Chinese Internet". The China Quarterly. 203: 539–559. doi:10.1017/S0305741010000585. S2CID 56297961.
  11. ^ Yangzom, Dicky (2014). Clothing and Social Movements: The Politics of Dressing in Colonized Tibet (MSc). City University of New York. p. 38.
  12. ^ Chew, Matthew Ming-tak (January 2010). "Fashion and society in China in the 2000s: New developments and sociocultural complexities". ResearchGate. Retrieved 28 June 2019.
  13. ^ Wang, Ellena. "The History of Hanfu Design and Its Influence Today". The Science Survey. Retrieved 2024-07-03.
  14. ^ "A return to tradition: how Hanfu returned as a modern style statement". Harper's BAZAAR. 2021-07-16. Retrieved 2024-07-03.
  15. ^ Ke, Meng-Yun Wang,Peng (2021-03-08). "Meet Shiyin, the Fashion Influencer Shaping China's Hanfu Style Revival". Vogue. Retrieved 2024-07-03.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  16. ^ Wang, Meng-Yun (2021-03-08). "Meet Shiyin, the Fashion Influencer Shaping China's Hanfu Style Revival". Vogue. Retrieved 2024-07-03.