Mamianqun
Mamianqun, is a type of traditional Chinese skirt. It is also known as, but is sometimes simply referred as 'apron
Etymology
The term is composed of three Chinese characters: ; ; and.In some 19th century French publications, the were sometimes described as deux jupes plissés. The name Paired apron has sometimes been used in English literature to refer to the due to its construction of using two overlapping panels of fabric tied to a single waistband forming a single wrap skirt which is tied around the waist, like an apron. The term Paired apron was coined by John Vollmer in the second half of the 20th century and can be found as early as the 1980s.
Cultural significance and functionality
The represents an important aesthetic and cultural concept in the life history of Chinese women as it is representative of the Zen aesthetic concept of "despising structure, emphasizing decoration, implicitly natural, and releasing the body"; this concept differs from the Western concept of emphasizing the structure and draping of the human body. These skirts were only worn by Chinese women and were not worn by the Manchu women of the ruling class during the Qing dynasty.In the Qing dynasty, the were also decorated with auspicious ornaments and patterns; these auspicious ornaments and pattern reflected the appropriate situational context and the social occasions in which its wearer partook; the colours and ornaments used in the also had to be appropriate for the occasion and sometimes even reflected the interpersonal relationship between people during an important event, such as a wedding, and/or the social hierarchy between women in a household; e.g. a principal wife of the head of a household would wear a red skirt decorated with a Chinese dragon while a secondary wife was not allowed to wear red and had to wear green instead, as red was an exclusive right for the first wife according to the legal code of the Qing dynasty.
Due to the unique overlapping construction of the skirt, there were openings at the front and back of the skirt which facilitated horse-riding; this characteristic would also allow for greater freedom of movement when walking, which was necessary for Chinese women who had bound feet who were walking with small and shuffling steps; the need for this kind of functional skirt when walking did not arise until the Song dynasty when foot binding became popular. The pleats of pleats in Chinese skirts and its association to foot binding practice also appeared in European literature, such as in Intimate China: The Chinese as I Have Seen Them of 1899 by Mrs. Archibald Little:
Moreover, the fullness of the skirt created by the side panels provided enough space to accommodate the traditional loose garments of Chinese women.
Construction and design
There are also many records of the in European publication dating approximately mid-19th century which described the skirts of Chinese women, such as in La revue des deux mondes: volume 71 dating from the 1846, which describes the as being a deux jupes plissés, which is covered with luxurious designs; its skirt length is above the ankle-level allowing for the exposure of the large embroidered, Chinese trousers; the skirt is tied around the waist of its wearer. Similar descriptions were found in the Voyage en Chine of 1847.Main characteristics
The is composed of two overlapping panels of fabrics which are wrapped around the lower body. Each of these two panels were identical and formed half of the skirt, which were then sewn together a single waistband creating the overlapping front. A is a total of four flat and straight panels are known as or ; there are two flat panels at the right and left side of each panel of fabric. When worn, only two out of the four flat panels are visible on the wearer's body; the visible panels are seen located at the front and back of the skirt; The were typically tied with ties which extended beyond the skirt's width at the waistband.Skirt length
The historical was made long enough to cover the, Chinese trousers, which were worn under the skirt. However, variations in skirt length may have existed during the Qing dynasty as European accounts prior to the 1850s have sometimes described it as being above the ankle level and allowed the exposure of the trousers in 1846s while others have described it as being long enough to cover the feet in 1849s.Pleats, gores, and trims
The historical is typically decorated with pleated side panels, gores, which can also vary in styles and types. The use pleats, gores, and sometimes godet on the left side of the skirt allowed greater ease of movements when walking, allowing Chinese women to swing gracefully as they walked. The trims which decorated of the Qing dynasty did not only impacted the overall appearance of the skirt, but also influenced the way it would move as the wearer takes walk. For example, depending on how the each trims were sewed to the edge of the pleats, the pleats may move independently from each other or create "ripple effects".Types of pleats
Types of pleats used in the historical : narrow pleats in honeycomb pattern or in fish-scale pattern, knife pleats; and box pleat.The pleats could also be a combination of knife pleats which radiate outwards to the left and right of a central box pleat located at the middle region of side hips. These types of pleats used in the contrasted from the pleats used in the wide skirt of Western ladies as described by Samuel Wells William in 1849:
History: evolution and style variations
Wrap-around skirt artifacts worn by Chinese women, known under the generic term, appeared as early as the Zhou and Han dynasties. Pleated skirts also appeared early on in China; according to the popular story, in the Han dynasty, pleated skirts became in vogue as women imitated the ripped skirt of Zhao Feiyan, a legendary dancer who later became an empress, who had her skirt ripped when she was saved from a fall by Feng Wufang. The term Mamianqun first appeared in the "History of the Ming Palace": "The drag and drop, the rear placket is continuous, and the two sides have swings, the front placket is two sections, and the bottom has horse face pleats, which rise to both sides. "But the history of the Mamianqun can be traced back to the Song Dynasty, because the skirt of the Song Dynasty already had the Mamian's shape of the Mamianqun. However, the prototypes of the originated in the Song and Liao dynasties. The experienced several changes of style, colours, fabric materials, and patterns over the dynasties. The tailoring of the side panels, construction, and decoration of the skirt reflect changes in social and economic conditions during the time in which the skirts were made.Song and Liao dynasties
During the Song dynasty, the first appeared and apparently could have absorbed some influences from the clothing worn by China's nomadic neighbours. There are two forms of wrapped skirts which are related both to the early prototypes of the and to the which continued to be used in the Qing dynasty. Those two forms of wrapped skirts were found in the Song dynasty tomb of Huang Sheng in Fuzhou, Fujian Province.The first prototype skirt found in the Tomb of Huang Sheng was made of plain silk with a reinforcing layer at the centre of the skirt and patterned borders on one side, on the hem, and also on one side of the central panel. It was made of 2 pieces of fabric which overlapped at the central region at the front and the back; the openings of the skirt allowed horseback riding. It also had a wide waistband and was closed with ties; the waistband was made from fabric which was different from the one used in the skirt. However, the skirt was similar to a wrap-around skirt and had no pleats, thus restricting movement when compared to the pleated of later centuries; this form of skirt is known as, also known as the, or "whirling skirt" in English. According to the of the Song dynasty:
Horse riding and donkey riding was common in the Song dynasty as means of transportation; according to Wen Yanbo of the Northern Song dynasty, "upper-class families in town and countryside all raised horses and rode them instead of walking" while in the History Narrated at Ease, volume 3, it is also recorded that "donkeys were for rent in the capital, and thus people often meet each other in the street on donkeys". Donkey riding was not uncommon for Chinese women in this period. For example, Chinese women rode donkeys while playing, which was variation of the ancient version of polo, ; the was a popular form of physical activity in the Song and Tang dynasties, and was often played by women and children as they perceived donkeys as being smaller, less violent and more manageable than horses. Illustration of two elderly women riding donkeys and wearing veiled-hat, known as, can be found in the Song dynasty painting Along the River During the Qingming Festival. Similarly, a design of two-panel skirts worn by imperial concubines of the Southern Song dynasty during the reign of Emperor Lizong, known as, can be found in the. The was also recorded as in the of the Ming dynasty and in the of the Qing dynasty. The was also derivative of the. Due to the novelty design of these skirts compared to the contemporary ordinary skirts of this period, they were considered as "".
The second prototype also comes from the Tomb of Huang Sheng; it was made of thin silk printed all over with large dots; this skirt was densely pleated except for the two sections at both edges of the skirt and the waistband was made of the same fabric as the skirt. The pleats like the present-day were also found on the two sides of the skirt. This form of skirt is currently referred as.