Ruqun
is a set of traditional Han Chinese clothing which consists of a short jacket typically called worn under a long Chinese skirt called. It has also become a general term to describe which consists of a separated upper garment and a wrap-around lower skirt, replacing the generic term. In this sense, can include the and in its definition.
The was worn by both men and women; it was however primarily worn by women. It is the traditional hanfu| for the Han Chinese women. The and/or is the most basic set of clothing of Han Chinese women in China and has been an established tradition for thousands of years. Various forms and style of Chinese trousers, referred broadly under the generic term, can also be worn under the.
Terminology
The generic term can be applied to any style of clothing consisting of a pair of upper and lower garments. The term is composed of and. can refer to either the traditional skirt,, or the traditional trousers,. The character is also a generic word for "clothing". Therefore, the,,, as well as the wedding dress called, all belong to the category of as a broad term.The term is composed of two Chinese characters: and ; thus can literally be translated as "jacket skirt". However, is a fluid term in both original texts and in secondary sources, as different regions may use different terms to describe the same clothing. When used as a broad term, refers to a set of attire which consists of a separate upper garment and a skirt as a lower garment. As a specific term, refer to a specific style of wearing a short upper garment called under a long skirt called. The word has also sometimes been used as a synonym for other clothing items such as and. The can also be a short jacket with either short or long sleeves. In addition, the term also appear in texts and has been described as the precursor of the long jacket by scholars. The term typically refers to a specific way of wearing the over the lower garment,. The Chinese character appears in a Sui dynasty rime dictionary called, published in 601 AD, and can be translated as "padded coat", but it can also refer to a lined upper garment. The Xinhua Dictionary defines as a general term referring to an "upper garment with multiple layers". As such, it is a thick piece of clothing worn mostly during cold seasons. Usually, the is worn outside of the lower garment, which is often a skirt, especially the.
The term, sometimes literally translated as "unlined upper garment and skirt" in English, is also type of clothing style where the upper garment called is generally worn over the lower garment,. The Xinhua Dictionary defines as a general term referring to an "upper garment with a single layer". The Jin dynasty book states that women had been wearing one-piece clothing that has the upper and lower garments connected together since the time of the Yellow Emperor, until the Qin dynasty, when was invented.
Historically, the comes in as varying styles, shapes and lengths, and is usually worn outside of the lower garment. However, there are also cases where the is worn under the lower garment, as during the Jin dynasty. A form of which appeared in the Han and Wei period was a new type of gown which had equal front pieces which were straight, called, instead of collar and was fastened with a string; it was also a form of unlined upper garment with straight sleeves and wide cuffs. This was worn by men and women and became popular as it was more convenient for wearing.
In addition, the term is sometimes used interchangeably with to refer to short upper garment worn on skirt. The term can also refer to long garments.
Of note of importance, the term is not only used to describe the specific types of, but also modern western clothing styles consisting of separate top and bottom garments as well.
Cultural significance
Heaven and Earth symbolism
In traditional Chinese culture, the symbolism of two-pieces garments hold great importance as it symbolizes the greater order of Heaven and Earth. In the, upper garment represents Heaven while the lower garment represents the Earth. It is also why the has a black upper garment and typically a red lower garment which symbolized the order between Heaven and earth and should never be confused. According to the, black symbolized the colour of the sky, which was dark before dawn, while the colour yellow represented the earth.The order between Heaven and Earth can also translate into clothing length differences between men and women. For example, in 1537, in an attempt to reverse the trend in the late Ming when women clothing was gradually getting longer, Huo Tao, a Ming dynasty Minister of Rites, expressed:The silhouette of can also be made into, which looks like an A-line silhouette. The was a trend in the Wei, Jin, Northern, Southern dynasties. However, during the Ming dynasty, silhouette created with the use of reflected an inversion of "Heaven and Earth order". The refers to the as being ; the was eventually banned in the early Hongzhi era according to Lu Rong.
is a general term with negative connotation which is employed for what is considered as being strange clothing style, or for deviant dressing styles, or for aberrance in clothing. Clothing which was considered typically violated ritual norms and clothing regulations, were extravagant and luxurious form of clothing, violated the yin and yang principle, and were strange and inauspicious form of clothing.
History
As a set of attired consisting of an upper garment and a skirt; the is the eldest type of. According to the chapter 《》 of the, theShang dynasty
In Shang dynasty, the basic form of was established as the combination of a separate upper and lower garment worn together; which was known as. In this period, the was a unisex set of attire. The consisted of a narrow, ankle length skirt called and the upper garment called, in shape of a knee-length tunic with narrow cuffs; the was tied with a sash and could be. The as a set of attire featured the wearing of over the.Zhou dynasty
The Zhou dynasty, people continued to wear the. The was similar to the one worn in the Shang dynasty period; however the Zhou-dynasty style was slightly looser and the sleeves could either be broad or narrow. The was and a sash was used around the waist to tie it closed. The length of the, could also vary from knee to ground length. In the Western Zhou dynasty, it was popular to wear as a set of attire consisting of a jacket and skirt.Spring and Autumn period, and Warring States period
The as a set of attire was also worn by men and women during the Warring States period. Elites women in the Warring States period also wore a blouse or a jacket, which was fastened to the right to form a V-shaped collar and was waist-length, along with a long full skirt. The women's blouse tended to have relatively straight and narrow sleeves. During the Warring States period and the Spring and Autumn period, the clothing known as, which combined the upper and lower garment into a one-piece robe was also developed.Qin and Han dynasty
Even though the clothing of the Warring states period were old, they continued to be worn in Qin and Han dynasties, this included the wearing of cross-collared blouse and skirts.The as a set of attire was worn by both elite and ordinary women. Ordinary women during the Han dynasty wore the with the jacket being covered by the, which came in various colours throughout the year. Ordinary women wore plainer form of ; the skirts were typically plain but the sash which was worn around the waist was decorated.
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. The popularity of the jacket and skirt combination briefly declined after the fall of the Eastern Han dynasty, but returned into fashion in the Jin and Northern Wei dynasties and continued to be worn until the Qing dynasty.
Wei, Jin, Northern and Southern dynasties
During the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern dynasties, both the and the co-existed. The was popular among women during the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern dynasties. In the early Six dynasties period, women wore a style of composed of a and a long. The jacket worn by commoner women was longer than commoner's men.Elite women in the Wei and Jin dynasty wore the combination of wide-cuffed, V-shaped, unlined blouse which was made of pattern fabric and was lined at the neck with a decorative strip of cloth, a long skirt which came in different styles, and apron. However, in the early Six dynasties, most ordinary men did not wear anymore; men, instead wore a set of attire referred as shanku consisting of ku, trousers, under their cross-collared jacket. The men's jacket were either hip-length or knee-length. The jackets can be tied with a belt or with other forms of closure.
The style was also a trend in the Wei, Jin, Northern, Southern dynasties, where skirts large and loose giving an elegant and unrestrained effect.
During the Wei and Jin dynasties, women also wore the, which consisted of a long and a, an unlined upper garment. The found in this period were typically large and loose; the had a front and was tied at the waist. A, which looked similar to an apron, was tied between the and in order to fasten the waist. Styles of can be found in the Dunhuang murals where they are worn by the benefactors, in the pottery figurines unearthed in Luoyang, and in the paintings of Gu Kaizhi.
At Luoyang during the Northern Wei dynasty, several variety of clothing styles found on female tomb figures were largely derived from the traditional -style set of attire. One style of was the combination of short jacket with wide sleeves which falls to the knee or below knee level with a very high waist, pleated and multicoloured long skirt. Based on a female tomb figure dating from the Eastern Wei, this form of is jacket worn over skirt.
A popular form of was the jacket worn under skirt. The -style also first appeared in the Northern and Southern dynasties.