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Abstract: Clothing is not only a phenomenon of social life, but also an important carrier of integrated social information. Changing fashion trends reflect people's lifestyles and aesthetic concepts during different times. A clothing culture in transition also reflects changes in politics, economics, folk customs, religion, ethics, social fashion, values, social psychology, and so on, which helps further our understanding of human history.
The changes in Chinese women's clothing during the 20th Century were consistent with the opening and modernization of Chinese society. On the one hand, they were not only a product of social transformation, but also to some extent a natural by-product of major historical events. On the other hand, these changes not only represented the group process of women abandoning their traditions for modernity, but also demonstrated how women's bodies and minds were being shaped by various factors, such as modern politics, economics, and culture.
The aim of this article is to trace the development of Chinese women's clothing in the 20th Century, to show the relationship between these changes and women's consciousness/liberation, to illustrate social transformation across different historical periods, and, lastly, to provide another angle for the study of modern Chinese history. This article will be broken down into four periods: late Qing and early Republic (a time of uneasy experimentation, mixing of the styles of East and West); the late 1920s to 1949 (a time of new national dress-qipao (ProQuest: ... denotes non-USASCII text omitted.)); Mao's period (a time of unisex clothing); and 1979 to the end of the 20th Century (Chinese dress integrated with Western styles).
Keywords: 20th Century China, Women's Studies, Clothing
LATE QING AND EARLY REPUBLIC
After the Manchus forged their way into China through the Shanhai Pass ( ill ;M ^ ) and took control of China in the 17th Century, they compelled the Han people to dress as they did. Nevertheless, the dress of Han women underwent fewer changes than that of men because of a policy that stated "All men, not women, follow the Qing's dress code as a standard dress".2 Han women, except for the wives and daughters of Chinese officers who were expected to dress in conformity with their husbands and fathers, were free to maintain the costume of their...