Comment on Asian Fashion Overview by TimeStar
Well, if you want to get technical, in Chinese fashion history, there are three significant periods of fashion. From the Qin to the Song dynasty (221 BCE - 1279CE), the outfit labeled "Tang" was the common style of dress. It's formal name is "ruqun." I called it "Tang" because the greatest variations and popularity of this outfit were during the Tang dynasty (618-907 CE). The outfit labeled "Ming" was common from the Yuan to the Ming dynasty (1271-1644 CE). With the influence of the Mongols, "mandarin style" tops and coats were very popular in women's fashion. The "Ming" outfit is very stereotypical of the Ming dynasty and was known as "aoqun." Both the "Tang" and "Ming" dynasty outfits are considered "hanfu," which simply means the "clothing of the Han people."
After the Ming dynasty came the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911 CE), where the conquering Manchurian people forced the native Chinese (a.k.a. Han) people to adopt their native costume (the Qi-Pao) as a sign of submission to their rule. The original Qi-Pao is a rectangular, column-like dress; not the form-fitting sexy dress we think of today. The sexy version of the qipao (also known as the Cheongsam in Cantonese) was created in Shanghai during the 1930s during the "Republic of China" period before China's communist revolution in 1949. I, personally, do not use the words "Qi-Pao" and "cheongsam" interchangeably. In my mind, "Qi-Pao"is used to mean the long, loose dresses worn from 1644-1929; whereas "cheongsam" represents the form-fitting dress popular from the 1930s to the present day. In fact, the only reason we have any cheongsam today is because, when Communist China tried to erase the cheongsam as a "capitalist-symbolizing garment with ties to China's imperial past," the local women of Hong Kong continued to use the garment as an everyday outfit until the late 1970s. Since Hong Kong is located near Southern China, where Cantonese is the common dialect of Chinese, I use the Cantonese pronunciation for "qi-pao," which is "cheongsam."
Hope this answers your question and I'm sorry if I over-answered your question...^^()
After the Ming dynasty came the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911 CE), where the conquering Manchurian people forced the native Chinese (a.k.a. Han) people to adopt their native costume (the Qi-Pao) as a sign of submission to their rule. The original Qi-Pao is a rectangular, column-like dress; not the form-fitting sexy dress we think of today. The sexy version of the qipao (also known as the Cheongsam in Cantonese) was created in Shanghai during the 1930s during the "Republic of China" period before China's communist revolution in 1949. I, personally, do not use the words "Qi-Pao" and "cheongsam" interchangeably. In my mind, "Qi-Pao"is used to mean the long, loose dresses worn from 1644-1929; whereas "cheongsam" represents the form-fitting dress popular from the 1930s to the present day. In fact, the only reason we have any cheongsam today is because, when Communist China tried to erase the cheongsam as a "capitalist-symbolizing garment with ties to China's imperial past," the local women of Hong Kong continued to use the garment as an everyday outfit until the late 1970s. Since Hong Kong is located near Southern China, where Cantonese is the common dialect of Chinese, I use the Cantonese pronunciation for "qi-pao," which is "cheongsam."
Hope this answers your question and I'm sorry if I over-answered your question...^^()
thanks