Today, when we are promoting traditional Chinese culture and realizing national rejuvenation, many people regard advocating wearing Hanfu as an important part of promoting traditional Chinese culture. However, the effect does not seem to be obvious. Not many people like to wear Hanfu. The manufacturers that produce Hanfu and the merchants that sell Hanfu are not doing well either.
(Girl in Hanfu)
Hanfu is actually very beautiful. Anyone with a little bit of cultural sentiment will find Hanfu very beautiful. Foreigners will also be full of praise for Hanfu. But why doesn’t Hanfu become popular? Why are there so few people wearing it?
I think the main reasons why Hanfu is not popular are as follows.
First, the practicality of Hanfu is somewhat poor.
The main features of Hanfu are long gowns and belts. Such clothing neglects the legs. It makes it inconvenient to use the legs.
In fact, Hanfu is mainly the clothing worn by ancient princes and nobles, not ordinary people. The princes and nobles do not need to work, and they are provided with food, clothing, housing and transportation. So they don't actually use their legs much, they just need them for walking. When the ancients walked, it obviously did not affect the effect of wearing Hanfu. But that's about it, if they want to use their legs more, like running. Wearing Hanfu is actually not very convenient.
We watch some period films and find them interesting when they speak politely. But when they fight, it's so cool.
The clothes worn by working people in ancient times were not actually Hanfu, but mostly short clothes. This kind of short-term clothing is more suitable for various production tasks. Even when fighting, it is most suitable to wear short clothes. At that time, Zhao State adopted short clothes such as "Hufu, riding and shooting", which quickly made the Zhao army a powerful army.
Modern people need to work, perform various operations, participate in various sports, and wearing Hanfu is obviously inconvenient.
(Hufu riding and shooting)
Secondly, Hanfu does not easily highlight the beauty of the body.
The ancient people's concept of wearing clothes is different from the modern people's concept of wearing clothes.
Ancient people wore clothes in conjunction with etiquette. What kind of clothing is appropriate for a person, is an expression of etiquette. For example, official uniforms, although they all look similar, the patterns on them are different. These different patterns represent differences in rank and etiquette.
In addition to the patterns on clothes, color is also an expression of etiquette. For example, yellow is generally the color of the clothes worn by the emperor and his relatives.
However, modern people's concept of wearing clothes is different. Modern people wear clothes to show the strength and beauty of the body.
Of course, it also has some etiquette meanings, such as a suit, which is a kind of clothing that must be worn on formal occasions.
However, embodying etiquette is not the core purpose of modern clothing. The core purpose of modern clothing is to show the strength and beauty of the body.
Our human body is very beautiful, a perfect combination of strength and beauty. Why do Western sculptures and paintings end up sculpting and painting nudes? It is to express the power and beauty of the human body.
However, nudity can only exist in art. In the real world, you have to wear clothes. However, wearing clothes also conceals the strength and beauty of the body, which creates a contradiction.
Therefore, how to make the human body wear clothes without covering up the strength and beauty of the body, but to highlight the strength and beauty of the human body, has become an important purpose of modern clothing.
In this sense, Hanfu is obviously not suitable for reflecting the power and beauty of the human body. Not only does it fail to reflect the power and beauty of the human body, it actually eliminates the power and beauty of the human body. Regardless of whether you are a woman or a man, as long as you wear Hanfu, your figure will not be revealed. The beauty of wearing Hanfu is only the beauty of the patterns or colors on the clothes, and seems to have nothing to do with the body.
When we see ancient people describing women, they only talk about their facial organs and rarely show other parts of the body. This is a proof that Hanfu covers the body.
(Pictures of ancient ladies)
Third, Hanfu needs to change and keep pace with the times.
Hanfu has been developed in China for thousands of years, but basically there has not been much change. This shows that Hanfu has great stability. It has been fixed into a certain pattern and cannot be changed.
Our era is very different from ancient times. Clothing is changing with each passing day, and various styles are being renovated and eliminated every year. If it is last year's style, if you wear it this year, you will be laughed at and considered out of date. It can be seen that the stability of Hanfu is indeed not commensurate with the novelty of current clothing.
From the above analysis, we can draw a conclusion that in order for Hanfu to become truly popular, it must be combined with modern clothing. In other words, it can either focus on modern clothing and incorporate elements of Hanfu; or it should focus on the form of Hanfu and incorporate elements of modern clothing. Only in this way may it be the fundamental way for Hanfu to be revived.
(Reference: "The Wardrobe of History: Excerpts from Ancient Chinese Clothing")
