In recent years, more and more young people are wearing Hanfu, walking gracefully and confidently among high-rise buildings and green mountains and rivers. Every traditional holiday, various Hanfu cultural activities enrich the cultural connotation of traditional festivals in the form of festive folk customs, artistic performances, street flash mobs, etc. As an important carrier of China's excellent traditional culture, modern Hanfu has become one of the most distinctive ways for contemporary youth to express their cultural confidence through the creative transformation and innovative development of craftsmen. It has also become an important symbol to convey China's excellent traditional culture to the world.
Modern Hanfu: a clothing system embodying ancient civilization
The full name of Hanfu is the traditional clothing system of the Han nation. Modern Hanfu is a traditional national clothing system constructed by modern people inheriting the basic characteristics of ancient Hanfu. The mainstream typical characteristics can be summarized as "flat center and right hand, wide bed and tassel". It is not only a description of the appearance, but also contains The connotation closely related to Chinese culture fully embodies the temperament and beauty of Chinese clothing that advocates restraint, dignity and stability.
The first word "flat" means that Hanfu is made by folding and cutting flat surfaces. The shoulder lines of the front and rear body panels are connected to form a flat structure, with "no broken shoulder lines" and "no ruffled sleeves" The form of clothing that does not change the direction of the fabric's warp and weft is completely different from Western clothing. When the whole piece of clothing is laid flat, it shows a folded shape in the center. No matter how the style of the clothing changes, it always adheres to the "flat cut and folded" clothing concept.
The second word "中" means that the body of Hanfu has a middle seam on the front and back, which reflects the national posture and civilization of being equally divided between left and right and upright. The tailoring habit of keeping the middle seam symmetrical forms a structural difference from other ethnic costumes. And because the front and rear seams are perpendicular to the ground, it is given the meaning of "righteousness, fairness, and integrity."
The third word "Jiao" refers to the completion of closure through "intersection" when wearing Hanfu. For example, the cross collar is the left and right lapels overlapping, the skirt waist is the left and right enclosure, the trouser waist is two overlaps, etc. The layers of clothes and the closure of the front and back are also given the meaning of harmony between heaven and earth, and the harmony of yin and yang. The Tai hexagram in the "Book of Changes" says: "When the small comes to the big, it is good luck." "Heaven and Earth make peace" contains the simple dialectical materialist thought, and the form of "Jiao Ling" or "Jiao Xing" is the thought of "Jiao Tai" materialized reflection.
The fourth "right" character: refers to the appearance and customs of the left skirt being closed and fixed to the right. This principle is extended to the bottoms, which are also overlapped, closed and fixed to the right. As one of the essential characteristics of Hanfu, "right" contains the concept of civilization and order. If the skirt is turned to the right, it is regarded as yang, indicating a living person; if the skirt is turned to the left, it is regarded as yin, indicating a deceased person. Confucius said: "Even though I have little control over my affairs, I am sent to wear a left-hand gusset." This reflects the characteristics of the "right-hand gusset" of the Han nationality's clothing at that time.
The fifth word "wide": the materials used in Hanfu are much larger than those needed to cover the human body, forming the characteristic of "loose and wide hems". The sleeves are loose so that the armpits can move freely, and the clothes or skirts can be moved freely. The hem is more than twice the waist size, creating a refined and gentlemanly image, which embodies the philosophical charm of the unity of nature and man.
The sixth word "褖", readZu tuàn, which means the edge of clothes, is a hemming technique. The ancients believed that if the collar is not edged, it is a rough garment and is called "ragged"; if it is mended, it is called "ragged". The idiom "ragged" describes the hardship of life. Modern Hanfu dress inherits the system of "Zhou Rites" and maintains the structure of "continuous pleats and hooks", that is, adding a piece and edge to the front of the skirt to cover the overlap, which has the meaning of inheriting the etiquette and righteousness of the country.
The seventh word "合" means "the abdomen and hands close the sleeves", which restricts the sleeve length and posture. Especially for dresses, according to the records of "Tamazo" and "Fukai", "the length of the sleeves can be folded back to the elbow", which means that the length of the sleeves can cover the hands and can be folded back to the elbows. When the hands are closed, the folds of the sleeves accumulate, and the cuffs The left and right are in harmony, and the yin and yang complement each other, implying the meaning of "harmony and symbiosis".
The eighth word "缨" refers to a belt-like part or spike-like ornament used for fixation. It is also a way to fix the skirt, which is different from the single button or zipper fixation of Western-style clothing. Instead, parts such as belts or sash are used to tie and decorate. If buttons are used, they are hidden in an inconspicuous place, forming a style of clothing with hidden buttons and laces and tassels.
In short, the difference between Hanfu and Western-style clothing is that almost all components and structures of Hanfu have corresponding traditional Chinese cultural connotations, that is, looking for laws in nature and then giving them cultural explanations. Structural features such as "round cuffs" and "straight trains", whether originally due to craftsmanship or other objective reasons, will eventually be given a cultural interpretation and reflect the civilized concept of "rules and circles". The difference in clothing making concepts is reflected in the difference in aesthetic taste. From a structural point of view, Hanfu is flat, but when worn on a person, it will show different curves. Its flowing shape gives people the feeling of moving with the wind and being free and elegant. This and Western clothing, which advocates openness and sexiness and emphasizes the aesthetics of human body curves, form two completely different clothing categories, reflecting the differences in understanding between Chinese and Western cultures.
Returning to life: exploring the road to modernization of traditional culture
The emergence of Hanfu is more like a "resurrected" explicit cultural symbol and has become a communication medium for Chinese traditional culture. A survey shows that the number of Hanfu enthusiasts in China reached 3.561 million in 2019, maintaining a high growth of more than 70% for four consecutive years. According to age, 85% are under 25 years old. In terms of motivation, 47.2% of the total number of consumers are motivated by their love for Hanfu culture, while 34.7% are motivated by promoting traditional culture, which also highlights the appeal of Hanfu and traditional culture to young people.
Clothing itself has life and folk characteristics, similar to food and language. It is a necessity of people's life, rather than a cultural skill that needs to be learned to master. For ordinary people, the threshold for "wearing Hanfu" is not high, and it can easily become a carrier to express personal identity. It can also become an external symbol carrying social attributes in specific occasions.
It is this attribute that makes Hanfu more like a cultural exploration in the modernization process of traditional Chinese culture. Its core is based on changes in the living world., find the "use" of traditional culture in folk life. As scholar Zhu Qianzhi said, this is “not an inheritance from the old culture, but the creation of a new national culture.” In the practical process of the revival of Han clothing, it is not only to limit the textual research, production and research and development to the historical framework of traditional clothing, and to highly "restore" certain ancient clothing styles again and again, but to find a common foundation for the preservation of ancient Han clothing. On the other hand, we should carry out modern practice and innovation, realize the modern application and continuation of traditional costumes, and give new cultural meanings to folk life scenes. This is exactly the significance of the revival of Hanfu today.
The "Book of Changes" calls "viewing humanities to transform the world". The cultural concept with "humanities becoming the world" as its core depends on the carrying of people. Without people's use, culture is just a pile of old paper and old paper. Museum dust. Starting from the field of daily life, taking modern ordinary people as the main body of communication, showing the charm of clothing through "wearing", and frequently showing cultural symbols in life, instead of simply relying on cultural relic display, performance groups, and academic exchanges, the development trajectory of the Hanfu movement Adapting to modern folk life, integrating into modern society with the times, and exploring a successful path for the revival of other traditional cultures, this is the mission and value of the Hanfu movement.
Cultural Confidence: Cultural Soft Power Revives New Vitality
On November 12, 2003, Hanfu was put on the streets by ordinary person Wang Letian, and this traditional costume attracted attention again. More and more large-scale events are coming, such as the 2013 Chinese Ritual and Music Conference, Xitang Hanfu Culture Week, 2018 China Chinese Clothing Day, National Silk Hanfu Festival, etc.; to the contestants of the "Chinese Poetry Conference", the world-popular video blog Li Ziqi, these Hanfu enthusiasts who are well-read in poetry and books and are indifferent to the world, have also entered the public eye. In the eyes of the media, this is the breakthrough of the "second dimension" of Hanfu subculture; in the eyes of the market, this is the starting point for the economic blowout of "domestic products"; in the eyes of scholars, this is a manifestation of the return of young people's "national style"; In the eyes of the world, Hanfu is no longer a retro show or fancy dress, but a visual feast of the return of national style and cultural confidence.
Cultural self-confidence is not an empty talk, but a real and natural practical action. Hanfu is not only a symbol of people's identification with traditional culture, but also a good carrier of confidence and pride in their own national culture. It is also a symbol of China's foreign cultural soft power. For example, on the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China in 2019, the "Hanfu Pop-up Event" jointly organized by overseas Chinese used "My Motherland and Me" to express the innocence of overseas Chinese, allowing foreigners to feel the beauty of Chinese clothing up close, and the world The charm of multiculturalism under the influence of culture. As one of the traditional costumes of the Chinese nation, Hanfu carries traditional culture and national spirit. It is the condensation and presentation of traditional cultural aesthetics and modern customs and habits. The moment all Chinese young people choose to wear Hanfu, they assume a new role - interpreters and disseminators of China's excellent traditional culture.
Cultural self-confidence is a more basic, deeper and more lasting force in the development of a country or a nation. HanfuThe rise of Hanfu is based on the prosperity of the country. In the most superficial way, "wearing Hanfu" allows more people to like traditional culture, and at the same time, it can provide a more vivid and concrete display of China's excellent traditional culture, reflecting modern people's appreciation of traditional culture. A love for excellent traditional culture and an attitude towards a better life are the embodiment of cultural diversity, aesthetic diversity and lifestyle diversity.
(Author: Yang Na, editor-in-chief of China Central Radio and Television and part-time researcher at the Sociological Theory and Method Research Center of Renmin University of China)
