Women

Chinese women's clothing naturally varied by class, season, and region of the country, much as men's did, but dresses, skirts, jackets, trousers, and leggings were all common types of garments.

What features of the dress of these two women give an indication of their class?

Can you see any similarities between the women's and men's clothing?

A large proportion of Chinese women in the late nineteenth century had their feet bound small while they were children. The woman seen in this late nineteenth century photograph was an entertainer, a sing-song girl, but footbinding was also practiced by the families of scholars and merchants.
The shoes that covered bound feet, as well as the leggings over the top of them, were often elaborately embroidered, as seen in the example below.

Shoes for bound feet

A sing-song girl in the late 19th century

SOURCE: Zhou Shun and Gao Chunming, Zhongkuo lidai funu zhuangshi (Hong Kong: Sanlien shuju, 1988), p. 289.

SOURCE: Tcheng-Ki Tong and John Henry Gray, The Chinese Empire, Past and Present (Chicago: Rand McNally and Co., 1900), opposite p. 128.

Westerners often commented that, as you can see in the photograph below, Chinese women's clothes did not reveal the shape of their bodies in the way Western women's clothes of the period did.
Can you think of any reasons Chinese may have preferred loose clothing?

Women preparing a meal

SOURCE: Arthur Smith, Chinese Characteristics, opposite p. 19.

Notice the use of embroidery to decorate these women's clothes.

To see photos of clothing like these women are wearing, click here [given below in this Teacher's Guide].

Women and girls in an elegant home

SOURCE: Yan Chongnian. Beijing: The Treasures of an Ancient Capital. (Beijing: Morning Glory Press 1987).

The silk garments of upper class women were regularly embellished with patterned borders, often embroidered.

A close-up of the embroidery on the front of the skirt panel is given below.

What do you notice about the colors of this garment?

SOURCE (above and below): Luoyi Baizai (Hong Kong: Urban Council, 1992), p. 43.

This jacket, besides the embroidered sleeve panels found in the garment above, also has an elaborately embroidered collar.

Here is a closer view of the needlework.

Manchu women did not bind their feet, but wore elevated shoes that created some of the visual effects of bound feet.
What features of their appearance would you think might signify the social standing of these women?

Two Manchu women in a courtyard

SOURCE: Tcheng-Ki Tong and John Henry Gray, The Chinese Empire, Past and Present (Chicago: Rand McNally and Co., 1900), opposite p. 177.

Manchu women on the street

SOURCE: Yan Chongnian. Beijing: The Treasures of an Ancient Capital. (Beijing: Morning Glory Press 1987).

SOME THOUGHTS: The women in the picture on the right are wearing Manchu long gowns. Those on the left are wearing clothes like Chinese women wore, with wider sleeves, visible leggings, embroidered borders, and so on. But note the hairdo of the seated woman, which reflects Manchu customs.