Hi there! I recently learned that in Japanese culture, the crossed collars of a kimono must be crossed left over right, and the only time they do otherwise is during a funeral. Is there a similar rule in crossed-collar hanfu? Thanks, I hope you have a wonderful day!
Hi! Yes, that’s right - in Chinese culture, there’s a rule that crossed-collar Hanfu must have the collars crossed left over right, and the only time otherwise is for traditional funeral clothes for the deceased.
This rule is called 交领右衽/Jiaoling Youren. Jiaoling means “crossed-collar”, and Youren means “right lapel”. Youren refers to the fact that the right collar is wrapped before the left. In the image below, the top section shows how to cross the collars of Hanfu, and the bottom section shows Youren (right) compared to Zuoren (left). Zuoren means “left lapel”, and refers to right-over-left wrapping:
So how did it come about that Hanfu collars are crossed left-over-right? There are two parts to the answer:
It’s more convenient for right-handed people to put on and remove Hanfu when the collars are crossed left-over-right. Keep in mind that the ancient Chinese discouraged left-handedness like many other historical cultures, considering it unnatural, barbarian, uncivilized, and unfortunate. Right-over-left collars thus became the norm for the garments of the deceased, as they would no longer need to remove their clothing. In addition, when the ancient Chinese entered the era of agricultural labor, they gradually discovered that left-over-right was more suitable for storing small items inside the collars (for right-handed people, at least), as Hanfu does not have pockets.
2) As a mark of civilization:
As the ancient Chinese used left-over-right collars to better adapt to agricultural labor, many surrounding peoples wore right-over-left collars. For example, several nomadic tribes of the northern steppes used right-over-left because it allowed the right shoulder more freedom of movement, which was more convenient for archery. The ancient Chinese thus considered the left-over-right style to be a mark of civilization, as opposed to the right-over-left collars of the “barbarians”. @fouryearsofshades writes more in detail on this history in this post.
Below is a painting from the famous Dunhuang Murals of the people of Tubo, an ancient Tibetan kingdom from the 7th-9th centuries. Notice how their collars are crossed right-over-left:
In contrast, below are figures from the Han dynasty (206 BC–220 AD) of entertainers (top) and foot soldiers (bottom). Notice how their collars are crossed left-over-right:
Keep in mind that to the ancient Chinese, differentiating their own civilization from other groups was a Very Big Deal, and they did so in several different ways, including fashion. Another example was how men were required to put their hair up, instead of letting it down like the “barbarians” did.
It’s similar to how the ancient Greeks and Romans didn’t wear pants because they found them ridiculous and considered them to be the clothing of “barbarians”. Pants were originally associated with the Persians, Scythians, Sarmatians, and Central Asian peoples.
While values about what constitutes “civilization” and whatnot obviously changed over time, the left-over-right style endured, and eventually became formalized into the Hanfu rule we have now.
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