#minim-notes

Please note that whether the fashion of this era can be referred to as an AoQun (a type of hanfu) is highly questionable, as the presence of hanfu in the mainstream fashion beyond the Ming Dynasty has been, firstly banned by the Qing government, and secondly those few that remained has been so heavily influenced by Manchurian fashion to the point that arguably it has lost too many distinctive hanfu characteristics to be considered an AoQun.  

For example, referring to the clothes in the picture, there is a lack of the presence of a zhongfeng, which is widely considered a distinguishing characteristic of hanfu today. So whether these are considered hanfu is still up to debate, for now at least. 

P.S. for people who are new to this, please be aware that it is widely agreed that there are certain characteristics that hanfu must possess in order to be considered hanfu. Not all clothing worn by the Han Chinese people are considered hanfu… We wear jeans as well but those are clearly not hanfu are they…?

Yes, all good points! The modern Hanfu movement does not consider the Aoqun beyond the Ming dynasty to be Hanfu, for the reason you mentioned - it was heavily influenced by Manchurian fashion to the point that it became arguably too changed (including the lack of zhongfeng, aka center seam).

For comparison - here’s a Ming dynasty Aoqun, which is considered the “classic” style of Hanfu Aoqun:

And here’s a Republican-era Aoqun. Note the differences in the collars & sleeves, among others:

For me, the initial interest started as a child, as I liked watching some Wuxia and Xianxia movies and cartoons, so thereby noticing the type of clothing worn in them. As well as from my parents as they were really into history and would tell me a lot about ancient Chinese history (aside from traditional clothing, ancient literature was also a favourite for me, poetry in particular). So initially I was quite attracted to the artistic value of hanfu, being such a graceful and elegant piece of clothing that is so otherworldly to the modern garments that we wear today, in particular almost fantasy-like nature of it’s design. As i grew older and became more invested into things like history, mythology and culture, I started taking the initiative of doing actual research into historically accurate period clothing. It was really only last year when I would say I had become a real hanfu fan, as it is only by then I began to learn more about hanfu as a traditional clothing and beginning to recognise the historical and cultural values of hanfu, and being ethnically Han Chinese, there was just something more to this piece of clothing than it’s beauty, an unexplainable connection I feel towards it that is not present for anything else… it was early last year when I think I had really began associating with and connecting to my cultural and national identity, and being a traditional dress, hanfu just felt so apart of me. 

A personal opinion: in terms of historically and culturally it can be preserved in museums and history books, but just that is far from making use of all of hanfu’s values, as a piece of fashion it has it’s artistic value, and as a piece of clothing it’s value in practical use and wear. Much more can be done than just preserving it in museums, reviving hanfu and bringing it back as a piece of clothing is the only way to truly bring it back to life. I’m not opposed to modern designs on hanfu. To think about it this way, the hanfu has changed every dynasty through time, with every age and era bringing something new to this fashion, I do believe as members of the modern era we ought to make our contribution to it as well…My parents have agreed to buy hanfu for me as a birthday gift, really looking forward to it! :) Above is all personal opinions, debatable… sorry for the really long rambling…