FROM NATIONALISM TO COMMERCIALIZATION: THE EVO LUTION OF THE HANFU MOVEMENT CAROLYN TUNG

A recent fashion trend has swept both China and areas abroad in which young Chinese men and women transform themselves into figures of ancient regality and grace by wearing the Hanfu. These modern-day time travelers represent the Hanfu Movement, a twenty-first century social movement that aims to restore the ancient dress of the Han Chinese people. While the origins of the Hanfu Movement are inextricably linked to Chinese nationalism and Han ethnocentrism, the commercialization of Hanfu has contributed to its evolution into a symbol of self-expression, cultural pride, and strong personal and cultural identity. While the sociopolitical implications of Hanfu have been suspect in the academic space in the past decade, it is important to consider the changing dynamics of the Hanfu Movement with more recent evidence and analysis. Today, the majority of consumers place higher value on Hanfu for its aesthetics and cultivation of personal discovery and healthy national consciousness, rather than solely as an instrument of Han chauvinism. The loud minority of conservative Han supremacists from 20032012 should not detract from the majority of Hanfu enthusiasts from 2012 onward, who enjoy the pursuit of traditional Chinese culture in the midst of a rapidly globalizing country with a wavering sense of identity.

Hanfu is the traditional costume of the Han Chinese, the ethnic majority group in China, and has surged in popularity in the past two decades. However, many scholars disagree on the exact dynasty of its origin, which reflects the lack of historical knowledge about the clothing itself. Scholastic material on the Hanfu is mainly comprised of secondary sources, such as literature, relics, museum documents, and reports from archaeological discoveries (Xu 20). Much of Hanfu’s craftsmanship process has been lost as well, and its historical visual representations— for instance, paintings and pottery figurines—are vague (21). It is also important to note that what is referred to as “Hanfu'” is more so an umbrella term that describes all clothing of the Han Chinese throughout history, rather than a specific type of dress, such as the cheongsam of the Qing Dynasty (Lee and Yeung).

Up until recently, there was little discourse over the Hanfu in both academic and non-academic spaces. Traditional Chinese clothing was largely associated with the cheongsam. It was the traditional dress of the Chinese people leading up to the Mao era, during which the general population favored Western-style clothing, reserving traditional dress for ceremonial events (Xiaode et al. 506). However, as China’s economy is now driven by globalization, moving further away from the era of tradition, the role of clothing has become increasingly important.

Long before the Hanfu became mainstream, the debate over China’s national costume posed a challenge to the nation’s leaders. In 2001, China hosted the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Leaders’ Summit. As per the convention’s tradition of its participants wearing the cultural clothing of the host country, former Chinese president Jiang Zemin presented the “outfit of the Tang” for prominent world leaders to wear (Carrico). These Mandarin collar button-down jackets were an ambiguous blending of ‘traditional Chinese’ and Western designs, chosen after much deliberation on other kinds of traditional Chinese clothing. Such alternatives had contentious political connotations, were old-fashioned (in this case, the Hanfu), or simply unsuitable for a leadership summit (Zhao 71-75). According to one of the designers of the Chinese costume presented at APEC,

“Many countries in the world have their own national dress. When you think of Japan, you think of kimono; when you think of Korea, you think of hanbok. What do we have? Nothing. The Western suit is not ours, and the qipao [cheongsam] is only for women. When we were designing the APEC jacket, we were thinking we had to design a garb of our own culture that could be worn at formal occasions” (Zhao 73).

As a result, Zemin presented a modified version of Chinese culture to the world to appeal to the modern China that is both Chinese and Western. While the everyday citizen could not identify that this “outfit of the Tang” was inauthentic, there were a small number of people who could.

When photos of these leaders donning the inaccurate clothing spread on the Internet like wildfire, some outraged Chinese netizens were quick to point out that the photographed traditional dress did not belong to the Tang Dynasty. In fact, it was closer to resembling the magua of the Qing Dynasty, which was an imperial period ruled by the Manchus, an ethnic minority in China. Some netizens could not reconcile the fact that China was representing itself with the clothing of an ‘inferior, barbarian’ people and its former conquerors (Carrico).

This group of extreme activists consider the Qing Dynasty to be China’s darkest period (Chew and Wang 6). They believe that the Manchus had oppressed the Han Chinese by erasing their culture which had thrived for thousands of years, forcing Manchu traditions and clothing onto them, and committing merciless massacres. They found it incomprehensible that the Chinese would continue to wear Manchu clothing even after the end of Manchu imperial rule in 1912 when the Han Chinese regained control of the government. Worst of all, they believed that because China had suffered under this Manchu oppression, their weak state had allowed

the West to subject China to even further colonialism and external rule (Leibold 547). They exerted their misplaced frustration and anger onto the Chinese government, who they blamed for advancing China’s economy at the expense of utter Westernization (Chew and Wang 4). If not for the Manchu invasion leading up to the Qing Dynasty, they believed China surely would have prospered over the West (Chew and Wang 4). Harboring these bitter sentiments, this minority of Han supremacists began to advocate for the revival of Han culture with the goal of achieving Han purity. In a forum post criticizing the clothing choice of the 2001 APEC summit, some netizens proposed that the traditional dress of the Han should have been chosen for wear (Carrico). It is important to note that “Hanfu” was not an actual term before the events following APEC, so many Chinese people did not have the vocabulary or image recognition to identify the Hanfu as the traditional clothing of the Han Chinese. Rather, the elegant, loose-fitting robes of past dynasties in television renditions of classics, such as Dream of the Red Chamber, were nameless or at least not well-known to the ordinary citizen (Jiang). When some netizens uploaded their own sketches of what they referred to as “Hanfu,” a community of people who were enamored with the idea that the Han Chinese had their own traditional dress began forming (Carrico). A wave of exhilaration enveloped these budding Hanfu enthusiasts, who began sharing ideas and pictures of handmade Hanfu designs that were built on their vision of what ancient clothing looked like based on media portrayals. This community of Hanfu enthusiasts set up websites and forums dedicated to the revival of Han culture, which garnered a large online following. What started out as root seeking transformed into a fervent duty to “awaken the sleeping national culture” (Xiaode et al. 506). In the early twenty-first century, with China becoming a central force on the world stage, much of its national identity was fragile because so much of Chinese society was now reflective of the Western world (Chew and Wang 4). Many Chinese people worried that China’s traditional values and cultural practices, such as various rituals and ceremonies, had been lost to modernization. It was especially difficult having an superficial connection to their cultural identity when comparing China to its neighbors, Korea and Japan, whose people thrived in their traditional clothing (Xiaode et al. 506). This period of vulnerability and weakened identity primed China for a cultural shift. On November 22, 2003, a man named Wang Letian appeared in public in a handsewn Hanfu he had designed himself. With this dramatic entrance, the Hanfu Movement was born. Kevin Carrico, an expert in Chinese nationalism and critic of the Hanfu, describes the movement’s goal as recentering the ‘real China’ around the Han Chinese (Carrico). However, the constitution of an infamous Hanfu supremacist website, Hanwang, lists the promotion of Hanfu as its last goal (Leibold 549). It seemed that the Hanfu had become the face of the larger Han supremacist movement, but it was more accurately a vehicle used to push a narrative of Han purity. As Hanfu was still uncommon and unknown to the general public at the time, many of the early members of the Hanfu Movement were given strange looks and were subject to public judgment. In fact, many Chinese people confused the Hanfu for traditional Japanese clothing, a testament to how left behind the Hanfu was for modern day China. Even after the establishment of the movement, the average Chinese person still considered the fashion of the Qing Dynasty to be the mainstream choice for traditional dress. According to the Beijing Review, the Hanfu Movement had not yet gained enough traction to be well-known during the 2006 Winter Olympics. Many overseas Chinese felt shame and embarrassment at the sight of Chinese athletes donning Western suits while many other countries boasted their unique traditional clothing (“Should Example of Hanfu clothing, Source: bdrc on Wikimedia Commons China Adopt the Hanfu as Its National Costume?”). However, under CC

this early period of the Hanfu Movement publicized the Hanfu and began gathering a community of followers.

From 2007 to 2012, the Hanfu became increasingly known to the public in a time of identity-seeking for the Chinese people, particularly the younger generation. Those who were 30 years old and below had not experienced Tiananmen, Long March, the Cultural Revolution, or the government of Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping (Leibold 550). As said by scholar Yan Zhang of Peking University, “The Chinese are becoming better off economically, but although they live more comfortably in the materialistic sense, they find that spiritually they feel more ‘empty’” (230). In a largely irreligious country, the younger Chinese generation differs from their parents and grandparents considerably in their views of the world and lived experiences. As a result, many of them have resorted to exploring their cultural heritage to discover the meaning of what it is to be Chinese.

To them, being Han seems more of an exclusionary marker of what they are not—an ethnic minority in China—rather than a concrete definition of what they are. On one hand, James Leibold, an expert on ethnic relations in China at La Trobe University, argues that Han Chinese culture had become so ingrained in Chinese society that the Han feel they are the “silent majority” that is “often looked at but not seen” (544-545). However, Yan Zhang of Peking University suggests that this concept of “empty Han” resulted from the inability to recognize what of true Chinese society remained after such major shifts towards modernization, which was really Westernization (228). Both analyses have merit, but the latter is more relevant to the greater Chinese population, whereas the former is more specific to the early proponents of the Hanfu Movement. Either way, the existence of Hanfu sparked curiosity and hope: could being Han Chinese be more than ticking off a box for ethnicity (Leibold 547)? The craving for a profound sense of identity mobilized early support for the Hanfu Movement.

Eventually, the Hanfu Movement garnered enough attention for a member of a committee to propose that the Hanfu be worn as the national costume of China during the 2008 Olympics, but this was ultimately rejected. With 56 ethnic minorities making up China’s population, it was impossible for the Hanfu to represent the inherent cultural fusion and diversity of China’s national identity. Furthermore, a Beijing Review interview of Han Haoyue of Sohu, the company that hosted the 2008 Beijing Olympics website, emphasized that the Hanfu was anyhow not mainstream enough: “[w]hen most Chinese do not even have a clear idea of Hanfu, it's unwise to present this costume to the world…” (“Should China Adopt Hanfu as its National Costume?”). In the same Beijing Review article, some critics of the Hanfu believed that the clothing was a “superficial part of the traditional culture. For them, it is only the prized ancient arts of literature and philosophy that represent the true essence of Chinese traditional culture." Most of all, these critics believed that the Hanfu risked Han chauvinism and narrow-minded nationalism and that choosing it for the Olympics would unleash dark consequences. However, eventually the Hanfu Movement began to deviate from its nationalistic origins.

In the backdrop of the controversy of Hanfu, the clothing style undeniably became a fashion choice that nurtured self-expression. There is a certain romanticism and transformative aspect to wearing ancient robes, as Hanfu is closely associated with the classical literature and art of ancient China, as well as traditional instruments such as the guzheng, guqin, and erhu. Especially due to the attraction of Japanese cosplay and kimono culture among the younger generation, which did not inherit a grudge towards China’s neighbors, wearing Hanfu became an expressive form of cultural and national pride. These Hanfu enthusiasts could finally show the world that they, too, had their own beautiful traditional clothing. Unlike the more modern, 1920s-esque cheongsam which is more retro than ancient, the Hanfu gives enthusiasts the opportunity to project an ethereal and fairy-like impression that channels their inner Chinese spirit. Common designs include dramatic draping sleeves, shimmering translucent layers of fabric, flowing skirts, intricate embroidery of flowers, and diversity in color palettes. The photoshoot often takes place near traditional architecture or among nature, highlighting the historical and fantasy-like elements of the clothing. Women wear traditional hairstyles and elaborate hair pins, hair sticks, or hair combs. They often pose for photos using Chinese opera

hand gestures, possibly emulating women in traditional Chinese art. They might use props as well, such as a fan, instrument, or parasol while men might hold a fan, instrument, a wine gourd, or scrolls. However, with the advantage of contemporary creative freedom, photoshoots are largely up to the photographer and are not limited to strict historical boundaries.

Additionally, the Hanfu allows Han Chinese males to explore masculinity through a Han Chinese lens in modeling the image of a swordsman. According to scholar Jiaxuan Xu,

“Contrary to the characteristics of modern Western fashion, which emphasizes gender and the body’s shape, Hanfu did not conform to the Western norm of beauty. Instead, Hanfu commoditized grace and inner strength, with the body completely covered by a voluminous robe creating a sense of implicit and restrained beauty” (Xu 17).

Unlike the female cheongsam and male changshan and Tang/Mao suits, the long robes of the Hanfu are largely similar in shape for both men and women. Hence, there are many unisex styles, and blurring gender lines was quite common in history and in the present, though more so for women than men. As masculinity in ancient China was associated with long hair and long robes, a return to these elements of traditional culture represents a subtle protest of contemporary Western fashion, especially for those who wear Hanfu daily. It may also reflect younger generations that posit gender as something more dynamic than the ancient world’s interpretation of it. For example, it is more common for young Chinese men to wear makeup and earrings, and the rise in androgynous Chinese women in mainstream entertainment, such as Acrush and Liu Yuxin and Lu Keran of THE9, signal that the Chinese youth are challenging gender norms more directly so than previous generations.

The commercialization of the Hanfu as a fashion choice not for political purposes but for self-expression has changed the tide of the Hanfu Movement. The movement is now straying away from the fears of academics who warned against its nationalistic undertones, which can be seen in the diversity of Hanfu enthusiasts. There are still Han supremacists who reflect the Hanfu Movement’s original intentions to revive Han culture and to maintain the purity of the Hanfu by adhering to historical accuracy as much as possible. However, this group is becoming outnumbered by those who treat Hanfu as a mere fashion style rather than a politicized tool of nationalism. Many Hanfu enthusiasts do not mind or even embrace changes in traditional Hanfu designs to adapt the clothing to modern life. Hanfu enthusiasts vary from supporting slight changes in design to having no regard for historical accuracy whatsoever, focusing solely on the aesthetics. Additionally, many Hanfu retailers draw inspiration from subcultures such as anime, Lolita fashion, swordsmen costumes, and cosplay, while some do not reference history at all (Xu 37). In particular, the two-chest piece Hanfu is a popular style of Hanfu that is inspired by the Japanese Hakama and has no historical support for its design (22). As the influential Weibo blogger Meixuewuming explains, “The reason for its popularity is because the dress can be spread in 360 degrees without any vent, which is good for taking photos” (Jiang). The outright use of Japanese clothing designs and the production and consumption of inaccurate Hanfu for photoshoots demonstrate that many consumers today do not wear Hanfu with a nationalistic agenda but rather for personal satisfaction, self-expression, and entertainment purposes.

The majority of Hanfu consumers are young Chinese women, meaning they belong to the generation that is grappling with both personal and national identities (Xu 16). According to a paper published by Atlantis Press, “[a] performer who finds his own cultural orientation in the multi culture and recognizes it in the form of symbols is a renaissance in the cultural sense” (Xiaode et al. 505). While the beginnings of the Hanfu Movement had darker undertones, pop culture and mass media influences have co-opted the movement’s original intentions. In fact, the inspiration from Japanese fashion and pop culture suggests that the movement has fused into a reflection of China’s natural cultural blending, as opposed to the narrow-minded nationalism that posed a fear to so many.

Besides the potency of subculture influences, another reason for the Hanfu’s surge in popularity is due to the new era of Chinese fantasy (xianxia) dramas (Vogue Business, “Decoding China’s Hanfu Revival”). Unlike the influence of previous television dramas, the 2017 xianxia drama Ten Miles of Peach Blossom in particular caused a sensation among the Chinese and is currently the most viewed television series in China at 50 billion views (Xiao biao ge ai yele 小表哥爱娱乐). A scenic and tumultuous love story of immortals in ancient China, the characters wear exquisite Hanfu robes, and it is incredibly likely that the poetic romanticization of ancient China has contributed to the popularity of Hanfu among ordinary youth. Given its large viewership, it may have even introduced the Hanfu to a sizable portion of its audience. Only from 2017 to 2018, there was a 92% increase in the number of Hanfu buyers on Taobao, a Chinese e-commerce site (Jiang). Additionally, many Hanfu products are marketed as “fairy clothing” (xian nv yi fu) on Taobao. Xian nv

is a term that is used to describe the elegant, refined, and dignified women of Chinese mythology, many of which are high-ranking immortals, and it is also used to describe Ten Miles of Peach Blossom (Baidu, 仙女 xian nv).

Many of the Chinese youth have taken to social media platforms to showcase videos of them wearing Hanfu, emulating the grace and beauty of the xian nv or gallant swordsmen in xianxia dramas. The “Hanfu” tag on the international version of the Chinese video streaming app Douyin has over 60 million views and is full of reuploaded clips of Chinese adolescents and young adults who participate in trends involving Hanfu. The background music of such videos is made up of traditional Chinese instruments with lyrics that resemble ancient Chinese poetry, a genre dubbed “ancient music” (gu dai yin yu 古代音乐). In essence, the Hanfu has become a trendy article of clothing that allows the Chinese youth to ‘time travel’ back to ancient China. By transforming Hanfu into a cosplay trend, the youth has found a deeper interest in elements of traditional culture, such as ancient Chinese folktales, mythology, or teachings. For example, in a Douyin video, they might try to emulate the aura of ‘one of the beauties of the ancient world’ through Chinese opera hand gestures, which are associated with beauty. Perhaps they might instead roleplay as an immortal trained in Daoist cultivation. These archetypes are all common in xianxia dramas and traditional Chinese literature and history. As 24-year-old Hanfu enthusiast Dafan says, “Through [H]anfu, another side—the classical and composed side—of me is presented unconsciously” (Jiang). It is the lyricism of ancient Chinese literature and the propriety of Confucian ritual that paint this palette of envisioned elegance; while some wish for traditional Chinese values to resurge in their Westernized society, Hanfu cosplay culture itself does not represent a direct desire to revive the more archaic morals of the ancient world due to its great diversity in the community. On a fundamental level, it is simply the imagining of oneself in a romanticized realm of uniquely Chinese fantasy.

Furthermore, there is statistical evidence that the attitude towards Hanfu is shifting towards a positive and more mild direction. In 2018, the Hanfu Information Platform surveyed official members of Hanfu associations, who call themselves ‘Robes’ (Xu 29). The survey showed that 87.14% of the respondents were a Robe due to “a preference for traditional fashion,” 63.37% for “a preference in Hanfu fashion,” and 55.19% for national consciousness (29). As Jiaxuan Xu puts it, “Many new enthusiasts are not attracted by the nationalist character of Hanfu, but by the culture of Hanfu itself” (29). Additionally, only 50.88% of the Robes respondents wore Hanfu to revive Han culture as opposed to 77.8% in the 2014 survey. Originally, many of these Hanfu associations were comprised of members with a nationalistic agenda, but the percentage of such revivers is substantially decreasing over time. These survey results reflect the changing national view of Hanfu from a symbol of Han chauvinism to one of aesthetics and historical consciousness.

However, clothing is a political language, and the fears of scholars Kevin Carrico and James Leibold are valid as the Hanfu Movement certainly has nationalist undercurrents. Nationalism is not out-of-character for China as the Han-majority government has caused unrest and suffering among many ethnic minority groups for a long period of time. With this in mind, it is unreasonable for the Hanfu to become China’s national costume. Unlike small countries like Korea and Japan, China is distinctive in that it is a large country composed of 56 ethnic minority groups. Inherently, an authentic Chinese national identity must represent this cultural fusion and diversity that has become so integral to Chinese history. Hanfu as a national costume ignores this. However, there is still deep value to the Hanfu as an article of traditional clothing, especially since the Hanfu fever is largely driven by aesthetic appeal rather than by Han chauvinism.

Interestingly, the fact that Hanfu is so popular yet historically inaccurate indeed supports the prevalence of ‘empty Han’—what should symbolize Han Chinese culture has embraced fashion styles from Japan and been reduced to a symbol of modern aesthetics. However, the commercialization of Hanfu has simultaneously encouraged Chinese youth to explore their roots and gain a deeper interest in their cultural identity, which is natural and perhaps necessary in a rapidly globalizing country. With xianxia dramas that portray Hanfu as the dreamy, fairy-like costumes of immortals, young audiences seek Hanfu for cosplay, photoshoots, and the embracing of one’s femininity or masculinity through a Chinese lens, uninterrupted by Western thought. The Hanfu craze also signals that China’s inherent identity as a nation is a culmination of cultural fusion, not only due to its diversity in ethnicity but now also due to cultural influences from Japan. This has naturally resulted from cultural evolution in a largely globalized world. While the founders of the Hanfu Movement aimed to curb this cultural blending by framing the Hanfu as a dress of Han purity, the majority of Hanfu enthusiasts today have co-opted the movement to be one not of pent-up anger and Han supremacism but of self-expression, personal discovery, and cultural and national pride.

References

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