Ancient China Clothing

Since the culture was quite rich, there was a distinctive language that developed. Though presently there are up to 12 regional groups of language, Chinese was the language that was spoken in ancient China right from the Han dynasty.

The people of ancient China believe in the mandate of heaven. They worshipped many different gods, including weather and sky gods along with a higher god who ruled all other gods known as Shang Ti. Chinese as a race, worship their ancestors believing that when these died, they became gods too.

Such was the prevailing situation in the ancient Chinese civilization. The effect was also seen on the ancient Chinese clothing of the common man. Correct attire was regarded as the ultimate expression of Chinese culture and identity, differentiating them from ‘inferior’ foreign neighbors while making social and gender distinctions within their society. The ancient Chinese clothing had specific cultural meaning, with properly attired bodies reflecting order and control and unadorned bodies and feet serving as visible signs of disorder and dangerous nonconformity with the individual risking association to barbarian outsiders.

Filed under: Ancient China: Culture and Clothing on November 14th, 2008