3-10 The Changyi of the Qing Dynasty

Hello everyone, what we learned in the last section is the coat dress in the history of Ming dynasty. Now the main content of this course will be the Changyi robe of the Qing dynasty. The robes of Manchu women are mainly robes called Chengyi and Changyi. Both of their styles are mostly the same with few differences, which is that there's not any split on the Chengyi and while the Changyi has slit under the left and right armpits, and the top of the split must be decorated with cloud pattern. The decorative pattern of the Changyi is also more colorful and the inlaying and piping of the trim is more exquisite at the intersection of the collar support, caps, collar and armpits, as well as the position of side sewing and hem, different colors, different techniques, different fabric edges, sash, that is, lace or flat belt woven with silk thread, dog teeth edging, etc. are all inlays. Especially in Jiangnan area, people often think that the more inlays, the more beautiful. About the reign of Xianfeng and Tongzhi, more noble women in the capital have started to wear more layers of lace, which is called the 18 inlays, such fashion that taking inlaying and piping lace as the main decoration of clothing has continued to prevail until the Republic of China. In the cap of the Changyi, there are also ornate sleeve cuffs and the attached sleeve cuffs are inlaid with laces, sashes and gaoyar. After the end of the sleeve is connected with the cap, the sleeve looks longer and looks like wearing several delicate clothes. If the attached sleeve cuffs are dirty, it can be easily replaced. The fancy patterns all contain auspicious meanings. For example, the broken branches of osmanthus and orchids mean rich sons and nice grandchildren. The good wine means thousands of generations of offspring. The double Chinese character Xi means happiness. It's entitled, happy events come one after the other. Happy characters, back shines and plumb blossom mean happy and lucky. Narcissus and lots of Chinese characters show that is longevity means congratulate on birthday by crowds of immortals and so on. Empress Dowager Cixi always likes to comb her hair into the great wing and wear Changyi with white garment and sleeves on general occasions. She often instructs the artists of Zhuyi Hall to modify the sample of clothes. Her favorable patterns on the Changyi are bamboo, wisteria, dunlan, peony, herbaceous peony, gardenia, Chinese flowering, crabbable butterfly, butterfly scattering flower, round longevity character, etc. People should tie a 2.6-inch wide and 3.3-feet long ribbon around the neck when wearing Chengyi and Changyi. The ribbon encircles forward from the back of the neck with one end on the right side draped over the front chest and the other end on the left side tucked into the lapel of the garment. Scarves are all embroidered with patterns to match the patterns on clothes and it is also decorated with gold thread and pearls. Pants are required to be worn inside the Changyi. Women's trousers are more colorful than men's and are aged with various colors. During the reign of Emperor Guangxu of Qin Dynasty, people have made the trousers into multi-layer hemming with the first wider and the second and third narrow. During the reign of Emperor Xuan Tong, trouser tubes have become thinner and the laces are decreased. People also often wear waistcoats, sleeveless jackets on outside of Changyi. The styles include one-character lapel, pipa lapel, double lapel, big twist lapel, herringbone lapel, and other lapels. In the Middle and Late Qin Dynasty, people added yuyi head and multi-layer piping to the waistcoat in addition to the embroidery lace. They also added multi-layer sash lace and trimmed it with twisted gold satin. Some people would like to add beading and other decorations on the hem. Okay, that's all the content of this course. The content of next course will be Changshan. See you next course.