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Two women wear qipao in this 1930s Shanghai advertisement.

The qípáo (旗袍), qípáor (旗袍儿), or ch'i-p'ao, often known in English as the cheongsam or mandarin gown, is a body-hugging (modified in Shanghai) one-piece dress for women. Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Two women wear qipao in this 1930s Shanghai advertisement. ... Download high resolution version (511x770, 175 KB) This image has been released into the public domain by the copyright holder, its copyright has expired, or it is ineligible for copyright. ... Download high resolution version (511x770, 175 KB) This image has been released into the public domain by the copyright holder, its copyright has expired, or it is ineligible for copyright. ... Shanghai (Chinese: ; pinyin:  ; Wu (Long-short): ZÃ¥nhae; Shanghainese (IPA): ), situated on the banks of the Yangtze River Delta in East China, is the largest city of the Peoples Republic of China and the seventh largest in the world. ... Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres depicts the Comtesse dHaussonville, wearing a dress. ...

Chinese language usage

The English loanword cheongsam comes from the Cantonese pronunciation of the original Shanghainese term. In most western countries and in the Cantonese dialect cheongsam is the name of a garment worn by both men and women. Chinese who do not speak the Cantonese dialect view the cheongsam as an exclusively male dress and use the word qipao for its female equivalent. In Cantonese usage the word qipao is either interchangeable with the female cheongsam or refers to the two-piece qipao variant that is popular in China. A loanword (or loan word) is a word directly taken into one language from another with little or no translation. ... Two women wear qipao in this 1930s Shanghai advertisement. ... Standard Cantonese is a variant, and is generally considered the prestige dialect of Cantonese Chinese. ... Shanghainese (上海言话 [] in Shanghainese), sometimes referred to as the Shanghai dialect, is a dialect of Wu Chinese spoken in the city of Shanghai. ... Occidental means generally western. It is a traditional designation (especially when capitalized) for anything belonging to the Occident or West — the western part of the classical world (Europe) and the New World, and especially of its society. ... This article is on all of the Yue dialects. ...

History

When the Manchu established the Qing Dynasty over all of China, certain social strata emerged. Among them were the Banners (qí), mostly Manchu, who as a group were called Banner People (旗人 pinyin: qí rén). Manchu women typically wore a one-piece dress that came to be known as the 旗袍 (qípáo or banner quilt). The qipao fit loosely and hung straight down the body. After 1644, all Han Chinese were forced to dress in cheongsam instead of Han Chinese clothing (剃发易服), or they were to be killed. For the next 300 years, the cheongsam became the adopted clothing of the Chinese. The garment proved popular and survived the political turmoil of the 1911 Xinhai Revolution that toppled the Qing Dynasty. The qipao has become, with few changes, the archetypal dress for China. The Manchu people (Manchu: Manju; Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; Pinyin: , Mongolian: Манж) are a Tungusic people who originated in Manchuria (todays Northeastern China). ... Flag (1890-1912) Anthem Gong Jinou (1911) Territory of Qing China in 1892 Capital Shengjing (1636-1644) Beijing (1644-1912) Language(s) Chinese Manchu Mongolian Government Monarchy Emperor  - 1636-1643 Huang Taiji  - 1908-1912 Xuantong Emperor Prime Minister  - 1911 Yikuang  - 1911-1912 Yuan Shikai History  - Establishment of the Late... The Eight Banners (In Manchu: gūsa, In Chinese: 旗 qí) were administrative divisions into which all Manchu families were placed. ... Hanyu Pinyin (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: ), commonly called Pinyin, is the most common variant of Standard Mandarin romanization system in use. ... // Events February to August - Explorer Abel Tasmans second expedition for the Dutch East India Company maps the north coast of Australia. ... Languages Chinese languages Religions Predominantly Taoism, Mahayana Buddhism, traditional Chinese religions, and atheism. ... Han Chinese clothing refers to the historical clothing of the Han Chinese people, especially before conquest by the Manchu Qing Dynasty in 1644. ... Combatants Qing Dynasty Chinese Revolutionary Alliance Commanders Feng Guozhang, Yuan Shikai, and local Qing governors. ...

The first and "traditional" or national qipao when introduced to the larger Han population were wide, baggy and rather loose. It covered most of the women's body revealing only to head, hands, and the tips of the toe. The loose baggy nature of the clothing also served to demphasize and conceal the figure of the wearer regardless of age. However, with time the qipao were tailored to become more form fitting and revealing. The modern version of the qipao was first developed in Shanghai around 1900, when the Qing Dynasty came to an end and people eagerly seeked for a more modernized style of dress. Slender and form fitting with a high cut, it contrasted sharply with the traditional qipao. In Shanghai it was first known as 長衫 (or long dress. Mandarin: chángshān, Cantonese: cheongsam, Shanghainese: zansae). Shanghai (Chinese: ; pinyin:  ; Wu (Long-short): ZÃ¥nhae; Shanghainese (IPA): ), situated on the banks of the Yangtze River Delta in East China, is the largest city of the Peoples Republic of China and the seventh largest in the world. ... Shanghainese (上海言话 [] in Shanghainese), sometimes referred to as the Shanghai dialect, is a dialect of Wu Chinese spoken in the city of Shanghai. ...

The modernized version is especially noted for accentuating the figures of women, and as such is highly popular as a dress for high society. As Western fashions changed, the basic cheongsam design changed too, introducing high-necked sleeveless dresses, bell-like sleeves, and the black lace frothing at the hem of a ball gown. By the 1940s, cheongsam came in transparent black, beaded bodices, matching capes, and even velvet. Later, checked fabrics also became quite common. This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ...

The 1949 Communist Revolution ended the cheongsam and other fashions in Shanghai, but the Shanghainese emigrants and refugees brought the fashion to Hong Kong where it has remained popular. Recently there has been a revival of the Shanghainese cheongsam in Shanghai and elsewhere in Mainland China; the Shanghainese style functions now mostly as a stylish party dress (see also Mao suit). 1949 (MCMXLIX) was a common year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1949 calendar). ... Combatants Nationalist Party of China Communist Party of China Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Mao Zedong Strength 4,300,000 (July 1946) 3,650,000 (June 1948) 1,490,000 (June 1949) 1,200,000 (July 1946) 2,800,000 (June 1948) 4,000,000 (June 1949) The Chinese Civil War... ... Zhongshan suit The Mao suit, also known as Chinese tunic suit or tunic suit, is the western name for the style of male attire known in China as the Zhongshan suit (Traditional Chinese: 中山裝; Simplified Chinese: 中山装; pinyin: Zhōngshān zhuāng, or Chinese: ; pinyin: Zhōngshān fú); named after...

Modern use

Some secondary schools in Hong Kong, especially those with long tradition of establishment by Christian missionaries use a plain rimmed sky blue cotton and/or dark blue velvet (for winter) cheongsam with the school badge right under the stand-up collar to be closed with a metal hook and eye as the official uniform for their female students to be worn to regular classes. Schools known to set this standard include Heep Yunn School, St. Paul's Co-educational College, St. Stephen's Girls' College, Ying Wa Girls' School, True Light Girls' College, etc. Their cheongsam uniform is tailored so that the size of their collar is tightly fitted to their neck, and the students are asked to hook up their stiff collar all the time amidst the tropical humid and hot weather. The bottom with short slits are also too tight to allow students to walk in long strides. Many students feel it an ordeal, yet it is a visible manifest of strict discipline that is hallmark of prestigious secondary schools in Hong Kong. Some dissident students, however, express their dissatisfaction with this tradition by wearing their uniform with stand-up collar intentionally left unhooked or the bottom cut shorter than their knees. Heep Yunn School Heep Yunn School (Chinese 協恩中學) is a girls secondary school founded in 1936. ... St. ... St. ... Ying Wa Girls School in Hong Kong was founded in 1900 by Miss Helen Davies of the former London Missionary Society. ... True Light Girls College (TLGC, chinese:真光女書院) is a Christian girls secondary school in Kowloon, Hong Kong. ...

In the 1950s, women in the workforce started to wear more functional cheongsams made of wool, twill, and other materials. Most were tailor fitted and often came with a matching jacket. The dresses were a fusion of Chinese tradition with modern styles. Ornamental jar from the Kingdom of Wu (222-280 CE) of the Three Kingdoms period. ...

The Tibetans and Vietnamese (ao dai) have similar versions of this dress as their national dress. A Tibetan pilgrim The Tibetans speak the Tibetan language natively and form one of the 56 ethnic groups officially recognized by the Peoples Republic of China (PRC), although in anthropological terms they include more than one ethnic group. ... The áo dài (pronounced ao yai in the south; pronounced ao zai in the north) is a traditional Vietnamese dress worn by women. ...

The Qipao in popular culture

Nancy Kwan wearing a cheongsam on the cover of Life magazine in 1960

• The movie In the Mood for Love by Wong Kar-wai of a Shanghainese community in Hong Kong is notable for its use of a variety of qipao worn by female lead Maggie Cheung.

• In the movie The World of Suzie Wong, Nancy Kwan made the cheongsam briefly fashionable in the west.

• Female characters in anime and manga will often wear the cheongsam. Equally often, the cheongsam will be tight in the bust and slit very high on the thigh, to provide fanservice.

• The popular Chinese Street Fighter video game character Chun-Li is very well known for her signature blue cheongsam (first seen in Street Fighter II: The World Warrior), worn with white knee-high boots, hair bun covers, and oversized spiked bracelets for a non-traditional style. A male Street Fighter character known as Gen wears the male version of the cheongsam. Tekken video game character, Anna Williams wears a qipao with a peacock on it. Dead or Alive character Lei Fang often wears different colored qipao.

• In the anime and manga Naruto the character Sakura Haruno wears a qipao, and the character Tenten wears a pink cheongsam before the timeskip in the series.

• In the movie Kill Bill, Sofie Fatale wore a typical male black cheongsam. The costume department may have mistaken it for a qipao.

• In the manga & anime Mahou Sensei Negima, characters Ku Fei and Nagase Kaede both are fond of qipaos.

• In the movie Spider-man the character Mary Jane Watson played by Kirsten Dunst wears a qipao.

• In the ending credits for the anime Ashita no Nadja, the main character Nadja Applefield wears a dark blue qipao (among several other outfits) and poses in front of a mirror. However, it suddenly rips and shows a part of her leg, so the embarrassed Nadja covers the rip with her hands and struggles her way off-screen to sew it.

http://www. ... http://www. ... Nancy Kwan on the cover of Life Magazine 1960 Nancy Kwan (born May 19, 1939) (Traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: ; Cantonese: Kwan Ka Shin) is an American actress, who played a pivotal role in the acceptance of actors of Asian descent in major Hollywood film roles. ... Philippe Halsmans famous portrait of Marilyn Monroe Life generally refers to two American magazines: A humor and general interest magazine published from 1883 to 1936; A publication created by Time founder Henry Luce in 1936, with a strong emphasis on photojournalism. ... In the Mood for Love is a 2000 Hong Kong art film directed by Wong Kar-wai, starring Maggie Cheung and Tony Leung Chiu Wai. ... Wong Kar-wai (Traditional Chinese: ; Simplified Chinese: ; Pinyin: ; Cantonese Yale: Wòhng Gà Waih; Shanghainese Latin method: Wan Kawe; born July 17, 1958) is a Hong Kong film director known for his visually unique, highly stylized art films. ... Maggie Cheung Man-yuk (張曼玉; pinyin: Zhāng Mànyù; Cantonese: dzoeng1 maan6 juk9/juk2) (born September 20, 1964) is a multi award-winning Chinese actress from Hong Kong. ... The World of Suzie Wong is a 1957 novel written by Richard Mason, which has since been adapted into both a play and a film. ... Nancy Kwan on the cover of Life Magazine 1960 Nancy Kwan (born May 19, 1939) (Traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: ; Cantonese: Kwan Ka Shin) is an American actress, who played a pivotal role in the acceptance of actors of Asian descent in major Hollywood film roles. ... The main cast of the anime Cowboy Bebop (1998) (L to R: Spike Spiegel, Jet Black, Ed Tivrusky, Faye Valentine, and Ein the dog) For the oleo-resin, see Animé (oleo-resin). ... This article is about the comics published in East Asian countries. ... Fanservice or fan service (Japanese simply saabisu, service), is a vaguely defined term used in visual media — particularly in anime fandom —to refer to elements in a story that are superfluous to a storyline, but designed to amuse or excite the audience. ... Screenshot of Street Fighter (arcade version). ... Chun-Li (春麗) is a video game character created by Capcom. ... Street Fighter II ) is a 1991 competitive fighting game by Capcom. ... Screenshot of Street Fighter (arcade version). ... This article is about the Street Fighter character. ... Tekken is a fighting game and first of the series of the same name. ... Anna Williams is a fictional character featured in the Tekken fighting game series. ... Dead or Alive ) is a video game series produced by Tecmo that comprises primarily fighting games. ... Lei Fang , derived from Chinese: 麗鳳 Pinyin: Lìfèng) is a fictional video game character from the video game series Dead or Alive. ... The main cast of the anime Cowboy Bebop (1998) (L to R: Spike Spiegel, Jet Black, Ed Tivrusky, Faye Valentine, and Ein the dog) For the oleo-resin, see Animé (oleo-resin). ... This article is about the comics published in East Asian countries. ... Serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump Shonen Jump BANZAI! Shonen Jump Weekly Comic Original run November 1999 – Ongoing No. ... Sakura Haruno ) is a fictional character in the anime and manga series Naruto created by Masashi Kishimoto. ... Tenten ) (romanized as Ten Ten in the English anime) is a fictional character in the anime and manga series Naruto created by Masashi Kishimoto. ... Kill Bill is the fourth film by writer-director Quentin Tarantino. ... Sofie Fatale is a fictional character from the 2003 Quentin Tarantino film, Kill Bill Volume 1. ... Negima: Magister Negi Magi (魔法先生ネギま! Mahō Sensei Negima) is a manga and anime series by Ken Akamatsu. ... Spider-Man is a 2002 superhero film based on the fictional Marvel Comics character Spider-Man. ... Mary Jane Watson or Mary Jane Watson-Parker, depending on the adaptation, is (in the fictional world of Spider-Man) the wife of Peter Parker (Spider Man) and a supporting character in the Marvel Comics Spider-Man series. ... Kirsten[1] Caroline Dunst (born April 30, 1982) is a Golden Globe-nominated American actress, known for her roles in Interview with the Vampire, The Virgin Suicides, Marie Antoinette, and Bring It On, as well as Mary Jane Watson in the Spider-Man film series. ... Ashita no Nadja (明日のナージャ), or Tomorrows Nadja in English, is an anime produced by Toei Animation, and has aired in Japan between February 2, 2003, and January 25, 2004. ...

See also

• Han Chinese clothing

Han Chinese clothing refers to the historical clothing of the Han Chinese people, especially before conquest by the Manchu Qing Dynasty in 1644. ...

External links

• Cheongsam article on the Beijing Official Website
• About.com entry on the qipao
• Documentary on the qipao on CCTV website
• Slideshow of a few items from the Fashion Institute of Technology's China Millennium exhibit
• History of Qipao(Cheongsam)