Hanfu: From "Huaxia Revival" To "Pure Love"

In the past 16 years, the popular Hanfu became a huge industry after a long discussion and argument.

Hanfu: aesthetics, business and identity

At two o'clock on November 17th in Chengdu, a group of young men in Hanfu poured into the subway from four locations, all of which were Kuan Alley and Zhai Alley.

Lv Xiaowei, who opened Hanfu shop, took a group of people from the Manjusri square. Located 3 kilometers northeast of Kuan Alley and Zhai Alley, it was the birthplace of her first physical store. That was 13 years ago, when the people in the scenic area came and went, but her shop was nowhere to be seen. In this activity, hundreds of people in each team, and no sign up and wind, there were too many people. The surveillance system of scenic spots was touched, and the planned flash and large group photo were canceled.

In November 22, 2003, Wang Letian, an electric worker, was dressed in Hanfu as a Chinese costume enthusiast to take up the streets of Zhengzhou. The day was later designated as the Hanfu travel day. Cities will organize related activities around this day.

Wearing Hanfu clothes is becoming more and more common nowadays. Traditional festivals, sacrifices and scenic spots can be seen everywhere. In the supermodel competition and the han dance competition, there are also Han costume figures. The actor Xu Jiao and the writer Vincent Fang became the star of the Hanfu costume.

In terms of the shape of clothes, the group looks so puzzling and demanding. Some people are talking about the horror of this circle. When they wear a Hanfu dress video, they accidentally get scolded for wearing details. Some "Hanfu fundamentalists" fiercely criticize later fans, such as "wearing pictures and building clothes is abandoning their ancestors". "You don't know etiquette in wearing Han clothes, but you don't understand etiquette".

The veteran players in the circle are also using the unthinkable eyes to look at people who have intervened in Hanfu circles and despise their commercial purposes. However, they do not deny that this is the possible direction of their nationalized Chinese clothes. In the past 16 years, the Han costume movement has evolved from a minority identity symbol to a gigantic industry after lengthy discussions and disputes.

　　 Contemporary net red and early generation players

In 2016, Lv Xiaowei began to expand his Hanfu clothing store to the whole country. At that time, she discovered that raining, born in 1994, became a net red in Hanfu. This is a girl who has never appeared in a circle.

This year's double eleven, even the rain Xin shop sales rushed to the night Taobao women's clothing store top 100, the data exceeds Lv Xiaowei's 13 years old shop. Her identity is fashion celebrity, micro-blog story Reds. Three years ago, she just graduated, recorded a short history of video on her cell phone, and taught girls how to make costumes, and micro-blog fans broke through 200 thousand. She believes that she is Du Fu's poem, "more than 13 years," the appearance of the head of cardamom in the early February, so named her "cardamom seed", and then opened the Hanfu Taobao shop, called "more than 13 years".

Even Yu Xin's love for Hanfu was attributed to her mother teaching her back to Book of Songs. When he went to Chongqing to go to school in 2012, she joined the school's Hanfu culture society and began to find channels to buy Hanfu and even wear classes. When the TV play "Ming Fei biography" was on fire, she recorded a video of her character hairstyle, and sent it to micro-blog. Until then, her micro-blog had only more than 2000 fans. This made her start sending videos of Chinese culture continuously, such as "little beans" talking about ancient times, and a little bit of popularity.

Lian Yu Xin does not want to call himself a net red. He feels that what he is doing is spreading Chinese culture. In the early years of Lv Xiaowei's involvement in the Han costume circle, the appearance of "adzuki bean" is more like the commercialized product of this era.

In 2002, a post of "lost civilization Han nationality dress" appeared on the naval military forum. The netizens, called "Chinese blood vessel", summed up the main characteristics and reasons for the disappearance of Han nationality's clothing, with a large number of pictures, and referred to the influence of kimono. The article was reprinted to overseas websites, and after Hanfu netizens traced back to the history, they found that the clicks were close to 300 thousand within two years. After that, some thoughts on "Han nationality costumes" began to appear sporadically. Platforms such as Sina military forum, iron blood forum, Tianya forum and so on were held. In these communities, netizens who are interested in Han nationality clothing have gathered in succession. Among them, there are academic researchers and nationalists. Their articles, such as "the nation without their own national costume", "Han Fu re emergence and the Renaissance of China", "the death of a great nation -- a brief history of the death of Hanfu".

In the end, it became Wang Letian who became an important node in Hanfu sports. In November 22nd of that year, Wang Letian appeared in the streets of Zhengzhou wearing Hanfu, and Lianhe Zaobao seized the news, which caused great concern.

Fang Zhexuan, an early participant in Hanfu culture, saw these events in the forums and found that he had found the answer to his confusion over the history and culture of the Han nationality. She began to publish articles and began to act. After entering the postgraduate of Philosophy Department of Renmin University of China, she organized the first Chinese Hanfu suit in Beijing. Netizens from 33 forums from Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai and other places participated in the sacrifice ceremony of wearing Han clothes, and the object of sacrifice was Yuan Chonghuan, a famous anti Qing official.

After that, Fang also took part in the sacrificial activities in a Han costume and wrote the article "the sacrifice of a man". "I firmly believe that the western thought is so rampant that only Han culture can undertake the historical mission of reversing the fate of China, and Hanfu is the link that is chopped off civilization."

　　 Renaissance symbol

When Lv Xiaowei first heard about Hanfu in 2005, the group was quiet, even quiet. One day, my boyfriend asked Sun Yi, "do you know that our Han nationality has their own clothes?" she was a little surprised to think that he had traveled to Western Sichuan and Yunnan, and always envied the ethnic minorities in their unique costumes, singing and dancing.

"Extinction is for a reason." Sun set up a website to show Lv Xiaowei. This is a forum called hannet. Sun Yi has been mixed up for several months, and there are many posts about the history of the Han nationality. Lv Xiaowei suddenly realized, "the Han nationality is forced to lose its clothing. This is not eliminated naturally as the economy develops. She registered immediately.

"China's revival, clothes first." After entering the Han network, she immediately recognized this core idea. "Huaxia" is a key concept in the forum. A netizen posting "we, the reunification of Han Fu revival pioneers" is called "the same Robe", which quotes the "no clothes and children's Robe" in the poem. After that, netizens in the forum agreed to call each other with "Robe".

After visiting the forum for one or two days, Lv Xiaowei noticed the business plate. She decided to order a set of Hanfu, "if you want to revive, start with me." Sun Yi, boyfriend, feels that Hanfu is the recognition of spirit and the spread of ideas. At first, he did not accept going out in Hanfu. Lv Xiaowei then contacted a businessman named "ah Qiu" in the forum.

At that time, there were only a handful of people who wore pictures of Hanfu in Han Net. One of the pioneers is Wang Yuliang, who moved to Australia with his parents at the age of 11, and then appeared in hannet with the net name of "green pine snow". He released a self portrait in front of the mirror and wore his own Hanfu suit. In the photo, he did not show his face, his left hand was raised, his dark sleeves hung from his arms, and his lower body was a white skirt. This is what he tailored himself according to the typical style he could search.

Hanfu is actually a generic name for a large group of clothing. At present, the shape of Hanfu is classified into four basic categories: "clothing system", "deep clothing system", "robe system" and "skirt system". The "clothing system" is the oldest, that is to say, the clothes under the coat are divided. The circle is believed to have originated from Emperor Huang, Yao and Shun, and extended to the Ming Dynasty, which is not limited to men and women. The "deep garment" was formed in Zhou Dai. It was cut together with clothes and stitched together at the waist. It was divided into two categories: "Qu Ju" and "straight line". "Robe" was born in the Sui and Tang Dynasties. It is obviously different from the deep garment. It is a seamless link between the upper and lower parts. It has been divided into two categories: the round collar robe, the Zi Zi, the long gown, the straight decoration, the Taoist robe, the monk clothes, and so on, and is popular in the song and Ming Dynasties. The essence of "skirt" is still under the top of the coat. After the development of the Han Dynasty, it refers to the short skirt for women. After that, the styles of high waist skirt, half arm skirt, pair skirt, chest skirt and so on are derived. With the revival movement, Hanfu's aesthetics and style have been constantly adding fashionable fashion elements in recent years, and there are tremendous changes in these basic forms.

In 2005, there were few opportunities to get in touch with Hanfu in reality, and few people in the forum bought it. The big reason is that the cost is too high. The so-called businesses are basically the same as ah Qiu, who are privately scattered. After knowing the demand, look for the right fabric, determine the design idea, and let the tailor do it again. At that time, Lv Xiaowei was a journalist in the TV station. Her monthly income was around 8000 yuan. She valued the quality under the high autumn price. That is a set of 700 yuan price song. It has been more than six months from ordering to getting clothes. She did not have a companion, so Sun Yi wore her ordinary clothes to accompany her, and went to Jinli Street to walk, because there was a statue of the ancestors of her ancestors who wore the same right clothes as she did.

Inside is a skirt, the outside is curved, and the right side is wrapped in thick material. On the bus, she heard the people behind her discussing whether the man was a Korean or a Japanese, or was engaged in Cosplay? She heard another girl whisper to the boy beside him that it must be Japanese. She saw the girl showing her indignant eyes and her hand in her fist and said, "beat Japan". Lv Xiaowei was very angry and turned to the girl and said, "I am Chinese, this is Hanfu, not Japanese clothes."

In the summer of 2006, Lv Xiaowei and sun went to the Civil Affairs Bureau in Han costumes. They fixed their clothes with their clothes on the marriage certificate and put on the wedding ceremony.

　　 Gentle revival

When Lv Xiaowei was in office, he was laughed at by his colleagues in his Hanfu suit, and was also questioned by the leader whether he joined the cult organization. But at his wedding, she found confidence. She and Sun Yi finished the wedding in Hanfu, and no one in the family felt wrong. She realized that whether the villagers in the village or the colleagues in the city had any culture, whether they knew Hanfu or not, they all supported and appreciated the wedding. In fact, until now, more and more people feel that Hanfu can be used as a dress, but it is not suitable for everyday wear.

In 2006, when Lv Xiaowei was married in Hanfu, the "Tian Han ethnic culture forum" (hereinafter referred to as "Tian Han Net") became another gathering site of Hanfu circle. Han Net's netizen "Xi Shan Qin condition" runs away from this forum, becomes the general manager of Tian Han net, and puts forward the slogan "starting from the clothing and reaching the Bo Yuan". He constantly corrected the fierce nationalist attitude, which made Han network and the Han Dynasty form two camps. For a long time, the concept of "Reviving Hanfu" was gradually matured.

The initial netizens soon split up, and the movement around the line was constantly showing off. Traditional festivals, traditional ceremonies and ceremonies make Chinese clothes appear on the news. In 2005, a memorial ceremony was held at Confucious'temple in Fuzhou. Several hobbyists dressed in Hanfu tried to take part in it, but were considered to be expelled. It was boarded by local newspapers and occupied two pages. Zheng Wei, who worked in the court, saw the report and was very impressed. Because he was very interested in traditional culture, he searched the forum according to the name "Fujian Hanfu world" mentioned in the newspaper, and found several participants. Because of his organizational ability, this loose association pushed him to chairman. Zheng Wei realized that he had to rely on official approval to carry out activities in a proper way.

In 2006, the Fujian Hanfu world was approved by the Cultural Bureau to set up the Civil Affairs Bureau for approval and registration, becoming the first officially recognized Hanfu Culture Association in the country. Zheng Wei put forward the "Five Year Plan" in a typical way: starting from festivals and etiquette, reviving traditional culture with Hanfu as the carrier.

Demand for local activities has increased, but there are not many channels to buy Hanfu. In 2006, Lv Xiaowei participated in the Hanfu organization of Sichuan from the Spring Festival, the Lantern Festival, the Dragon Boat Festival, the Seventh Festival and the Mid Autumn Festival. It was found that the Han costumes worn by the robe were also bought in the wholesale market, and the cost was more than 100 yuan, which was very poor. At that time, Hanfu robe would usually go to hannet to see the clipping map published, and buy cloth himself, then take a picture to find a tailor to do it. This is not very realistic for many outsiders who want to try. Another way, like Lv Xiaowei's purchase, is to find a business in hannet, first to provide the picture to the other party, then to remit money, and so on. The waiting time is long, and then it is possible to remit the money and clothes do not arrive as scheduled. In short, no trading platform, everything is trouble.

Lv Xiaowei noticed that many people want a dress that can be put out and texture. After the idea of opening a shop, there was opposition from many sides. The family felt that as the first female college student in the village, the work of the TV stations in the provincial capital city was respectable and stable, and business was not insurable. The more important objection is from the gowns. "They believe that the revival of Hanfu is spiritual, noble, and let it be stained with the smell of copper and make money with it, which has the original sin." Lv Xiaowei said. Now, the idea is almost naive.

Lv Xiaowei still made up his mind to resign. In the space beside the Manjusri Fang, a more than 30 square meter space under the group of rents of antique buildings was placed on the wall with only 17 sets of Hanfu.

She did not know the customers and the source of the goods, so she went to find Qiu Qiu, the first time she went to buy Chinese clothes, and she wanted to make her a source of goods. After getting the finished product, Lv Xiaowei put their own brand on them. In order to attract customers, Lv Xiaowei swam around the shop door wearing Hanfu everyday. Sometimes he walked around the Manjusri square scenic spot with a fan, and several people followed him curiously. The shop has printed leaflets, simple white words, and two sides, introducing the cultural background of Hanfu. Knowing that Han clothes could not be sold, she simply prepared a statement. "To tour the Manjusri square tour, you can not take away Hanfu, but you can take away a bit of knowledge of Hanfu".

"At that time, the feeling of patriotism in the whole society was very intense, which would affect the youth." This makes Lv Xiaowei feel that he is very likely to convince others. In the first month, she remembered that a Chinese who came back from the United States bought clothes. This person is in the United States all the year round, saying that when the Chinese gather, they are wearing cheongsam and Tang costume. Lv Xiaowei told him that these can not represent China, but Hanfu is acceptable. Eventually, the other side was persuaded to buy several sets.

She also taught herself to play the guzheng, playing at the door of the shop, but there were still few visitors. Some elderly people who pass through the scenic spots will come to the shop to argue with her, tell her that this is a feudal dross, which is contrary to the trend of the times, and should not do so. Her business is not going well.

　　 business

The purchase order was so small that Lv Xiaowei kept the rental business. Ten yuan for half an hour to provide photo service, each charge two yuan. During the Spring Festival in 2006 and 2007, she earned tens of thousands of dollars by renting Chinese clothes. Later, she opened a Taobao store, and the sale business was still bleak.

In 2007, the CPPCC National Committee member Ye Hongming proposed the establishment of Hanfu as the "national costume". The NPC deputy Liu Minghua suggested that Chinese costume should be worn in the three major degrees of Ph.D., master's and bachelor's degree in China. More than 20 websites, including Tianya community, hannet and Qiu Yan literature community, have jointly issued a proposal. It is suggested that Hanfu should be used as a participant's costume for Han nationality members of the Chinese delegation in the 2008 Olympic Games.

Lv Xiaowei's business finally broke through in 2014. She officially registered the company, the staff expanded to 200 people, has more than twenty designers. Designers should be trained, and Lv Xiaowei will first explain them in a conceptual way, such as what styles each dynasty probably has. Another design assistant, who is inclined to do research, collects relevant cultural relics books, including works of ancient Chinese costume experts, curators of the Chinese Silk Museum, and materials related to Dunhuang murals for design.

Lv Xiaowei will also go to Beijing to listen to relevant forums and come back to share information. Sometimes, we go to museums around the world to take some cultural relics to identify the dynasties, styles, patterns and sizes. On this basis, the original design is done, and fifty or sixty monthly requirements are required, and then about 30 items are selected.

Nowadays, Hanfu has been appearing in the streets more and more. When it is accepted by people, there are some alienation inside the circle. On the know, there are many Chinese players who have just started to speak, Tucao said they were walking in the streets wearing Han clothes, but they were approached by some senior colleagues and loudly rebuked them for their wrong Hanfu collocation and details. Some people claim that they can not wear glasses in Han clothes, because this modern vision correction equipment does not match the antiquity of the body, and some people say that some people who do not know Chinese clothes see that the boys and girls in Han clothes praise their beautiful ancient costumes. Those Han costume fans will rebuke them, even the ancestors forget, so they tell the other person positively that this is not called the ancient costume, called Hanfu.

In any case, Hanfu has been known by more and more people. In addition to those narrow Hanban fundamentalists, most Han costume lovers are choosing a way to publicize Hanfu that they think is appropriate.

Some of them are writing textual research on Hanfu history. Some people have found a house in Taihu, served the garden, planted plum blossoms, spread their own recognized culture from the perspective of poetic life. Some people insist on putting on bun and putting on Hanfu clothes when they go to work every day. Some people also organize students to read classics in Suzhou town. Some of these colleagues recognized each other, others disagreed with each other.

At the same time, Hanfu has also become a mature business from the small clothing. Hannet, a Han clothing business certified by Han net, shows that the earliest Certified Business in Shenyang is located in Shenyang. It was founded in April 15, 2006 and was certified by Han Net in April 15, 2006. Several shops subsequently certified were "UFE", "mud mud building" and "hidden dragon". The first one to break through the crown trading volume on Taobao platform, that is, 10 thousand, is Beijing's "dream dream" shop, founded in 2007, and became the crown seller in February 2011.

According to "Hanfu information" in January this year, the survey data of Taobao Hanfu merchants show that the top three of annual output value in 2018 are Han Shang Hua Lian of Guangzhou and Chengdu's return to Han and Tang Dynasties and Hangzhou. The total output value is 80027148 yuan, 52880854 yuan and 37092032 yuan respectively. In 2017 and 2018, the total output value of the top ten of Taobao's Hanfu clothing business increased by about 50% every year, reaching 316 million yuan in 2018.

The number of Hanfu fans in China is two million. In the survey of the same robe, it only increased from 15.23% to 34.33% for those who liked Hanfu, and thought that they wanted to revive the spirit of national culture. They fell year by year, from 77.8% in 2014 to 56.8% in 2018. Among the Hanfu fans, women account for 85.54%, and have been increasing year by year. The average age was 21.66 years. Diploma and undergraduate education are the backbone.

"This is more than just a dress." Many Chinese lovers have said this more than once. After years of development, Hanfu fans have extended more content from clothing, but revival is still a slogan.