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The Gau box

2010
04.14

A Gau box is a Tibetan Buddhist amulet container or prayer box, usually made of metal and worn as jewelry. It is a religious ritual object, helping people achieve their goals. All faiths use prayer boxes to focus the mind on one’s prayerful thoughts or secret wishes by writing them down on a small piece of paper and placing them into the box.

Because they are worn as jewelry, Gaus are made of metal and are often ornamented with semi-precious stones. The most popular material is sterling silver which has typically been antiqued to give an appearance of age, emphasizing the fact that prayer boxes are sacred. Such Gau boxes are often set with green turquoise, red coral, butterscotch yellow amber, carnelian and deep blue lapis lazuli. Stunning emeralds, rubies, sapphires, amethysts, citrines and garnets are used in common as well.

Kalachakra Gau locket

Despite their many styles, shapes, sizes and materials, Gau boxes all share one thing in common – they are containers for a cherished item of religious or personal significance. Gau box which has your most desired wish or goal inside reminds you constantly of your goal, and every time you remember or focus on it in your mind, you move toward your goals, and your goals move toward you.

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Tags: Category Culture, Jewelry |

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Yak Culture

2010
04.14

Moving from Ongen to Shiquanhe through vast expanse of deserts and grasslands, we found oursevelves in Northern Tibet. It joins northwestern Qamdo, Yushu and Golog of Qinghai, and Shiqu, Serda and Hongyuan in Aba of Garze Prefecture of Sichuan to form the largest nomadic herding culture on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

People living in this part of the world lived and multiplied here some 1,000 years ago. Throughout the ages, they have developed ways and means to cope with fierce weather here and learned to make butter, sour milk and wild bull horn milk kettle as well as yak hair cusions and tents. They were also good at making sheep wool or yak hair ribbons.

The Tibetans eat yak meat, drink yak milk, make yak hair tents, use yak hair ropes and yak hide bags, and even burn yak dungs. Yaks are so indispensable for them they call these animals Norbu or treasures in meaning.

Yaks also find their way into artworks, such as monastery murals and rock carvings. According to classics of the Bon religion, yaks came from the Heaven to the top of Gangdese Mountain. Of the Buddhist warriors, one has a yak head.

Once I traveled to/from Coqen to Gaize, covering a total distance of 650 km. It was a scarcely populated area. All along the way that stretches 650 km we met only two households. We paid them a visit in their tent houses and found the hosts sitting on yak hide cushions.

There were five major tribes in Gegyi, including Changdui, Lhoma and Baco. Each tribe had 70-100 households. In addition, there were some small tribes such as Sadegu. As their ancestors came from the Kham and Amdo areas, they were called Khamgegyi. After 1959, this area was renamed Chaka meaning an area by the Salt Lake while Lhoma was divided into two parts administratively, with one part falling under the jurisdiction of Yarang. Three other tribes met to become one district and three townships.

The Qoiling Monastery is the largest of its kind in the area. The abbot of the Garyu sect monastery was so famous that the locals gathered more than 120,000 Yuan for his soul boy and even one car when he passed away at the age of 80.

Some households in Sergo township of Gegyi allowed their sons to marry their daughters in the past. However, most do not do so. Marriage is at the will of the old and married couples do not live independent from their parents until one or two years later when they have one or two children. The youngest son of a family never leaves their parents.

During New Year Day, people in Chaka of Gegyi perform a recreational kind of dance called Chaka Zhogoshie: Zhogo means pastoral area or herders and Shie singing and dancing.

On the 15th day of the 8th Tibetan month each year, the locals gather for sacrifice-paying ritual called Desang in Tibetan.

In the morning, they, dressed in the holiday best, worship Buddha on the top of local mountains or in monasteries. Their sacrifices include aromatic grass, roasted highland barley called zanba and qingke barley wine. They pray for good harvest.

In the afternoon, they perform Zhogoshie dancing until it dawns the next morning. The dancers often number dozens to up to 100. Men lead the singing while others dance. This is followed by women signing and dancing. While doing so, they move in a crock-wise way. As they move at the fastest speed, the singing and dancing party reach its peak.

The herders love to raise sheep. Some love to raise horses also. There are families each raising more than 80 head of domestic animals including a dozen horses.

The herders raise horses not for economic purpose. In theirs eyes, horses are symbol of riches. Men would be deemed lowly without riding horses. During horse race, all the horses would be elegantly adorned.

The herders raise sheep for meat and wool. Before the peaceful liberation of Tibet in 1951, wool was brought to India and Nepal in return for cloth, rice, sugar, fruit and other daily necessities. After 1951, wool was purchased by the government departments concerned.

Gegyi herders hate to slaughter any sheep aged one to four years and they hate to slaughter sheep they raise themselves. When there is no one who could help with slaughtering, they would manage to kill it without using knife or club. Before using knife, they will chant the Six Syllable Prayer and use prayer tube to touch their foreheads. And they would try not to let their chests stained with the blood of the sheep they slaughter. Women will stay away while men do these generally on the 15th and 30th days of each month, except for October and November when they slaughter sheep one per week apiece so as to store enough meat for winter.

To store meat for winter consumption, they eat animal intestines first and freeze meat outside in open air before bringing them back home. Generally, they wrap frozen meat with animal hide. Animal chests are considered to be of the best quality and used to entertain guests or to be consumed mainly by the old and men in the family. Lungs are used to feed dogs only….

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Chengdu panda museum

2010
04.14

The world’s biggest giant panda museum will be built in Chengdu, capital of Sichuan Province, an official of the Chengdu Giant Panda Breeding and Research Base said yesterday.

The 5,000-square-meter China Giant Panda Museum will be located within the research center’s grounds, the official said.

Management decided on the museum’s design after reviewing several submissions by both domestic and overseas architects.

The museum will serve as a venue for promoting awareness about giant panda protection and knowledge about one of the world’s most endangered species, the official said.

A similar museum was built at the Wolong Giant Panda Nature Reserve in the province in 2002.

The animal is often called a “national gem” and is internationally regarded as a symbol of China.

The total population of wild giant pandas stands at about 1,500, mostly in the mountainous areas of southern and western China.

The first natural reserve for giant pandas was built in the 1950s, when governments started to ban poaching.

Pandas were placed under state protection in 1962.

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Travelogue,Tibet

2010
03.23

Erected in the seventh century, the Potala Palace was damaged by lightning and afterwards almost entirely destroyed in the times of Landarma who was a bitter opponent of Tibetan Buddhism. But in the 17th century under the Fifth Dalai Lama, the palace was restored to its original form.

Pilgrims perform their duty in various ways. For example, they repeatedly bow their upper bodies until their heads touch the ground or their bodies lie flat on the ground, prostrating. Another well-known ritual is to spin prayer wheels, which range from handheld units that are common souvenirs, to huge ones that stand several meters high. Another practice is to contribute yak butter, which is used to light the oil lamps in temples and monasteries. Another donation pilgrims make is money. They simply put the coins or small notes everywhere, especially near the Buddha statues, and the money is not frequently collected.

With its majestic splendor, the Potala Palace would impress the inhabitants of any world capital. Thus the humble Tibetan pilgrim, who has always lived in a yak hair tent, must view the Potala Palace with great reverence. It is amazing to experience that this 13-storey structure containing 999 rooms, which was built on a steep mountain in Lhasa.

Unlike the majority of the famous architectural wonders of China, the Potala Palace is built on a vertical flat. The palace dominates the city, in fact it dominates the entire Tibet and captures one’s attention immediately. Its walls are slanted like the sides of a condensed Great Wall, seeming to reproduce the outline of mountain slopes.

There is indisputable evidence to prove that the ethnic roots of different cultures had become interwoven long ago. In the oldest part of the Potala Palace, the Prayer Cave Vault, you can see the statues of the Tibetan King Songtsan Gampo (629-650) and his wife, the Tang Dynasty Princess Wen Cheng.

During the Tang Dynasty the Chinese capital Changan (today’s Xian) was one of the centers of world civilization, as it was the starting point of the “Silk Road” to Central Asia, the Middle East and Europe. So it is not surprising that Princess Wen Cheng brought along many scholars and craftsmen who laid the basis for many crafts and trades in Tibet.

Situated right in the center of old town Lhasa, the Jokhang Temple boasts of a history of more than 1,350 years. Legends have it that the construction of the temple took King Songtsen Gampo, and Princess Wencheng three years to complete. Because the original site of the temple had been a lake, the princess had to have white goats to carry soil from elsewhere to fill the lake up.

At first, the Jokhang Temple was called “Resa” and later was called “Jokhang” to mean “Buddhist chapel” in the Tibetan language. “Resa” in Tibetan means soil and goats to indicate that the temple was built with the soil carried to the site by white goats. However, there is another saying about the name of the temple. It is said that the new name has something to do with the Monlam Festival created by Tsongkapa in the 15th century.

The Jokhang Temple, first built in the shape of a two-story boat. It is the most magnificent building remaining from the Tupo Dynasty in Tibet. After being refitted and enlarged by the subsequent dynasties, it now covers an area of more than 25,100 square meters.

Inside the temple there are several chapels. The Jokhang Temple is the main chapel that is in the shape of a courtyard. Behind hundreds of yak-butter lamps, there is the main prayer hall, which houses the statue of Avalokitesvara with eleven faces and 1,000 arms and one thousand eyes on hand palms.

The chapel housing the statue of Songtsen Gampo, who is deemed as the religious king in Tibet, is found on the second floor of the temple. The third floor is a place for monks and lamas to retreat and is seldom open to visitors or pilgrims.

Barkhor Street is an open market street circulating Jokhang Temple. Usually souvenirs are sold during the day, while at twilight, daily necessities seem to dominate the market. And believe it or not, you can easily access the Internet in at least one of the cafes and find a French cuisine or Nepalese restaurant on Barkhor.

I was told that Barkhor was the original layout of Lhasa in just 20 years ago. Everything we see today is a result of very recent development of the city. Most of it is for tourists.

Thanka paintings are a universal feature of temples and monasteries in Tibet. There are over 200 in Jokhang Monastery alone, covering an area of 300 square meters. The painters followed strict rules. For instance, the Buddha must be solemn, and his body must be portrayed in certain specific proportions. Historical and folklore themes thrive in murals.

Religion is very important to the Tibetans with everything being centered around it, along with education cultural was based on religious beliefs.

Probably Buddhism was first introduced to Tibet in 173 CE during the region of the 28th Yarlung King Thothori.

Dharma Wheel symbolizes the unity of all things, spiritual law and Sakyamuni himself. The wheel is usually flanked by two deer, the first to listen to Sakyamuni’s teachings. The male deer symbolizes the realization of great bliss while the female deer symbolizes the realization of emptiness.

Lamas are the teachers of Buddhism. Lama plays an important role in Tibetan Buddhism. Lama teaches all the monks and takes care of the system of Buddhism making sure it continues to work. In 1578 the Lama Sonam received the title of Ta-Le (Dalai) from the Mongolian ruler Atlan khan. Because he wad the third reincarnation found in a row he became the third Dalai Lama.

About 100 kilometers north from the capital Lhasa is Nianqingdanggula Mountain. The mountain is more than 7,000 meters high and is covered with snow all year round.

Namco Lake is located on the Northwestern side of the Niangqing danggula peak. The highest point is 5,200 meters. Namco means “Heavenly Lake” in Tibetan. It is a famous Holy place of Tibetan Buddhism. Driving from Lhasa will take about 5 hours depends on the road condition. Visitors can spend a night at the site living in one of the tourist tents. However, due to the lack of oxygen over the night, visitors should consider bring extra oxygen tank.

There are five highways stretching into Tibet. Sichuan-Tibet Highway is the longest, 2413 kilometers (1496 miles) long, built in 1950 and opened for traffic in 1954. The road climbs up and down 14 high mountains which average altitude is 4000-5000 meters (13120-16400 feet) high, and flies over a dozen of famous rivers such as Lantsang River (Mekong). The climate along the road presents beautiful scenery ranging from spring to winter. However, the road condition is various.

Paying Homage to the Holy Mountain Festival, Choekhor Duechcen in Tibetan, falling on 4th of the 6th Tibetan month, is to commemorate Sakyamuni’s first sermon. People, in their best conduct during the session, go to monasteries to pay homage to the Buddha. Circumambulation around mountains is the popular practice in the festival. Picnicking, singing and dancing are also part of the activities.

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Rong bao zhai – Studio of Glorious Treasures

2010
03.23

Liulichang (琉璃厂) south of Hepingmen (和平门) in Beijing is a famous cultural street in China. Here you can see many shops of long standing that deal in antiques and works of calligraphy and painting.

Rongbaozhai (荣宝斋), or the Studio of Glorious Treasures, is the most famous one of these shops. It boasts watercolour block printing and the art of mounting works of calligraphy and painting and it also has a rich collection of art curiosities. So it has a reputation as a “non-governmental museum”.

Over the years, the Studio of Glorious Treasures has reproduced many works by ancient and modern painters, using the technique of watercolour block printing. Its reproductions of traditional Chinese painting retain to the maximum the artistic features of their originals finished with ease and verve. They play an important role in passing on traditional Chinese art.

This is a reproduction of a painting by Qi Baishi (齐白石), a master traditional Chinese painter. Produced utilising watercolour block printing, the reproduction graphically conveys the simple and vivid depiction of the original as well as retaining its romantic charm.

The Studio of Glorious Treasures is also well known for its first-rate craftsmanship in mounting works of calligraphy and painting. These mounting craftsmen have summed up all their predecessors’ valuable experience in their own work. Upon considering the sizes of the paintings and their various hues of colour, craftsmen mount them in different forms and make the originals look even more wonderful.

GAO ZONGYUAN （General Manager，Studio of Glorious Treasures）

We have developed tremendously since the founding of the People’s Republic of China. We have traditional watercolour block printing, mounting works of calligraphy and painting and the four treasures of the study. Our studio keeps close ties with many famous painters. Therefore, our studio is also known as the home of painters.

As its main task the Studio of Glorious Treasures collects works of calligraphy, painting and treasures of the study.

This is “A Pair of Cats”, a painting by Ren Bonian (任伯年). The two cats were painted in a unique way. The painter drew each of the cats with a single stroke extending from the neck to the tail. His bold painting with it unique approach is rated to be a consummate work of art.

Each one of this pair of seals made of Tianhuang (田黄)stone bear different inscriptions. One reads “Seal of Prince Heshuo Yi”(和硕怡) while the other reads “Seal of Taoist Priest Bingyu” （冰玉）. Each seal weighs 945 grams. The pair of seals are priceless treasures in terms of their quality and their value as cultural relics.

GAO ZONGYUAN：

Over the past 50 years, the studio has developed much faster than in any other period in history. With the efforts made by our staff members from generation to generation, we have made our brand name more renowned and turned Rongbaozhai into a gold-lettered signboard.

Rongbaozhai, the Studio of Glorious Treasures, has become a comprehensive cultural enterprise. It often holds exhibitions of works of calligraphy and painting both at home and abroad, introducing many prominent Chinese calligraphers and painters and their works to art lovers everywhere. It is an important window for international cultural interflow.

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Ancient Naxi Music

2010
03.23

There is a kind of age-old music popular in Lijiang an ancient city in Yunnan Province, southwest China. It is the ancient Naxi music referred to as as “a living fossil of Chinese music”.

The ancient Naxi music originated in the 14th century and evolved from the music of the Central Plains introduced into Lijiang 600 years ago. It merged the sacred music of Taoism, the ceremonial music of Confucianism and the poetic music of the Tang and Song dynasties. The performance techniques absorbed the style of the Naxi ethnic group in Lijiang, so today it is called “ancient Naxi music”. Lijiang, the area inhabited by the Naxi people for centuries, saw the turmoil of war only rarely. During the Yuan Dynasty, local chiefs invited musicians from the inland to live in Lijiang and teach its musicians the ceremonial music for court, which consisted mainly of the sacred music of Taoism. The ancient city of Lijiang on the plateau is surrounded by the Yulong Snow-capped Mountain and the Jinsha River. Due to its peculiar geographical environment and cultural tradition, Lijiang retains the ancient music that has disappeared at its birthplace.

Xuan Ke (President, Ancient Naxi Music Society of Lijiang)

Large places here have developed too quickly. Many original things that were there have changed or no longer exist. This is a remote place and the local people are rather conservative. Here we retain the music of various ethnic groups, especially the music of the Han people and the instrumental music pertaining to Confucianism. In fact, Confucius said, “When court ceremonial music has been lost, it can be sought from the people.”

Where can we find the Han people’s culture when ceremonial music has been lost? It can be found in the border area. So we believe ancient Naxi music is music of the Han people and of the Central Plains. Ancient Naxi music is our neighbour’s music. Only we have preserved it fairly well.

Over the past 600 years, the ancient music, like the age-old pictograph of Lijiang, has been part of the life of the Naxi people. Their musical instruments are very old. This old man is singing while beating the “ten gong chimes”. The instrument here was made over 200 years ago.

The crooked-neck pipa is a musical instrument peculiar to the Naxi people. It has retained its original shape from the Tang Dynasty of over a thousand years ago.

Ancient Chinese tunes were titled with names of songs. Today we can only see literary works featuring these pure tunes. From the ancient Naxi music, we can appreciate actual melodies of the Tang and Song dynasties.

The tuneful melody of the ancient Naxi music has a primitive simplicity. From this we can fully admire the charm of traditional Chinese music.

Tags: Category Ethnic Group |

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Chinese Bells

2010
03.22

The bell has a long history in China. It is an embodiment of Chinese culture and science, and testifies to the wisdom of Chinese people.

As early as in the Shang Dynasty single hand－bells were used. Later the hand－bell evolved into series of bells in different sizes. At the early Zhou Dynasty emerged the bell－chime hanging on a frame. In the middle part of Zhou Dynasty, the bell－chime became musical instruments for rituals and played an important role in political affairs.

The bell－chime unearthed from the tomb of Yi, the Marquis of State Zeng in Suixian County, Hubei Province in 1978 is an exemplar. It has 65 bronze bells. Those beautiful bells are of excellent workmanship. Because of the cultural and scientific and technical information contained in them, their excellent musical quality, and the profound acoustic principle adopted in them, those bells amazed the archaeologists, music historians and science historians.

With decline of the ritual of the Zhou Dynasty, the bell－chime gradually stepped down because of the complicated manufacture process and high cost they evolved.

In the Eastern Han Dynasty, from AD 25 to 220, Buddhism was introduced into China and the native Chinese religion Taoism came into being. Bells began to be used in Buddhist and Taoist monasteries as musical instruments for religious ceremonies.

The bells in Buddhist monasteries are used in prayer and ceremonies of edification and expiation of the sins of the deceased. The sound of the bells may give people different suggestions such as sublimity, benevolence and auspices. As for the response the bell may arouse, different people have different reactions. For example, hearing the bell the poet Zhang Ji sang,

“At midnight from the distance echoes come along

By my boat the temple bell tolls

ting－tong!

ting－tong!”

The depressing tone suggests a traveler’s homesickness. But Dai Shulun sang a flamboyant melody, “At the jingling bell from the royal gardens / On the capital outskirts the morning glows.”

The most famous Buddhist bell is the Yongle Bell in the Dazhong Si or Big Bell Temple in Beijing. It was produced when the emperor Zhu Di named his reign Yongle and moved the national capital to Beijing. The 46－ton bell is 5.56 metres high and 3.3 metres in its outer diameter. The bell with clear patterns is covered with passages from Buddhist scriptures inside and outside. The passages are in neat and clear characters without any error. The bell gives booming, lasting emotive sound.

After the Tang Dynasty court audience bells and watch bells came into use. The court audience bell is used to announce the dignitaries’ merits. The watch bells are used to tell the time at night. Beijing has a Bell Tower and a Drum Tower. Over the centuries in the Ming and Qing dynasties, people used to hear 108 bell－tolls and drum－beats every other hour at night. In those days Beijing people slept to the accompaniment of bell and drum sounds.

The bell in China bespeaks a long－standing tradition. Chinese people are proud of these rare ancient bells. The bell offers artistic and scientific treatment to generations of people.

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Zhang Heng – Historical Celebrity

2010
03.22

“Bamboo Book Annals”, written in ancient times, recorded a strong earthquake happened in the 12 century BC in China. The Chinese people always wanted to observe this disastrous phenomenon of nature. Zhang Heng, a scientist of the Eastern Han period （25－220）, carried out scientific experiments and in 123 invented a seismograph, the first of its kind in the world, that was able to record earthquakes happened hundreds of kilometers away.

According to “Biography of Zhang Heng” in “History of Later Han”, this seismograph had a diameter of 1.8 meters. Made of bronze it had 8 dragon figures facing 8 directions. There was mechanism in the head of each dragon. When seismic waves were felt, a rod in the center of the seismograph called “duzhu” would incline to the direction of the earthquake and trigger the lever in the dragon head, opening its mouth and releasing a bronze ball. The ball fell into the mouth of a toad, thus enabling people to know the time and direction of the quake.

Zhang Heng’s invention came into being 1,700 years before that in Europe. Joseph Needham of Britain claimed that it was a doubtless fact that China was the earliest inventor of seismograph； and that it was a contribution of the distinguished mathematician, astrologer and geographer Zhang Heng.

Zhang Heng grew up in a scholarly family. He was a literati and a man with rare interdisciplinary talents. He constructed the south－pointing carriage and the odometer. No matter which direction the south－pointing carriage moved, the wooden human figure standing in the carriage would always point to the south due to the gear system. As for the odometer, after each li it covered, the wooden human figure on it will strike a drum. It is quite similar to present－day taximeter.

This instrument in Beijing Ancient Observatory was constructed in the Qing Dynasty （1644－l9ll） in imitation of Zhang Heng’s celestial globe.

According to the theory of sphere－heavens Zhang Heng constructed a celestial globe, which was a hollow ball covered with stars. His device was operated by water whose flow was regulated by a clepsydra. The daily revolution of the device corresponded to the position of stars in the celestial. Zhang Heng also discovered that the moon reflected the light of the sun, and that it eclipsed when sunlight was blocked. This was man’s first explanation of lunar eclipse. Owing to his great astronomical achievement, the international astronomy organization decided to name a lunar crater at the back of the moon and a small planet of the No. 1802 in his name. This great scientist will live forever with the sun, the moon and the stars.

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Jade Masks

2010
03.22

Among the major exhibits showcased in many Chinese museums jade objects are certainly among the major ones and the earliest of these date back 8,000 years. The crafting of ornamental jade objects reached a high standard of workmanship during the 5th century BC but jade was already being used for burial objects in the Western Zhou Dynasty some 4,000 years ago.

Jade pieces made to resemble facial features were used to cover the faces of deceased kings and aristocrats. Typical jade masks for this use were found in a tomb of a Western Zhou Dynasty king unearthed in southern Shanxi Province.

LI JI (Vice Curator, Museum of Chinese History):

In a Jin State tomb unearthed in Houma in Shanxi Province, a couple of jade masks were discovered. A mask like this, placed on a piece of silk cloth covering the face, was actually composed of a number of jade pieces cut into the shape of of human brows, eyes, nose, mouth and ears. The pattern looks more or less like a human face.

Ancient Chinese believed jade, which symbolized status and good luck, was able to prevent the body of the deceased from decaying. The practice of using jade masks as burial objects lasted for over 2,000 years and reached its heyday during the Han Dynasty. Not only have jade masks been found from that period, but jade burial suits have also been unearthed in a number of places in southern China.

During the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods or even earlier, jade masks were buried in the tombs of many aristocrats. Many believe the practice of clothing the dead in jade reached its pinnacle during the Western Han Dynasty. This is known as gold-threaded jade clothing. This demonstrates that covering the body with a jade mask and a few pieces of jade was no longer enough and that the practice of using jade as burial objects existed a long time ago. Thus just putting jade pieces under the body and covering it with jade were no longer considered enough to prevent it from decaying. It was from rom this reasoning that the unprecedented and unique jade clothing arose. Based on the thread used, there were gold-thread and silver-threaded jade clothes. In some jade clothing, neither gold nor silver was used, as in the case of the jade clothing found in a 5th century BC tomb unearthed south of Guangzhou. The jade clothing was sown with silk thread so it’s called silk-threaded jade clothing. Jade was believed to help the soul live forever.

It usually took more than ten years’ to complete just one piece of jade clothing, composed of hundreds of jade tablets. It was therefore considered more precious and more expensive than a jade mask. This unique practice of burying jade shows the special fondness ancient Chinese had for objects of jade.

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Chinese Cheongsam Dress(Qipao)

2010
03.21
  • During the 1930′s and 1940′s, Chinese haute couture was coming into its own in China’s trading capital, Shanghai. With the presence and influence of many business groups from all over Europe, Shanghai quickly adopted a hybrid East meets West-dressing style that is found in the modern day Cheongsam. Also known as the Chinese Mandarin dress, the Cheongsam fits the slim, curvy figures of Chinese women, especially those in Shanghai, and is still worn on formal occasions.
  • But the Cheongsam wasn’t always so sexy or alluring. Back in the old days when foot binding was still a societal norm, traditional Chinese women wore less form fitting, conservative dresses that left much to the viewers’ imagination. Gradually after social rules for Chinese women relaxed, younger women became more daring and began to choose more tapered, economical clothing.
  • Following the end of World War I and economic growth, fashion became an important integration into the mainstream society in the bustling metropolis of China. Glitzy fashion columns began appearing in the big newspapers and magazines; popular fashion calendars emerged featuring a different girl sporting a new Cheongsam each month; regular fashion shows appeared in the major department stores where a wide range foreign goods influenced the local tastes. As prosperity spread, people were drawn to pursue Western styles of life that included swimming, social dancing, and golfing.
  • Reflecting the quickly changing times, Cheongsams grew more slender and skintight, highlighted by a high-kick pleat so as to match the delicate, lively female figure of the 1930′s. Furthermore, a myriad of changes in fabric, design, and detailing meant bolder colors and more revealing cuts. Oftentimes, these cheongsams were made of unusual impregnated silk gauzes, brocades, printed damasks, and burnt out velvets. Silk stockings, high-heeled shoes, glittering necklaces, classic fans, makeup portfolios, and beaded purses further accentuated the outfits with an air of seduction. To get a better look at the unique styling of the Chinese Cheongsam, watch Wong Kar Wai’s film “In the Mood For Love” or visit Good Orient’s Cheongsam section.

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