“Boom boom boom boom, boom boom boom boom, boom boom boom boom, doom doom doom, ok boom boom, toom toom, ok boom boom.” The catchy lyrics of Taiwanese popstar Angela Zhang’s hit (written by Harry Sommerdahl and Yi Wei Wu) go down a storm with the bright youngish things clad in Urban Revivo designer gear in downtown Beijing clubland. So far so 21st century. But away from the midnight smoky dancefloors, daytime streetwear in the Chinese Capital is taking on a different look. Very different.
Strolling down Donganmen Avenue biting on tanglulu, a Beijing street food of skewered fruit dipped in hardened sugar syrup, the bright youngish things could just as easily be sipping jasmine tea centuries ago in the Forbidden City. What’s happening? A millennia old fashion has been popularised by that most contemporary of influences: social media. Historical television dramas like The Story of Minglan set in the Northern Song Dynasty of 960 to 1127 AD are also fuelling the fashion.
Local tour guide Mandy Wong explains, “The Imperial style is super popular with young people coming from remote villages to experience life in Beijing. About 60 percent of immigrants in the city come from the Chinese countryside. Beijingers are also getting in on the act. Hanfu as it’s called is more than just fashion: it’s a way of expressing a form of national pride and cultural heritage that was suppressed last century. They are dressing like the Imperial royal family and their concubines, servants and warriors.”
Han Chinese is the world’s largest ethnic group and the name derives from the Han dynasty of 206 BC to 220 AD which shaped and unified Chinese civilisation. The style though originated in the second millennium BC so today’s generation have plenty of opportunities for breadth of eclecticism and depth of interpretation. Key components are Beizi (a cloak popularised by later dynasties), Ruqun (a short jacket and long coat) and Shenyl (a robe worn by Han and Jin dynasties). As for headdresses, the silhouette rules whether wearing a Mianliu crown with tassels or a Fenghuang crown with jewels. Some of the boys complement their dark outfits with guyliner. The girls’ pale foundation matches their long white fur trimmed capes. Fans double as sun protectors, even in winter.
