Hanfu

Hanfu (simplified Chinese: 汉服; traditional Chinese: 漢服; pinyin: Hànfú, lit. "Han Chinese clothing"), also known as Hanzhuang (simplified Chinese: 汉装; traditional Chinese: 漢裝; pinyin: Hànzhuāng) or traditional Chinese clothing, are the traditional styles of Han Chinese clothing worn since the 2nd millennium BCE. There are several representative styles of hanfu, such as the ruqun (an upper-body garment with a long outer skirt), the aoqun (an upper-body garment with a long underskirt), the beizi and the shenyi, and the shanku (an upper-body garment with ku trousers).

Traditionally, hanfu consists of a robe named paofu, or the pair of an upper garment named ru (jacket) and a lower garment named qun (skirt). In addition to clothing, hanfu also includes several forms of accessories, such as headwear, footwear, belts, jewellery, yupei and Hand fans. Recently, hanfu is gaining recognition as the traditional clothing of the Han ethnic group, and has experienced a growing fashion revival among young Han Chinese people in China and in the overseas Chinese diaspora.

After the Han dynasty, hanfu developed into a variety of styles using fabrics that encompassed a number of complex textile production techniques, particularly with rapid advancements in sericulture. Hanfu has influenced the traditional clothing of many neighbouring cultures in the Chinese cultural sphere, including the Korean Hanbok, the Japanese kimono (wafuku), the Ryukyuan ryusou, and the Vietnamese áo giao lĩnh (Vietnamese clothing). Elements of hanfu design have also influenced Western fashion, especially through Chinoiserie fashion, due to the popularity of Chinoiserie since the 17th century in Europe and the United States.