Crossdressing...Just how does a woman participate?

[pelathais]

Originally Posted by Pressing-On

I don't care for them, but I'm not going to tell anyone that they can't wear them. And I am really in the conversation to ferret out when women started wearing them, who started the trend, etc. I've read on other threads, in the past, some writing that Chinese women always wore them and I'm finding out that is not true. In ancient China, which I already posted, only soldiers wore trousers. So, move from the standards issue and give me information. I'm interested in reading it. lol

"Ancient China" covers a period of time from about 3000 BC to around 500 AD. A very, very long period of time. Also, "Ancient China" involved a whole series of civilizations and competing kingdoms. The cultures of these civilizations were often diverse. The clothing developed with styles coming in and out of fashion just like today.

Generally, "ladies of the court" - the wealthy, wore those long fabulous gowns that we often see depicted in art. Men of the court or educated men and other court officials often wore similarly lavish gowns and robes. Pretty much, to the Western eye, men and women dressed similarly. Collectively, these robes, (both male and female garments) became known as the Hanfu - "Han Clothing" after the Han Dynasty.

The central Chinese authorities today are almost exclusively "Han." Also, the Han people are the largest ethnic group on the planet - but not all Chinese are "Han." The "Han Expansion" is a very delicate problem today with the other ethnicities in constant uproar and riot - though this seldom makes the news as the Communist Party is very fierce in putting these things down.

The Manchurian culture featured a pair of "pants" called the "ku" which were often worn by the wealthy - men and women. Manchuria was considered "outside" of China throughout the ancient and medieval time periods. When Westerners arrived in China en masse in the 19th Century, all of China had been recently overrun by the Manchurians. For this reason a lot of our Western ideas about China really involve the customs of the Manchu.

The women who worked in the fields (the vast majority of the population) generally wore some sort of tunic over a pair of "short pants" or rolled up "Capri pants" in most regions of the Far East - though they obviously didn't call them "Capri pants." They were called "Fu" which means "work" - as in "Kung Fu" - which means "Hard Work."

Generally speaking, if you see a picture of an "Ancient Chinese woman" (or Medieval or "traditional") in a robe - she is Han. (The man depicted here is a slave or servant).



If the gown is very tight fitting and "revealing" - then it is probably a Mandarin qipao - a style that "swept China" after the 19th Century. Notice here, the young ladies are playing golf - a Western sport.



If you see a woman in "Fu" - she's a worker and not very likely to be a subject of art. One other thing... in the South you will see women wearing a sort of knee length skirt with short pants under them. To work in the paddies, they will tie the skirt up between their legs in a manner similar to the way ancient Greek men would tie up their skirts.

The practice of women wearing gowns or longer tunics than men in China seems to have been a custom that developed over time - the ancient practices were different (see, for an example: http://www.kwintessential.co.uk/arti...-Clothing/2372 )