Cheongsam Chi-pao dress: “The mysterious temptation from the East”?

Chinese traditional culture is very rich and interesting, so it has received widespread attention not only in China, but also abroad.

The author experiences Hanfu culture

In the eyes of many foreigners, traditional Chinese clothing is an important carrier of Chinese culture, and the most famous one is the cheongsam.

As a cultural symbol and a symbol of oriental beauty, cheongsam is popular around the world. In the past, famous Hollywood actresses Grace Kelly and Elizabeth Taylor wore Chinese cheongsam Chi-pao dress on different occasions and popularized this dress among Western women.

Today, whether you live in China, the United States or Europe, whether you are a Chinese girl or a foreign girl, you can buy and wear cheongsam, which looks beautiful on everyone.

Grace Kelly (file photo):

Since I came to China, I have been using Chinese social media, so I have many opportunities to see videos of Chinese girls wearing cheongsam. While some videos illustrate the cultural implications of this traditional garment, many others have sparked controversy – appearing to depict the cheongsam in a vulgar way.

The videos claim to depict the traditional etiquette of women wearing cheongsam dress, but the whole scene looks very strange. Beautiful girls wearing tight-fitting cheongsam deliberately exposed their legs through the double-slit skirt. They bent or squatted to pick up different things, more like showing off their bodies.

You see the “sexualization” of cheongsam in these videos, which seems a bit subtle. I know a lot of Chinese people don’t like these videos either because it’s obvious that the cheongsam culture has been completely misinterpreted and turned into something that looks very cheap. However, it’s hard to stop creators from making such videos because they have their own audience.

I’ve watched these videos and seen a lot of views and likes, so I know there are a lot of people out there who enjoy these types of videos. Since these videos attract a lot of attention and they are a good way for creators to make money, more and more of them are filmed and posted on the Internet, even going abroad.

In fact, some foreign bloggers find Chinese cheongsam culture videos interesting and even make secondary creations. For example, the recently popular “collision, picking up bags” is an example of this.

However, more and more cases of cultural export seem to have gradually brought negative effects: because these videos are regarded as a window to display traditional Chinese culture and Chinese traditional cheongsam etiquette, they have caused a huge problem-not only among the Chinese This is true not only among Chinese, but also among foreigners – people have huge misunderstandings about traditional Chinese culture and the traditional Chinese dress cheongsam.

Chinese people live in the atmosphere of Chinese culture, so they naturally wear traditional Chinese clothes and participate in traditional Chinese ceremonies. Therefore, Chinese people have many opportunities to understand cheongsam, understand the history of cheongsam, understand the appearance of cheongsam, understand the true etiquette of cheongsam, and be able to identify whether the expression of cheongsam is incorrect or vulgar, but most foreigners do not have such opportunities.

Soon after coming to China, I wanted to buy a cheongsam to wear. I found some beautiful cheongsam online and bought them. When I received the dresses, I tried them on but found that they were not as form-fitting as the cheongsams I had seen and were instead a bit flowy. Because I was under the impression that a cheongsam had to fit very closely to your body, I decided those clothes didn’t fit me and I sent them back. I decided to keep just the tightest piece.

I later realized that the cheongsam I kept was actually too tight, too small, and uncomfortable to wear…but at the time I bought it, I thought that’s how it should be.

Some up owners have already made videos criticizing such cheongsam “etiquette”

As I mentioned in my previous article, the distance between Chinese netizens and Western netizens is too far. The development of technology may not necessarily bring closer cross-cultural communication and exchanges.

Just like me, other Westerners are easily influenced by what they see on the internet. If most foreigners can see such videos, if everyone sees the tight-fitting cheongsam and those manners, they will think that this is the real Chinese culture and Chinese etiquette. They will never truly understand the true history and culture of China and cheongsam.

They don’t know that cheongsam was developed from the clothing of the Qing Dynasty. It used to be a long, loose skirt with slits on the sides to allow the wearer to ride and shoot easily. The traditional cheongsam worn by women at that time was actually an unassuming and very conservative garment. In the 20th century, when more and more women began to wear cheongsam, the design began to change. The cheongsam became shorter, more fitted, and decorated with some Western fashion elements. But despite these changes, it still looks elegant and beautiful, unlike many of today’s revealing cheongsams.

The red Qipao dress worn by Nicole Kidman also uses cheongsam elements (data photo):

However, if you are a Westerner who has never heard of the history of the cheongsam, and you only know about the cheongsam from the short videos you have seen online, you may think that the Chinese cheongsam is a sexy garment, and the main reason for wearing it is The purpose is seduction – to make girls look sexy, to let them show off their bodies.

These vulgar videos are accompanied by traditional Chinese music, with a traditional Chinese background, and Chinese girls wearing traditional Chinese clothes. Therefore, people who watch these videos will think that the behavior of these girls is also in line with Chinese culture. Although this is actually just an Orientalist imagination, or a short video marketing method.

Today, we live in a world where everything is connected and people from abroad can easily find these videos and share them with others, and in fact this may already be happening. If videos that are considered to showcase Chinese culture focus on showing Chinese women’s bodies, then these videos will be used to create more negative stereotypes about Chinese women.

In the past few years, the propaganda of some racist cultural works has led many foreigners to believe that Chinese women are very open to men, especially white foreign men. Because of these stereotypes, many white men choose to go to China because they want to find many girlfriends very easily and they think this is possible in China.

If those white men who already believe that Chinese girls are easy to get along with see these videos that purportedly depict traditional Chinese culture, their thoughts will become even more solid.

Asian women in Western countries face many problems. They are often idolized and attached to Orientalist cultural imaginings, and these videos make the situation worse because the protagonists of the videos are directly from China. Westerners who see them would assume that this is how China and Chinese women want to be seen – wearing revealing clothes and showing off their bodies.

The cheongsam has also been “sexualized” by many people in Western countries. Although there are others who are trying to stop this process, show true Chinese culture and teach people to appreciate cheongsam, it is a difficult process. However, if those vulgar videos from China that are directly produced by the Chinese are “introduced” into the West, then Westerners who like to make a fuss about cheongsam and Chinese culture and “sexualize” them will have another reason to use Prove that their beliefs are true.

Chinese-American actress Anna May Wong (data map):

Westerners behave very hypocritically. They have their own culture and they protect it with great respect, but they treat East Asian culture differently. China is also an East Asian country. To most Westerners, it is a distant country. Foreigners know little about its culture, so it is easy to misunderstand China – whether intentionally or unintentionally, they have little understanding of this country and its culture. culture has given rise to many paranoid views.

This is very racist and very unfair to China or other Asian countries. However, unless someone educates Westerners about East Asian culture, or finds a way to stop racists from promoting stereotypes, things won’t change.

Women of the Republic of China in Film and Television Dramas:

If videos produced in China and related to Chinese culture or cheongsam Chi-pao dress are not shot with the main purpose of showing girls’ bodies, then these types of videos can also gain high visibility among foreigners and help promote abroad Chinese culture. And those videos that “sexualize” Chinese culture and cheongsam will indeed cause potential damage to China’s cultural image overseas.

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