subject: Chinese Culture [print this page] Traditional Chinese fashion include such popular items such as silky qipao, long men's mandarin jacket, delicate fans, and stately otter skin caps, which are all still worn today. Qipao is a silk dress for women, tapered at the legs and at the waist, creating a slim, smooth silhouette. Usually decorated with lavish prints from flowers to phoenixes, these dresses come in a variety of hues. Another traditional Chinese fashion piece which has carried into the modern age is the folding fan. Sometimes made with silk, sometimes with paper, these fans can be plain or painted. A favorite of all ladies, these fans were carried everywhere, from garden parties to tea houses, the intricate designs on the folding fan flashing and fluttering as the owner demurely fans herself. For men, mandarin jackets, or changshan, are long, loose fitting shirts meant to reach the ankles. Introduced during the Qing dynasty, mandarin jackets became immensely widespread in China and were used for all formal occasions before the popularization of western men's suits.
