I Am What I Wear

Fashion is not only about beauty, but also identity.

In Australia, eight thousand kilometres away from China, there is a group of displaced Chinese who insist on wearing the traditional Chinese Han dress in a foreign country. Han clothing, or Hanfu are flowing and silky gowns, with arms designed into billowing sleeves. Men’s Hanfu is accessorised with high black hats, while the headpieces for women are decorated by intricate flora with an appearance of people from the splendid Chinese palaces from thousands of years ago. They are time travellers, bringing the rich culture of the Chinese nation to the modern-day as the promoters of traditional Hanfu. In their world, getting dresses is not only about luxury brands and popularity, wearing the traditional Hanfu helps show their true identities and connects them with national pride. 

The Hanfu movement is a milestone in China’s manufacturing industry. It leads to a turning point from “Made in China” to “Designed in China”. When history that was forgotten four hundred years ago comes back to people in the form of clothes, it is the awakening of national pride and a profound expression of ethnic Chinese people’s pursuit for identity and status in the modern world.

Tinyue wears the traditional Hanfu in Sydney as her daily look. (AP Photo: Tinyue)

Tinyue will never forget the first time when she dressed up in a traditional Chinese Han dress to go out on the street, and she felt so excited and nervous when she decided to wear Hanfu as a daily look. However, her grandfather disapproved saying, “Why are you wearing Korean clothes, take it off now and do not wear it anymore, people will see you as a freak and laugh at you.” Tinyue was rebellious and obsessed with Chinese Hanfu, she argued with her family that it was a traditional Chinese dress which belongs to the Chinese Han nationality from thousands of years ago. “I like pretty dresses like any other girl, and Hanfu is a beautiful dress as well.” After this argument with her family, her passion for Hanfu only grew stronger. As her feeling of belonging become more intense, Tinyue felt more connected with Hanfu. 

After a few years, while Tinyue studied in the University of Sydney in Australia, she found herself becoming even more fervent about Hanfu, disregarding strangers’ views and comments. “I wear Hanfu whenever I want, no matter if I go to the library or I go out for a picnic, even for my graduation ceremony. While other students were wearing the graduation gowns, I was wearing Hanfu on the stage.” When she talked about this experience, I could see the stars in her eyes. This vision can only be seen from an inheritor with a profound passion for Hanfu. 

However, society is not as friendly as she thinks, she has received just as much criticism as praise. As one of the group members who promote the modified version of Hanfu, Tinyue has to face the controversy of whether people should wear a modified version of Hanfu or the traditional one. It is also the main reason that some people like traditional culture scholars and historians are against people to wear modified Hanfu. The president of the Queensland Hanfu Association Gege explained, “The traditional Hanfu is just like what we see in the museum, our modern society has eliminated it, and it became a cultural heritage instead of the daily dress for people to wear. However, the modified version of Hanfu is more suitable and adapt to our current life, and its design is also based on historical evidence, such as murals and excavated relics.” Sacrifices always accompany progress, it is because of these necessary sacrifices that Hanfu can be inherited by the next generation rather than sealed inside of the museum’s windows.

Tinyue promotes Chinese traditional Hanfu through the connection between fashion and culture. AP Photo: Tinyue

Some people even think that Tinyue’s behaviour is out of order and opposing of societal norms. However, what surprised her most was that most of the times when she wears Hanfu on the street, people will generally connect Hanfu with part of the Korean Hanbok or Japanese Kimono. The most embarrassing moment came when three Chinese boys who were walking next to Tinyue, and one of them turned around to the others and whispered, “I bet you she is Korean.”, while the other boy disagreed, suggesting that she was Japanese. “It is okay, guys, she seems not to understand what we are saying.” They kept arguing, while Tinyue felt so ashamed and disappointed. 

In order to change people’s impression of Hanfu, Tinyue held a charity competition with her partner Owen to find the Sydney Hanfu ambassador. It was challenging and challenging for a university girl who has no experience in holding such an event. “It sounds crazy that no one ever did this thing before, most people even do not know what Hanfu is, and I almost went bankrupt for this event, I only had four dollars left in my bank account.” 

They chose the Sydney City hall as the location for the final competition, and the cost of the renting fee for only one day, including the lighting, stage and labour is about 50,000 Australian dollars. She wanted to make every detail perfect. The Hanfu for this competition was tailored, even for the golden phoenix as the decoration on the dress is embroidered with 140,000 needles, and they also used the best visual effect and stage settings. “If one Chinese cannot make this work to infect others, then a group of Chinese will stand up and work together to make our dream come true,” Another Chinese Hanfu promoter named Nancy clarified passionately. 

Tinyue organised a Sydney Hanfu Ambassador’s charity competition to encourage more people participate in the Hanfu fashion revolution. (AP Photo: Tinyue)

During three months’ preparation, from the release of news to motivate people joining this competition to finding judges to elect the top thirty contestants, everyone in this team worked overtime and kept rehearsing day and night. After three months, this charity event finally was held at Sydney city hall, the total number of participants in this competition exceeded 1,000 people, and the audience even reached more than 1,200. “As soon as the competition ended, we were on the stage and crying like babies.” When Tinyue mentioned this unforgettable experience, she still felt so touched and reminiscing that it seemed like only yesterday that her journey began. Every single beautiful moment, from first finding her love for Hanfu, to reclaiming the forgotten national culture on stage in Sydney. Not only the local media company in Australia but also the “Chinese world” from Chinese central television4 in Chinese international channel has reported it on a large scale. In addition, she had the opportunity to meet people who have a common goal, and she joined this big Hanfu family from reaching the dream by herself. 

A photo of Chinese Hanfu & Culture studio which established by Tinyue and her team. (AP Photo: Tinyue)

In the early months of last year, she began building her own Hanfu studio. She drew the design plan by herself and made most of the furniture by herself, even for the decoration pictures that hang on the wall are made by herself. Since the store opened, she read and worked here. It also held a variety of Hanfu themed activities including calligraphy, Chinese makeup and etiquette lessons to make Chinese people who live in a foreign country feel at home. This place affected not only Chinese people, but also promoted Chinese culture and brought prosperous Chinese history overseas. 

“Australia itself is a multicultural country, where ninety per cent of people are tolerant and appreciative towards people wearing Hanfu,” Tinyue said this with a smile on her face. Once when she was wearing Hanfu in the train, an old lady stopped me and handed me a piece of paper, which said ‘You are beautiful.’ At that time, Tinyue felt proud and moved; all her hard work had paid off.

People with different cultural backgrounds are immersed in the beauty of Hanfu. (AP Photo: Tinyue)

Kevin Carrico, a lecturer in Chinese studies at Macquarie University in Australia said, “Hanfu is ethnography at its best, this movement to revive and recreate ethnic Chinese clothing movement as a part of a broader movement by the Chinese people to recover from the cultural destruction of the past century.” Chinese people immerse themselves into traditional culture and history by wearing Hanfu. Although it is controversial to regard Hanfu as the traditional dress in China, it may also cause a threat to other Chinese nationalities besides the Han nationality. (There are fifty-six nationalities in China, and each nationality has their traditional clothes, Hanfu can only represent Han nationality). As Chinese President Xi Jinping has been promoting the revival of traditional culture and clothing, Hanfu started to bloom and become increasingly popular.

This is not only a story about traditional Chinese Hanfu, but also about the groups of Chinese people who like Tinyue, wear Hanfu to inherit traditional Chinese culture. Fashion and culture are closely related that people wear clothes to represent their identities. Hanfu is no longer just a piece of dress. It is a symbol that preserves the lost culture and the unique Chinese style. 

Tinyue told me that she was afraid and tried to give up many times. “Life is so short, I am afraid that when I get old lying in a rocking chair with shame, I will regret why I did not fight for my dream. I am afraid that if I were not persistent about it, I would never get another chance.” Tinyue is determined just like other promoters who are trying to save this lost culture and show their identities through the Hanfu. There is always a dream in her heart. There are poems, wine, tea, flowers, and the most beautiful dresses in her heart.