Ruqun
[9] The aoqun and/or ruqun is the most basic set of clothing of Han Chinese women in China and has been an established tradition for thousands of years.
[6]: 47–50, 54 Various forms and style of Chinese trousers, referred broadly under the generic term ku, can also be worn under the ruqun.
The generic term yichang (衣裳; yīcháng) can be applied to any style of clothing consisted of a pair of upper and lower garments.
[10] Therefore, the ruqun, aoqun, shanqun, as well as the wedding dress called qungua, all belong to the category of yichang as a broad term.
[1] The word ru has sometimes been used as a synonym for other clothing items such as shan (衫; shān) and ao (袄; 襖; ǎo).
[5]: 48–50 The term aoqun (袄裙; 襖裙; ǎoqún) typically refers to a specific way of wearing the ao on over the lower garment, qun.
[1] The Chinese character《襖》appears in a Sui dynasty rime dictionary called Qieyun, published in 601 AD, and can be translated as "padded coat", but it can also refer to a lined upper garment.
[12]: 52 The Xinhua Dictionary defines ao as a general term referring to an "upper garment with multiple layers".
The Xinhua Dictionary defines shan as a general term referring to an "upper garment with a single layer".
[11] Of note of importance, the term yichang is not only used to describe the specific types of Hanfu, but also modern western clothing styles consisting of separate top and bottom garments as well.
Huang Di, Yao, and Shun (simply) wore their [yichang (衣裳)] (as patterns to the people), and good order was secured all under heaven.In Shang dynasty, the basic form of hanfu was established as the combination of a separate upper and lower garment worn together;[27][18]: 15 which was known as yichang (衣裳).
[35]: 4 Elites women in the Warring States period also wore a blouse or a jacket, which was fastened to the right to form a V-shaped collar and was waist-length, along with a long full skirt.
Even though the clothing of the Warring states period were old, they continued to be worn in Qin and Han dynasties, this included the wearing of cross-collared blouse and skirts.
[35]: 4 Ordinary women wore plainer form of ruqun; the skirts were typically plain but the sash which was worn around the waist was decorated.
[37][38]: 312–313 In the early Six dynasties period, women wore a style of ruqun composed of a jiaoling youren ru and a long qun.
[38]: 312–313 Elite women in the Wei and Jin dynasty wore the combination of wide-cuffed, V-shaped, unlined blouse which was made of pattern fabric and was lined at the neck with a decorative strip of cloth, a long skirt which came in different styles, and apron.
'top is frugal', 'bottom is rich'; similar to A-line silhouette) style was also a trend in the Wei, Jin, Northern, Southern dynasties, where skirts large and loose giving an elegant and unrestrained effect.
[22][23] During the Wei and Jin dynasties, women also wore the shanqun, which consisted of a long qun and a shan, an unlined upper garment.
[14]: 62 [15]: 62 The shanqun found in this period were typically large and loose; the shan had a duijin front and was tied at the waist.
[14]: 62 [15]: 62 Styles of shanqun can be found in the Dunhuang murals where they are worn by the benefactors, in the pottery figurines unearthed in Luoyang, and in the paintings of Gu Kaizhi.
[14]: 62 At Luoyang during the Northern Wei dynasty, several variety of clothing styles found on female tomb figures were largely derived from the traditional ruqun-style set of attire.
[38]: 321–323 Based on a female tomb figure dating from the Eastern Wei, this form of ruqun is jacket worn over skirt.
[48]: 82–83 [46]: 84–86 Tang-Song style clothing also continued to be worn in multiple layers by families who showed that they were resisting the rule of the Mongols.
The huling can be white or any dark colour, and is used to protect the collar from being rotten by sweat, therefore to extend the life of the clothing.
[5]: 93–94 The stand-up collar were closed with interlocking buttons made of gold and silver,[53] called zimukou (Chinese: 子母扣).
[4] The ao in the Qing dynasty has a front centre closure and then curves crossover to the right before secured with frog buttons.
[5]: 48–50 The front closing, collar, hem, and sleeves cuff have edging of contrasting pipings and side slits.
[5]: 93–94 In The Chinese and Japanese repository published in 1863 by James Summers, Summers described Chinese women wearing a knee-length upper garment which fits closely at the neck; they wore it together with loose trousers with border around the ankles under a skirt, which opens at the front and has large plaits over the hips.
[6]: 47–50, 54 The Wenming xinzhuang continued the unbroken tradition of Han Chinese women's matching a jacket with a skirt which has been established for thousand of years.
[6]: 47–50, 54 With time, the skirt length eventually shortened to the point where the calves of the wearer was exposed, and the ao had a lower collar and an arc shaped vents started to appear on both sides.
