2024年3月14日发(作者：)

30 聚焦服饰文化

Chinese Costume Culture

中国服饰文化

译/杨亦彬

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s a vital part of Chinese civiliza-

tion, traditional costumes play an

important role in the country’s history

and culture. Nowadays, traditional at-

tires are only worn during certain festi-

vals, ceremonies or religious occasions.

However, they are often seen in Chinese

television serials and movies. Many of

the country’s ethnic minorities also wear

traditional costumes in their daily lives.

2

Based on historical discoveries, Chi-

nese clothes date back to the later era of

Paleolithic Times (1.7 million years ago

—

the 21st century BC). Materials used were

of animal skins and decorations were of

small stones and animal teeth. The “real”

clothes were not invented until about

5,000 years ago by the Yellow Emperor.

By the Shang Dynasty (17th century

BC

—1046 BC), the basic features of tradi-

tional Chinese attire were created, as well

as the general pattern of blouse plus skirt.

Later, the long gown appeared during the

Zhou Dynasty (1046

—256 BC) and it co-

existed with the blouse-skirt combinations

for thousands of years, improving further

as time passed.

2022·11 英语世界

A

传

统服饰是中华文明的重

要组成部分，在中国历

史和文化中扮演着重要的角

色。如今，人们只在特定节日、

仪式或宗教场合穿着传统服

饰。但在中国的影视剧中，传

统服饰依然十分常见。许多少

数民族也会在日常生活中穿着

他们的传统服饰。

2

历史研究发现，中国的服

饰可以追溯到旧石器时代晚期

（170万年前—公元前21世

纪）。当时人们以兽皮为面料，

以小石子或动物牙齿做装饰。

直到至今约5000年前，黄帝

才发明了真正意义上的服装。

商代（公元前17世纪—前

1046）形成了中国传统服饰的

基本特征以及上衣下裳的普遍

搭配模式。此后，长袍于周代

（公元前1046—前256）出现，

袍服制与上衣下裳组合并存数

千年之久，随着时间的推移不

断发展。

聚焦服饰文化 31

In addition to the basic features and

patterns, traditional Chinese attires have

many other features like appearance,

cutting, decoration, color and design,

etc, all of which changed over the vari-

ous dynasties. For example, black is the

most dignified color in the Xia Dynasty

(21st

—17th century BC), white in the

Shang Dynasty and red in the Zhou

Dynasty. They also vary based on one’s

political position, social status, occu-

pation and gender, etc. For instance,

dragon embroideries and bright yellow

can only be used by emperors most of

the time; in the Tang Dynasty (618

—907

AD), purple official costumes are for

the fifth or higher rank officials; in the

Qing Dynasty (1644

—1911 AD), the

higher a person’s social rank or the

richer one was, the more embroideries

and borders there were on his attires.

4

Although the fashion trend changes

over time, there are several types that

are popular till today both at home and

abroad.

Traditional Han Chinese Clothing

(Han Fu): It refers to the attire worn by

the Han people from the enthronement

of the Yellow Emperor (about 2698 BC)

till the late Ming Dynasty (1368

—1644

AD). It became known as the Han Fu

(“fu” means “clothes” in Chinese)

because the fashion was improved and

popularized during the Han Dynasty.

It is usually in the form of long gown,

3

3

在基本的特征和样式外，

中国传统服饰的许多其他特

征——如外观、剪裁、装饰、

色彩、图案等——在朝代的更

迭中不断改变。比如，夏代

（公元前21世纪—前17世纪）

最尊贵的颜色是黑色，在商代

则是白色，周代是红色。服饰

也会因穿着者的政治地位、社

会阶层、职业和性别等因素而

不同。比方说，龙纹刺绣和

明黄色通常为皇帝专用；在唐

代（618—907），紫色官服为

五品及以上官员专用；在清代

（1644—1911），一个人社会地

位或富有程度越高，其服饰

上的刺绣纹样和镶边也就越

多。

4

尽管时尚潮流不断改变，

今天，仍有数种中国传统服饰

在海内外广为流行。

汉族传统服饰（汉服）：

汉服是指自黄帝即位（约公元

前2698年）至明朝（1368—

1644）晚期汉族人民穿着的服

装。其风尚在汉代得到发展并

大为盛行，因而得名“汉服”

（Han Fu，fu在中文里意为“服

装”）。其特征为交领右衽、广

袖宽袍、隐扣系带。汉服尽管

纹样简朴，却能给不同的穿着

者带来各异的感受。

英语世界 2022·11

32 聚焦服饰文化

cross collar, wrapping the right lapel

over the left, loose wide sleeves and no

buttons but a sash. Although simple in

design, it gives different feelings to dif-

ferent wearers.

Chinese Suit (Tang Zhuang): It is a

combination of the Manchu male jacket

of the Qing Dynasty and the western

style suit. It is usually straight collared,

with coiled

1

buttons down the front. Its

color and design are in traditional Chi-

nese style but the tailoring is western.

Cheongsam (Qi Pao): Originated

from the Manchu female clothes, it

evolved by merging with western pat-

terns that show off the beauty of a

female body. Its features are straight

collar, strain on the waist, coiled but-

tons and slits on both sides of the dress.

Materials used are usually silk, cotton

and linen. Cheongsam is the most popu-

lar Chinese attire in the world today.

Chinese Tunic Suit (Zhongshan

Zhuang): Also called the Yat-sen Suit,

it is designed by Dr. Sun Yat-sen

2

by

combining the western-style suit and

Chinese attire. It has a turn-down col-

lar and four pockets with flaps. It is the

main attire from the founding of the

People’s Republic of China in 1949 till

1980’s. The country’s leaders still wear

it today when attending important occa-

中式套装（唐装）：唐装

融合了清代满族男士上衣和西

式正装，通常为立领，前襟正

中列有盘扣。其颜色和纹样均

为中国传统风格，但采用了西

式的剪裁方法。

长衫（旗袍）：旗袍源自

满族妇女服装，在演进过程中

融入了西式剪裁，以彰显女性

身形之美。旗袍的特点为立领、

收腰、盘扣，且在衣裙两侧均

有开衩。其材质通常为丝绸、

棉和亚麻。旗袍是当今世界上

最为流行的中式服装。

中式紧身套装（中山装）：

中山装由孙中山先生设计，是

西服与中式服装的融合产物。

其特点为翻领、有四个带盖口

袋。自1949年新中国成立至

20世纪80年代，中山装是中

国人的主要服装。直至今天，

在阅兵仪式等重要场合，国家

1 coil盘绕，卷成卷。 2原文为“孙逸仙博士”。实际上，孙中山并无博士称号，

英文习惯称其为Dr. Sun Yat

-

sen，是指其于1892年获得的医师（Medical Doctor）头衔，

因此，按照中文习惯译为“孙中山先生”更加恰当。

2022·11 英语世界

聚焦服饰文化 33

sions, such as military parades.

Other Types

Traditional Manchu Clothing: It is the

traditional dress of the Manchu ethnic

nationality, usually in the form of long

gown and sometimes with a jacket or

waistcoat outside. Since Manchu is the

leading class of the Qing Dynasty and

their dresses were strongly promoted,

this kind of clothes was very popular in

that period. The characteristics are round

or straight collar, fasten with buttons

from the right collar and a sash on the

waist, two or four slits, and tight sleeves

with cuffs shaped like horse hoofs

3

.

Traditional Clothing of the Other

Ethnic Minorities: In addition to Man-

chu, the country has 54 ethnic minorities

and each of them has their own unique

costumes. Unlike the traditional Han

Chinese costumes, these costumes are

still widely worn today. Basically, they

can be divided into two types: long gown

and short coat with pants or skirt. They

usually wear long gowns with hats and

boots; others prefer short coat and gener-

ally wrap their head with cloth and wear

shoes. People wearing the same type of

clothes can be further distinguished by

the costume details like the structure,

craft and style, etc. Take the long gown

领导人仍穿着中山装出席。

其他种类

满族传统服饰：满族的传

统服装通常为长袍，有时外面

套一件马褂或马甲。由于满族

是清代的统治阶级，且其服饰

得到大力推广，满族服装在此

时期盛行。其通常为圆领或立

领，衣服由领子右侧的盘扣和

一条腰带系紧，下身有两个或

四个开衩，窄袖的袖头形如马

蹄。

其他少数民族传统服饰：

除满族以外，中国还有54个

其他少数民族，他们都有各自

独特的民族服饰。不同于汉族

传统服饰，这些民族服饰至今

仍被人们广泛穿着。这些服饰

可以大致分为两类：一类为长

袍，另一类则为短衣和裙或裤

的搭配。有些民族穿着长袍、

搭配帽子和靴子；另一些民族

则穿着短上衣，常常包裹头巾

并搭配鞋子。根据服饰结构、

工艺、风格等细节，可以进一

步区分穿着同类服饰的诸多民

族。以长袍为例，蒙古族和土

3清朝服饰的袖是在本来就比较狭窄的袖口的前边，再接一个半圆形的“袖头”，

因为形状像“马蹄”，所以人们都习惯地叫它“马蹄袖”，满族人则称它为“哇哈”。

cuff袖口。

英语世界 2022·11

34 聚焦服饰文化

for instance. The Mongolian and Tu

nationalities prefer high collared gown

with buttons down the front; the Tibet

and Monba groups wear collarless gown

with buttons on one side and the Uygur

love those with buttons on the right.

Officials’ Uniform: Unlike modern

China, almost all kinds of officials in an-

cient times had uniforms. They are strict-

ly distinguished by colors, embroidered

patterns and hats, etc. For instance, in the

Ming Dynasty, the embroidered pattern

on a first rank civil officer’s uniform was

a crane, second rank a golden pheasant,

third rank a peacock, fourth rank a wild

goose, fifth rank a silver pheasant, sixth

rank an egret, seventh rank a “purple

mandarin duck”, eighth rank an oriole

and ninth rank a quail.

Traditional Wedding Costumes: Chinese

traditional wedding costumes vary in

different dynasties and time periods.

However, they are red most of the time

as red is considered lucky, happy and

auspicious in the country’s culture. The

most well-known are red chaplet and of-

ficial robes, which are still widely worn

today by the newly-weds in traditional

style wedding ceremonies or for taking

wedding photos.

■

族偏好高领袍，其扣子位于前

襟中央；藏族和门巴族则穿着

无领袍，其扣子位于前襟的一

侧；维吾尔族则偏好扣子位于

右侧的长袍。

官服：与现代中国不同，

古代中国的官员几乎都有各自

的官服。官员根据服装颜色、

刺绣补服纹样、官帽等严格区

分等级。比如说，在明代，一

品文官的刺绣图案为仙鹤，二

品文官为锦鸡，三品孔雀，四

品云雁，五品白鹇，六品鹭鸶，

七品“紫鸳鸯”，八品黄鹂，

九品鹌鹑。

传统婚服：中国传统婚服

根据朝代和时期的不同而各异。

不过通常情况下婚服都使用红

色，因为按照中国文化，红色

是幸运、快乐和吉祥的颜色。

最为人熟知的传统婚服有红色

头冠和官服长袍，它们至今仍

是新婚佳人举行传统婚礼或拍

摄婚纱照时的热门着装。

□

（译者为“《英语世界》杯”

翻译大赛获奖者）

2022·11 英语世界