Encyclopedia > Qipao

  Article Content

Qipao

The qipao (旗袍) or qipaor (旗袍儿), also known as the cheongsam or mandarin gown, is a body-hugging woman's dress originating from the Manchus.

History When the Manchu began to rule China, certain social strata were arranged. Among the strata were the 旗 (qi or "banners"), mostly Manchu, who as a group were called 旗人 (qiren or "banner people"). Manchu women typically wore a one-piece dress which came to be known as the 旗袍 (qipao or "banner dress"). The dress proved popular enough to survive the political turmoil of the 1911 revolution which toppled the 清 (Qing) Dynasty and, as a result, and with later refinements, has become the archetypal dress for Chinese women.

External links



All Wikipedia text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License

 
  Search Encyclopedia

Search over one million articles, find something about almost anything!
 
 
  
  Featured Article
North Lindenhurst, New York

... in the town. The population density is 2,391.2/km² (6,199.1/mi²). There are 3,883 housing units at an average density of 789.1/km² (2,045.6/mi²). ...

 
 
 
This page was created in 36.6 ms