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A Brief History of Traditional Chinese Pants

Author: Hanfu Male
by Hanfu Male
Posted: Mar 18, 2020

Traditional Chinese pants, as essential clothing, have an extended history in China. Han people generally wear trousers, not only from the Han. On the contrary, the Han nationality is taken into account to be one among the first nations within the world to wear pants.

Traditional Chinese pants are often divided into two types: one is named Kun, and therefore the other is called Ku.

Kun is an old underpants with the crotch; consistent with this archaeological evidence, Kun is often traced back to the late Neolithic.

It is often divided into two types:one is extremely short and almost like the contemporary triangle underpants, which was called Dubi Kun in the past; "Dubi Kun" features a history of quite 5000 years and remains utilized in some parts of up to date Asia.

The other is slightly wider and almost like the contemporary beach pants, which have two visible pants with knee-length. Compared with the "Dubi Kun" to be more formal, so it's been widely utilized in the past dynasties, especially in hot areas.Usually, in ancient times, few people will directly expose Kun to the surface apart from the farmers, servants, or soldiers.

Ku is the outer pants of the past. Within the early stage, Ku is particularly the outer pants with open crotch. Within the later stage, the boundary between Ku and, therefore, the lengthening style Kun is gradually blurred. The rationale why we can't understand the existence and application of open crotch pants is that our impression of open crotch pants is predicated on the contemporary baby open crotch pants. In the past, open crotch pants were rarely worn alone, and that they were usually added to Kun with the crotch.

Painted figurines within the TangThe function of Ku is to stay warm. The Ku used for keeping warm is typically thick, several which are made from wool or maybe fur. The normal Ku is formed of plane cutting, so it can't fit the physical body well. When the fabric itself is thick, the crotch processing becomes troublesome, which affects the comfort of wearing or hinders the movement of the physical body. Therefore the more convenient way isn't to form crotch in the least.

Ppen crotch pants unearthed in Southern SungKu is often divided into two types consistent with style:one contains the waistband, which is connected with two trouser tubes, but the crotch isn't sewed. The surface of this sort of pants seems like the lower body is going to be exposed once they are worn. However, thanks to the full waist of the pants, an outsized overlapping area are going to be formed at the closing a part of the size in actual wearing. Additionally, there's a canopy of Kun and hem inside, so there's no problem of exposure.

Another quite Ku is that two trouser tubes are separated, and there's no waistband. When it's used, it's persisted the tie of the Ku by the rope belt. During a few cases, it's also continued the belt of the coat, and therefore the hem of the jacket is stuffed into the trouser tube.

According to Ku's warm-keeping use, it is often inferred that Ku is more likely to be utilized in the north of China than within the south. this will even be confirmed by a comprehensive investigation of historical relics and documents. Therefore, the utilization of crotch pants mainly depends on the climate, not the state. Many nomadic people within the north of Asia still have the habit of using leather Ku in autumn and winter.

In addition to Ku for keeping warm, there's also a sort of decorative Ku. Because Ku is added to Kun, the decoration design of the bottoms will naturally be mainly utilized in Ku. Under this type of design thinking, a sort of Ku emphasizing decoration is gradually derived. This type of Ku is formed of thin materials, which are usually decorated with embroidery or jacquard fabric or maybe brocade, while Ku's original warm-keeping function is weakened.

It is worth mentioning that Otzi, the Iceman mummy found within the Alps of Italy in 1991, is about 5300 years old. Additionally, to the excellent preservation of sentimental tissue, the fragments of clothing have also been preserved. Later, archaeologists have restored the garments worn by Otzi, consistent with these samples of clothing fragments. The bottoms that oz wears also are crotch free pants with two legs separated. It's very almost like traditional Chinese pants. Maybe these pants aren't invented and spread by a particular nation, but the commonness within the development of personal clothing.

About the Author

A Chinese traditional culture & history writer, also write makeup and hairstyle of hanfu. Like travel and photography.

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Author: Hanfu Male

Hanfu Male

Member since: Mar 14, 2020
Published articles: 1

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