Western-style garments have been widely prevalent in Asian countries, but Easternstyles have still been maintained. Some garments with heavy traditional flavor ,such as Qipao, kimono, sari also survived the chaos of history and changed through aesthetic interests and living customs to replace the old with the new. They developed from the complex to the simple, and from focusing on decoration to emphasizing comfort, thus taking a more realistic road of development.

The inscription in Princess Rong Xian’s tomb, excavated in Baiyindeng , Inner Mongolia, told us that the Princess died in 1728, and was the third daughter of the Emperor Kang Xi of Qing Dynasty. All the dresses excavated were made of the first silk with extravagant embroidery in a sign of imperial aristocracy. The whole pao was in a basic style with quite delicate but simple decorative patterns. It had right-side buttoning front, slender body with wide lower hem, tight tailoring under the arms and a round collar trimmed with narrow black embroidery, One of the excavated dresses had exquisite embroidery with patterns symbolizing. Fortune and a pattern of ten flying butterflies on the lower hem, and of two large butterflies embroidered on the chest, back, shoulders and knees. These richly decorative patterns on the Qipao convey the vibrancy and magnificence of the period.

Briefly, the excavated relics clearly reveal the following characteristics:

Shape: The familiar “A-like” with round collar, right-side buttoning front, narrow body, and wide lower hem.
Color: In a clear departure from the traditional rich colors used in the imperial court of the late Ming Dynasty, the simple but elegant colors used clearly reflect the southern landlords’ cultural influence, and the feudal scholar-officials’ aesthetics which became the dominant standard of appreciation at the beginning of the Qing Dynasty.

Decorative accessories: Applying the technique of combining dynamic and static features together with multiple changes in patterns. AS an ancient Chinese dress, the Qipao has occupied a certain position in modern life. Distinctive characteristics of the Qipao allow it to be well worth saving.

1.strong national characteristics: With respect to national spirit this means cultural quality and national consciousness, while with respect to ethnic style, this reflects emotional processes, the external form of national spirit. Qipao is a kind of dress with rich ethnic styles, which differentiates it form the wrapped sari, and also form the tied kimono. It has integrated the Manchu culture with Han culture, and become a crystallization of the Chinese national dress. It has been also influenced by the result of interchanges between Western and Asian garment styles.

Western people became familiar with Chinese people through the image of the Qipao, because this kind of close-fitting dress is different form the European corset dress, Russian platye, and Vietnamese women’s style-of wearing a long gown. It is not an exaggeration to say that the Qipao, the representative image of East Asian women, is regarded as a masterpiece of excellence. Present-day Qipao’s, shape, color, fabrics, decorative accessories, connotations and lingering charms are the quintessential sedimentation of a thousand-year garment culture and the continuity of traditional ideas.

Chinese people show strong preference towards red: red silk, red satin, red velvet, red wool. It may seem that the introverted character is contradicted with fervent colors when actually they mutually reinforce each other. Contradictions do exist between motion and motionlessness, between the soft and the hard. However, there will be no motionlessness without comparison to motion, and no passion without the comparison to tender feelings.

Therefore, strong national characteristics come out when the chosen color for Qipao is red and other brilliant colors.Among adornments on the Qipao the uniquely made frog closure, and decorative piping are very rare in other traditional and national garments. Frog closure is one of the ancient “Chinese knots.” This kind of knot, having appeared in primitive society, the Neolithic Age, is a kind of folk handicraft. It has accumulated much brilliance and creative potential up to now. Frog closure is an art of fine process in the small area of the button’s position on the Qipao, which utilizes the technique of Chinese knot and takes Nature as the theme. This is the wisdom of the Chinese people, the national art and quintessence of the Chinese nation.
Brocade, satin, crepe and silk are silk textiles made in China, and on most of those textiles these are auspicious patterns symbolizing happiness and fortune. Since the Qipao’s fabrics are mainly selected from domestically made materials, the completed dress not only conveys traditional meaning but also a profound spirit.