Hey y’all, I figure I’d change things up a bit here. Wanted to write a quick intro (but still long, I’ll try to keep it concise!!!) to men’s hanfu both just so generally people who may not know as much about hanfu can get a quick up-to-speed and also so I can process my own thoughts as I think about what I want to purchase lol. Please bear with me as I focus on form and function. I don’t know much about women’s hanfu, and even this about men’s hanfu is pretty surface-level and lacking in historical knowledge. I keep referring to a “knowledgeable Zhihu user” throughout, so I will just refer to him as KZU (呆蛙 if you want to look at his stuff. 1) (2) (3), and (i) (ii) (iii), as I originally planned, I decided to use the 天干地支 followed by numbers. I hope y’all enjoy it! This is the most “basic” type of men’s hanfu. P.P.S. Turns out I worked on this for a little less than a month. It’s the most basic because skirts were likely the first type of clothing to exist for the purpose of covering your nasty external organs. Form: This is the emperor’s clothing. It is a “shirt” or garment (上衣) over which a skirt (下裳) is wrapped. Modern Function: Don’t do it. It’s the emperor’s clothing. You’ll notice how complex it is, with ample cosmological symbology and a full assortment of adornments (including the 冕冠 miǎnguān, the famous hat with the beads coming down; the 蔽膝 bìxī, a special lapel worn over the skirt, and; the 大帶 dàdài, a special belt with two streamers going down) on top of a grand, very flowing version of the basic garment and skirt. The same accessories are present such as bixi and the 佩綬 pèishòu, the belt fastening two white streamers down the middle. Form: Similar to the mianfu, xuanduan started out as court dress for officials and priests performing high rituals, so there’s a natural resemblance to the Son of Heaven’s own coronation outfit. Modern Function: Very formal occasion. I imagine only for state rituals and religious ceremonies. Form: This is the relatively unadorned yishang which ordinary people, usually the scholars or gentry, worn. Modern Function: Everyday walking around. Laborers and merchants probably didn’t have much use for a skirt. Many yishangs are sold this way: as a set for two people. SPECIAL NOTE: A very knowledgeable zhihu user (linked above) (from here KZU) has enlightened me that most yishang on the market for men are actually just women’s clothing “increased a size and marketed as men’s clothing.” This is probably because hanfu remains mostly a women’s activity, so having matching outfits makes it cute and they can rope their boyfriends in and all. However, proper men’s yishang have two properties: 廣袖長衫/广袖长衫: wide sleeves and long upper garments. The men’s yishang on the market are narrow-sleeved and have “short” upper garments (in this case, as this bilibili article (Chinese) points out, a good indicator of a “long upper garment” for an average male would be an upper garment longer than a meter). Obviously this practice will disgust the people who value historicity and authenticity, as it does the KZU who is pretty emphatic about his distaste for the practice. But the other thing you should note is that the current popular yishang look was probably inspired by Japanese kyudo (archery) gis, and even in this, women kyudo practitioners wear the skirt while men wear the hakama trousers, so the bilibili article quips that many unaware hanfu male wearers are actually “cosplaying” as Japanese women. Nonetheless, I personally sometimes think that if it is what is popular, and technically the narrow sleeves and short garment uses less material, then perhaps it could be considered a modernization of sorts, which would be required if hanfu as a distinctive clothing tradition (and not just as elements, such as like a pifeng-inspired cardigan) is to continue. What’s popular nowadays (here the sleeves are tight and narrow. Proper (notice the wide sleeves and the very long upper garment. Form: A very dignified outfit for scholar-gentry, fitted with peishou. Often monochromatic. You rarely see people wearing the shenyi without a 副巾 fújīn, a sort of turban to cover the hair and head, adding austerity to the outfit. Since the “yishang” hasn’t at all violated hanfu’s basic structure, na if hanfu enthusiasts enjoy it, then what is stopping us from creating and wearing such an outfit? As far as I can tell, this type of hanfu takes the basic type of 上衣下裳 but sews the upper garment and the lower skirt into a single piece of clothing. Graduations, coming of age ceremonies seem appropriate. Form: Loose-fitting tunic-robe for scholars. Modern Function: Formal events. Since it is collared and not folding like the shenyi, it seems to lack some of the august austerity which defines ceremonial clothing like the xuanduan and shenyi. Modern Function: Formal events, especially academic. Form: Both of those are influenced or find origins in Mongolian clothing during the Yuan dynasty, so you see this type of clothing more in the Ming dynasty. Graduations seem appropriate. Seems people also are ok with just walking around with this on, since it’s a scholar outfit generally. The skirts are pleated, giving a distinctive and surprisingly rigid and severe look. These are very easy to point out: unlike many of the other outfits here, these are ostentatious, colorful (one of the few instances in which bright colors may be more appropriate, since darker colors on men was more the norm), and sporting bold designs and embroidery. The differences between yisan and tieli are really quite structurally minute. One of those differences has to do with the manufacturing, and I don’t fully understand it yet. Basically, if you look at an yisan, there is one pleat in the middle that is larger than the other pleats, whereas tieli does not. Modern Function: This strikes me as an excellent outfit for athletic events but maybe not normal athletic exercises. The other more obvious difference is that yisan has what is called a 馬面褶 mǎmiànzhé, or a horse-faced pleat. It’s a little ostentatious for my tastes, but it seems a popular type for guys to just walk around in too, most likely because it gives the wuxia feel. These hanfu have also become popular gender-neutral outfits, so you’ll see women wearing this as well. I follow somebody (American) on Instagram who’s an avid archer and will do archery events in a yisan (and apparently many Chinese, Chinese-American archers will proudly don this in archery events). In contrast to the above, these hanfu are a further simplification of 上衣下裳 and simply creates a single piece of clothing instead of creating the upper garment and skirt separately and then sewing them together. Tang, Song, and Ming style yuanlingpao are popular, with the first and the last probably the most popular. Form: This is a pretty popular style that simple resembles a shirt, albeit one that is much longer and flowing. Ming-style is probably the most popular, but for me gives off a “government official” feel, with the whole inner collar thing and poofiness going on. To me, the Tang-style yuanlingpao seems to resemble Soghdian and Persian styles, which is interesting. Modern Function: Everyday walking around. Form: These are just straight-up robes. They started out as mostly the clothing of religious clergy, hence the name “daopao” (robe of a Daoist priest). Nonetheless, by the Ming Dynasty, these became the favored dress of the scholar-gentry. In many ways, the daopao and zhishen are the exact same, with the slight difference that the 下擺 xiàbǎi, the lower hem used to cover the 衩 chà, the vent of the garment, is in a different location. The daopao has its lower hem on the inside of the garment, while the zhishen has the xiabai attached the outer part of the garment. The daopao in particular is the dress of many portraits of dignitaries of the Ming Dynasty, so it strikes me as a sort of “special but not too special occasion” sort of idea. Form: Almost exactly the same as the above, but now without a 下擺 xiabai entirely. Modern Function: Somewhat more formal, but otherwise good for leisure. The cha, the vent of the garment, is simply left open. Modern Function: Everyday walking around. Manchu changshan, so zhiduo seems suitable for athletic exercise as well. As such, this is probably the most common tongcai you will see in paintings as ordinary people just walk around in this. These are outfits that combine an upper garment with trousers/pants, which you’ll notice has the same pronunciation as the modern day word for pants 褲/裤. Not much needs to be explained about this one! This was the clothing of the Chinese peasants and common folk. Suitable for just walking around since you’re not dragging a skirt everywhere. In a lot of cases, such as the zhiduo above, pants are also somewhat expected. For almost all of these hanfu, undergarments were expected. Otherwise you could show off your ugly legs to other people; but also, since zhiduo and yuanlingpao among others go well with boots, it’s better to wear trousers and tuck them into the boots for comfort and practicality. As you can see, they look exactly like what a patriarch/emperor character is wearing in the “dying in bed from illness” scenes in period dramas. These are mostly white: a tied trouser and a top garment. I imagine nowadays, some guys just wear modern undergarments underneath their hanfu. You wear it when you are cold. There usually isn’t a formality requirement for outerwear. I’m tempted to call these “windbreakers”, since the word itself means “guard against the wind”, and I feel “windbreaker” captures the function of this outerwear: it’s not there for heavy winter, but for when there’s a slight chilly wind in the air. In the Ming dynasty, these were mostly worn over your clothing and then tied at its center, to reinforce its “warding off the wind” function. These are probably best described as cloaks. It’s definitely there for colder days. These are cloaks that you drape over your other clothing. These are thicker, heavier versions of shangyi, with huge sleeves. They have became fairly popular since you see them a lot in period dramas. Specifically, it appears doupeng are Manchu clothing and thus historically have no place alongside hanfu. Most of the adornments you would see nowadays are specifically paired with a certain outfit, so they were covered above. Other than that, most of the adornments for men were the 腰帶 yāodài the belt from which often you could hang 腰佩 yāopèi, resembling ornaments hung on string. However, apparently they are a recent invention. Nowadays, most hanfu-wearing men don’t seem to bother with the headwear except perhaps for formal occasions. Like peishi, they are normally paired with the clothing, most notably the fujin with the shenyi. I for one will probably find no problem wearing a baseball cap with hanfu. Obviously very important in prior times. I’ve seen a lot of people (pictures and real life) just wearing Converse or tennis shoes with hanfu, whatever makes you comfortable. Not too much to say here. 草履 cǎolǚ straw sandals for the wandering ascetic look I guess. Boots go well with the more “militaristic” or “official” hanfu like yuanlingpao and zhiduo. It is difficult to find shops that sell quality men’s hanfu, and as shown above with the 衣裳 problem, there are surprisingly quite a few traps for the unweary. It’s true that hanfu is more of a woman’s activity at the moment. 洞庭汉风 is the only Taobao shop I’ve seen so far that does exclusively men’s hanfu. I’m sure I haven’t uncovered all of them yet. Some vendors have more military-minded options, such as 商邑武备, while 华夏节奏 even prides itself on its 胡服 húfú products (clothing of the northern nomadic peoples). There’s definitely more than this short list that I am just not aware of. 明华堂 is a high-end vendor which specializes in Ming dynasty clothing, specifically daopao, zhishen, yuanlingpao (Ming), yisan, and tieli. Chinese clothing (central term, but I didn’t have the occasion to use it above). This term would encompass not only hanfu, but the clothing of all of China’s nationalities. Therefore, clothing (outerwear) that is 對襟 (duìjīn) means that you just put on the clothing without folding it so that the two “lapels” are parallel to each other. 右衽 (yòu rèn): the principle that, in wearing hanfu, you always tuck the right side underneath the left side (左前襟掩向右腋携带，将右襟掩覆与内/The left lapel is the front one you move over towards your right armpit and tie, taking the right lapel and sticking it inside). An easy way to remember it is that the “collars” of the hanfu is supposed to make a “y” shape. This is one sticking point for me in the latest Mortal Kombat. I have no idea why Liu Kang’s 交領 jiāolíng, generally term for “cross collar” or folded upper garments of hanfu, has his right jin over the left, since Liu Kang is not dead in that version. Raiden also wears it backwards, which is strange, because he may be a (demi)god but he’s not dead. As you can see, it’s almost like 同胞 (tóngbāo) compatriot (same-womb) in both writing and pronunciation. 同袍 (tóngpáo): A slang for hanfu enthusiasts to refer to each other (same-robe). KZU suggests “dark blue, gray, and dark green”. Daopao’s I’ve seen in a range of lighter color like light green and pink, and this seems more acceptable than in other contexts (perhaps it’s the milieu of the Ming Dynasty). In terms of color, men tend to wear darker, more conservative colors. Also don’t do yellow (emperor) and be a little careful of white, especially those white hanfu with flower designs. KZU suggests to avoid “black and red combos”, probably like this, as this apparently is classic 影樓/影楼 “film studio” look that isn’t very accurate. Some others, like “yishang” are probably ok with some design. Daopao’s are definitely good for 暗紋/暗纹 ànwén “subtle designs”, the kind of embroidery you would only see if held under a light (cuz that’s some fancy work yo). But at any rate, you should be careful not to go overboard with decorations and design motifs (e.g. stitched flowers or other designs). Some hanfu for men are supposed to be ostentatious (like yisan or tieli which have vivid and colorful designs). 娘炮 niángpào or effeminate for the sake of pursuing inaccurate “film studio” looks. The 钢铁直男 of the hanfu community probably rightfully criticizes (if you come from the angle of historical accuracy vs. In the end, the ethos for men’s hanfu is about the same as for modern clothing. Most men don’t tend to wear egregiously decorative shirts unless they’re asking to stand out. It’s mostly stuff like this. I’ve only newly 入了坑 (fell into this pit), so it is very likely I have some mistakes here! Nonetheless, I hope this is at least a decent primer. I do intend to read a book about the subject: 中国古代服饰研究，沈从文着, which has been described as the holy book for hanfu enthusiasts, investigating hanfu closely in correspondence with excavated materials and contemporary artwork.
