The qipao became popular among Han women. One of the reasons for its success was its simplicity and convenience. It was made of two pieces of cloth and had slits at the sides to allow the woman to move easily. The legend about the origin of qipao underlines this characteristic. It tells the story of a pretty young fisherwoman who lived by the Jingbo Lake. When fishing, she would often feel hindered by her long and loose fitting dress. Therefore she had the idea of making a more practical dress. She made a multi-looped-button gown with slits, which allowed her to tuck in the front piece of her garment, thus making fishing much easier. The legend says that the emperor who ruled the country at that time had once had a dream foretelling that a fisherwoman in a qipao living by the Jingbo Lake would become his wife. He managed to find the lady and marry her.
The Qipao, Symbol of a Social Transition
In 1911, a revolution toppled the rule of the Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China was founded. According to Cao Juren, a scholar who studied the history of the qipao, most Manchus gave up wearing qipaos and wore Han style clothing instead. Therefore at the turn of the century, very few people wore the qipao, until it came back into fashion again in the 1920s. But, as Cao highlighted, the “new” qipao worn in the 1920s was very different from that of the Manchu. While the Manchu qipao was worn with trousers inside (the embroidered edges of the trousers were seen through the slits of the dress), new style qipaos were worn with silk stockings. The early 20th century was a period of great social change. The cheongsam (the Cantonese name for qipao, which means “long dress”) came to signify modernity. “A new Western concept was that of gender equality, and this encouraged community leaders in their campaign for women’s freedom to receive an education, to choose a career and determine their marriage partners. Educated women and those from wealthy families took the opportunity to experiment with these new possibilities,” curator Claire Roberts explained in her book, Evolution & Revolution: Chinese Dress 1700s-1990s’. “The cheongsam—which was born alongside a growing awareness of women’s rights — symbolized this transition. It is significant that Chinese women, after being released from such restrictive traditions, selected the cheongsam as their national dress,” she said.