Figure 1.--Here we see three generations of Chinese (children, mothers, and grandmothers). Notice the hats. There wre different dtyles. We are not sure what region is involved here. TYhe photograph may have been take in the 1930s.

We know realtively little about Chinese traditional clothing worn through the 19th and early-20th century and to what extent there were specific garments worn by boys. The subject is complicated bvecause China is a large, diverse country composed of several different regions and many minority groups, although Chinese polivcy, especially Communist policy is to enforce the standards and beliefs of the Han majority. This has included fashion. A student in Shanghai has provided us some informational on traditional clothing. Boys commonly wore Changshan (some people think that is same as Qipao, which is wrong), especially before 1911. After the Chinese Communist victory in 1949 these garments were no longer worn. It was like a dress with long sleeves, high collar (also call the mandarin collar), and often a vest on the outside. The buttons for boys are always on the left side, from the neck to left arm (under). For girls the buttons were always on the right side. Adults wore this garment as well. [Cheng]

Sources

Wang Cheng, e-Mail, August 29, 2002.

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Created: August 30, 2002
Last updated: 7:59 PM 9/26/2018