Tanling ruqun

Tanling ruqun
Maid wearing tanling ruqun and pipo, mural from the tomb of Wei Guifei (韋貴妃), Tang dynasty
Chinese name
Chinese	坦领襦裙
Literal meaning	Flat (or open-hearted) collar jacket skirt
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Tǎnlǐng rúqún
English name
English	Tan collar ruqun/ U-collar ruqun

Tanling ruqun (Chinese: 坦领襦裙; pinyin: Tǎnlǐng rúqún; lit. 'Flat (or open-hearted) collar jacket skirt'), also known as Tan collar ruqun and U-collar ruqun,^[1] is a type of Hanfu which was developed under the influence of Hufu (most likely influenced by Qiuci);^[2] it is a form a kind of ruqun which typically consists of three parts, featuring a low-cut^{[3]: 93–94} low-cut U-shaped collar upper inner garment with long sleeves, a U-shaped collar banbi upper outer garment with short sleeves, a long high-waisted skirt.^[4][2][5] It can also be adorned with a shawl, called pipo (Chinese: 披帛).^[6][5] It was a popular form of clothing attire in the Sui and Tang dynasty.^[2] In the 21st century, the Tanling ruqun re-appeared as a result of the Hanfu movement.^[6] The 21st century Tanling ruqun was developed by reproducing the original patterns of the historical tanling ruqun while being aligned with modern aesthetics.^[7]

Terminology

The term tanling ruqun is composed of the terms tanling and ruqun. Tanling (Chinese: 坦领; pinyin: Tǎnlǐng) refers to the U-shaped (Chinese: 坦; pinyin: Tǎn; lit. 'flat collar/ open-hearted') collar (Chinese: 领; pinyin: Lǐng; lit. 'Collar') of the upper garment, typically specifically referring to the U-shaped banbi which is worn as an outer upper garment.^[2][8] The term ruqun refers to the traditional two piece attire of the ancient Han Chinese consisting of a skirt and an upper garment called ru.^[8]

Construction and design

The tanling ruqun is mainly composed three parts: a long wrap skirt, a U-shaped collar inner shirt with long sleeves, and a tanling banbi (a U-shaped short sleeves outer jacket).^[4]

Unearthed artefacts dating in the Tang dynasty, such as sculptures and paintings show that the long-sleeves, low-cut inner shirt could be tucked under the long (high-waisted^{[3]: 93 [9]: 85}) skirts.^[10]: 291The skirts could be embellished with stripe patterns of two colours or be found in monochrome colours.^{[4][10]: 291 [9]: 87} The banbi falls above the waist^[10]: 291or were waist-length,^[4] and they could be embellished with embroidered borders at the wrist.^[10]: 291 The banbi could also be tucked under or worn over the long skirt.^{[4][3]: 93–94} The tanling ruqun can also be worn together with a shawl, called pipo (Chinese: 披帛), around the arms or the shoulders of its wearer;^{[9]: 85–86} they could also wear it together with variety of hats.^[10]: 291In the Tang dynasty, hats of foreign origins or influence, such as the mili, weimao and humao, were worn when horseback riding.^[10]: 291

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  Tang dynasty female sculpture wearing a low cut, U-shaped collar shirt with long sleeves without the tanling banbi
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  Detailed of a Tang dynasty woman wearing a tanling banbi under a skirt. There is embroidered borders at the sleeves of the banbi.
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  Woman rider wearing a tanling ruqun and a humao, Horse and female rider, Tang dynasty.^[11]: 291
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  Tang dynasty woman wearing a tanling ruqun and pibo (shawl), she is holding a mili.
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  A maid wearing tanling ruqun with pipo over the shoulders, mural from the tomb of Yanfei (燕妃), Tang dynasty.
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History

The late sixth century, for example in the Sui dynasty, was marked the arrival of new style of women's Hanfu.^[12]: 25 The new style of clothing had high waisted skirt almost similar to the Empire silhouette and the upper garments had low décolletage.^[12]: 25 The Sui dynasty women already liked wearing banbi over their long-sleeved clothing.^[13] Tanling garments, including the tanling banbi, was already popular in the court of the early Sui dynasty, the predecessor of the Tang dynasty.^[14][1] The Tang dynasty continued the clothing style of its predecessor, and women continued to wear high-waisted skirt, low-cut upper garments and long skirts.^{[12]: 25 [15]: 184}

In the early Tang dynasty up to the late 8th century,^[4] banbi were also popular among women, including noble and common women.^[16] According to the New Book of Tang, "banbi, skirt, and ru are common clothes for maids served at the Eastern Palace".^[16] In the 7th century, palace women could wear banbi over a plain shirt and a high-waisted, A-line skirts which could be monochrome or striped.^[4] In the Tang dynasty, new styles of Tanling banbi appeared and became extremely popular.^[14] Some shapes of banbi (such as the tanling banbi) worn in the early Tang appears to have been mainly influenced by the banbi worn in Qiuci.^[16] Figures wearing banbi and striped skirt holding a shawl (pipo) and wearing low cut upper garments appear on the murals of Kizil Grottoes in Xinjiang; the shape and matching garments customs were similar to the early Tang dynasty's women clothing attire.^[16] In the first decade of the 8th century, skirts in monochrome colours became more popular than stripped skirts.^[9]: 85 By the mid-Tang dynasty around the mid-8th century, upper garments with low décolletage lost popularity and women started to cover themselves with shawls; there were also new ideals of beauty favouring extremely plump and voluptuous women over the youthful slenderness of the Sui and the early Tang dynasties.^[12]: 25

• Tanling ruqun in the Tang dynasty
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  Maid from the tomb of Wei guifei (韋貴妃), Tang dynasty.
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  Three female musicians wearing Tanling ruqun, Tang dynasty.
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  Maid, mural from Ashina Zhong (阿史那忠) tomb, Tang dynasty
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  Tanling ruqun, Tang dynasty
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Other types of ruqun

• Mianfu
• Qixiong ruqun
• Qungua (裙褂): a type of ruqun worn as a Traditional Chinese Wedding dress in Qing and in modern era.
• Xiuhefu (秀禾服): a type of aoqun worn as a Traditional Chinese Wedding dress in Qing and in modern era.
• Xuanduan (玄端): a very formal dark ruqun with accessories; equivalent to the Western white tie.

See also

• Han Chinese clothing
• List of Han Chinese clothing
• Ru - Chinese upper garment, also known as ao and shan
• Chang'ao - a long-version of the Chinese upper garment ao
• Banbi

References