Global Perspectives

Trends here, trends there: Traditional clothes

Introduction: As writing instructors in UWRF’s English Language Transition (ELT) Program one of our missions is to involve English learning students in campus activities while strengthening their knowledge of English. We could think of no better way to do this than to have them publish an article in the Student Voice. What you are about to read is the final product of several sessions of brainstorming and writing followed by consultations with native speakers including some from the TESOL program and the Student Voice. -- Kiki Augustin (ESL 211 Intermediate Writing) and Alex Hatheway (MODL 310 Advanced Composition)

Chinese people have traditional clothes and now they are more willing to wear clothes like "Hanfu" or other traditional styles. Hanfu has many forms, such as cross neck, right lapel or lace up. Clothes represent a nation's history and culture. They condense the information into something that you can see. The more you learn about clothes, the more you learn about the culture that create them.

China has a long history and learning about clothes is a good way to learn Chinese culture. People gave up some of Chinese culture during the Qing Dynasty but nowadays we are trying to bring it back.

Another reason is some traditional clothes like Hanfu are really beautiful so they attract people‘s attention. Some people think it’s not convenient to walk around with a long dress and long sleeves so some of them prefer to wear improved Hanfu which is called Hanyuansu which is similar to modern clothes.

Some old people think it is strange to wear such traditional clothes and misidentify them as other nations’ clothes. There’s also many people who support those young people who wear these clothes. The trend is good; it will attract people to think about different fashion styles and gradually learn about the Chinese culture behind the clothes. 

Chinese styles are becoming more and more global and we can use technologies to spread the culture to the world and we create some fashion brands like HEAVEN GAIA. So the culture is prevalent now!