What is Kong Family Mansion - Precious Hanfu Collection

The rejuvenation of modern hanfu is inextricably linked to the redesign of many hanfu styles and the incorporation of modern elements. However, hanfu is still more based on traditional forms, and most Hanfu styles are currently restored based on books, cultural relics, murals, and collections.

And speaking of hanfu collections, you may have heard of one place, the Kong Family Mansion (孔府). As the largest noble house in China, the Kong Family Mansion holds a large collection of heirloom clothing objects, which is unique in the world for its quantity, completeness of system, and orderly transmission, and is a masterpiece of traditional costume culture.

Today, we will introduce you to the Kong Family Mansion and its Hanfu collection.

Kong Family Mansion, also known as Yan Sheng Gong Mansion (衍圣公府), is the official and private residence of the descendants of Confucius, located in Qufu City, Jining, Shandong Province, China, and is a typical Chinese noble gateway house.

It was built in 1377 and rebuilt in 1503, covering an area of 240 acres. The Kong Family Mansion, together with the Temple and Cemetery of Confucius, is known as the “Three Confuciuses”, and was listed as one of the first major cultural relics protection units in China in 1961. In December 1994, it was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

With its distinguished political status and long cultural history, the Yan Sheng Gong Mansion has a large collection of Ming Dynasty and Qing Dynasty costumes of uniform form and diverse categories, as well as unique cultural connotations and high research value.

Kong Family Mansion has more than 8,000 pieces of Ming and Qing costumes, including damask, silk, satin, crepe, yarn and other fabrics, embroidery, woof, hand-painting, printing and dyeing and other means of craft, covering both men and women’s costumes such as Chao Fu (朝服), Li Fu (礼服), Gong Fu (公服), Chang Fu (常服), Ji Fu (吉服), Bian Fu (便服), Sang Fu (丧服, as well as clothing accessories, headgear and other accessories, which are typical representatives of ancient Chinese costume culture.

A Quick Guide to the Chinese Hanfu Clothing

Among them, the Ming Dynasty costumes are the most precious. There are very few surviving costumes in China and other Asian countries before the Ming Dynasty, and most of them are unearthed from tombs.

The collection of hanfu in the Kong Family Mansion is unique in its continuity, variety, bright colors, and perfect preservation, and can be called “half of the history of Ming Dynasty costumes”. It reflects the costume system and the superior costume making techniques of that time.

The following are some of the costumes in the old collection of the Kong Family Mansion for you.