In the three years since the Chinese short-length dramas went from rough to sophisticated, the romance genre has been riding high in terms of volume, with the ancient costume category leading the market in terms of subdivision. Like long-length dramas, costume romance short-length dramas are created by imitating the ancient style of China, with intricate and exquisite hanfu costumes, spectacular scenes, and special worldview settings to construct poignant or sweet love stories. To a certain extent, the ancient costume short-length dramas can recreate the scenes of ancient life and satisfy the curiosity of the audience. At the same time, this ancient landscape has always had a notable appeal with its unique beauty. Earlier, the word aesthetics was not much associated with short-length cdrama. However, after the accelerated development of the industry, more and more high-quality short-length dramas have joined the competition, and the aesthetics of the episodes has become the most basic pursuit. In terms of the ancient romance theme, especially after the great popularity of last year's batch of works such as "The Killer is also Romantic", "My Princess" and "A Familiar Stranger", the ancient aesthetics of the short-length drama field has gained more voices of recognition. Recently, another ancient…

Last Friday 3/17 I was invited to a local Chinese school to give a small talk on hanfu! The aim was to share hanfu culture with more people here and to present an example to the kids of what doors can be opened to you by maintaining language skills. A little background—I myself attended this once-a-week school from kindergarten up until 6th grade, upon which I pulled out of the school to invite the Chinese teacher that taught me in 6th grade to tutor me at home privately. She was a great tutor and a key part of inspiring my interest in ancient Chinese culture through poetry, history, and more, keeping me engaged while analyzing Tang Dynasty shi and Song Dynasty ci. As I got busy, I stopped the tutoring when I was in 10th grade—and I was introduced to the concept of hanfu not even a few months later! I’ve kept up communication with this teacher for a while (whose name I won’t disclose for privacy reasons) and visited her in Taiwan throughout the years. This year she came back to teach at the local chinese school and invited me to give a talk on hanfu there. For the…

Traditional Chinese colors come from nature and from the imagination of the ancient Chinese civilization. Traditional Chinese colors pursue the color concept of giving colors according to types and conveying consciousness through colors. In ancient times in China, there are positive colors and inter colors, with the distinction of respect, and lowly; righteous, and evil. Positive color refers to the color that promote each other, that is, the original color. Ancient primary colors to "Yin Yang Five Phases" doctrine in the five elements, water, fire, wood, metal, and earth, respectively, corresponding to black, red, cyan, white, and yellow as color symbols, known as the five-color system. Traditional Chinese clothing colors are also mainly primary colors. With the development of the times, different dynasties revered different colors, and these popular colors also reflected the material and spiritual civilization of their dynasties to a certain extent. Hanfu Shi Dai has compiled a summary of the traditional hanfu color schemes through dynasties, let's explore together.   Han Dynasty The Han Dynasty was influenced by the Taoist philosophy of Huanglao and Confucianism, and its costumes often pursued the essential beauty of the whole. At the same time, by the previous Qin dynasty, the concept of black…

China is a land of breathtaking natural landscapes, rich cultural heritage, and vibrant artistic traditions. Among the many facets of Chinese art and culture, the use of color stands out as a particularly distinctive and enduring feature. From the bold reds and golds of imperial palaces to the serene blues and greens of ancient landscapes, traditional Chinese colors evoke a sense of harmony, balance, and aesthetic refinement that has captivated people for centuries. We will explore the history, symbolism, and beauty of the most iconic colors together with the authors of books on traditional Chinese colors, Guo Hao. Whether you are an art lover, a history buff, or simply someone who appreciates beauty, the world of traditional Chinese colors is sure to enchant and inspire you.   Reclaiming Traditional Chinese Colors Guo Hao, a researcher of Chinese traditional colors, has spent five years scavenging for remnants of traditional colors from tens of thousands of ancient books and cultural relics. Due to cultural discontinuity, traditional Chinese colors are scattered in a large number of ancient books, and the whole process of recovery is like looking for a needle in a haystack. Guo Hao went through nearly 400 kinds of canonical books and…

Fondant is the icing used to decorate or sculpt cakes and pastries. And the main character in this article, Zhou Yi, has reative incorporated traditional Chinese style beauty and hanfu into his fondant cakes. Since he started using fondant to make Chinese-style dolls, the controversy for Zhou Yi has never stopped, but for Zhou Yi, fondant is just the medium, what is important is that he wants to make the world feel the charm of the China. For his own works, Zhou Yi is very thoughtful. "Born in this era, you have to keep up with the times, the reason why things in the past became traditions is that they represented that era, now, it's our turn to create traditions." The hanfu clothing is as light as gauze, and it is difficult to achieve this visual effect with fondant. Zhou Yi and his team experimented thousands of times, combining traditional Chinese dough sculpture techniques, using a rolling pin to press the flip sugar as thin as possible. The traditional fondant is prone to cracking after drying, and the dolls have a short shelf time. So Zhou Yi spent another year, specifically adjusting the ratios and trying more than 1,000 kinds…

Tea set and tea-drinking are tightly connected. Many historical records and materials have proved that tea-drinking hasn’t appeared until the turn of Qin Dynasty and Han Dynasty. Chinese tea culture sprouted during the Wei and Jin Dynasties, during which the usages of tea existed in various ways, including food, medication, beverages, and so on. Among all, tea has been mostly taken as a kind of beverage. According to the "Guangling Xiaolao Zhuan", there has already elderly women who sold tea for a living on the markets in the Jin Dynasty. It was quite a competitive business with numerous pedlars as well as customers. From such phenomenon, it can be seen that drinking tea was highly prevalent at that time. At the time under the governance of Emperor Xuan of the Han Dynasty, Wangbao has written "武阳买茶 (buy tea in Wuyang)" and "烹茶尽具 (cook tea and prepare clean tea sets)" in his book "Tong Yue (僮约)", this is the earliest record of tea drinking and buying in China. In modern times, a celadon urn, carved with the character of "Cha (茶, tea)", with a height of 33.5 centimeters was found in a tomb in Huzhou, Zhejiang Province, which was built in…

As the chill of winter melts away, spring brings with it a sense of rejuvenation and new beginnings. In ancient China, this feeling was often celebrated through the tradition of spring excursions. For many, the new season signaled a time for renewal, rejuvenation, and adventure. While modern-day excursions may look vastly different, there are still traces of ancient springtime traditions that can be observed throughout China. From blossoming gardens to vibrant festivals, join us on a journey through the rich cultural history of spring in ancient China. Spring excursion in the pre-Qin period was romantic and charming. There are many love poems in the "Classic of Poetry", all of which took place during spring excursions. 《郑风·出其东门》：出其东门，有女如云。It means that the people of Zheng like to spring excursions, and when they leave the east gate of the city, they can see many girls on their spring trips, which is a good opportunity for the men of Zheng to meet love. 《郑风·溱洧》：士与女, 殷其盈矣。It means that at the River Zhen and the River Wei, the men and women of Zheng were seen everywhere on their spring excursions. Many men and women fell in love with each other during the spring excursions and became engaged…

In ancient China, women's headwear was very gorgeous, and in addition to gold and silver jewelry, beautiful flowers were often worn as accessories. In the Song Dynasty, from the court down to the folk, both men and women loved flower hairpins. In this article, let's explore the history of traditional Chinese flower hairpins.   Origin of Flower hairpins The earliest record of the custom of flower pinning is from the period of Emperor Gaozu of Han, in which Lu Jia wrote in his "Nan Yue Xing Ji" that women in the Lingnan region liked to wear jasmine flowers as hairpins. During the Sui, Tang, and Five Dynasties period, flower hairpin was very popular among the Central Plains. At this time, society was open, people pursued fashion and novelty, and there was a wide variety of clothing and accessories, including flower pins. In the painting "Court Ladies Adorning Their Hair with Flowers", we can see that the ladies are wearing peonies, lotus, hydrangea, and other flowers in their hair, which has a unique flavor. The Tang Dynasty also featured men wearing flower hairpins, and the emperor often rewarded officials and scholars with flowers. In the Song Dynasty, the custom of flower…

As an objective visual aesthetic element, the color in nature has a stable aesthetic meaning as the cognitive ability of the aesthetic subject improves and the aesthetic interest accumulates. Human cognition of the objective color world is the sublimation of people from material cognition to spiritual cognition, so color has strong psychological properties and emotional factors. During thousands of years of history, the Chinese people, with their unique cultural character, have gradually formed their own philosophical and discursive view of color in their consideration of nature and themselves.   1 Traditional Chinese Color Theory Ancient Chinese color theory is mostly derived from man's profound understanding of ecological phenomena in nature, as well as the imitation and generalization of natural colors. On this basis, the ancients linked their understanding of color with the traditional "Wuxing (五行, five phases)" philosophy, forming a very oriental flavor of the "Wuxing & Wuse (五行五色, five phases, and five colors" color theory. When the ancients began to understand color at the beginning, they saw that everything in the world was covered with harmonious and beautiful colors, so they had the desire to follow suit and collected colorful objects for their own decoration. With a further understanding…

Wearing incense sachets in daily life, or burning the incense burner when reading or sipping tea, the pursuit of fragrance by the ancient Chinese surpassed even modern times. The combination of form and spirit is the ancients revered spiritual states. Clothing provided the form of the real state, while the flavor implied in the air gave the spirit part. The documentary "The Flavor of History" features a unique perspective that brings hanfu and flavor together again.   Tang Dynasty Ruilongnao (瑞龙脑) is produced in the country of Brahma (now Brunei). In addition to growing in hot places, it needs to be smoked to release its aroma. But its flavor is as cool and pure as its appearance, like a contradictory combination of noisy and silent, entwined and moving. In the clothing system of the Tang Dynasty, color was an important clue to distinguish the superior and inferior. According to the Book of Tang - Records of Yufu, the emperor's regular clothes are Chi Huang (赤黄, a color between yellow and red, #F8CE00) robes, Fu Tou (幞头), nine rings belt, and Liu He boots (六合靴)". At the time of Emperor Gaozu of the Tang Dynasty, it was officially stipulated that Chi Huang…

"The Journey of Chong Zi" is an ancient immortal drama directed by Liu Guohui and starring Yang Chaoyue and Jeremy Tsui. The drama is based on the novel of the same name by Shu Ke, which tells the love story over three lifetimes between the disciple Chong Zi (重紫), a young girl born with evil miasma and destined to become a demon, and master Luo Yin fan, who is supreme immortal and handsome. Since its launch, the cumulative broadcasting of "The Journey of Chong Zi" has reached 750 million.   The Journey of Chong Zi Plot Summary Chong Zi (played by Yang Chaoyue) is pure and kind, but is the daughter of the demon king Ni Lun. She was saved by the Chu Bu Fu and was encouraged to seek further training to Nan Hua. But it doesn't go well, as Chong Zi is rejected because of her natural evil aura, and Min Yunzhong, the supervisor of Nan Hua, asserts that she will definitely become evil. At the critical moment, Luo Yinfan (played by Jeremy Tsui), the venerable master of Nan Hua, comes forward to accept her as his disciple, and from then on, Chongzhi becomes Luo Yinfan's only disciple.…

Compared to costume dramas and Xuanhuan dramas, the Wuxia and Xianxia genres drama have less momentum in 2022. But there are quite a few that are worth adding to the waiting list for martial arts fans, such as Who Rules The World, The Young Flying Fox, and Heroes. Likewise, there are still some popular dramas still in production on the martial arts to-be-broadcast list for 2022, check them out here. This article summarizes some of the Wuxia cdramas to be broadcast in 2023.   A Journey to Love · 一念观山 Also known as: Yi Nian Guan Shan Period Background: Alternative Reality Genres: Romance, Martial Arts, Adventure Main Role: Liu Shi Shi as Ren Ru Yi, Liu Yu Ning as Ning Yuan Zhou Plot summary of A Journey to Love The Wuxia cdramas A Journey to Love is Liu Shi Shi playing ancient cdrama again after five years. It tells the story of Ren Ruyi (任如意, played by Liu Shi Shi) and Ning Yuan Zhou (宁远舟, played by Liu Yuning) building a strong alliance, establishing trust, and defending their faith.   The Blood of Youth · 少年歌行 (Aired) Aired: December 26, 2022 Also known as: Song of Adolescence Period Background: Alternative…

In 2022, Chinese Xuanhuan dramas achieve great success, with the airing of "The Blue Whisper", "Immortal Samsara", and "Love Between Fairy and Devil", that have left countless netizens lingering in the fairyland. As with historical dramas, there are still some unaired dramas on the 2022 to-broadcast list, check them out here. In this article, we will recommend some of the Xuanhuan dramas that will be aired in 2023.   Lost You Forever · 长相思 (Aired) Aired: July 24, 2023 Also known as: Chang Xiang Si Period Background: Alternative Reality Genres: Romance, Fantasy Main Role: Yang Zi as Xiao Yao, Zhang Wan Yi as Qiang Xuan, Deng Wei as Tu Shan Jing Plot summary of Lost You Forever In the ancient times, humans, gods and demons lived together, and the three kingdoms of Shennong, Xuanyuan and Gao Xin were in power. However, after a hundred years of hardship, Ji Jiu Yao (姬玖瑶, played by Yang Zi), the queen of Gao Xin, had not only lost her identity but also her looks and she had to settle in Qing Shui Town as Wen Xiao Liu, who had nowhere to go, no one to rely on, and no way to protect herself. Ji Jiu…

So maybe you’ve been interested in hanfu for a while, and you’ve vaguely started to pick out the differences between Ming Dynasty aoqun and Tang Dynasty heziqun, but you still have no clue what the order of the time periods are or even what they were characterized by. Upon a quick sift through Wikipedia, there’s just wayyyyy too much information to process, and you don’t even know what information to look for—what matters to your understanding of hanfu culture. Fear not! Here’s a compendium of what you need to know about the historical context of hanfu.   The Structure of Ancient Chinese History There’s a phenomenon in Chinese history that we call the Dynastic Cycle. Ancient China was ruled over by many different time periods called Dynasties, each with a family of rulers, and most of these follow the same general scheme: the central ruling power is established, the population goes up and the country flourishes, corruption starts affecting the political scheme, people revolt, and the country either dissolves into several warring states or gets conquered by another group of people. Then one state emerges victorious over the other ones or the invaders, the next dynasty is established, and the…

Even if the petals fall to the ground, the fragrance remains forever. The documentary "The Flavor of History" evokes the traces of time with fragrance, recreates important points in history, and experiences the turbulent choices of the ancients, with cinematic images and quality copywriting, which is fascinating and heart-warming.   1 The Fragrance Deep in the Memory "Memories evoked by the sense of smell are always profound." This quote is perfect for the story of Yang Guifei and Tang Emperor Xuanzong. Yang Guifei was left there forever after the Mawei Inn incident, and soon afterward, Li Longji, Emperor Xuanzong, retired to the second line and became the retired emperor. And Yang Guifei's favorite fragrance, Rui Long Nao Xiang (瑞龙脑香, borneol fragrant), became a deliberate aroma that Li Longji avoided. But the former palace musician He Huai Zhi deliberately offered the hat stained with Yang Guifei's fragrance, opening the memory of Yang Guifei. The aroma on this hat, is from a late afternoon. Li Longji is in the game, Yang Guifei sitting aside to watch, and He Huai Zhi playing the lute. When Li Longji was about to lose the game, Yang Guifei put down the puppy in her arms, disrupting the…

Introduction of Chinese Lanterns Chinese lanterns (Deng Long, 灯笼), also known collectively as Deng Cai (灯彩), an ancient Han Chinese traditional craft. Through thousands of years of development, Chinese lanterns have developed different regional styles, each with a unique artistic expression. Every year, around the Lantern Festival on the 15th day of the first month of the lunar calendar, people hang up red lanterns, which symbolize the meaning of reunion, to create a festive atmosphere. Lanterns are closely related to the life of Chinese people and have become a symbol of joy and celebration. Through the succession and development of lantern artists in the past generations, a colorful variety and high level of craftsmanship have been formed. There are various types of lanterns: palace lanterns, sarong lanterns, and so on. The outer layer is mostly made of thin bamboo or wire skeleton, and covered with transparent materials such as paper or yarn, and the candles are burned inside for lighting and decoration. The origin of the Chinese lantern has a variety of sayings, one of the more widely circulated is: during the Eastern Han Dynasty, the emperor Liu Zhuang advocated Buddhism, heard that Buddhism has the practice of the 15th…

In the thousands of years of Chinese civilization, there were not only the conquests and games between emperors and generals, but also the brilliant and practical institutions and mechanisms created by professionals and low-level clerks. The author Ma Boyong has distilled six wonderful stories from local histories and ancient texts to form the book "The Great Ming Dynasty Under the Microscope". The storyline is full of reversals, the number of characters and relationships, as well as the richness of the detailed descriptions, while adding to the difficulty of the drama adaptation. Because the historical evolution is completely different from the concentrated competition in the drama. In the original, Shuai Jiamo (帅嘉谟) in the silk tax case is considered the male lead, but he just appears occasionally. He is more like Ye Wenjie in "Three-Body", who ignited the fuse for this whole affair.   01 Smart Adaptation of the Original In the drama, the silk tax case was preserved, but the main characters have richer personalities. During the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, a citizen of Renhua County, Jin'an Prefecture, Shuai Jia Mo (帅家默, played by Zhang Ruoyun. In the drama, the names of the characters are replaced, but the…

In China's long history, there have been countless thousands of distinguished generals and military strategists, and even today, their noble deeds and achievements are still often talked about. In this article, we will introduce Bai Qi to you. Bai Qi was a very famous general in the state of Qin during the Warring States period and his military successes laid a good foundation for the later unification of China by Emperor Qin Shihuang. According to historical records he won more than 70 battles, and never lost one. In his lifetime his troops killed over a million soldiers. Bai Qi (白起; 332 BC – 257 BC), also known as Gongsun Qi (公孫起), was a military general of the state of Qin (秦) during the Warring States period (战国时代) of China. Born in Mei (present-day Mei County, Shaanxi), Bai Qi served as commander of the Qin army for over 30 years, being responsible for the deaths of over one million people, earning him the nickname Ren Tu (人屠 lit. manslayer'). According to the historical book Shiji (史記) he captured more than 73 cities from six other enemy states, and to date no records have been found to show that Bai suffered a single…

The rise of the hanfu market restored traditional festivals back to former hustle and bustle. Lighting lanterns, pasting couplets, wearing hanfu, and singing ancient poems, built a bridge between ancient and modern times and seized the young people’s hearts. Hanfu brings feelings of nostalgia, ancestor worship, and gratitude to modern people. At the same time, hanfu production, sales, makeup, and supporting service markets have risen, and hanfu element immersive experience marketing is also in the stage of vigorous development.   Traditional culture in the costume The West Lake cruise ship with rabbit lanterns is swaying in the lake, and several tourists in hanfu complement with beautiful scenery, which is pretty much in line with the feeling of crossing Hangzhou, a thousand-year-old city. Many young people are immersive in it. "When I watched costume dramas as a child, I often put on a bed sheet to imitate a robe, and now wearing hanfu is more like a dream come true." Yan Peishan, who studied in Italy, said, "Earlier, I played erhu on stage in hanfu and won a lot of praise. It turns out that there are not only cheongsams in China, but also beautiful hanfu." Hanfu does not only refer…

The Definition of Auspicious Costume Ji Fu (吉服, auspicious costume) was a new classification of clothing formed in the Ming Dynasty, referring to the clothing used for various auspicious occasions such as seasonal festivals, weddings, birthdays, and banquets. In the Qing Dynasty, it became a specialized category within the clothing system. Traditional Ji Fu refers to the clothing used for auspicious ceremonies (major rituals, etc.). With the development of the times and the increase in festivals and celebrations, there was a need for a special auspicious costume for all kinds of festive occasions, so the Ming dynasty referred to a more formal dress than the everyday casual dress for rituals and all kinds of auspicious occasions as the auspicious costume. Although not found in the system, the term "Ji Fu" was repeatedly used in various political books and literary works. During the Ming dynasty, the auspicious costume was not a single standard style, but the same style as the regular and casual hanfu costumes, such as Yuan Ling Pao, Zhi Shen, Yi San, Tie Li, Dao Pao, Ao Qun, etc. The color was mostly in festive colors such as red, for example, the officials used to wear a red round…