Her paintings are like the beauty of the East breaking through the scroll. The raised details in the pattern, slightly mottled in the sunlight, like an ancient civilization through the ages, will tell the story anew. Well-known painters in the industry also exclaimed, "She has painted such moving works!" She is Lian Yang (lotulist, 莲羊), the famous "China-Chic illustrator", who created many beautiful works of mineral pigment paintings. As a young painter, her popularity is not a surprise. The romantic narratives of Chinese myths and legends are revived under her brush, rich and full of beauty.   A chance encounter with mineral pigment paintings The road of art is never-ending. In the seven years since Lian Yang came into contact with and studied mineral pigment paintings, the loneliness and hardships she went through were unimaginable to ordinary people. After graduating from the Central Academy of Fine Arts, where she studied CG techniques for four years, Lian Yang founded a studio herself, but it still could not satisfy her desire to create. After trying cartoons, Chinese paintings, and porcelain firing, she hit a wall one after another, unable to find a place to put herself. She was at a loss for…

Chinese Palace drama (宫斗剧, Gongdou, harem drama, or palace scheming dramas) refers to a drama set in ancient China's feudal dynasties. Female characters, such as concubines or female officials, are the main subjects of the story. The main plotline is the emotional entanglement of the characters or political power struggle. Palace dramas focus on entertainment and dramatization, and are somewhat different from historical dramas. The first hit palace drama was "War and Beauty" in 2004, then "Schemes of a Beauty" in 2010, and "Empresses in the Palace" in 2011 generated outstanding ratings and brought widespread attention to palace dramas. Almost all of the stories in the palace dramas occur in the isolated harem, where the "scheming" is the core plot and narrative focus. A group of originally delicate aristocratic women, fighting on this battlefield of deceit, with only one goal in mind: the emperor's favor. All the characters in the harem drama have no distinction between right and wrong, good and evil, but only the success or failure of their tactics and schemes, and the consequent differences in their fates. Therefore, the women in the situation have a strong sense of crisis and high sensitivity to their difficult situation. All…

Recently, Who Rules the World (且试天下), wuxia drama starring Yang Yang and Zhao Lusi, is being broadcast on Tencent Video. This drama adapted from the novel of the same name by Qing Ling Yue, combines traditional costume, romance, and martial arts. In just one week of broadcasting, the cumulative viewership of Who Rules the World has already exceeded nearly 500 million. The kingdom is divided into seven parts, the emperor's family is the most honored. The person who has the Xuan Ji Ling (玄极令) can command six states. However, the disappearance of the Xuan Ji Ling has led the chaos, and the power-hungry heroes are out in force, they all want to be the first to find the Xuan Ji Ling and achieve their own supremacy power. Hei Feng Xi and Bai Feng Xi are also involved in it, they not only implicated in the huge power and conspiracy between the court and the martial arts world, but also write their own martial arts romance saga. In terms of plot, Who Rules the World is not based on historical dynasties, but the exciting game of court, the thrilling martial arts fighting scenes, as well as the sweet emotional scenes, can…

The Chinese spy drama "The Wind Blows From Longxi (风起陇西)", is based on Ma Boyong's novel of the same name, with Chen Kun and Bai Yu as the main roles. Nie Yuan, Yin Zhu Sheng, Chang Yuan, Angelababy, Sun Yi, Yu Hao Ming, and Lawrence Wang as the support roles. Dong Zi Jian, Guo Jing Fei, and Li Guangjie as guest roles. https://youtu.be/Yz9vOSVzIQM The drama scheduled to be aired on April 27th is about to embark on a journey back to the basics of traditional Chinese aesthetics. "The Wind Blows From Longxi" tells the story of two small characters who are not in the spotlight of the chaotic world: Chen Gong and Xun Xu's ups and downs, their brotherly friendship for each other explodes into a dazzling light in the thrilling spy war, writing a heroic legend. Speaking of the original author Ma Boyong, "Schemes in Antiques", "The Longest Day In Chang'an", "Luoyang" and other adaptations have achieved good results, with solid original work, so that the adaptation more smoothly. The drama is set in the Three Kingdoms era, different from the traditional Three Kingdoms theme, director Lu Yang and his team tried to "create the whole atmosphere, the sense…

Historical political dramas, focus on power and strategy. In Chinese historical political dramas, the protagonists are usually in changing dynasties, with tense plots and complex character conflicts that portray the dark rivalry between different forces and keep the audience engrossed in the drama. If you ask what is the attraction of historical political dramas? Probably it can meet the aesthetic experience and expectations of the audience in many ways. The overall story is set in ancient times, and most of the settings are related to the imperial court, which satisfies the public's desire to pry into the royal family. The storyline, full of logical reasoning and details, also makes the audience constantly look forward to the direction of the plot. There are three kinds of themes in Chinese historical dramas that show the means of power and strategies. The first is imperial dramas, in which the plot focuses on the struggle for power among emperors, ministers, and heirs, mainly highlighting the politics of strategists, such as "Kang Xi Dynasty" and "Ming Dynasty in 1566", etc, basically takes history as the main vein and is rated by netizens as the peak of the power and strategies drama. The second kind is…

Different flowers have different but very important meanings in Chinese culture. Here are the basics on what some of the most important and commonly seen flowers mean.

Perhaps you have the impression that many hanfu styles are traditional and designed according to ancient paintings or relics. However, in recent years, the number of co-branded hanfu has gradually increased, covering not only hanfu style inspired by the costumes of characters from ancient cdrama, martial arts cartoons, and comics, but also many cultural heritage, games, and popularity characters that which have also collaborated with hanfu brands on co-branded models. There are a large number of co-branded hanfu, and this article will give you an overview of some of them.   1 The Legend of Hei (罗小黑战记) The cute Luo Xiao Hei appears as a design element in this set of Ming dynasty hanfu.   2 The Legend of Qin (秦时明月) The Legend of Qin is a Chinese 3D martial arts animation series that spans 30 years from the destruction of the six kingdoms and the establishment of China's first empire to the fall of Qin, telling the inspiring story of Jing Tianming, a young man with heroic blood in his veins, who eventually grows into a hero and influences the course of history. The following co-branded hanfu is mainly based on the three characters Duanmu Rong, Gao Yue, and…

As for the most powerful woman in ancient China, Wu Zetian must be mentioned. From the time she entered the palace to the time she abdicated, Wu Zetian's life spanned nearly seven decades from the early Tang Dynasty to the peak of the Tang Dynasty, nearly a quarter of the reign of the Tang Dynasty. With the overall national power, economy, customs, and even climate change of various factors, this period of court makeup, whether the overall aesthetic, or makeup, hair, jewelry, and even clothing, have undergone huge changes. As a woman who eventually rose to the top of imperial politics, Wu Zetian had the powerful energy for changing the makeup fashion of the day.   01 From the simple charm of the old dynasty Wu Zetian was born in the seventh year of Wu De (624), and entered the palace at the age of fourteen in the eleventh year of Zhenguan (637). After twelve years as a concubine, she followed the other concubines without children into the Temple of Sensationalism as a nun. The style of Tang women's clothing in the Zhenguan period was similar to that of the late Northern dynasty and Sui, advocating a slender figure and…

Scholar, Chivalrous man, taoist priest, traditional Chinese Mens Clothing allows men to temporarily change style and experience another identity. In this article, Yizhi Keke's outfit guide is based on "Spring Men Hanfu" and provides the most comprehensive tips on how to wear Chinese mens clothing. If you master this way of dressing, then you can also explore the countless possibilities of your own personality and show your unique charm and style.   Tips of matching men's hanfu for spring Classical and simple color scheme The Chinese traditional color is derived from Chinese painting (ink painting), and its color mixing medium is mainly water, so the brightness and luminosity of the color itself will not change too much in the process of color intensity change. Therefore, the overall style of traditional Chinese colors is clear and transparent, and the picture is clean even multiple colors are integrated. When we match colors, we take "five colors - black, red, qing (青), white and yellow" as the basis, and choose different colors according to the specific style performance. If you want to maximize the performance of the mood and flavor of the dress, you can choose "black and white ink color scheme", ink…

With the emergence of a large number of hanfu lovers, the demand for hanfu costumes is also increasing, and the fusion of these elements such as hanfu costumes, hairpins, and earrings has become a must-have option for hanfu lovers. With this, many traditional makeup artists seize this trend to transform into hanfu makeup artists, this career is gradually emerging.   Familiarity with different dynasties of hanfu makeup styling is a basic skill For Yang Yuan, a hanfu makeup artist, who runs a hanfu experience store, she has done hanfu makeup styling for about a thousand customers in her 3 years of experience. For a hanfu stylist, the most solid basic skill is to be familiar with different dynasties of hanfu makeup styling, and to make the overall color of the styling present in the same tonal range. Yang Yuan's store has about 400 sets of hanfu and hundreds of accessories of all kinds, most of which are specially purchased. She talked in detail about the dynasties, the groups dressed, the cultural background of the dynasties, and other aspects of each hanfu costume popular in the store, as if it were a treasure. For hanfu makeup to finally have a good…

Although hanfu has a long history, most modern hanfu are restored based on excavated cultural relics, heirloom ancient paintings, and frescoes as prototypes, which can be roughly divided into "style restoration", "pattern restoration", "color matching restoration "and so on. In this article, we will show you 10 beautiful vintage hanfu dresses with rich ancient flavor.   #01 This retro hanfu set is Jiaoling Ruqun, restored from Tang Yin's "Chang'e Holding A Laurel" from the Ming Dynasty. There are six pieces of hanfu in the set, with a double cross-collar upper jacket, a goose yellow jacquard outer layer, black cuffs with cranes in clouds, and a diamond-shaped bean green one-piece pleated skirt underneath.   #02 This is a half-armed, wide-sleeved, cross-necked Ruqun, arestored from the figures in the Yongle Palace murals in Rui Cheng, Shanxi Province.   #03 This Dunhuang mural restoration of a Tang Dynasty Qixiong Shanqun + Pibo is based on the costume in the mural "Donor portrait of Lady Wang from Taiyuan in worship". The upper body is blue light cross-necked upper Shan + dark red light cross-necked Banbi, and the lower skirt is a large red printed two-piece skirt.   #04 This retro Jiaoling Ruqun set is…

When you browse through the tutorials of hanfu hairstyles, you will find that the use of wigs is widespread. Is it true that girls had long and dense hair in ancient China? The eternal problem of thinning hair is not only a problem for modern people, but ancient beauties also needed to rely on wigs to complete the look. The application of wigs has a history of thousands of years. Today we briefly introduce the history of wigs.   Di (髢, dí) and Bi (髲, bì) were the original names for traditional Chinese wigs. However, not everyone had access to wigs in ancient China. At the beginning of the wig's birth, it was not an ordinary accessory. The Rites of Zhou records that Zhuishi (追师), a kind of palace official in charge of the empress' headdress, made wigs and headdresses. 追师掌王后之首服，为副编次追衡笄…… ——《周礼》 Fu (副), Bian (编), Ci (次) are three different levels of wig types, only worn during critical events such as rituals, and only for the exclusive use of noblewomen such as empress and madam. The famous Mawangdui Han tomb has unearthed a well-preserved "Fu" wig. This set of wigs is thick and black, and Lady Xin Zhui chases…

Looking to get into the Taobao shops? These are some good jumping-off points!

As a Taiwanese-American, I'm often asked about my interest in Hanfu. Here's y perspective on hanfu and why it's important to my identity.

Drinking a steaming bowl of beef soup in Luoyang, the ancient capital of the 13th dynasty, peeking at the aesthetic wisdom of Jingdezhen craftsmen in the kiln fires that have not been extinguished for a thousand years, shuttling through the mountains and streams of Wuyi Mountain to experience the unity of heaven and human. These exciting experiences come from the program "The Shape of Culture (万里走单骑)". As China's first World Heritage uncovering interactive documentary program, in the two seasons of the program, the team led by Shan Jixiang, visited more than twenty World Heritage sites in China. The Shape of Culture program showcases the unique value of heritage sites, tells the stories behind the sites from a variety of perspectives, and tears away the inherent "mysterious" label of cultural heritage in people's minds.   Exploring the ordinary life in the world heritage place The most important feature of "The Shape of Culture" is that by getting close to the daily lives of local people and experiencing the unique traditional skills, the cold cultural heritage comes to life and the heritage sites become full of human touch. In the first program of the first season, the "The Shape of Culture" guests…

For thousands of years, the Chinese have used rings to symbolize essential events, births, deaths, weddings, anniversaries, etc. The rings are generally worn by the oldest person present and passed down through generations. While the modern ring represents romantic love and commitment, what are the symbolic meanings of the traditional rings in Chinese history? Let's go into the past life of the ring.   Ancient - The Ring of Bone More than 5,000 years ago, when humankind was still in its primitive society, the "ring" was already born. At that time, it did not have an exact name, but was just a ring-shaped object worn on people's fingers. In 1959, archaeologists found twenty traditional rings in the burials of the Dawenkou Longshan culture in Tai'an, Shandong province. Several of them are still worn on the finger bones of the deceased. These rings were made from natural animal bones, tooth bones, jade, etc. Although the process was simple, they were well made, and the surface was polished smooth, and some were inlaid with turquoise. This is the earliest "ring" found in China. It appeared in people's daily lives before records about it in history books.   Yin Shang - The Ring…

As a highly anticipated Xuanhuan drama, "The Blue Whisper: Part 1 (驭鲛记之与君初相识)" started airing on March 17, 2022. In the matrix of cdrama works, The Blue Whisper is special enough to exist. It tells the story of the encounter and the struggle and resistance in front of the established fate.   A beautiful and romantic oriental fairy tale From the very beginning, the beautiful scenes are used to construct the fairyland Wan Hua Gu (Valley of Ten Thousand Flowers) to the audience, breaking the traditional perspective of "Vast Universe" and "Mortal World." But in this background, the story structure of The Blue Whisper goes in the opposite direction. Everything in front of them looks beautiful, but there is a hidden crisis. Talented demon master Ji Yun He (纪云禾, acted by Dilraba Dilmurat) and merman Chang Yi (长意, acted by Ren Jia Lun) meet and get to know each other in such a place of crisis. They go from hostility to trust during their trials and tribulations, gradually refining their true feelings and finally supporting each other. All things come in cycles, but only love never stops, and this is perhaps the key reason "The Blue Whisper" is so moving. What…

Have you ever struggled with tying your hanfu skirts, or gotten used to the old ways of tying them? Look no further for a collection of tutorials on how to tie hanfu skirts in various styles!

What hanfu styles are from which dynasties? Can you tell what dynasty the cover photo for this article depicts?

Now that we've talked about gender neutrality and men's hanfu, let's explore some unisex hanfu that are traditionally enjoyed by everyone!