He Rundong

In the ancient-costume TV series The Prisoner Of Beauty, when He Rundong, playing Mr. Zhenshi, made an appearance with his arms exposed, it completely subverted everyone's understanding of the phrase 'too weak to even bind a chicken'. Why do we subjectively associate exposing one arm with being good at martial arts? Where does this way of wearing half-exposed clothes originate from? Let's start with the answer. Some people call this way of dressing 'Wenwu Sleeve' (文武袖), but this is mostly a term used in Chinese opera. In the history of traditional Chinese clothing, a similar way of dressing can be traced back to the period of 'Hu Fu Qi She' (胡服骑射, a military reform in ancient China). In The Splendor of the Nation, Li Xian, playing Jiang Changyang, also often wore clothes in this way. A round-collared robe was usually paired with a round-collared shirt and a half-arm garment. When practicing martial arts, archery, or doing labor for convenience, people would adopt this 'bare-armed' way of dressing. And there was often a half-arm garment inside the robe. The material of the half-arm garment paired with the round-collared robe was usually a stiff fabric that could prop up the sleeves of…