04/04/07

          Chinese women and men dress very differently from each other. People in China generally wore tunics (a long t-shirts). Women wore long tunics down to the ground, with belts, and men wore shorter ones down to their knees. Sometimes they wore jackets over their tunics. In the winter, when it was cold, people wore padded jackets over their tunics, and sometimes pants under them. In early China, poor people made their clothes of hemp or ramie. Rich people wore silk.

  Chinese women and girls tend to dress somewhat conservatively. They don’t wear bikinis, there are no belly button revealing clothes, also no short shorts or skirts.

Women’s Make-up

   No Chinese woman would consider herself dressed without a liberal application of cosmetics. White powder was used to make a dark skin appear fair. This powder for the face, which is dusted lightly on the skin, is a mixture of rice powder and lead. The rice used is a mixture of fresh white rice and "old rice", or rice that has been treated in such a fashion that it has become slightly browned. A very little lead is used to prevent the powder from flaking. Rouge was made from a dye made from safflowers and French chalk. Mixed with water it was applied with the fingers to the cheeks and the center of the lower lip. Eyebrows were plucked into a high arch and drawn in with charcoal. Women pluck their eyebrows to match their oval face.

         A Chinese Blouse is the classic Chinese clothing, which is becoming more and more popular, especially in Western culture. Not all-Chinese women wore this blouse.

          In China, some men enjoy practicing Kung Fu. Kung Fu is a type of martial arts. They wear a Kung Fu suit.

          This picture represents a traditional shirt that some Chinese Men wear.