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Concept
Cheongsam
Summary
Cheongsam (UKtʃ(i)ɒŋˈsæm, UStʃɔːŋˈsɑːm) or zansae, also known as the qipao (ˈtʃiːpaʊ) and sometimes referred to as the mandarin gown, is a Chinese dress worn by women which takes inspiration from the qizhuang, the ethnic clothing of the Manchu people. The cheongsam is most often seen as a longer, figure-fitting, one piece garment with a standing collar, an asymmetric, left-over-right (youren) opening and two side slits, and embellished with Chinese frog fasteners on the lapel and the collar. It was developed in the 1920s and evolved in shapes and design over years. It was popular in China from the 1920s to 1940s, overlapping with the Republican era, and was popularized by Chinese socialites and high society women in Shanghai. Although the cheongsam is sometimes seen as traditional Chinese clothing, the cheongsam continues to evolve with times as it responds to the contemporary modern life.
As English loanwords, both "cheongsam" and "qipao" describe the same type of body-hugging dress worn by Chinese women, and the words could be used interchangeably.
The term cheongsam is a romanization of Cantonese word chèuhngsāam (), which comes from the Shanghainese term zansae. In Cantonese and Shanghainese, the term is used to describe a Chinese dress popularized in Shanghai. However, in Mandarin Chinese and other varieties of Chinese, chángshān () refers to an exclusively male garment, and the female version is known as the qípáo. In Hong Kong, where many Shanghainese tailors fled after the communist revolution of 1949, the word chèuhngsāam became gender-neutral, referring to both male and female garments.
The word qipao (keipo), which literally means "Bannerman robe" and originally referred to a loose-fitting, trapezoidal-cut garment worn by both Manchu men and women, became a more formal term for the female chèuhngsāam. Usage of the term "cheongsam" in Western countries mostly followed the original Cantonese meaning and applies to the dress worn by women only.
Frog (fastening) and
The design of the cheongsam has evolved with time; and there are now a various styles of cheongsam.
Official source
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