female costumes in the Qing Dynasty

The Qing Dynasty was the last imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912 with a brief,abortive restoration in 1917. 

The dynasty was among the several dynasties which were ruled by minor ethnic groups in China. The royal family of Great Qing is Manchu "满族". They have different culture and traditions from Han Chinese, which is the biggest ethnic group of China and has dominant impacts on Chinese culture.

Although Qing was highly integrated with Han Chinese culture. Qing kept their cultural identity and ordered the Han Chinese to follow. For example, all the male citizens were required to shave their heads to Manchu male hairstyle(half shaved head with pony tail^^) and the costumes were required to be changed into Manchu style as well. The command was called "剃发易服" ( literally means 'shave the head and change the clothes' )

Here I will show some pics displaying how upper class females worn in the Qing Dynasty. (P.S : I am not professional of Chinese ancient costumes so it would be better not take my word for professional reference~~~~)

Generally, those who worn the left costume could be princesses, concubines of lower rank, etc. The pic to the right should be a royal maid.

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 hair bins and shoes, another kind of high-heeled shoes right? haha

I think she is one of the wives of the emperor, because she was wearing a phoenix, which is the symbol of empress. (dragon stands for the emperor)

This is how brides in royal family worn in the wedding. The marriages in ancient time were usually arranged by parents or elder member in the families. The royal marriages often had political purposes~like the emperor may marry his daughter to an important official to gain his loyalty.Maybe that's why these two brides look so unhappy~~~hehe

Females in royal family often worn nail protector to protect their long finger nails. It was a symbol of power and status. Having long finger nails meant they had servants to serve them and they didn't even have the chance to break the nails^_^

Maybe it's the same as the reason why the upper-class English in early times liked to wear white gloves to show their status. Because they didn't need to do any work which may stain the gloves.

hope you enjoy those pics!