Ancient Chinese Costumes Fluttering in the Courtyard of the Yellow Crane Tower

By Bai Ning & Qin Gong

November 7, Wuhan.

Outside the Yellow Crane Tower Park, the city is dynamic and crowded, full of vehicles and visitors. Inside, however, the courtyard is thronged with men and women wearing colorful ancient Chinese costumes characteristic of different dynasties. Chinese costume lovers from all over the world are gathered here, dressed in varied and exquisite costumes and posing before the cameras, their beautiful images and best memories preserved in photos. The artful reconciliation of the classic style and modern elements produce an air of striking contrast, as if all the participants have walked back to the past dynasties in a time machine.

Here, the first World Chinese Costume Festival was held and flowered, attracting nearly 30,000 men and women, old and young to the site, and more than 30 million hits online.

As an ancient saying goes, “The beauty of garments is called Hua, and the greatness of etiquette is called Xia.” Hua Xia, the ancient name for China, demonstrates that the civilization of this nation, with some five thousand years of history, is seen in the pieces of Chinese garments. As time goes on, the functions of garments have gone far beyond satisfying the basic human needs of covering the body and have become a carrier of cultures, aesthetics, and philosophy. Nowadays, when fashion designers draw inspiration from traditional culture, the beauty of ancient Chinese garments becomes known and loved by more and more.

11月7日，武漢。

黃鶴樓公園外車水馬龍，里面卻是熱火朝天，人山人海。身著各式各樣精美華服的中外華服愛好者齊聚一堂，擺著各種pose，在攝影師鏡頭前，盡顯風采，翩躚漫舞。中國各個朝代的經典服飾在這里呈現，古典與現代在這里交融，形成強烈反差，讓人仿佛穿越時空，回到從前。

這里，首屆世界華服大會正在進行，男女老幼近三萬市民現場參與，其同步網絡直播更是吸引了逾三千萬點擊量。

“服章之美謂之華，禮儀之大謂之夏。”華夏五千年文明，蘊藏于服飾之中。隨歷史的長河流淌，服裝早已超越其最初遮蔽身體的基本需求，成為文化與美學、哲學的載體。當時尚不斷輪回、復古，從過往中尋找經典，華服之美也逐漸被人們重新認識與喜愛。

An international student dressed in traditional Chinese costume is putting on make-up in front of the mirror, getting ready to take part in a flash mob for the World Chinese Costume Festival (Photo by Chen Jie) 留學生身著華服，對鏡化妝，準備參加快閃活動（陳潔 攝）

With artists dancing gracefully with long sleeves, a Tang style dance marks the launch of the World Chinese Costume Festival (Photo by Ji Fei) 長袖善舞，風姿綽約，一曲《大唐飛歌》拉開世界華服大會帷幕（季飛 攝）

In the evening show of the festival, Chinese ethnic costumes dazzle on the stage (Photo by Wang Yuansong)大會“風雅頌”秀典上，56 個民族的典型服飾閃亮T 臺（王遠松 攝）

With exquisite embroideries on the brocade clothing, this woman embodies grace and poise (Photo by Song Zhanglin)錦衣華服，氣度雍容（宋璋林 攝）

Beautiful colors and complex patterns—the beauty of traditional Chinese garments lies in the artistic conceptions they create (Photo by Ye Ping) 配色清麗，紋飾繁復，華服之美，美在氣韻（葉萍 攝）

Typical costumes of ancient swordsmen in China (Photo by Wang Yanbin)一曲《俠客行》展示出古代俠士的典型裝扮（王彥斌 攝）

A loving couple meeting at a fair (Photo by Li Huiming)《江南伉儷》，原來情侶衫古已有之（李惠明 攝）

Pre-Qin costumes (Photo by Wang Yanbin)詩經《兼葭》吟頌，展示先秦文化與服飾魅力（王彥斌 攝）

A Spring Outing in the Tang Dynasty painted by Sun Endao displayed at the Exhibition of Chinese Paintings on Cultural Allusions is screened as one of the backgrounds of the evening show中華典故美術展孫恩道作品《唐人游春圖》為秀典晚會背景圖之一