Shanku

Shanku is sometimes referred as , , and also known as samfu in English or samfoo (pronunciation: '''') in British English following its Cantonese spelling. The terms , or typically refer to the two-piece set composed of an upper garment which is generally above and below the hips and knees and a pair of trousers, both made out of coarse cloth. This was generally worn by people doing manual labour, such as farm work, and by martial artists. The generic term , also called , is typically used to refer to military or riding style attire which is composed of a jacket or coat and trousers. A was a with a closure according to the . The term also existed, but they were only long enough to cover the knees, which suggest that the other forms of were shorter than knee-length. Among English dictionaries, there are variations in the definition of samfu. The Collins English Dictionary defines it as being: The ''Oxford Learner's Advanced Dictionary'' defines it as being: The 12th edition of the Concise Oxford English Dictionary defines it as being: == Design and construction ==

The is a two-piece set of attire, which is composed of a jacket as an upper garment and a pair of trousers as a lower garment. More precisely, the is composed of the and the trousers generally known as . The and the were typically made of similar fabrics. The could have a mandarin collar or a high standing collar. Trousers with close rises were typically referred as to differentiate from the which typically referred to trousers without rises. Fitting The is traditionally loose in terms of fitting. However, due to the influence of Western fashion, it became more tight fitting in the 1950s and 1960s. Colours The was typically dyed in black, blue or grey. The waistband of the was typically made of lighter coloured fabric, such as blue or white. However, the colours of the could vary depending on ethnic groups. == History and development ==

Pre-history In the Neolithic period, the trousers were known as and were the original form of the without crotches. Prior to the introduction of foreigners' clothing, known as , during the Warring States period, a set of attire known as was already worn by the ancient Chinese people. However, the lower garment called remained in use to cover the -style Adoption of Hufu During the Warring States period, King Wuling of Zhao (r. 326–298 BC) instituted the policies which involved the adoption of to facilitate horse riding. The nomadic clothes adopted by King Wuling consisted of belts, short upper garment, and trousers. The introduced by King Wuling can be designated as . Influence of Hufu Under the influence of the , the -style evolved until the thighs were lengthened to cover the thighs forming a newly improved -trousers; it also had a waist enclosure which was added; however, as the improved -trousers still had an open rise and rear, which would allowed for excretion purposes, the still continued to be worn on top of the . The trousers were often wide at the top and narrower at the bottom and could be find with rise. The Qin artisans valued contrasting colours; for example, the upper garments which were green in colour were often decorated with red or purple border; this upper garment would often be worn together with blue, or purple, or red trousers. Han dynasty Starting since the Eastern Han dynasty, trousers with rise, , gradually started to be worn, the of the Han dynasty gradually replaced the . While the long robe known as was mainly worn for formal occasions in the Han dynasty, men wore a waist-length ru and trousers in their ordinary days while women wore ruqun. Common women could either wear skirts or trousers under their jackets. In this period, the worn by poor people were short length clothing and were made out of coarse fabric. File:蠶織圖局部5.jpg|A woman (in the middle) wearing a with an apron; a Song dynasty painting File:Qingming Festival Detail 14.jpg|Peasant men wearing , Song dynasty painting File:Qingming Festival Detail 3.jpg|Seller wearing File:Qingming Festival Detail 13.jpg|A man wearing vs men wearing Yuan dynasty In Yuan dynasty, some scholars and commoners wore the terlig, a Mongol-style , which was braided at the waists and had pleats and narrow-fitting sleeves. called . The appearance of interlocking buckle promoted the emergence and the popularity of the standup collar and the Chinese jacket with buttons at the front, and laid the foundation of the use of Chinese knot buckles. He also observed that the wearing of trousers was a national custom for Chinese women and that trousers were worn in their homes when they would do house chores; he observed that women were dressed almost like men when working at home, except that their trousers had trims at the bottom of different coloured materials. In the 19th century, the shan was long in length and the trousers ku was wide. In the late 19th century, men stopped wearing the shan which closes to the right and started wearing a jacket with a central-opening which looks similar to the Tangzhuang. File:男人理髮稱作“剃頭”是從清朝開始的，剃頭顱前的頭髮，腦後留辮子以示歸順清朝。最常見的是剃頭挑子，把全部的剃頭用具都挑在扁擔的兩頭，走街串巷，上門服務 - Sohu.jpg|Qing dynasty men wearing , before 1912 AD File:大夫正為女病人把脈診病。舊時，男大夫為女性診病，接觸其身體時，手部為最極限之部位。- Sohu.jpg|A woman wearing a white shan/ao and dark coloured ku File:Playing a pipa.jpg|Woman wearing a blue ao/shan and pink trousers File:THE LADY'S MAID.jpg|A lady's maid File:Trousers (China), late 19th century (CH 18562157).jpg| outfit, late 19th century 20th century In the 20th century, the 19th-century long shan gradually became shorter and become more fitted. The neckband of the shan was also narrow. Sleeveless and short-sleeved shanku also existed in the 20th century. In the 1950s, women of lower status and those worked on farms would sometimes wear shanku which was decorated with floral patterns and checks. People living in urban areas started to wear Western clothing while people in rural areas continued to wear shanku. In Hong Kong, shanku continued to be worn when people were away from their workplace. File:Woman in traditional Hakka hairstyle in Toen.jpg|Hakka woman wearing shanku, between 1935 and 1945 File:Old Hakka women sitting rural Miaoli.jpg|Hakka woman in , 1950 During the Great Leap Forward, the Mao suit became popular. but it was not expected for children to wear the Mao suit. While in cities, children started to wear Western style clothing, the children in the rural areas continued to wear the traditional shanku which were made of cotton checked fabrics, stripe fabrics, or other patterned fabrics. == Ethnic clothing ==

Han Chinese Both Han Chinese women and men of the labouring classes wore shanku. both Hakka men and women wear it. The preferred colours of the Hakka shanku is typically blue and black. Hoklo wearing shanku The Hoklo people wears shanku which is composed of fitted-style of shan which has a deeply curved hem and black-coloured trousers ku. Their shan was characterized by the bands decoration at the sleeves edges and at the garment opening as well as the collar of the shan which was very narrow and also consisted of piping rows. They typically wore bright colours such as light blue as every day wear while colours such as purple, deep blue, deep turquoise were reserved for special occasions. Tanka The Tanka people also wear shanku which is distinctive in style wherein the shan and the ku matched in colour; they prefer wearing colours which are lighter and brighter, such as pale green, pale blue, turquoise, yellow and pink. These lighter colours tended to be preferred by younger women or by newly married women; they were also worn on special occasions. On the other hand, darker colours were favoured by older women. == Influences and derivatives ==

Vietnam In the 15th century (from 1407 to 1478), the Vietnamese women adopted Chinese trousers under the occupation of the Ming dynasty. During the 17th and 18th century, Vietnam was divided in two regions with the Nguyen lords ruling the South. The Nguyen lords ordered that southern men and women had to wear Chinese-stye trousers and long front-buttoning tunics to differentiate themselves from the people living in the North. This form of outfit developed with time over the next century becoming the precursor of the áo dài, the outfit generally consisted of trousers, loose-fitting shirt with a stand-up collar and a diagonal right side closure which run from the neck to the armpit; these features were inspired by the Chinese and the Manchu clothing. In the 1920s, the form ensemble outfit was refitted to become the Vietnamese national dress, the ladies' . == See also ==