Representation of Women, Representation of Nation: Qipao, Liberation and Identity

Tianyi Ma; Yueling Zou

doi:10.2991/assehr.k.220706.080

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Representation of Women, Representation of Nation: Qipao, Liberation and Identity

Authors

Tianyi Ma¹^{, *}^{, †}, Yueling Zou²^{, †}

¹Faculty of Arts and Science, Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, H3G 1M8

²New Channel Shanghai School, Shanghai, China, 200336

^†

These authors contributed equally.

^*Corresponding author. Email: 18404028@masu.edu.cn

Corresponding Author

Tianyi Ma

Available Online 14 July 2022.

DOI: 10.2991/assehr.k.220706.080 How to use a DOI?
Keywords: qipao; modern fashion; women liberation; consumer identity
Abstract: As one of the most important types of garments in the Republic of China from the 1920s to the 1940s, the wearer of the qipao was undoubtedly woman whereas the construction of qipao’s meaning was often derived from men. Although it is impossible to completely be isolated from the male gaze, this paper attempts to return the right to interpret the qipao to women. As a symbol of modernity influenced by Western values, the consumer of the qipao was mainly represented by the emerging urban middle-class women with dual cultural and economic status, and there was intertextuality between the qipao and these female elites. Divided into three main sections, the essay illustrates the identity, design and symbol of the qipao that women functioned to express modernity from their point of view. Taken together, the findings of the study suggest that through the qipao, the middle-class women consciously or unconsciously acquired political identity, and gained participation and recognition in public life. From the perspective of social history, the research may provide a deeper understanding of the social and cultural changes in the Republic of China from the historical phenomenon that the qipao has become synonymous with modern Chinese women.
Open Access: This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC 4.0 license.

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Volume Title: Proceedings of the 2022 3rd International Conference on Language, Art and Cultural Exchange（ICLACE 2022)
Series: Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research
Publication Date: 14 July 2022
ISBN: 978-94-6239-592-3
ISSN: 2352-5398
DOI: 10.2991/assehr.k.220706.080 How to use a DOI?
Open Access: This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC 4.0 license.

Cite this article

ris enw bib

TY  - CONF
AU  - Tianyi Ma
AU  - Yueling Zou
PY  - 2022
DA  - 2022/07/14
TI  - Representation of Women, Representation of Nation: Qipao, Liberation and Identity
BT  - Proceedings of the 2022 3rd International Conference on Language, Art and Cultural Exchange（ICLACE 2022)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 406
EP  - 411
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/assehr.k.220706.080
DO  - 10.2991/assehr.k.220706.080
ID  - Ma2022
ER  -

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