The rise of the hanfu market restored traditional festivals back to former hustle and bustle. Lighting lanterns, pasting couplets, wearing hanfu, and singing ancient poems, built a bridge between ancient and modern times and seized the young people's hearts.
Hanfu brings feelings of nostalgia, ancestor worship, and gratitude to modern people. At the same time, hanfu production, sales, makeup, and supporting service markets have risen, and hanfu element immersive experience marketing is also in the stage of vigorous development.
Traditional culture in the costume
The West Lake cruise ship with rabbit lanterns is swaying in the lake, and several tourists in hanfu complement with beautiful scenery, which is pretty much in line with the feeling of crossing Hangzhou, a thousand-year-old city. Many young people are immersive in it.
“When I watched costume dramas as a child, I often put on a bed sheet to imitate a robe, and now wearing hanfu is more like a dream come true.” Yan Peishan, who studied in Italy, said, “Earlier, I played erhu on stage in hanfu and won a lot of praise. It turns out that there are not only cheongsams in China, but also beautiful hanfu.”
Hanfu does not only refer to the clothing of the Han Dynasty but the traditional clothing of the Han nationality. Bian Xiangyang, the curator of the Shanghai textile museum, said in an interview that some hanfu enthusiasts will pursue the characteristics of clothing in a certain historical period, such as Ming-style hanfu and Tang-style hanfu.
Hanfu lovers like to call each other “Tong Pao (同袍)”, which comes from The Book of Songs. Under the background of the revival of China's traditional culture, people's understanding of hanfu etiquette is rapidly popularized. Wearing hanfu to enjoy an immersive experience is sought after by more and more groups.
All kinds of activities around hanfu are becoming richer and richer.
- Every year, the “Chinese Hanfu Day” on the third day of the third month of the lunar calendar has become a festival for many Hanfu enthusiasts.
- On May 1, 2022, the immersive Tang-style city life district “The Longest Day in Chang'an” opened in Xi'an, and Hanfu enthusiasts from all over the country came to enjoy it.
- The Chinese Costume Exhibition and Xitang Hanfu Culture Week have been held ten times in Xitang Town, Jiashan County, Zhejiang Province, becoming a feast for many hanfu and photography enthusiasts.
Boosted by multiple factors
Hanfu has become an important part of the national tide culture and national style economy, among which multiple factors have fueled the Hanfu craze.
In recent years, the rise of Chinese comics and the ancient aesthetics led by ancient costume dramas have increased the attention of hanfu culture.
“Justice Online”, a Chinese-style game owned by NetEase, triggered the Song culture hot among young groups, and linked with the drama “Serenade of Peaceful Joy” of the Northern Song Dynasty to launch several hanfu costumes made by the Song Dynasty, trying the linkage of “drama + game + hanfu brand”. The Hanfu trend has brought positive effects. This shows that the popularity of hanfu is having a positive effect.
The new consumer group that has grown up has a high willingness to consume hanfu that carries traditional culture and national characteristics.
Xie Xihong, head of the cosplay project team of Hangzhou International Cartoon and Animation Festival, believes that the rise of hanfu is gradually driven by content, cultivates a large number of consumer groups, thus driving the expansion of industry and brand awareness, driving non-content consumer groups, and forming a virtuous cycle of two-way industrial promotion.
Behind the consumer market is the manufacturing end. The development of hanfu has led to the transformation and upgrading of a number of clothing processing factories. At the same time, it has also driven employment, and hanfu makeup artist has become a new choice for youth employment. “There are obviously more children coming to experience Hanfu culture. Hanfu family portrait is a project that many parents must participate in”. Haitang, a post-90s hanfu photographer said.
The complete hanfu look needs specific makeup to look better. So, new occupations such as hanfu makeup artist and ornament maker spawned. They undertake the makeup during large-scale exhibition activities and festivals, and the income is relatively considerable. Zhang Xingyu, the founder of “Xitang Yuli” makeup studio, said that some Hanfu makeup artists cost two or three times as much as ordinary makeup artists.
The process of innovation of hanfu
According to iResearch, 93 percent of consumers are “prepared to buy more” or “willing to give priority” to products that incorporate culture; Among these consumers, 94 percent said they could accept the premium brought by chinoiserie design. The “daily chinoiserie elements” style is especially favored by women aged 18 to 34.
The cultural drive of the hanfu craze is the love of young people for traditional culture. The popularity of hanfu not only promotes the in-depth study of the history of ancient Chinese clothing in the academic field, including the clothing system, the research of artifacts objects, etc. but also attracts public enthusiasts to enter museums, bringing more attention to historical artifacts related to hanfu.”
The controversy over the “Traditional” and the “Innovation” in the hanfu circle has never stopped. Yang Xiaodong, vice president of the China Clothing Association, believes that entering the daily life of the younger generation is the key to the further development of hanfu. Therefore, the “New Style Hanfu”, which is more closely integrated with daily life, has increasingly become the focus of the market. New style hanfu is a hanfu system that retains the traditional classic clothing shape and typical characteristics of the Han nationality and innovates with the diversified clothing situation and fashion aesthetics of the current masses. Hanfu innovation is to adhere to the right path at the same time innovation.
Zhu Jun, president of the traditional culture association “Wumen Hanyun”, believes that the lack of hanfu culture at this stage is a high-quality arena, and the cooperation mechanism between non-governmental associations and official organizations can be further explored. It is necessary not only to resurrect hanfu but also to pass on the etiquette culture behind the clothing and the spiritual outlook into a new form.
