Common Hanfu Styles: Solve the Mystery on the Streets!
Walking down the street, people around you can’t figure out your Hanfu clothing type—help them out with pics and this guide! This overview introduces the most common Hanfu styles, showing how they shaped traditional Chinese clothing and continue to inspire modern fashion.
Upper Coat, Lower Skirt
A top Hanfu clothing type—short top (Ru) with a skirt, cross-collar, right-over-left. Ruqun, a key popular Hanfu outfit, has evolved with details shifting. Some have deep collars to the armpit, wide sleeve edges (wider at the shoulder than cuff), with a waistline, often seen as an under-layer. Others have shallow collars, straight sleeves (same width top to bottom), narrow edges, and a waistline, typically worn as an outer Ruqun.
【Dui Jin Ruqun】(Center-Front Ruqun)
Another common Hanfu style. The Ru is a short top, knee-length max, paired with a striped or plain skirt. Dui Jin Ruqun features a straight collar, center front opening, and sleeves in wide or narrow cuts. In the Two Jin period, a waist belt with a short apron below was added, shorter than knee covers.
【Aoqun (or Shanqun)】(Aoqun or Shirt-Skirt)
Top Ao with a skirt, a traditional Chinese clothing combination. Long-sleeve Ao shirt, cross-collar, right-over-left, often with pipa sleeves (tapered cuffs). The skirt pairs with Ma Mian Zhe skirts or regular pleated ones. Ma Mian has four front-back panels, two overlapping, side pleats, and a smooth “horse face” middle, often decorated with knee Lan patterns, also called Lan Skirt. Aoqun influenced Korean palace styles and other Chinese ethnic wears.
【Qi Xiong Ruqun】(Chest-High Ruqun)
A Ruqun variant based on tie placement—skirt waist tied above the chest, hence “Qi Xiong” (chest-high). Started in Sui, peaked in Tang. The skirt flows long and elegant, with cross-collar or center-front styles (mostly center-front). The Ru tucks inside the skirt. Easy to mix up with Hanbok, but Hanbok ties at the chest with the Ru outside, evolving from Ming styles.
A popular Hanfu outfit. Shen Congwen’s Study of Ancient Chinese Clothing notes: “Ban Bi, or half-sleeve, grew from Wei-Jin Ru into a collarless (or turned-collar), center-front or pullover short jacket, with elbow-length sleeves and waist-length body.” Its meaning varied by era, but now it’s usually an elbow-length, cross-collar or center-front short Ru.
Upper and Lower Connected
【Zhi Ju】(Straight Flap)
Zhi Ju is cut and sewn top-to-bottom, no side slits, cross-collar, right-over-left. Similar finds from Ma Shan Chu Tomb and Ma Wang Dui differ in details. Later versions kept the style but with big changes, showing how ancient Chinese fashion evolved.
Qu Ju features an extended front flap crossing back, with Ma Wang Dui as the only known artifact. [Personally, I think Ma Wang Dui’s Qu Ju likely had an outer layer (maybe plain gauze Zen Yi) since those wide sleeves weren’t typically worn alone. Some say the collar should fold for a double-layer effect, with a narrow single robe over it.]
Started in Tang, popular in Song and Ming. Song Shi • Yu Fu Zhi says: “Lan Shan, made of white fine cloth, round collar, big sleeves, with a horizontal Lan as the skirt, waist pleats, worn by scholars, Yuan Zi Sheng, and county students.” Song men favored it, with a lower Lan keeping the upper-lower tradition. Ming dropped the knee Lan, widening the hem—maybe symbolizing it. Middle shows Song Lan Shan, right shows Ming.
In Ming, a scholar’s ritual wear for sacrifices or capping ceremonies, not casual. Made in white or jade, cross-collar, wide open sleeves, with black or green trim on collar, sleeves, flaps, and hem. Cut top-to-bottom, twelve panels below the waist: four front, four back, one each side, two small flaps. Worn with a head scarf, wide belt, and plain shoes. (From Xie Fang Zhu Ren’s Weibo) Note: This is Ming Shen Yi, not Zhu Zi’s version. A true mark of traditional Chinese clothing elegance.
Upper and Lower Seamless
A common Hanfu style, cross-collar, right-over-left, big-sleeve long robe, often with a white collar trim, tapered cuffs. Sides split, with a flap from the left outer and right inner edges, pleated three times, tucked into the back to the spine—called a hidden “swing.” Pic shows Confucius Mansion relics and modern Hanfu folks rocking it.
【Yuan Ling Pao】(Round-Collar Robe)
A Hanfu style, round collar, long sleeves, right-over-left. Some say it’s from Hu attire, others trace it to Zhou’s rectangular collars. It boomed in Sui-Tang as official wear, influencing Japan and Korea, with big detail shifts across eras, leaving a huge impact on ancient Chinese fashion.
【Zhi Duo】(Straight Long Robe)
A Hanfu style, named for its long body with a back seam to the hem, a roomy long robe, elegant and scholarly. Seen in Song as casual wear for officials, a Ming staple, cross-collar, past-knee length, no flaps, with a tied belt and tassels. Add an inner flap for Dao Pao, outer for Zhi Shen.
A Hanfu style, worn over other clothes, center-front, long sleeves, straight collar to the hem. Worn open, lengths and widths vary, side slits up to the armpit. Ming Beizi differs from Song—San Cai Tu Hui calls it a modern cape, but they’re distinct, as capes have same-color collars stopping at the chest.
A popular Hanfu outfit for all, straight collar, center-front, wide sleeves, side slits, no trim, collar same color to the chest. Pairs with casual wear. Similar to Xie Yi (or He Xie), but Xie Yi has edged body and mostly no side slits.
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