What Women Wore in China When Underwear Wasn’t Invented? #language #learnchinese #chineseculture

[AChinesetranslator]

In ancient times, "肚兜" or "抹胸" (In the video, I referred to it as a bellyband for easy understanding for those who don't know Chinese history and culture), has had many names throughout Chinese history. In the Han dynasty, it was called “抱腹 bao fu" (belly cover) or “心衣xin yi" (heart garment), in the Tang dynasty “诃子he zi" in the Song dynasty " 抹胸 mo xiong" or “袜胸 wa xiong" in the Yuan dynasty “合欢襟 he huan jin" in the Ming dynasty "主腰 zhu yao" and in the Qing dynasty "肚兜 dudou" or "兜肚doudou", which is also its common name today.
So, we know ancient women wore dudou on their upper bodies, but what did they wear on their lower bodies? Before the Qin and Han dynasties, they only had “middle garments" and "middle trousers" without crotches. Hanfu (traditional Chinese clothing) consists of "衣yi" (top) and "裳shang" (skirt), which was basically just a piece of cloth to cover themselves. During the Han dynasty, influenced by nomadic tribes, they started wearing crotch-seamed trousers because it was uncomfortable to ride horses without them. So, FOR MANY GENERATIONS, WOMEN DIDN'T WEAR ANYTHING ON THEIR LOWER BODIES, and it was only during the Han dynasty that they began wearing“开裆裤split pants", however, even "split pants" weren't considered underwear. It wasn't until later, when clothing became more varied, that people wore other clothes on the outside, making it look like "they had something underneath".
The closest thing to underwear in ancient times was called "亵裤xie ku" Xie ku wasn't thick because it was worn close to the body, so it couldn't be too thick or it would be too hot in summer. In winter, it was easy to add more layers. Xie ku wasn't the same as modern underwear; it was a bit longer and wasn't meant to be worn as innerwear. Its function was more like the leggings people wear today.
So, for many generations, women didn't wear anything on their lower bodies. However, it depends on how you look at it. Explaining all this in a one-minute video is very hard. When I made the video, I was thinking of underwear as something that protects private parts. Even if women wore xie ku, it doesn't count as underwear by that definition.

[elisabeth]

You should have added the men cause they had it worse. It's funny to watch martial arts in hanfu when it's known that they had thier private parts fully exposed if they did high kicks. Just sitting was a huge issue. Please talk about it.

[allyhaydar]

West Asian gals don't wear underwear they did wear long trousers under their dress or abya. Underwear is very western thing

[surya_moura]

Underwear is one of the best inventions, I feel absolutely uncomfortable without it. Whoever invented it, thanks 🙌🏻

[xiandarkthorne]

I will never be able to watch Chinese period dramas the same innocent way ever again.

[lightweight]

Ancient women and men in ancient China didn't wear MODERN underwear, they wore an ancient equivalent that is surprisingly not too dissimilar to their "western" counterparts: Pant-like garments.

There were periods where women didn't wear any sort of trousers and simply had multiple layers of skirts. That made it easier for them to releave themselves. Those extremely wide dresses you see in movies were not worn by the majority of the common people and those who did didn't do it everyday. It was a nice thing for when guests arrive or some other occasion.

[realestatedeals]

And how did they handle their period then?

[MilkMocha]

So was every women who wore skirts all around the world. I know that before pads were invented, women used to either use cotton or sand filled loincloths to absord blood with string which they tied around their hips.
As for men, they too had loincloth which they tightly wrap around their junk as seen in ancient Olympic games shown in many games based on ancient greece.
(Like what sumo wrestlers or ancient indian wrestlers wore aroudn their pelvis).
That helped with martial arts. Some women who were practicing warriors in india also folded their skirts around their pelvis making a secure trouser shaped clothing (same for men with their shrong) so prevent any exposure during battle or practice. Most women in ancient communities of asia didn't wore head to toe clothing. And working women often took one corner of their skirts and tied it aroudn their waist in a way that exposure was almost impossible when they did any crouching or bending (while sitting on low stools or planting peddies in fields or working with wood)

[prakashholla]

That is why Mulan the female warrior who saved China from the Mongols is even today a legend to the Chinese esp the women. She wore men's clothes, fought like a man, saved their country alongwith her future husband.
And did all this 800 years back

[thdjjfsfh]

Bro, that only applies to royalty and elite. 99% are working in the farm. Wearing clothes that are practical for farm labor.

[hemenrahul]

Look on his face when he says wore nothing underneath 😂

[animationlover]

When did women in China start commonly wearing trousers under their robes? I saw something once saying that it was much later than men did, but no source or even approximate dates were given.

[renatayuuki]

I'm gonna be like an ancient Chinese princess this summer

[Pandeyziipandit]

In india we have something called langot which children n men wear even now idk about underwear but we have multiple layered ancient indian clothes so i don't really think underwear or not would matter

[konkonabagchi]

In Chinese dramas they show longs pants as their undergarments so when did that came in? 🤔

[Awhi]

I like these. Keep up the good work. An isolated world for Chinese women

[suvashree]

This depends feom dynasty to dynasty.. Just like outer clothing. Would like a long form video on this

[rhyswong]

In ancient China if the woman show you her shoulder, you already made her pregnant.

[jeremystanley]

You wouldn’t want a Marylin Monroe moment on a windy day like in that famous picture 😂😂😂😂😂

[phoenixx]

underwear for the most part didn't exist universally until the french invented the lace variety somewhere after the 17th or 18th century - and only then it was only after the wider adoption of domestic WC's. Prior to that the tradition in both men and women, was to simply stand discretely to the side on the grass or a stairway, legs slightly apart and pretend to examine something while simply just 'wizzing' (or worse) on the ground where they stood. In the lower classes both men and women would use "alleys" and "drainage ditches" in public. Underwear would have got in the way.
The nearest thing to underwear was "rags" worn during menstral cycles which for the most part resemnbled the cloth wraps that sumo wrestlers today wear in competitions.
In aristocracy, the tradition of "airing" a house was when the servants would clean up all the little puddles and stains in the various remote corners of the estate to remove the smell.
In fact prior to that the only time in history public toilets were a thing was a thousand years earlier during the roman empire. Even in the most lavish castle at best the WC was a hole over the moat, or into a hole next to the wall in the upper floors, and that was considered decadant luxury.