Youth "Hanfu culture" in the context of the subcultural perspective of the development of Chinese street fashion

Van Wenshan Postgraduate student, Department of History and Theory of Arts St. Petersburg State University of Industrial Technologies and Design, 191186, St. Petersburg, Bolshaya Morskaya, 18 191186, Russia, Saint Petersburg, Bolshaya Morskaya str., 18 mento@mail.ru

In March 2013, Chinese Scientific News published a special article entitled "Ten Years of the Hanfu Movement", which reviewed the historical development of the Hanfu movement in China, as well as explored and highlighted the main directions of its activities. Over these ten years, the evolution of the Hanfu Culture movement has gone from focusing on national cultural representation to penetrating the core of traditional culture, from the activities of a niche group to a well-known social movement.

The significance of this phenomenon of youth subculture, appealing to the revival of traditional values as an important local material for subcultural research, is extremely disproportionate to its absence in the field of youth research. However, some scientists have conducted research on this phenomenon based on the perspectives of fashion design, aesthetics and ethnology, either focusing on the aesthetic value of Hanfu itself, or imposing nationalistic judgments on it in the absence of certain empirical experience as support, which requires further research, analysis and judgment on our part.

The study was based on one of the cities – the capital of Sichuan province in the southwestern part of China, Chengdu, with a population of almost 15 million people. Taking into account the specifics and representativeness of Chengdu youth mass culture, in order to conduct an in-depth study of the youth "Hanfu Culture", and based on theoretical methods of studying youth subculture, the author and a group of enthusiasts used empirical methods such as questionnaires and in-depth interviews to conduct the most complete study of the Hanfu movement in Chengdu and the Hanfu culture of knowledge of various segments of the population. A group of enthusiastic Hanfu youth, at the request of the author, helped in conducting research in order to understand and restore the historical context, that is, the construction and practical logic of this cultural revival movement with distinctive features peculiar only to it, features of the youth subculture. Since the absolute value of the sample number itself is small, we used a random sample to distribute questionnaires to Hanfu culture enthusiasts in Chengdu. We sent out 300 questionnaires and received 270 completed questionnaires in response with an effective coefficient of 92%. At the same time, in-depth interviews with members and the head of the Hanfu organization were conducted during this study.

In a broad sense, Hanfu is a general term for the traditional ethnic costumes of the Han people from the "Yellow Emperor who hung up his clothes to rule the world" to the era of the Qing Dynasty ^{[1, p.87]}. It includes a clothing system consisting of a number of distinctive styles. According to our intuitive understanding, Hanfu in a narrow sense is the national costume of the Chinese nation (Han nation) during the Han Dynasty. Being an important part of the traditional cultural system of the Chinese nation, Hanfu has undergone changes in different eras, from ancient times to the present day, forming a diverse style, a certain niche of clothing and an appropriate etiquette and cultural system.

 The distinctive features of the Hanfu costume are "an upper and lower skirt, a crossed collar and hem, drawstring ties with hidden buttons, wide sleeves and wide belts, and as an addition, hair tied in a bun on top of the head," which gives people the impression of freedom and elegance. "Hanfu Culture", as well as the "Hanfu Renaissance Movement", refers to a typical youth subculture, where youth is the main part that realizes the revival of Chinese national culture by creating traditional costumes and popularizing the traditional etiquette of the Han people^{[2, p. 25]}.

The Hanfu style reflects the cultural traditions, social thought and ethical concept of Chinese civilization, which contributes to the diversity of modern Hanfu ^{[3, p. 18]}.  For example, the Chengdu Hanfu Association states in its charter that the organization is a non-profit, academic, professional, social group created spontaneously by propagandists of traditional Han costumes. Chengdu is an important force in promoting the great traditional history of the country and culture, where a course is taken to build a social and spiritual civilization.

In fact, since the leaders of various countries appeared in public in Tang costumes at the APEC Summit meeting in Shanghai in 2001, there has been a wave of attention and discussion about traditional Chinese costumes, and at the same time the concept of "Hanfu Revival" was proposed, which originated in the discursive system of revival of traditional culture. At that time, the practice of Hanfu existed on an individual level and was mainly concentrated in discussions in online communities. Therefore, it is also called the Hanfu Internet period, and it has not yet entered the real world, has not acquired great social significance.

 Hanfu appeared in public for the first time in many decades and attracted some attention only in 2002. Then a university lecturer named Li Guangwei from Lianyungang posted photos of himself on the Internet in traditional Han costumes and playing the guqin, which attracted a lot of attention from netizens.

Representatives of the Hanfu movement, as a rule, are more inclined to believe that the landmark event that launched the Hanfu movement was Wang Letian (whose online name on the Internet of the Chinese segment "Top Gun"), an employee of the Zhengzhou electric power company, strolling through the city of Zhengzhou in 2003 in a dark embroidered robe with a deep skirt and belt.

Hanfu's charm was thus demonstrated to the general public right on the street. Wang Letyan's colleagues believe that Han national costumes returned to the streets after disappearing for 360 years, when the Shunzhi Emperor of the Qing Dynasty ordered the enactment of the treatise "Everything in Clothes" in 1645. In the eyes of the townspeople, this was a real feat, as the first person to bring Hanfu to the streets since the days of the "shaving hair" policy changed clothes in accordance with the rules of wearing clothes of this dynasty. Over the past 10 years, the Hanfu movement has gone through a stage of ascent (2003-2005), a stage of development (2006-2008) and a stage of deepening (from 2009 to the present). At the current stage, Hanfu enthusiasts can be divided into a "school of textual research" (focusing on the study of the Hanfu clothing system); a "reform school" (focusing on Hanfu innovations and the integration of Han elements into the clothing system at the present time); a "visual school" (focusing on the Hanfu costume system); demonstrating and exploring aesthetic value); "radical" (a group with extreme views and harsh rhetoric) and other schools.

According to the age structure, the main part of the Hanfu cultural movement in Chengdu consists of people born in the late 1980s and 1990s of the twentieth century. Statistics show that young people under the age of 30 make up 92.8% of the respondents. Among them, the defining role of this movement is played by students of colleges and universities, secondary schools and technical schools. Schoolchildren and young employees who have just joined the ranks of the workers form the main force of this movement. The professional composition of the Chengdu Hanfu enthusiasts who took part in the questionnaire survey is as follows: college and university students (29.7%), employees of non-governmental enterprises and institutions (23.6%), primary and secondary school students (20.6%). Hanfu enthusiasts from Chengdu have been involved in the Hanfu movement for more than 10 years (4.4%), 6-9 years (11.0%), 2-5 years (55.8%) and for 1 year (28.9%). It can be seen that over the past 10 years, the Hanfu movement has initially developed its own sustainable development strategy so that it can constantly draw new strength for its further development in the new present era.

Considering the gender composition among the Hanfu enthusiasts in Chengdu, 67% are women and about 33% are men. This gender ratio is mostly consistent with the findings of surveys of Hanfu enthusiasts across the country. Wearing certain styles of clothing has become an important way for subcultural groups to attract attention. The majority of participants in the youth clothing subculture are mainly young women. The Hanfu movement is no exception. On the one hand, this is due to the special preference of women for the aesthetics of clothing. On the other hand, this is also due to the fact that women's clothing in the traditional Hanfu system has richer and more beautiful shapes, which have an obvious intuitive effect on people. Therefore, the hot topic discussed by Hanfu enthusiasts is which style and which dynasty of Hanfu menswear is more aesthetic. The value of discussing this topic is to involve men in the Hanfu cultural movement as effectively as possible.

Regarding the educational level of Hanfu adherents, the survey showed that in Chengdu 1.9% have higher education, 38.2% have a bachelor's degree, 27.1% have higher professional or incomplete higher education, 28.8% have higher or secondary technical education, and all together make up 96.0%, This proportion is consistent with the data of the national survey, taking into account that that this survey was conducted in 2023 (the results of the Baidu Hanfu Bar survey show that persons with higher education or higher make up 3.2%, those with a bachelor's degree make up 42.1%, those with higher professional or higher education made up 13.9%, and those with secondary technical education made up 23.2%, a total of 82.4%), which indicates that most fans of historical Hanfu costume have a certain degree of professional knowledge based on fundamental traditional cultural knowledge, as well as a certain understanding and recognition of traditional national culture.

An analysis of the ethnic composition of the respondents shows that Han youth and representatives of ethnic minorities living in various districts of Chengdu play a key role in the Hanfu cultural movement. This suggests that during the development of the Hanfu movement, its extreme nationalist elements could never take over the leadership of this youth subcultural movement. On the contrary, this subcultural trend, based on common interests and culture, is inclusive. The diverse content of the movement continues to grow, gradually gaining support from Hanfu enthusiasts. In their eyes, the Hanfu movement is not a narrow ethnic group. In their opinion, the Hanfu movement is not so much a farce of nationalism among Han youth as a youth movement for the protection and inheritance of traditional culture, which is a group of subcultural youth formations with common interests, hobbies, ideals and beliefs. Thus, this phenomenon of youth culture is not a simple value judgment such as racial nationalism, extreme nationalism or networked cultural nationalism, as some scientists imagined when talking about the trends of its development at the beginning of the Hanfu movement.

Currently, Hanfu production is mainly manual and is based on small private sewing workshops. Therefore, most Hanfu enthusiasts invest their own funds in production, including the purchase of materials and sewing equipment for making Hanfu, the purchase (manufacture) of accessories, the purchase of books and materials for Hanfu advertising, participation in the expenses of the club, etc.

According to the survey, about 54% of Hanfu enthusiasts will control their annual Hanfu activity expenses within 500 yuan, about 29.2% will control them within 501-1000 yuan, and 15.1% will spend 1001 - 3000 yuan.

 74.3% of Hanfu enthusiasts have a monthly family income of less than 7,000 yuan. 71.0% of hanfu enthusiasts prefer to buy hanfu on the Hanfu website, 24.8% prefer to buy it from local Hanfu convenience stores, and 27% make hanfu themselves. In terms of family support, 55.2% of family members are indifferent to Hanfu enthusiasts involved in the popularization of Hanfu, and 22.9% of family members have always supported or moved from the group of opponents of Hanfu enthusiasts to support historical costume enthusiasts involved in the development of Hanfu.

Considering the goals and objectives of the Hanfu Culture youth movement and the basic requirements of the practice of the Chengdu youth cultural movement, they can be divided into three progressive levels, namely: inheritance, dissemination and popularization of Hanfu culture; development and innovation of Hanfu culture; and the development of traditional Han culture related to Hanfu.

Currently, the issue of popularization of Hanfu culture, its advertising and introduction into the mass consciousness of the importance of knowing the history of their people is becoming important. The lack of information about the traditional costumes of the Han nationality is an incentive for young researchers and promotes the history of Hanfu.

In the survey, we found that as many as 94.8% of Hanfu enthusiasts in Chengdu fully agree or partially agree that the purpose of the Hanfu movement is to "study the clothing system and popularize Hanfu knowledge among the public."

Since Hanfu is being revived already in the XXI century, it becomes necessary to use the latest methods of information dissemination. Young Hanfu enthusiasts are very interested in innovation, in the design and demonstration of Hanfu itself, such as Hanfu design, the design of appropriate Hanfu accessories, as well as the production of Hanfu cartoons, filming films using Hanfu costume. Even the design of the Hanfu-style academic uniform was included in the list of compulsory wear in junior and secondary schools. An important reason for the innovation of Hanfu culture is that there is a very strict and serious, deep cultural tradition in clothing.

During the survey, we found that most Hanfu enthusiasts are aware of this and have adopted a learning strategy aimed at assimilating the essence and introducing innovations into the heritage of Hanfu culture. The adoption of Chinese elements and their integration into Hanfu design innovations is an important prerequisite.

 During the development and rise of the culture of wearing Hanfu, the traditional culture of the Han nationality associated with costume was also inherited and deepened at three levels: the promotion of Hanfu as a specific ceremonial garment in the form of an academic uniform; the promotion of Hanfu as casual clothing; the promotion of the restoration of traditional festival etiquette ^{[4, p. 23]}.

The most important reason for the emergence and further development of the "Hanfu Culture" is the awakening of national identity, inspired by the ongoing development of globalization.

At first glance, it seems that globalization allows different countries to freely participate in economic and cultural exchange, but its essence lies rather in unilateral cultural penetration and spread by culturally strong, that is, cultural hegemons, to countries with a lower economic and cultural level ^{[5, p.135]}.

                In the context of globalization, various countries and regions apply various mechanisms and methods to preserve and transmit their cultural traditions and national characteristics.

 From the point of view of Hanfu enthusiasts, the lack of national costumes that can reflect the characteristics, heritage and character of the nation is a problem. Speaking about the Hanfu movement, a professor at the Faculty of History at Fudan University said: "Clothes are a person's second skin. People use the clothing system to improve their understanding of national culture, their identity and self-confidence." The stronger economic globalization is, the more national identity and differentiation are required.

In the era of globalization, the national character and its features are still well preserved, while the national characteristics of the Han people as the dominant nation have gradually disappeared and blurred. This objectively stimulates reflections on the identity and national identity of the Han people ^{[6, p. 140]}.

In modern Chinese society, clothing, as an intuitive symbol of youth subculture, is becoming the vanguard of youth fashion and pop culture. Youth, clothing and the nation are closely linked. Clothes are the bearer of fashion, and young people are the promoters and consumers of fashion. Clothes carry the ideas of young people, value requirements and life ideals. Whether it's Western punks, modernists, hippies or the practice of youth fashion in different periods in China, we see that clothing is an important visual symbol and cultural symbol of the youth subculture ^{[7, p.22]}, it is intuitive and easy to use in the cultural industry, which has become popular against the background of large-scale distribution. Clothing is also a dominant feature of the external characteristics of national culture, reflecting production and lifestyle, habitat, standard of living, values, aesthetic consciousness, religious beliefs, as well as the degree of contact and interaction between different ethnic groups of a multinational society, the accumulation of life experience, common history and creativity.

 After the emergence of the Hanfu movement, which was dominated by Chinese youth, the traditional trend of cultural revival and the social movement since the beginning of reforms and the policy of openness in China really got rid of the situation of the "high-minded and restrained", thereby realizing the vital need for a development-oriented civil society and the implementation of a reasonable youth policy.

 It can be considered that the Hanfu movement, as a subculture of clothing, has objectively become a carrier of heritage and dissemination of national traditional culture for young people ^{[8, p.83]}.

The author's proposals regarding the promotion of Hanfu culture in Chinese society are becoming most relevant in the context of protecting the rights of participants in the multimillion-dollar movement without violating the rights of national minorities. Obviously, there is a question of exposing to the legal plane the rights and demands of all ethnic groups to inherit their culture, which should be equally protected

It is necessary to scientifically analyze the various demands of the youth groups of the Hanfu movement so that they enjoy the same legitimate, justified rights to inherit traditional national culture as all ethnic minorities.

It is necessary to ensure equal protection and create conditions through political leadership and the dissemination of materials about Hanfu in the media to help societies of fans of national costume and Hanfu enthusiasts, as well as self-organizations of various ethnic minorities, in educating young people of all ethnic groups. At the same time, each ethnic group should show tolerance for the different cultures of other ethnic groups, recognizing each other ^{[9, p. 2]}.

The practice of building the cultural identity of the Hanfu movement has a certain educational significance for our attempts to use the perspective of "multiculturalism" instead of the perspective of "politicization" to analyze, study and manage ethnic relations in order to achieve political ethnic equality in the group and at the individual level ^[10].

Thus, this study has proved the need for the development of historical heritage in Chinese society in the form of traditional Hanfu national costume, which in recent years has become an important source of inspiration for a significant part of the country's young population in popularizing ancient traditions in modern street fashion. The interest in studying historical roots among young representatives of various ethnic groups is becoming more evident and is confirmed in the results of the study, and the revival of Hanfu culture is beginning to receive support at the state level.