Generic term for non-Han Chinese clothing
 (; Korean: ; Hanja: ; RR: ), also referred as clothing, nomadic dress, 'barbarian' clothing or dress, or foreign dress, is a generic term which refers to any clothing which was worn in ancient China and its surrounding regions by non-Han Chinese people. This term is also used to refer to clothing of foreign origins in ancient China. The introduction of -style garments and attire in China occurred by the time of King Wuling of Zhao.
Terminology.
The term " was adopted to refer to the non-Han Chinese population which could include the ancient 'Hu' northern nomadic people, such as the Xiongnu, as well as the people from the Western regions such as Sogdians,284 the Sasanid Persian, the Turkic people (), Uyghur ( or ), Tibetans (), and the Khitans () who lived in the north and west regions of the empire.
Cultural significance and distinction.
The traditional way to distinguish between and , Chinese clothing, is by the direction in which the garment collar closes.
Chinese collar customs.
Clothing style which overlaps in the front and closes to the right, known as () originated in China, and was first worn during the Shang dynasty in China. The collar is an important symbol of the Han Chinese, and traditionally Chinese robes and Chinese jackets must cover the right part of the body. However, the Chinese did also wear clothing which overlaps in the front and is closed on the left side, in a style known as (). According to the 《說文解字》, a form of , known as (襲), was a robe with a closure. The coat known as (褶; sometimes referred as ), typically used as part of the , was also a () according to the .
The use of , however, was typically associated with funeral practices. This can also be found in the chapter 《喪大記》of the 《禮記》: ;templatestyles src="Template:Blockquote/styles.css" / ;"At both the dressings the sacrificial robes were not placed below the others. They were all placed with the lapel to lie on the left side. The bands were tied firmly, and not in a bow-knot [小斂大斂，祭服不倒，皆左衽結絞不紐]."According to ancient Chinese beliefs, the only moment a Han Chinese was supposed to close their clothing in the -style is when they dressed their deceased. This funeral practice stemmed from ancient Chinese beliefs in the yin and yang theory, where it is believed that the left represents the aspect and stands for life, whereas the right represents the aspect, which stands for death. Based on this belief, the left lapel needs to be outside (i.e. ) to indicate that the power of the is suppressing the , and was thus reserved for the clothing of living people. However, if the aspect surpasses the , which is represented by the , then this form of clothing is to be worn by the deceased. Therefore, it was taboo in ancient China for a living person to wear . The rule of wearing was not always respected by the Han Chinese: for example, in the 10th century, some ethnic Han Chinese could be found wearing left-lapel clothing in some areas (such as Northern Hebei); and following the fall of the Yuan dynasty, left lapel ru continued to be worn in some areas of the Ming dynasty despite the dynasty being led by Han Chinese.
Collar customs of ethnic minorities, non-Chinese ethnicities, and foreigners.
On the other hand, some ethnic minorities, such as the Xianbei, Khitans, and other kingdoms such as Goguryeo, who were living in surrounding areas had clothing which generally closed in the -style in ancient China. This can also be found in the Analects where Confucius himself praised Guan Zhong for preventing the weakened Zhou dynasty from becoming barbarians: ;templatestyles src="Template:Blockquote/styles.css" / ;"But for Guan Zhong, we should now be wearing our hair unbound [pifa], and the lapels of our coats buttoning on the left side [zuoren]. [微管仲，吾其被髮左衽矣]."Based on Confucius' sayings, (), bound hair and coats which closed on the left side in the -style, was associated with the clothing customs of the northern nomadic ethnic groups who were considered as barbarians. During his time, unbound hair and clothing closing to the left were the clothing customs of the northern nomadic ethnic groups which were considered as barbarians by the Han Chinese. Moreover, from the standpoint of the Huaxia culture, was a way to reject refined culture and being turned into a barbarian.101
By the Han dynasty, since Confucius himself was the first person to use the phrase to refer to Non-Zhou dynasty people, this phrase became a common metaphor for primitiveness.103 When used by the ancient Chinese literati, the concept of became a phrase, which held the symbolic of foreign people who were living a barbarous and civilized lifestyle; this concept also became a way to emphasize the customs differences between the Han people and other ethnic minorities and draw the line to distinguish who were considered as civilized and barbarians.103 The thus also became a reference to , -style, and/or to the rule of foreign nationalities; for example, as observed in the Liao dynasty267 and in the female clothing of the Yuan dynasty when it was a common practice for some Chinese women to change the direction of their collar to the left side. Some non-Chinese ethnicity who adopted -style sometimes maintain their left lapels, such as the Khitans in the Liao dynasty.267
History.
Warring States period.
policy.
During the Warring States period, King Wuling of Zhao (r. 326–298 BC) instituted the () policies which involved the adoption of to facilitate horse riding. During this period, the term " was coined after the 'Hu' people, who were northern nomadic people. 
In the 《》, (lit. 'Hereditary Family of Zhao'), it is said that King Wuling undertook those sartorial reforms in the 19th year of his reign in 307 BCE. However, according to the Bamboo Annals, an annalistic history of Wei unearthed from a Wei King tomb in 279 BC, the Zhao court had ordered commanders, officers, and their families, and garrison guards to adopt () in 302 BC. The term " used in the Bamboo Annals is a synonym of the term " which refers to the northern nomadic people.
Under this sartorial and military reform, all the soldiers of King Wuling had to wear the uniforms of Donghu, Linhu, and Loufan in battles.257 The choice to adopt cavalry and the departure from the chariot warfare from the 8th to 5th century BC showed the influence of the Xiongnu, who were the northern neighbour of the Zhao state. The reality or the extent of King Wuling's reforms is a disputed subject among historians.
The adopted by King Wuling can be described as (); this form of attire is described as being composed of trousers, a (short257) shirt or jacket with tighter (tubular-shaped) sleeves, (),257 belt,257 and belt buckle.257
However, the -style trousers introduced by King Wuling were characterized with loose rises and differed from the indigenous () of the Chinese; the -style trousers could be described as form of (); the were trousers which had rise to cover the crotch areas. A conical cap which resembles Scythian hats was also adopted as part of the . Of note of importance, although the -style attire adopted by King Wuling appears to be similar to Scythian clothing, the which appears in classical Chinese text were actually different from the historical Scythian clothing. For example, the hat adopted by King Wuling was less pointy that the Scythian hat and were decorated with a marten tail.
In the Warring States period, the wearing of short upper garment worn by the Chinese which is belted with a woven silk band and had a right-opening also influenced the ; this form of attire was worn together with trousers allowing greater ease of movement. This form of clothing attire was most likely worn by peasants and labourers.
Influence of -style "" on the development of Chinese trousers,.
Prior to the introduction of by King Wuling, Chinese people wore the traditional Chinese clothing system which consisted of the combination of () or (), both of which were upper garment which typically closed to the right in a style known as (), the indigenous Chinese trousers referred as (), also known as (), which were in the form of knee-high trousers which were tied to the calves of the wearer allowing the thighs to be exposed and appeared as early as the Neolithic period and was the original form of trousers) in early time, and (, a lower skirt) which is the predecessor of (), to hide the lower body. People could also wear yichang () without wearing .
The type of trousers introduced by King Wuling in Central China was referred as (裈) instead of ; the were trousers with loose rise (i.e. which cover the crotch areas) which was first used among the military troops. As the -trousers did not conform to the traditional culture of the Han, the kun was mainly worn by warriors and servants, but were not used by the general population as people found it hard to adjust the use of kun in their daily activities. The kun however influenced the development of jingyi by transforming the jingyi into becoming longer, stretched up to the thighs regions, and the waist become enclosed however the rise and rear of those trousers were open which allowed for the purpose of urinating and defecting; this then became the pattern of -rousers. This form of -trousers was more accepted in the Han tradition than the , and evolved into other forms of ku trousers of the later dynasties, such as qiongku (trousers with hip and rise area closed in the front and tied at the back with multiple strings) which was designed in the Western Han dynasty.
Kun trousers introduced by King Wuling later developed into other forms of trousers in the later period, such as (trousers with extremely wide legs) which appeared in the Han dynasty and dakouku (trousers which were tied under the knees). These forms of trousers were Chinese innovations.
Han dynasty.
Some forms of hanfu worn in the Eastern Han dynasty started to be influenced by the costumes of the () people and the gown with round collar started to appear. However, in this period, the round collar gown was more commonly used as an under-garment.
Wei, Jin, Northern and Southern dynasties.
This was a period of cultural integration and cultural exchange between the Han Chinese and the other ethnic groups. The Han Chinese living in the South liked the driving clothing of the Northern minorities which was composed of trousers and xi (a close-fitting short robe with round neck and tight sleeves). The northern nomads also introduced their leather boots (),317 quekua (; a type of crotch-length garment which was a long jacket with tight sleeves but less overlap compared to the traditional clothing worn by the Chinese allowing greater ease of movement; the collar was either round and snug or slightly plunged allowing the undershirt to be visible) and the hood and cape ensemble in China.317 However, not all stylistic innovations in clothing came from the Northern minorities in this period.317 For example, the trousers tied with chords below the knee worn in the kuxi (褲褶; lit. 'trousers and jacket') during the Six dynasties were Chinese inventions and were not nomadic clothing.317 The Kuzhe (袴褶) of the late Northern dynasties was a creation of Han culture which was developed through the assimilation of non-Han culture.
Influences of the Xianbei and ban of Xianbei clothing.
During the Wei, Jin, Northern and Southern dynasties, northern nomadic peoples introduced other styles of round collar () robe in China. The round collar robe introduced by the Xianbei had tight sleeves which allowed for greater ease of riding when horse riding. Since the Northern Wei dynasty, the shapes of the Han Chinese robes started to be influenced by the round collar robes. The Xianbei were originally a branch of the Donghu which were defeated by the Xiongnu but they later claimed to be descendant of the Yellow Emperor as the Chinese. The Northern Wei period was a period of cultural integration between the Xianbei and the Han Chinese; the Xianbei ruling elites adopted Chinese clothing and Chinese customs while the Han Chinese started to integrate some of the Xianbei's nomadic style clothing which included high boots and round-collar robes with narrow sleeves into Han clothing. In the murals of Lou