Shuitianyi (), also known as “paddy field garment”, "Shuitian clothing", or "rice-paddy robe", is a non-religious

Chinese patchwork Chinese patchwork is a traditional form of Chinese needlework which has been widely circulated in Chinese folk arts. In China, patchwork has been used for millennia. Chinese patchwork is made by sewing scraps of fabric together into a desired sh ...

gown which was made and worn by women in

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

during the

Ming dynasty The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last ort ...

and

Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...

; it was made by using many pieces of fabric sewn together (similar to

); the clothing reflected the era’s tendency towards fashion novelty during the

Origins and Development

The ''shuitianyi'' is a popular, but rare fashion phenomenon, which appeared in the middle and the late

and remained popular in the

. The ''shuitianyi'' may have originally originated from poor people, who would use whatever leftover clothing they would have at hand for saving purposes, and was initially only popular among poor women. Its origins may have been inspired by Buddhist robes, the Kasaya or ''Baina'', which was made when monks would make clothes out of a variety of useless clothes. It was later adopted by aristocratic women during

who found it beautiful, and they began to cut cloth (even from entire brocade) voluntarily into a design shape and sew it into an aristocratic form of the s''huitian''yi. While the ''shuitianyi'' was a popular form of fashion for women in the

, men during this era would also wear ''baina clothing''.

Other versions

Baijiayi

A version of the ''shuitianyi'' worn by children is called ''

baijiayi Baijiayi (), also known as baijiaPaofu, pao () and sometimes referred as One hundred families robe, Hundred Family Surnames, Hundred-Families robe, or One hundred families clothing in English, is a form of Chinese patchwork Ru (upper garment), ja ...

.''

Sanse dao beixin

Beijing opera Peking opera, or Beijing opera (), is the most dominant form of Chinese opera, which combines music, vocal performance, mime, dance and acrobatics. It arose in Beijing in the mid-Qing dynasty (1644–1912) and became fully developed and recognize ...

, the shuitianyi is worn as a

costume Costume is the distinctive style of dress or cosmetic of an individual or group that reflects class, gender, profession, ethnicity, nationality, activity or epoch. In short costume is a cultural visual of the people. The term also was tradition ...

called ''sanse dao beixin'' (). It originates from Buddhist clothing and represents the ragged clothing of

Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a śramaṇa, wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist tradition, he was ...

. The ''sanse dao beixin'' is characterized by a diamond-shaped pattern which is created through patchwork. It can be used by actors who perform as male or female monks and as

Taoist Taoism (, ) or Daoism () refers to either a school of philosophical thought (道家; ''daojia'') or to a religion (道教; ''daojiao''), both of which share ideas and concepts of Chinese origin and emphasize living in harmony with the ''Tao'' ...

characters. While both male and female roles used it; however, there are differences between the man's and woman's ''sanse dao beixin''. The female version looks like a knee-length pifeng as it features a centre-front opening and a collar band which ends at the mid-chest level; however, it differs from the pifeng due to the absence of sleeves. The man's version is floor-length and the collar band has a straight lower edge; it is also tied with a sash without the back of the garment being caught in the sash, which is the manner monks wear their vest. When male monks characters wear it, it indicates that they have outstanding martial arts skills.

Notes

References