This Spring Festival in the Year of the Rabbit, the girl with the online name "PaPanPanda wears Hanfu in the UK" participated in many activities to promote Chinese Hanfu culture, but overall, she did not have a good time.

During this year's Spring Festival, the Korean cultural institution and the British Museum held a performance to celebrate the Korean Lunar New Year, which sparked discontent among the Chinese. A similar incident encountered by Panda was the "horse mask skirt incident" triggered by Dior in July last year. At that time, Panda was one of the initiators of the campaign against Dior's appropriation of culture. But in February this year, Dior launched a short horse face skirt, which is another "fuss" after Dior's "horse face skirt incident" was protested by the Chinese people.

"Last time our activities were not enough, we should better protect Chinese culture." This girl, who "wears Hanfu in the UK", also chose not to be a "keyboard man" this time, and used practical actions to contribute her own strength to the protection and dissemination of Chinese culture overseas.

An event

She and her Hanfu "colleagues" took to the streets of England

In July 2022, Dior released a horse face dress priced at 7,2 yuan, and wrote in its official website description: "This skirt with the iconic Dior silhouette is a new elegant fashion item. But some Chinese netizens found that the skirt was almost exactly the same as the horse face skirt, a traditional Chinese costume, pointing out that Dior was suspected of plagiarism.

When she saw this incident on the Internet, Panda was also angry, and she continued to support the voice of Chinese on the Internet. Until she heard that Hanfu "colleagues" in Paris, France, held a protest in front of the Dior flagship store, she realized whether she who was on the other side of the English Channel could also come out to show support, instead of continuing to be a "keyboard man" online.

So, Panda and a few friends hit it off, 7 people started a group, recruited friends who could participate in the group, but did not expect a great response, and dozens of people were recruited at once.

The participants were Hanfu "colleagues" in the UK, and some took a few hours by train from towns in the far north of the UK to London to participate in the event. "At the beginning, we didn't expect so many people to participate, after all, many people still don't want to show up, so someone needs to take the first step. There are people who lead and everyone is united. Panda said.

On the morning of July 7, Panda and her Hanfu "colleagues" who participated in the event came to the door of the largest Dior store in central London, shouting "Stop cultural appropriation" in Chinese and English over and over in front of the door, while handing out leaflets and telling the onlookers that "horse face skirts are traditional Chinese clothing".

Wearing a pale blue Hanfu blouse and a horse face skirt with a landscape ink pattern, Panda stood in the center of the crowd with a sign that read: "Chinese /HanFu / MaMian".

In order to prove to the London people that "the horse face skirt comes from China", some friends who participated in the event borrowed a Qing Dynasty horse face skirt from an antique dealer, and they showed it to the British people with this antique horse face skirt, and told the history of this horse face skirt.

At the event site, everyone also printed some photos, which showed Princess Diana wearing a Qing dynasty horse face dress. "The Qing Dynasty horse face dress that Princess Diana once wore is basically the same as the one we took except for the different colors, which also brings the British closer, because the British like Princess Diana very much, and some people also know that Princess Diana wears such a skirt." Panda explained.

Throughout the process, most British people were willing to stop to accept the leaflets they distributed, to stop to listen to their explanations, and to learn the ins and outs of the Dior incident.

One moment of solidarity

Cultural appropriation and pluralism are two different things

Of course, there are also some people who feel that there is no point in doing so. They believe that cultures are diverse and should be internationally integrated. For this view, Panda believes that multiculturalism is fine, but cultural appropriation and cultural plaguery are two different things, and the source of culture should be clarified in the process of integration, "We can't say that Christmas comes from India." ”

Since the event exceeded 50 people on the day, according to the relevant British law, London police were required to come to the scene to maintain order. The event organized by Panda was reported to the police in advance, and the whole process was relatively restrained, except for shouting slogans and distributing leaflets, there was no violation of British law.

Hanfu "colleagues" all hold the same philosophy, "Activities must be reasonable and legal to have strength." ”

The event lasted two hours. Panda feels that through such an event, at least let Dior know that Chinese not only can be a "keyboard man", but can unite to protect their own culture, and let more British people understand Chinese culture, and the effect of these activities has been achieved.

Although Dior did not agree with this, it launched the short horse face dress again in February this year. "We are also a little helpless, and what can be done has already been done." Panda said that China's cultural protection work, from her perspective as an ordinary citizen, can only be done as best and practiced.

Take a look at "into the pit"

Hanfu is "China's real luxury"

For the overseas dissemination of Chinese culture, PANDA is indeed "putting it into practice". At any time, Panda walks the streets of Britain in Hanfu. For this reason, she would be called by friends "a cultural propaganda poster walking on the streets of England".

In Panda's wardrobe, there are few pieces of modern fashion, most of which are Hanfu from various dynasties, different styles, and some modern cheongsam, which she has collected since "entering the pit" in 2019.

When Panda "entered the pit" Hanfu, she was already working and living in the UK, and these Hanfu were flown in by her from domestic and international freight, and the most expensive one was one or two thousand yuan a piece. In Panda's eyes, the costs are worth it, because she feels that Hanfu is "the real luxury in China."

Panda first came into contact with Hanfu through a Chinese video website, but she simply thought it looked good and wanted to try it, so she placed an order from China. When she first received it, she was so excited that she couldn't wait to try it on when she opened the package, and although she didn't know how to do hairstyles at that time, she was still amazed by herself in the mirror.

Panda is the kind of girl with a round body, her eyes are crooked when she laughs, and under the decoration of Chinese style Hanfu, there is a classical beauty that is full of festive and generous. In order to make herself more beautiful in Hanfu, she began to study Hanfu styles in depth, and taught herself classical hairstyles and makeup techniques. At that time, just after the work she was doing came to an end, she completely fell into the intensive study of Hanfu, and also gained a deeper understanding and learning of Chinese history and culture.

An idea

Integrate Hanfu into your own life

"Why can't you integrate Hanfu into your own life?" Panda felt that Hanfu gave her a new way to express herself. So, she generously walked out of the house in Hanfu and received the admiring eyes of countless British people on the streets of England.

Panda posted videos and photos of himself wearing Hanfu in the UK on the Internet, and there are domestic Internet friends curious, which will not bring inconvenience to life.

Panda said that not all Hanfu are large-sleeved, there are also narrow-sleeved Hanfu, and if it is large-sleeved Hanfu, when she needs to work, she will tie the sleeves with a head rope and leather band. As for the large skirt of the lower body, she will put a petticoat in it, and when she goes to the bathroom, she can carry the hem of the Hanfu skirt like a net pocket. And now there are also some "artifacts" on the Internet that wear Hanfu, making it more convenient to wear Hanfu.

Panda said that going out in Hanfu in the UK does not attract any unusual attention, but many foreigners will take the initiative to communicate with her because of her outfit, praise her for being beautiful, and ask her about the style and history of these clothes.

Soon, Panda became a "moving spot" in the small town of Eastbourne where she lived, with some foreigners accosting her and taking pictures with her, and even teachers from elementary school students calling her to take pictures with the children.

Panda also found that although local elderly people are not keen on taking pictures, they are more interested in Hanfu than younger people, and older people are often willing to communicate with her more deeply about the style and history of Hanfu. Panda remembers that once she went to Darcy Manor in Hanfu, met two old English ladies, praised her horse face dress as beautiful, and then reached out and picked up the hem of the skirt and touched it. This action frightened her a little at the time, she was worried that the soil on the floor of the skirt would be dirty, but the two old men said that it was okay, they carefully touched the material of the skirt, and they could see their love for this skirt full of traditional Chinese culture.

As a girl, Panda certainly wants to hear the praise of others, which also makes her more motivated to promote Chinese Hanfu culture to others.

Some insights

The export of Chinese culture can be more active

As her screen name "PaPanda wears Hanfu in the UK", Panda also encountered some unpleasant things in the process of promoting Chinese culture in this way of "wearing Hanfu". What made her most unacceptable was that some people said that she was wearing "hanbok".

Panda said, "Hanbok is basically made of imitation of Hanbok. A few years ago, Korean TV dramas such as "Dae Jang Geum" were very popular overseas, and many foreigners remembered what Hanbok looked like, but in fact, it was not Hanbok like Hanbok, but Hanbok like Hanbok. Panda said that although she would explain it to the other party, some people were skeptical because they had preconceived ideas.

Panda feels that Koreans are relatively early in cultural export. At the beginning, "Dae Jang Geum" star Lee Young-ae once wore hanbok to the Cannes Film Festival catwalk, allowing people all over the world to see what hanbok looked like. At this year's World Cup, South Koreans also appeared in the audience wearing dragon robes, making many foreigners mistakenly think that the dragon robes are Korean.

"Fortunately, in recent years, with some of China's costume film and television dramas being broadcast abroad, foreigners have also seen that the style of Chinese costumes is not all horse coats and cheongsam, and more and more Chinese young people have begun to wear Hanfu generously abroad." Panda said.

Because she insists on wearing Hanfu every day, almost everyone around her knows that she is wearing Hanfu. In addition to wearing Hanfu and word of mouth, Panda also conducts small activities in her spare time to promote Chinese culture, such as calling a few "colleagues" to set up a small table to distribute leaflets to passers-by, or at the invitation of local Internet bloggers to explain Chinese culture during the Spring Festival.

However, these activities still seem a little small in Panda's opinion. In 2022, Panda found that there were already Korean culture promotion classes in Eastbourne, and paid to teach Korean culture to local children, which made Panda feel a lot of pressure.

She feels that Koreans are sparing no effort to promote their culture, and there are even cases of misappropriation of Chinese culture in the process, and Chinese if they only stop on the Internet to denounce, it is obviously not a wise choice, "We should take the initiative to promote our own culture, let the world know how long and deep China's culture is." ”

Of course, Panda also admits that because China's culture is broad enough, it is more difficult to promote. As far as clothing is concerned, there are so many dynasties and nationalities in China, and there are great differences in clothing, the Han Dynasty, Tang Dynasty, and Ming Dynasty are all relatively stable and prosperous dynasties, but the time span is very large, and it is difficult to simply explain the characteristics of clothing in these periods.

"But no matter how difficult it is, it should be done, after all, our culture has value." Panda says she understands cultural values beyond the words "broad and profound."

She believes that China's cultural value can be fully reflected in more dimensions such as economy, "cultural things are not virtual, but very tangible." For example, when talking about the Terracotta Army in Xi'an and the Forbidden City in Beijing, foreigners will come to see it, and when they say porcelain and silk, they will like to buy it in China, which is the value of our culture, and it can also be said that this is the wealth passed down to us by our ancestors for thousands of years. ”

Panda hopes that China's cultural export can be more active, "Now we have a Chinese costume day, and Hanfu 'colleagues' will wear Hanfu on this day, but this is still limited to a circle, not a national ceremony." If Chinese Hanfu can walk out of the attractions, out of the live broadcast room, out on the street, and into the school, no one will dare to appropriate Chinese culture. ”

Text/Beijing Youth Daily reporter Zhang Ziyuan Intern Zhu Juanwei

Coordinator / Lin Yan Zhang Bin