Tanling ruqun

The term tanling ruqun is composed of the terms tanling and ruqun. Tanling (Chinese: 坦领; pinyin: Tǎnlǐng) refers to the U-shaped (Chinese: 坦; pinyin: Tǎn; lit. 'flat collar/ open-hearted') collar (Chinese: 领; pinyin: Lǐng; lit. 'Collar') of the upper garment, typically specifically referring to the U-shaped banbi which is worn as an outer upper garment.[2][8] The term ruqun refers to the traditional two piece attire of the ancient Han Chinese consisting of a skirt and an upper garment called ru.[8]

The tanling ruqun is mainly composed three parts: a long wrap skirt, a U-shaped collar inner shirt with long sleeves, and a tanling banbi (a U-shaped short sleeves outer jacket).[4]

Unearthed artefacts dating in the Tang dynasty, such as sculptures and paintings show that the long-sleeves, low-cut inner shirt could be tucked under the long (high-waisted[3]^: 93[9]^: 85) skirts.[10]^: 291The skirts could be embellished with stripe patterns of two colours or be found in monochrome colours.[4][10]^: 291[9]^: 87 The banbi falls above the waist[10]^: 291or were waist-length,[4] and they could be embellished with embroidered borders at the wrist.[10]^: 291 The banbi could also be tucked under or worn over the long skirt.[4][3]^: 93–94 The tanling ruqun can also be worn together with a shawl, called pipo (Chinese: 披帛), around the arms or the shoulders of its wearer;[9]^: 85–86 they could also wear it together with variety of hats.[10]^: 291In the Tang dynasty, hats of foreign origins or influence, such as the mili, weimao and humao, were worn when horseback riding.[10]^: 291

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  Tang dynasty female sculpture wearing a low cut, U-shaped collar shirt with long sleeves without the tanling banbi
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  Detailed of a Tang dynasty woman wearing a tanling banbi under a skirt. There is embroidered borders at the sleeves of the banbi.
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  Woman rider wearing a tanling ruqun and a humao, Horse and female rider, Tang dynasty.[11]^: 291
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  Tang dynasty woman wearing a tanling ruqun and pibo (shawl), she is holding a mili.
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  A maid wearing tanling ruqun with pipo over the shoulders, mural from the tomb of Yanfei (燕妃), Tang dynasty.
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Female attendant wearing a tanling blouse and skirt, Sui dynasty

The late sixth century, for example in the Sui dynasty, was marked the arrival of new style of women's Hanfu.[12]^: 25 The new style of clothing had high waisted skirt almost similar to the Empire silhouette and the upper garments had low décolletage.[12]^: 25 The Sui dynasty women already liked wearing banbi over their long-sleeved clothing.[13] Tanling garments, including the tanling banbi, was already popular in the court of the early Sui dynasty, the predecessor of the Tang dynasty.[14][1] The Tang dynasty continued the clothing style of its predecessor, and women continued to wear high-waisted skirt, low-cut upper garments and long skirts.[12]^: 25[15]^: 184

Women of Qiuci wearing U-shaped collar banbi (middle), Kizil caves.

In the early Tang dynasty up to the late 8th century,[4] banbi were also popular among women, including noble and common women.[16] According to the New Book of Tang, "banbi, skirt, and ru are common clothes for maids served at the Eastern Palace".[16] In the 7th century, palace women could wear banbi over a plain shirt and a high-waisted, A-line skirts which could be monochrome or striped.[4] In the Tang dynasty, new styles of Tanling banbi appeared and became extremely popular.[14] Some shapes of banbi (such as the tanling banbi) worn in the early Tang appears to have been mainly influenced by the banbi worn in Qiuci.[16] Figures wearing banbi and striped skirt holding a shawl (pipo) and wearing low cut upper garments appear on the murals of Kizil Grottoes in Xinjiang; the shape and matching garments customs were similar to the early Tang dynasty's women clothing attire.[16] In the first decade of the 8th century, skirts in monochrome colours became more popular than stripped skirts.[9]^: 85 By the mid-Tang dynasty around the mid-8th century, upper garments with low décolletage lost popularity and women started to cover themselves with shawl; there were also new ideals of beauty favouring extremely plum and voluptuous women over the youthful slenderness of the Sui and the early Tang dynasties.[12]^: 25

• Tanling ruqun in the Tang dynasty
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  Maid from the tomb of Wei guifei (韋貴妃), Tang dynasty.
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  Three female musicians wearing Tanling ruqun, Tang dynasty.
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  Maid, mural from Ashina Zhong (阿史那忠) tomb, Tang dynasty
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  Tanling ruqun, Tang dynasty
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• Mianfu
• Qixiong ruqun
• Qungua (裙褂): a type of ruqun worn as a Traditional Chinese Wedding dress in Qing and in modern era.
• Xiuhefu (秀禾服): a type of aoqun worn as a Traditional Chinese Wedding dress in Qing and in modern era.
• Xuanduan (玄端): a very formal dark ruqun with accessories; equivalent to the Western white tie.

• Han Chinese clothing
• List of Han Chinese clothing
• Ru - Chinese upper garment, also known as ao and shan
• Chang'ao - a long-version of the Chinese upper garment ao
• Banbi