A group of Singaporeans are donning Hanfu (traditional dress of the Han Chinese) for special occasions to promote Han Chinese culture. Civil servant Gong Pan Pan is building up her Hanfu collection spanning over different dynasties, and she invites friends to her home for Hanfu dress-ups and photograph sessions. The civil servant even wears Hanfu to work on Fridays, which is her "dress-up" day as other civil servants dresses down on Fridays. Cheongsam always comes to mind whenever we talk about traditional Chinese costume in Singapore, but it is actually the traditional costume of the Manchu people, a minority group which conquered China and ruled it for 250 years. Han Chinese, whom most Singaporean Chinese are descendants of, used to wear Hanfu. The Straits Times executive photojournalist Seah Kwang Peng documents this group of people who are hoping to bring about a Hanfu revival.
Story in print published on: Feb 6, 2017
straitstimes.com/singapore/fashioning-a-revival-of-ancient-chinese-attire