Two pieces of food for thought:

  • https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3198984/china-chic-trend-builds-young-peoples-patriotism-cultural-confidence (Chinese people starting to dress in the Han fashion again)

  • https://web.archive.org/web/20210210074724/https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/10/world/asia/new-zealand-rawiri-waititi-tie.html (Māori politician kicked out of parliament for not wearing a necktie, turns into a whole dispute, eventually wins)

Now if you look at Chinese parliament, well I don't have to tell you what you'll see.

What would it take for Chinese politicians to start appearing in Han dress?

(not advocating for this, just a stray thought I had)

  • usernamesaredifficul [he/him]
    ·
    2 years ago

    yeah that is the difficult question the cultural revolution was to answer: a lot of the symbolism of ancient china is symbolism of the class dominion of the rulers.

    I like to think of it as analoguous of when I used to live in the shadow of a castle. The castle might be my cultural heritage but it is a heritage of being an owned thing a serf and I want to escape that heritage. So I don't consider the historical art of my culture anything more than a shackle my ancestors had to wear