Cultural Interaction: The Transformation of Textile design for Traditional Cheongsam in the Republic of China

At the end of the 19th century, as the industrial revolution accelerated the industrialization process in western countries, the economies of European countries also boomed. People began to reassess their priorities, appreciate their spiritual and artistic selves and pursue a brand new life on both a material and a spiritual level. “Innovation” thus became a new fashion at that time. Art Nouveau, which originated in France at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th and then spread to Europe and the United States, was a formalist movement that was extensive and diverse in its content and design [1]. It was, in essence, the continuation and spread of the British Arts and Crafts Movement on the European continent. The Art & Crafts Movement advocated the revival of handicrafts and resisted the mechanization caused by the Industrial Revolution. However, with the development of industrialization, some middle and upper-class people in Europe gradually changed their minds and accepted the new mechanical production methods introduced by industrialization. With such a change in thinking and such fast development of the capitalist economy, the Art Nouveau movement spread throughout Europe and directly affected artistic thought around the world. Not only did the Art Nouveau movement inherit the natural beauty brought by the arts and crafts movement, but it also recognized and affirmed the industrial structure and style contributed by mechanized production and precipitated the evolution from an agricultural society to an industrial one, all of which had important artistic and historical significance and value.

Art Deco, inherited the “newness” of Art Nouveau, making it more extreme in applying the “new” mechanized and industrialized elements. Enlightened by Art Nouveau, the Art Deco movement budded in around 1910 and was officially named at The exposition des Arts Decoratifs in 1925. The artistic expressions of the decorative arts were mainly concentrated on jewellery, ceramics, glass products, textiles, interior design, clothing, and graphic design. This artistic style varied in manifestation in different countries, and its specific exhibition in each country was closely related to the local artistic background where it was. The decorative arts in the countries had something in common, as well as unique local styles. These arts, integrating various art elements worldwide, transformed them into styles exclusive to Art Deco. Compared with Art Nouveau, the Art Deco movement further affirmed the necessity of the process of mechanization in people's lives and made this kind of mechanization a form of decoration or architecture which was closely related to human life. At the beginning of the 20th century, more specifically directly in the post-war years after 1918, most western countries were still suffering in the aftermath of World War I, with the majority of their people not yet having overcome post-war fears and the psychological trauma of this event. Thus, with the acceleration of the economic and industrialization process, the repressed spiritual demands of the public needed to be released and developed, which in turn, also created a new market and demand for economic recovery in these countries. Meanwhile, the people's spiritual need for art also provided opportunities for the development of new art and design styles and a favourable environment in which to do so.

From the end of the 19th century to the beginning of the 20th century, Chinese society saw major changes, where western civilization and traditional Chinese culture clashed violently. The establishment of the Republic of China in 1912 ended the feudal rule of the Qing Dynasty. Thanks to the tremendous changes in thought and form contributed by the 1911 revolution, society presented a brand new look, and among the significant changes in clothing brought by such social changes, the evolution of uniforms and the emergence of cheongsam during the years of the Republic of China were the most typical. With the promulgation of the “Costume System” in the early years of the Republic of China, all concepts related to clothing as defining class character were broken down completely. As clothing and ideas evolved, the people gradually accepted the new concepts of western art, and subsequently, clothing patterns started their gradual trend towards westernization.

Along with the mechanization process that occurred in the late industrial revolution, mechanized elements were gradually added to the theme selection for textiles and patterns in the western Art Nouveau era. The Art Nouveau movement inherited the expression of natural forms from William Morris, the founder of the Arts and Crafts Movement, and also incorporated mechanized elements, which was of highly significant for the movement as a link between what preceded and followed in art history.

By using such a painting technique, the leaders of the Art Nouveau movement embodied a concept which was different from that expressed in the Arts and Crafts Movement as a show of the recognition and the gradual acceptance of industrialization by the movement under their leadership.

During the period from the Art Nouveau movement to the Art Deco movement, the transition to mechanization was even more visible. The Republic of China's cheongsam pattern inherited the curling method of interlacing branches from its predecessor during the Qing Dynasty, which, under the influence of the curly grass motif imported from western art, was combined with the western pattern composition method to re-establish the decorative style patterns based on the Chinese style characteristics (Table 1). When we researched the 259 cheongsam patterns spanning from the 1920s to 1940s collected from the Suzhou Silk Archives, Jiangnan University Folk Costumes Museum and Shanghai History Museum, etc., we discovered that they all appeared in combined forms. The majority of these were a combination of abstract flowers predominated (72%) and overall, abstract flowers mostly comprised western-style flowers such as roses, lilies, and dahlias. 26.6% were geometric patterns and among them, the majority appeared in rectangular or radial geometric combinations and a small number as geometric stripes or floral stripes. 17% of the combination patterns were based on plant leaves and most were abstractions of forms of willow leaves, clover and palm leaves.

Fig. 1

This also conforms to the view held by Gombrich who proposed that decorations created by traditional nations are derived from natural instincts so they are always faithful to the function of decoration; however, in the process of civilization of the traditional nations, these natural instincts become impaired due to being repeated [2]; thus, in the process of social industrialization, natural objects are subject to repetition, abstraction and geometrization on the part of designers and artists, which means that they gradually become less realistic.

By classifying the physical samples into different themes from different periods, the statistical table shows that it is not confined to the forms of flowers and plant leaves featuring realism and interlacing branches in traditional patterns; the forms of flowers and plant leaves were gradually abstracted and appeared mostly in the form of geometric combinations. From Table 2, we can see that the Republic of China's cheongsam pattern, endowed with a Chinese-style gene featuring its obviously oriental charm, gradually shifted from the traditional Chinese patterns such as interlacing branches, a butterfly in love with flowers, and a butterfly announcing riches and honour, to the abstraction and geometrization of natural flowers. The process not only clearly showed that the traditional Chinese artistic style that prevailed during the Republic of China was impacted by Western art movements, but also that it was an embodiment of the imperceptible impact exerted by such changing trends in art and costume patterns during the transition from an agricultural society to an industrial one.

Table 2

During the Art Nouveau era, the countries had shared common laws in art design, such as the description of natural plants and flowers, the use of fluid curves, or ideas borrowed from Japanese Ukiyo-e art. However, there also existed differences in artistic design during various periods and in different regions. For example, regions such as France, England, and Belgium focused on the manifestation of “decorativeness”, while regions like Germany, Vienna, Scotland, and Austria were more characterized by early modern art, obviously featuring “modernity”[3]. In terms of pattern style, the Republic of China's cheongsam changed from highly decorative floral embroidery to predominantly dark jacquard patterns. The jacquard pattern itself was also influenced by Art Nouveau and the decorative arts and underwent a gradual transition from the art Nouveau style S-curve abstract natural object to the natural flower and Combination pattern form of abstract geometric lines. From the restored cheongsam patterns of the early 1920s, it can be seen that through the reorganization and deformation of lines, flowers and plants formed new Art Nouveau abstract flower patterns, and the lines became S-shaped curves, which were smoother and typical of the Art Nouveau style (Figure 2).

Fig. 2

The Republic of China's cheongsam changed from complexity to simplicity in pattern, and from extroversion to introversion in style: The extrovert embroidery patterns gradually became dark ones or jacquard form; the lines gradually transitioned from S-shaped curves to geometric lines; the compositions gradually changed from positioning patterns to quadrilateral continuous and scattered patterns. The S-shaped curve trend on the Republic of China's cheongsam patterns did not refer to that of a certain single element, but that of the overall pattern modelling and style. This design method comprised the following steps: first of all, the frameworks and lines presenting the S-curve trend were traced, then other decorative elements were filled into the clearance between these frameworks and lines, and finally, these decorative elements were enriched. As proposed by Owen Jones, by showing the main lines to people immediately so that when they see the patterns from a distance, and enabling viewers to catch the detailed composition in further observation, the composition of these patterns can achieve “harmony of the form”[4]. Owen Jones proposed showing people the main lines immediately so that they can see the patterns from a distance but on further and closer observation they are able to catch the detailed composition; the composition of these patterns can achieve “harmony of the form”[4]. As a result of the influence of the western form principle, the Republic of China's cheongsam patterns were not confined to the singly-positioned symmetrical forms, which were frequently present in traditional clothing patterns, and adopted a more modern abstract plant and flower S-shaped composition. This form was more complicated, and it enabled the pattern itself to be more layered and fashionable. Owen Jones held the view that the intersection of curves or the intersection of a straight line and a curve must be tangent to each other to form a “melody of the form”, which means both the transition from a curve to a curve and that between a curve and a straight line should be gradual. When there is a step between two curves, these two should be parallel to another extension curve so that the two curves are tangent to each other, allowing the observer to extend to other places along the curves’ trend and achieve a certain “sense of order”.

The curve forms of the Republic of China's cheongsam patterns also conformed to this law. In sketching the pattern samples obtained in this paper for restoration, guides were drawn for the S-curve trends in the sketches to present the effects of this as shown in Figure 3.

Fig. 3

The extended dotted curves are tangent to the trend-connecting the curves below. All the cheongsam patterns conforming to this rule have an S-shaped curve formal composition featuring “harmony of form”.

By following this theory proposed by Owen Jones, and applying it by means of guide drawing to study the 259 pattern samples of Cheongsam obtained in this paper, the design model shown in Figure 3 was acquired.

We drew the S-shaped trend of the pattern as an auxiliary line to show the effect as is shown in Figure 3, where the extended dashed curve is tangent to the trend connection curve below, achieving a certain “harmony in of form”. We discovered that the patterns on the cheongsams spanning from the 1920s to 1930s had relatively gentle curves, which, however, with the passing of time, had grown curlier. The posteriors of cheongsams were more curvaceous in the 1940s than they had been before, almost forming a perfect circle. For example, among the drawn cheongsam patterns which were restored from samples 001, 002 and 003, the blades were all parallel to the S-curves between the main objects, while sample 001 presented the mildest curve trend and sample 003 had the curliest.

The composition of a square and a circle is too monotonous to arouse interest among observers because, with its too single measures, the composition comprising equidistant lines or subdivisions is not as beautiful as that to be appreciated by people of higher intelligence. The artistic aesthetic reaches its peak when all the stitches and decorations are high-order curves, while simple compass patterns are more popular when it declines [5]. The S-shaped curves on the Republic of China's cheongsam patterns conformed to the above-mentioned rules, and meanwhile, it was integrated with the paradigm of Chinese traditional patterns, being a product of the combination and innovation of the western artistic styles and Chinese design principles. Such a design paradigm bestowed at one and the same time, elegance and a certain sense of order on the cheongsam patterns.

At the beginning of the 1911 Revolution, due to the forced dumping by foreign enterprises, during which the domestic textile industry was hit badly and severely damaged, which jeopardized the development of the domestic industry. With the awakening of the concept of “industry saving the country” taken on by the people, the government began to attach importance to economic development and support the “self-rescue” and “self-reconstruction” of the textile industry. Supported by national policies, the textile industry gradually recovered and awakened. Some enterprises purchased new machines and production tools and introduced imported jacquard looms to replace obsolete spinning wheels. As the industry became increasingly more mechanized the home handcraft workshop mode or “cottage industry” model that had been common was gradually banned as a form of factory. The new-type textile design talents recruited by the enterprise also improved on the traditional weaving techniques and actively innovated independently. During the era of the Republic of China, in terms of the industry state of the textile and clothing production and marketing industry, a relatively complete “design-production-sales” industrial chain came into being in the form of the textile patterns and organizational structure, printing and dyeing methods being pre-designed and the industrialized production serving as a leading factor to form a relatively complete production and marketing industry. In the middle period of the Republic of China, the textile enterprises and printing pattern designs were already sufficiently advanced to use new machines, new materials, and new technologies to develop the textile industry in the direction of iron, large-scale, and semi-mechanization. The raw materials of fabrics, which used to be single silk fabrics, also changed to multiple chemical raw materials, and technological innovation also contributed to the new craft [6]. From the statistics of the research samples, it has been found that the fabric pattern technology of cheongsam since the middle of the Republic of China era has increased significantly, and there have been many new fabrics and pattern technology expressions such as burnt-out, crepe, velvet, brocade jacquard, and printing, and some pattern expressions appeared. The combination of multiple crafts broke the single craft and fabric form of traditional clothing, and the pattern expression form is more three-dimensional and richer in layers.

Among the 259 pieces of cheongsam samples collected, the authors extracted various technique types for summary and analysis and found that there was a visible increase in technical types among the cheongsams made after 1930, compared to the period from 1920 to 1930. Part of the pattern technique for cheongsam is indicated in the following figure: brocade jacquard, lacquer print, burn-out, print, embroidery, lace, etc. In contrast, the cheongsam made from 1910 to 1920 mostly used the traditional technique of brocade jacquard, which indicated that the popularity of the cheongsam technique type was closely related to increased industrialization in modern China.

It conformed to the fashion trend of the late 1920s and met women's desire for a wide range of cheongsam patterns [7]. The Soochow Zhenya Textile Company ‘not only had numerous varieties of products but also kept updating them in real-time... However, in response to seasonal and market demands, textile patterns constantly needed to be both preserved and upgraded so as to give the buying public a sense of “refreshment”. For example, bright crepe and velvet are available in a score of patterns.’ In 1928, a Chinese famous Journal Meiya recorded that ‘The Meiya silk factory is recruiting employees and has established new plants. In addition to the purchase of a variety of silk winders from the United States...40 jacquard looms from Japan so that the production is increasingly fine and speedy. These new silk fabrics are sold as far away as the UK, the United States and India.’(Figure 4) [8].

Fig. 4

From the end of the 19th century to the beginning of the 20th century, Chinese society underwent tremendous changes along with the advance of industrial civilization. Advanced western scientific concepts, technology and art ideas brought by the foundation laying of the “Westernization Movement” flooded into China massively. Having arisen from “self-rescue”, national industrial and commercial enterprises and factories began to take shape, also laying a solid foundation for the emergence of the textile industry in the posterior period. The dissemination of ideas caused by the subjective preaching by the western missionaries who came to China in the early days also introduced artistic ideas to a certain extent and promoted cultural and artistic exchanges between the East and the West. As the western missionaries were influenced by western art movement concepts to some extent, they contributed to cross-cultural and artistic exchange between the East and West. For example, the orphanage art factory opened in Shanghai, commonly known as “Tushanwan Painting Gallery”, was in existence for more than 80 years from the early 1860s to the late 1940's [9]. It inherited the western art of the early missionary ships that came to China and became an important institution that teaches western art techniques and craft design, which has influenced Chinese folk painters and craftsmen.

Enlightened and inspired by these western art design thoughts, Chinese artists also adopted an artistic creative method featuring the fusion of the inherited Chinese painting techniques and western approaches to composition and launched commercial illustrations using western style painting skills like the ‘Yuefenpai’ Calendar. The ‘Yuefenpai’ (calendar-style painting) became the most commercially valuable illustration and print advertisement in the history of the Republic of China. These Chinese and Western art creation methods promoted the blending and dissemination of Chinese and Western art and culture to a certain extent. The large-scale industry established by the “Westernization Movement” promoted the reform and development of the Republic of China's cheongsam pattern to a certain extent. After the 1911 Revolution, the whole of China was undergoing tremendous changes and western industrial civilization was booming. In the context of such market competition, the textile industry urgently needed transformation and innovation. Only through innovation, by renovating machines and sourcing raw materials, could reform in the textile and fashion industry be achieved. For example, the Hangzhou Weicheng Company, established in 1912, purchased 6 Japanese-style jacquard looms by raising a fund of 20,000 yuan. The printing machine technology was able to replicate and express various colours and even textures, and imitate and reproduce patterns embodied by various materials [10]. The designer's restrictions on designing patterns were considerably reduced, the craftsmanship of fabrics was enormously improved, and the crafts and expressions were gradually diversified.

The design concept of the cheongsam pattern in the Republic of China was innovated and transformed with the innovation of technology, thought, and culture, and the form was more closely aligned with techniques and fashions. In the 1930s, the Shanghai Meiya Silk Factory once launched 41 varieties of crepe including McDonald, Dana and Faure crepe, and 17 varieties of satin, such as Meiyu satin, Hailun satin and Tyrolean satin [11]. Thanks to the technological innovation and equipment innovation of the Meiya Silk Factory and other factories, the pattern of cheongsam was also updated and changed, and the fashion of cheongsam in the Republic of China vanished as soon as it had appeared.

In terms of education, the early artists who returned from studying in Europe in the 1930s also played a direct role in spreading western artistic thinking. As the first batch of overseas scholars and artists in the Republic of China, they successively opened corresponding art or design-related schools and disciplines after returning to China. For example, the Zhejiang Government Secondary Industrial School, founded in 1911, teaches disciplines in the fields of dyeing, weaving, textiles, and machinery. As one of the earliest industrialized dyeing and weaving pattern design schools, the establishment of the school and the disciplines provided a large number of design talents for the pattern design of silk and other fabrics in the later period and provided the earliest designers who were influenced by Western art thoughts for the design of the Republic of China's cheongsam pattern.

The Republic of China period is one of the more typical periods in history when the Chinese and western cultures collided and blended with each other constantly to produce an artistic style specific to the Republic of China. This background history also caused a great change in the ideological awakening and artistic aesthetics of the Republic of China. The Art Nouveau and Decoration movements in Western countries affected the first batch of artists and entrepreneurs who returned from studying abroad, thus affecting the awakening artistic style during the Republic of China. As the old concept system was broken down, the decorative role of cheongsam patterns was reconstructed, and the artistic trends of art nouveau and decorative movements that prevailed in the West were also introduced into China. As a result, ordinary people could also choose cheongsam according to their own preferences in the relatively loose clothing regulations, which also reflected their personal aesthetic interests and ideological trends. Gradually, this affected the pattern of the Republic of China's cheongsam, thus forming the unique Cheongsam pattern style characteristics of the Republic of China. By analysing the 259 samples of cheongsam obtained for this paper, we can also discover the phenomenon of “the west wind gradually blowing to the east”, which was also the choice of the aesthetic trend put in motion by the public.

The artistic trend of mechanization and natural integration advocated by the Art Nouveau and Decorative movements also fits the social background of the Republic of China at that time, making the design of cheongsam more novel and diverse, with smooth and symmetrical lines, simple and generous decorations and more modern. The Republic of China cheongsam pattern, as a product of the fusion of Chinese and Western, had a charming and elegant oriental atmosphere and a modern sense of western artistic thought. It also conformed to the background of the time of the Republic of China from the workshop-style handicraft industry to the industrial mass production of mechanical production. And it also perfectly conforms to the development of the social era, opening the modern era of the Republic of China's costumes.