Child's Trousers, Chinese Fu

Described as a “pair of green satin pants for a Chinese child's costume,” these trousers were purchased for $1.00 from B. Murray, of Chatham, Massachusetts, who sold other Chinese garments to the university in 1953. In China, the Manchu people classified green as a shade of blue (Vollmer 1980, 10). The turquoise color, sometimes referred to as green, will be considered a shade of blue throughout this analysis. Based on further examination of the garment, I would concur that these trousers belonged to a Chinese child from the late 19th century to the very early 20th century. There are no labels in the trousers; they appear to be hand sewn.

The trousers' outer layer is crafted from a soft, turquoise colored silk fabric, with the added embellishment of one deep blue silk band between two white silk bands, encircling each leg cuff. The leg cuffs are hand-embroidered with metallic threads to create decorative flowers and a decorative border on each silk band. The waistband of the trousers is made of an unspecified cellulosic fiber. The trousers lack a closure; they may have featured buttons on each side or a drawstring, as there are small loops near the waistband's opening. At the edge of one of the waistbands are three handwritten Chinese symbols. The symbols were partially translated, the first being unreadable, and the second two symbols translated as "heart" and "letter." The inner lining of the trousers is made with a blue, polished cotton.

The main distinguishing feature of the trousers is the construction, with a split in the back legs of the trousers. The split begins just above the cuffs and continues all the way up the waistband. When worn these trousers would overlap, but leave an opening to the back side of the wearer. The wear of this garment is visible, with multiple stains and discoloration throughout, though it does not detract from the historical integrity of the artifact.

From 1644-1911, the Qing Dynasty ruled China. Also known as the Manchu Dynasty, it was the last imperial dynasty of China, established by the Manchus, a northeastern ethnic group in China, after they overthrew the preceding Ming Dynasty. The Qing Dynasty was characterized by its extensive territorial expansion, which made it one of the largest empires in world history. It was marked by both periods of stability and prosperity as well as periods of decline and social upheaval. The dynasty ultimately came to an end with the Xinhai Revolution of 1911, which led to the establishment of the Republic of China and the abdication of the last Qing emperor, Puyi, in 1912. The Qing Dynasty saw the development of distinctive clothing and textiles, including intricate embroidery, brocades, and silk textiles. The style and symbolism in the clothing of this period remain influential in Chinese fashion and traditional costume design (Smithsonian 2023).

Despite China's recorded history of almost four thousand years, there is little surviving evidence of children’s dress prior to the Qing dynasty. Because of the absence of written records, visual representations are frequently employed to trace the historical evolution of children's attire in China. Ming and Qing dynasties on the other hand provide much more information about children’s dress. Children’s fashion trends can be studied through art of the period, specifically woodblock prints. A category of painting, known as Baitsu, illustrated novels and plays and would often depict children in the imagery. The visual records are also survived by numerous pieces of children’s clothing from the late Qing period (Eicher and Vollmer 2010, 122). This suggests the split trousers may have come from the late Qing period.

Chinese culture considers children as the treasures of society, “from the imperial court and the elite class to the peasants, objects, and activities related to the body adornment of children embodied the aspirations and blessings of their parents and older generations” (Eicher and Vollmer 2010, 121). Traditional Chinese children’s clothing consisted of distinctive garments, worn with child-like adaptations of adult attire. The basic garments for all children were shan (upper garment) and fu (trousers). The shan fastened on the right side. The side fastening provided children with protection and warmth. Buttons would be used for older children’s clothing, while infant and young children's clothing would fasten with a cord. Children’s trousers were “modeled on the adult styles, with a waistband, made of a different colored fabric, attached to the trousers' leg sections,” much like the trousers purchased from B. Murray (Eicher and Vollmer 2010, 124). To facilitate toilet training, young children’s trousers featured an open crotch or split. These divided trousers would also be worn by children aged four and five. A buttock screen could also be fastened around the child’s waist to prevent them from being cold. The measurements of the turquoise trousers suggest they could have been worn by a four or five-year-old child, as they would have been too long for a toddler.

Symbolism and superstition are significant aspects of Chinese folklore, with specific objects or creatures believed to possess auspicious qualities. The turquoise and deep blue trim of the trousers correlates to the blue and purple trousers worn by infants and small children in the Tianjian, Hebei, and Henan provinces. These trousers were believed to protect a child “from the dangerous barriers of development that might take away the child’s life” (Eicher and Vollmer 2010, 124). The color of the trousers may also symbolize the dragon, traditionally depicted in blue; it marked the arrival of the spring season. (Vollmer 1980, 10) The decorative cuffs of the trousers appear to be a common style of a child’s fu.

Photographic evidence supports this conclusion. The photograph titled "A Chinese Mother, with Nurse and Children," was taken by Lai Afong in Hong Kong, China. The date of the image is unknown, though Afong was active until 1890. The young girl in the far left of the photo appears in traditional children’s clothing. The child looks to be about five or six years of age; it is unclear if she wears divided trousers but her fu bears a stylistic similarity to the turquoise trousers. Both of these trousers feature decorative cuffs, constructed with thin strips of what are probably different colored silk fabrics atop the base silk. This construction is also seen in later imagery of Chinese children in both the United States and China (Wikimedia Commons at commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lai-Afong).

Frank Carpenter took the photograph titled "Peking School Girls" in 1920. The girl pictured on the farthest right, wears a fu with two decorative silk strips at the cuff of each leg (Eicher and Vollmer 2010, 127).

The decorative strips adorning the hem of the turquoise trousers showcase a long-standing fashion for children's trousers, as visual evidence of this style can be traced from the late 19th century to the early 20th century. Above the three silk strips of fabric, is a decorative floral embroidery done with metallic threads. The three silk strips additionally feature metallic thread embroidery. The application of metal threads to Chinese textiles has a history that dates back to the third-fourth centuries CE (Cheung et al. 2021, 357). The metal threads in the turquoise trousers are applied to the textile using the embroidery technique known as couching, visible in the accompanying photos. For couchwork, “threads are laid on the ground fabric and retained there by couching stitches worked in other threads at regular intervals” (Gostelow 1978, 67). This technique pierces the ground fabric and secures the silver and gold threads in place. The couchwork on the trousers was done in three different thread colors. This is an intriguing feature as most couchwork would have been done with corresponding thread colors, to lessen the attention to construction. While almost all of the gold thread is couched in orange, the silver thread is couched in both pale blue and pink thread.

The symbolism of the trousers extends beyond the color choice as children's clothing would be “embroidered with flowers, fruit, animals, and insects, designed to ward off evil and bring future success” (Eicher and Vollmer 2010, 149). The large area of metallic embroidery extends around the width of the bottom end of the trousers. The embroidery applied to both the white and blue trimmings appears ornamental instead of symbolic. Throughout the Qing dynasty, textiles saw an extensive use of decorative borders. Originally used to increase the life of the garment, “when the idea arose that the hitherto plain borders could be replaced by decorative ones to create a particular ornamental effect,” the clothing of all classes featured embroidered decorative borders (Xun and Chunming 1987, 210). The floral embroidery design features six flowers of varying sizes and two flower buds, along with multiple tall strands of grass from which the flowers appear to be sprouting.

Tracing the embroidery designs to a particular Chinese flower was difficult. In Chinese textiles, floral imagery promoted the idea of a harmonious co-experience with Nature. Different flowers would signify different months and meanings. The lotus flower, as the flower of June, represents notions of honesty, goodness, and beauty (Walters Art Museum 2023). Figure 6, titled “Ducks in a Pond” was done by a Chinese artist from the Qing dynasty. The flowers appear similar to the trousers' floral embroidery, particularly the long blades of grass that surround the lotus flower. Given the meaningful symbolism of each of these flowers, they are both possible adornment choices for a child’s trousers.

The trousers purchased from B. Murray make a valuable addition to the University of Rhode Island's Historical Textile and Costume Collection. These trousers serve as an exemplary representation of the intricate Chinese art of metallic thread embroidery on silk. While they may appear unfamiliar to Western observers, Chinese divided trousers have historically served as an alternative to diapers, shedding light on a lasting facet of Chinese culture. Moreover, the presence of divided trousers hints at the cultural perspective on child-rearing in China. It could be argued that these garments aid infants in early recognition and control of their bodily needs, fostering a conscious awareness in the child from a tender age. Considerable thought and craftsmanship were invested in the creation of this garment, including aspects such as construction, dyeing, and embroidery. These trousers are believed to have their origins in the Qing Empire. Drawing from visual evidence and the extant artifacts from that era, it is reasonable to place the origin of these trousers in the period spanning from 1890 to 1911.

References

Affong, L., A Chinese Mother, with Nurse and Children. [Photograph] Retrieved from the Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lai-Afong,-A-Chinese-Mother-with-Nurse-and -Children.jpg.

Cheung, A., Solazzo, C. & Tsui, W. (2021). Unveil the Gold – Revealing Metal Threads and Decorative Materials of Early Twentieth Century Traditional Chinese Children's Hats. 357. Studies in Conservation.

Chinese children in Olympia, Wash. (ca. 1919). [Photograph] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2004670938/.

China Fetching. (2023 October, 19) Chinese Flowers — Month Flowers in Traditional Calendar and Their Cultural Meanings. https://www.chinafetching.com/chinese-calendar.

Eicher, J., & Vollmer, J. (Eds.) (2010). Berg Encyclopedia of World Dress and Fashion: East Asia, Volume 6. 121-149. Oxford University Press.

Gostelow, M. (1978). Mart Gostelow's Embroidery Book. 67. E. P. Dutton.

Saint Louis Art Museum (2023 October, 19) Peach Blossom in Spring. Saint Louis Art Museum Collection. https://www.slam.org/collection/objects/15417/.

Smithsonian National Museum of Asian Art. (2023 October, 19) Qing Dynasty: 1644-1911. Smithsonian Institution. https://asia-archive.si.edu/learn/for-educators/teaching-china-with-the-smithsonian/explor e-by-dynasty/qing-dynasty/.

Vollmer, J. (1980). Five Colours of the Universe: Symbolism in Clothes and Fabrics of Ch’ing Dynasty. 10-57. Edmonton Art Gallery.

Walters Art Museum. (2023 October, 19) Ducks in a Lotus Pond. Walters Art Museum Online Collection. https://art.thewalters.org/detail/37110/ducks-in-a-lotus-pond/.

Xun, Z. & Chunming, G. (1987). 5000 Years of Chinese Costumes. The Commercial Press.