Gendered by Design: Qipao and Society, 1911–1949

This article explores women’s social status in modern China during the turbulent history of the early twentieth century through an examination of examples of qipao and related images that date approximately from the 1920s to the 1940s. The discussion aims to demonstrate the evolving styles that reveal women’s growing emancipation, and which foreground their bodies as the point of social contention. Qipao is often presented as a national costume in the Chinese culture, but its identity is fraught with gender related issues as well as its role as a tool of social redefinition.