Shenyi
| Shenyi | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Modern reproduction of a Confucian shenyi. | |||||||||
| Chinese name | |||||||||
| Chinese | 深衣 | ||||||||
| Literal meaning | Deep clothing | ||||||||
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| Vietnamese name | |||||||||
| Vietnamese alphabet | Áo thâm y | ||||||||
| Hán-Nôm | 襖深衣 | ||||||||
| Korean name | |||||||||
| Hangul | 심의 | ||||||||
| Hanja | 深衣 | ||||||||
| Literal meaning | Profound gown | ||||||||
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The shenyi (Chinese: 深衣; pinyin: shēnyī; lit. 'deep clothing': 12 : 135 ; Korean: 심의; Hanja: 深衣; RR: Simui; yr: sim.ui) is a type of robe in traditional Han Chinese clothing (Hanfu) characterized by obliquely straight plackets with overlapping collars, fastened by a belt and other accessories such as ribbons and buckles. The garment got its name from its complete enveloping of the wearer's body, hence "wrapping the body deep within the clothes".: 12 : 135 A garment typically worn by Confucian scholars as academic dresses, shenyi was recorded in the Book of Rites (Liji), declined after the Han dynasty, regained popularity in the Song dynasty and remained a formal attire until the fall of the Ming dynasty and the subsequent conquest by the Manchu Qing dynasty.
The shenyi is a long one-piece robe, unlike the Ru–Qun/Ku attire that was more popular among aristocrats and scholar-officials prior to the Qin dynasty, where the upper and the lower garments are separate clothings. The shenyi, along with its components, existed prior to the Zhou dynasty and appeared at least since the Shang dynasty, but was developed into a complete system of attire during Zhou dynasty, being shaped by the strict Zhou feudal hierarchical system in terms of social levels, gender, age, and situation and was used as a basic form of clothing. It then became the mainstream clothing choice during the Qin and Han dynasties, by the latter of which it had evolved into two styles: the qujupao (Chinese: 曲裾袍), characterized by helical plackets; and the zhijupao (Chinese: 直裾袍), characterized by straight plackets.: 13–14 The shenyi later gradually declined in popularity around the Wei, Jin, and Northern and Southern dynasties period. However, its influence persisted among the commoners in the following Sui and Tang dynasties, during which the round collar robes such as yuanlingshan and chest-high skirts were more popular within the high society. The shenyi regained popularity as a form of formal wear for educated elites during the Song and Ming dynasties with advocation from famous scholars such as Song dynasty's Zhu Xi in his Zhuzi jiali (朱子家禮), and Ming dynasty's Huang Zongxi, as well as Jiang Yong in the Qing dynasty.
The shenyi was also introduced to other countries of the Sinosphere, where it exerted influences on the formal attire styles in both Korea and Japan. The shenyi is called simui in Korean with the same hanja characters as in Chinese, and was worn by Korean confucianists during the Goryeo and Joseon period. Áo giao lĩnh, a traditional Vietnamese robe worn commonly before the French colonization during the 19th century, was also heavily influenced by the shenyi.