Why US and China have such different views about an American girl in a cheongsam

[FarCenter]

For the Chinese, imitation is the best form of flattery when it comes to their culture.

That is why, some observers say, the online consensus on the mainland comfortably accepted a teenaged American wearing the traditional Chinese qipao, or cheongsam, to her school prom, while she was forced to defend herself against accusations of “cultural appropriation” from some in the United States.

Keziah Daum, an 18-year-old from Utah who has no Chinese roots, ignited an outcry on the internet after she posted photos of herself dressed in the qipao on Twitter. The incident was widely reported by Western media, but has not received much attention in mainland China.

The qipao, originating in the loose style worn by Manchu women in the Qing dynasty (1644-1911), evolved into the current tightly fitting version in the 1920s.

It was regarded as fashionable by bourgeois women before the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949.

Soong Ching-ling, wife of Sun Yat-sen, the founding father of post-imperial China, wearing a cheongsam. Photo: Alamy
Nowadays Chinese women tend to wear it at formal occasions.

Liu Yu, a garment history researcher at Shanghai’s Donghua University, said she was surprised by some of the US reaction to Daum and felt people had “made a big fuss over a small matter”.

The scholar said that, theoretically, Western people tended to be less suited to the qipao, because of their flatter shoulders and bigger and higher body frames.

Go ahead, appropriate my culture

“But we won’t accuse them of ruining our qipao,” Liu added. “Instead, we are very happy that foreigners are dressed in our traditional clothes at such an important event.

“It demonstrates that Chinese people are confident about our culture. We are not preventing other people adopting it.”

http://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2144697/why-us-and-china-have-such-different-views-about-american-girl

[Lee-Lee]

1. People have taken the whole "cultural appropriation" things several steps toobfr

I get where they are coming from, but sometimes imitation is just a form of flattery. You don’t need to run and accuse everyone who wears soemthing from another culture or cooks food from another culture or anything similar of being “appropriative” or insensitive or even racist.

[FarCenter]

6. I agree, but men everywhere outside the UK should avoid the Late Victorian lounge suit

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suit_(clothing)#History

[IluvPitties]

10. I wish more people paid tribute to diversity by exploring aspects of other cultures.

That would include clothing.

[N_E_1 for Tennis]

2. It's a damn piece of clothing...

If you’re so pissed about her wearing it burn all your “Made in China” clothes.
What small minded assholes.

This is meant to address those complaining not you FarCenter.

[cagefreesoylentgreen]

3. That was before she declared Asians Suck

Here’s the racist evidence: https://nextshark.com/kezia-daum-qipao-utah-asians-suck-vine-twitter/

[Oneironaut]

4. I've never heard Liberals complain about cultural appropriation.

It’s always anonymous Twitter “activists” online. Then, the media picks it up as “People on the internet are furious about (X)!”

What’s funny is, some of them essentially argue that segregation is a good thing. It’s really stupid.

[Drahthaardogs]

5. It was classy and beautiful

She looked great. It was nice to see a young woman going to prom not dressed like she was going to a Vegas night club.

[GulfCoast66]

7. The headline is false.

Americans really don’t give a damn.

Maybe a handful of navel-gazers who find just about everything offensive.

[Kirk Lover]

8. I really think very few people are actually "outraged" by this. It's a non story. nt

[FarCenter]

9. The current style was apparently originated by Madame Wellington Koo

Madame Koo was much admired for her adaptations of traditional Chinese dress, which she wore with lace trousers and jade necklaces.[1][2][19][12] She is widely acknowledged for reinventing the Chinese cheongsam in order to accentuate and flatter the female figure.[1][2][19] Cheongsam dresses at the time had been decorously slit a few inches up the sides, but Hui-lan slashed hers to the knee – in the heady 1920s – 'with lace pantelettes just visible to the ankle'.[19][12] She thereby helped modernize, glamorize and popularize what soon became the Chinese female national dress.[19][12] Unlike other Asian socialites, Madame Wellington Koo insisted on using local silks and materials, which she thought were of superior quality.[1][12]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oei_Hui-lan

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheongsam

[Generic Other]

11. If you are not wearing it to mock the culture

then it should not be an issue.

I wear Japanese kimono, Hawaiian shirts, Native American designs in my daily life. I buy all my clothes second hand. Someone else already threw away what I re-purpose. They are beautiful, have personal connections to my ethnicity, my geographic area, and places where I have lived. Screw anyone who questions my right to wear whatever I like. As my mother used to say, "Life (or school) not a fashion show."

[Generic Other]

12. And when my stupid middle school demands the kids wear uniforms

that make them look like Donald Trump on the golf course or a khaki Nazi, I am forced to assimilate to this white man's garb. Heaven forbid I stand out by wearing a hapi coat or tabi socks and flip flops which by the way were appropriated from Japanese footwear. You white people wearing flipflops....GRRRR. Cultural appropriation!

on edit: Zōri (草履 are flat and thonged Japanese sandals made of rice straw or other plant fibers, cloth, lacquered wood, leather, rubber, or—increasingly—synthetic materials. Zōri are quite similar to flip-flops, which first appeared in Australia, New Zealand and the United States sometime around World War II as rubber imitations ... per wiki

To help prove the outlandishness of this current silliness.

[Generic Other]

13. Steve Martin says hello

[iemitsu]

14. I am part of a multi-ethnic household and often wear things that did not stem from my

birth culture. I see nothing wrong or disrespectful about my choice of clothing. Wearing beautiful ethnic clothing is a celebration of diversity not an appropriation. At least not in my opinion.

[Generic Other]

15. I bet no one has ever criticized you either

Because they know you are not mocking them.