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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWhy US and China have such different views about an American girl in a cheongsam
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 Peoples 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 Shanghais 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 wont 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
(6,324 posts)I get where they are coming from, but sometimes imitation is just a form of flattery. You dont 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
(19,429 posts)IluvPitties
(3,181 posts)That would include clothing.
N_E_1 for Tennis
(9,722 posts)If youre 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
(838 posts)Heres the racist evidence: https://nextshark.com/kezia-daum-qipao-utah-asians-suck-vine-twitter/
Oneironaut
(5,494 posts)Its always anonymous Twitter activists online. Then, the media picks it up as People on the internet are furious about (X)!
Whats funny is, some of them essentially argue that segregation is a good thing. Its really stupid.
Drahthaardogs
(6,843 posts)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
(11,949 posts)Americans really dont give a damn.
Maybe a handful of navel-gazers who find just about everything offensive.
Kirk Lover
(3,608 posts)FarCenter
(19,429 posts)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oei_Hui-lan
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheongsam
Generic Other
(28,979 posts)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
(28,979 posts)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, orincreasinglysynthetic 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
(28,979 posts)iemitsu
(3,888 posts)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
(28,979 posts)Because they know you are not mocking them.