说起中国服饰，一百多年前我们穿的长衣服叫作“长袍”或“马褂”。
Talking about the Chinese clothing, a hundred years ago we wore long gowns, we call them "Chang Pao" or "Ma Gua".

当然现在中国人，特别是男人们，不再穿那样的长衣服了。
Of course nowadays we don’t wear that kind of long thing any longer, especially for men.

在民国时期，出现了“中山装”，是以孙中山先生的名字命名的。
And then during the Sun Yat-sen age we had "Zhong Shan Zhuang", which was named after Mr. Sun Yat-sen.

它看起来很像严肃的正式的夹克，有一个小领子，五颗扣子和四个口袋。
It looks like very rigid kind of formal jacket with a very small collar here and we’ve got five buttons and four pockets.

如果你见过孙中山先生的画像，那上面他穿的就是中山装。
Yeah if you see a portrait of Mr. Sun Yat-sen, what he wore in the picture that is "Zhong Shan Zhuang".

1949年以后，有了一种看起来很像中山装的夹克，但是它的四个口袋，尤其是上面的两个口袋，不像中山装那么明显。
And after 1949, we had a kind of jacket which looked very similar to Zhong Shan Zhuang, but the four pockets, especially the pockets on the top are not very obvious.

口袋有扣盖，但是我们看不见（口袋），因为它是裹在里面的。
We got the cover of the pocket, but we cannot see the pocket, because it’s inside.

70年代晚期，中国向世界开放，很多新事物涌进中国。
And after the late 1970’s, China opens up to the world and a lot of new things come into China.

如今我们有各种各样的服饰，有的甚至很奇特。
Nowadays we have all kinds of different very fancy attires.

我现在穿的正式夹克，我们叫做“西装”。
And the formal jacket is probably what I’m wearing we call them western suit, “Xi Zhuang”.

我认为中西方对正装和便装有不同的穿衣规则。
And I suppose we have different ideas of wearing formal things or casual attire.

在企业或政府部门的办公室里人们趋向穿正装，比如穿西装和打领带。
I believe that usually in the office or in the company, in the government offices people tend to wear formal, you know, suit, tie, anything like that.

但是在中国，虽然有一些公司的职员，会穿非常正式的夹克，西服套装，打领带，穿黑色的鞋子和裤子等等。
But here in China, of course in some companies probably the clerks I mean people working there, will wear very formal jackets, suit and tie, black shoes, black pants, things like that.

但是在有的办公室，比如大学里的和一些政府部门的分部，要求不是那么严格，人们可以穿比较随意的服装，这样也没什么不好。
But in some office like university or some kind of government office, which is a kind of branch offices, which is not really important places, people can wear casual attire, going to the office, that’s fine.

比如对于我来说，我就会穿非常随意的夹克、牛仔裤和运动鞋去办公室。
You know for me, I just wear a very casual jacket, jeans, sneakers; I can go to the office.

我的老板不会责怪我。
My boss won’t blame me.

所以对于穿着是否正式，是否得体，或者说不得体，我们会有着不同的认识。
So we have a different kind of ways wearing, we think which is formal, which is proper, which is not really proper.

并且你会看到有些人，他们穿着西服。应该是很正式的服饰了，但是他们却在做着建筑工作。
And you can see some people wearing, we called western suit, which is supposed to be very formal, but they are doing some kind of construction work.

这对于你来说也许是非常奇怪的，但是我们经常会看到这样的事。
Well, this could be very odd and strange to you, but we can see those kinds of things very often.

现在让我来介绍一下我的新搭档，一位漂亮的女士，我指的是这位漂亮女士的服装。
Well, let me introduce my new partner today, what a lovely lady, I mean the lovely lady dressing.

它叫做“旗袍”。
We call them “Qi Pao”.

我想这对你来说应该不陌生。
“Qi Pao”, I suppose this is something not really new to you.

当参加重要的庆典、国际会议或者出席类似的隆重场合时，经常有中国女士会穿着这种服装，也就是旗袍。
You can see some important people, important ladies attending some important ceremonies, international events, some of them will wear something like that. We call them “Qi Pao”.

“旗袍”的历史可以追溯到大约四百年前，当时从中国东北部来的满族统一了中国，这是他们当时所穿的服饰。
And “Qi Pao” can be traced back four hundred years ago when the Man ethic group from the northeast part of China, they unified China, and this is what they wore at that time.

到了20世纪20年代，旗袍在上海的女学生中非常流行。
And back in the 1920’s, “Qi Pao” was very popular among the girl students in Shanghai.

但是最初的旗袍是直上直下的，中间这部分并没有腰。
But originally, “Qi Pao” was kind of go straight up from down, there is no waist here.

一些汉族的女性对这种服饰进行了改造，使它更加漂亮。
And then some ladies, people of the Han ethic group, you know we borrowed this kind of attire and we changed that and make it more beautiful.

并且有了腰身这部分。
So give the lady the waist.

因此这种旗袍比最初的更加漂亮，更加性感。
So this kind of “Qi Pao” could be, you know, more beautiful, sexier than the original ones.

如今的旗袍有了更多的变化。
And today “Qi Pao” was further transformed.

比如这类旗袍。
So we have this kind of “Qi Pao”.

它的上半部分是非常传统、非常中国式的，但是下半部分却是西式的。
You can see the upper part of “Qi Pao” is very very traditional Chinese, but the lower part is western.

好像美人鱼的尾巴。
It’s just like a tail of mermaid.

旗袍的扣子，我们叫做“盘扣”，是用线编成的。
And also this kind of button, we call them “Pan Kou”, they are made of thread.

系这种扣子可能要花点时间。
And, you know, she will need some more time to button them up.

另外还有短款的旗袍。
We can also have some kind of short pattern of, short version of “Qi Pao”.

夏天在女孩子中非常流行。
This could be very popular among girls especially in summer.

正如我们所说的，如今旗袍并不是日常服饰。
Yeah, as what I just said, “Qi Pao” nowadays is not everyday attire, not everyday dressing.

虽然你也可以看到一些人穿着它去上班，去购物。
Well, of course you can see some people wear that you know go to work, go shopping.

但是对于大多数人来说，旗袍是特殊场合的服饰。
But usually for most people, “Qi Pao” is attire for occasion.

旗袍
Qipao

好看！
Nice!