I told myself I wouldn’t make a story about China. When I was invited to a conference at the last minute, I would just enjoy it, let it all wash over me.

But then I did make an episode about China, which is in the feed now.

And it’s because then I saw them.

Photo by Drew Houpt

[…]

The girls who like to dress like imperial princesses. They are swarming every Chinese tourist site. Especially the Forbidden City, the palace that was seat of the Ming Dynasty.

The line to get into The Forbidden City. Photo by Drew Houpt

They are mostly women, although you sometimes see some boyfriends who have been cajoled into it.

okay king!

It makes sense to me that this would be fun social media fodder. Who doesn’t love to dress up and take pictures of themselves?

But this is specifically a movement called Hanfu. Which translates to Han clothing or Han dress. Han is the ethnic majority of China- like over 90% of China is Han. And there were moments (lol, centuries) when they have been “in control” of the monarchy, and times when they weren’t. […]

Continue reading: https://articlesofinterest.substack.com/p/the-princesses-of-china