Chinese Garment Craft (Longfeng Qipao Hand-tailoring)

The Longfeng qipao hand-tailoring craft descends from modern Shanghai's Chinese-tailoring tradition; in 1936 masters such as Zhu Shunxing applied traditional garment skills to the Shanghai-style qipao. It entered the third national ICH list in 2011 as "Chinese garment-making craft" (item VIII-193).

Its essence lies in more than a dozen hand processes—piping, inlay, rolled edges, appliqué, embroidery, painting and looped buttons—together with made-to-measure cutting and shaping that make the qipao fit the body while keeping its Eastern grace.

The Longfeng qipao represents Shanghai's dress culture, embodying the East-meets-West aesthetic of the modern city and a refined tradition of hand tailoring.

The craft is transmitted mainly by time-honoured tailoring shops in the Jing'an and Huangpu areas of Shanghai, the hallmark of the Shanghai-style qipao.