In today's international world, traditional Chinese clothing, especially Hanfu and cheongsam (qipao), has become an important tool for cultural expression and soft power. This article uses the existing research literature and the analysis of the text to explore the establishment and development of the discourse of cross-cultural communication about traditional Chinese clothing culture, adopting a qualitative research approach. The study shows five main thematic dimensions: (1) Digital platforms and the global expansion of Chinese clothing traditions; (2) National identity, soft nationalism, and affective economies of Chinese communities overseas; (3) The role of translation aesthetics and linguistic mediation in cultural dissemination; (4) The gendered nature of traditional clothing as a cultural nationalism space; and (5) The embodied nature of traditional clothing through tourism and experiential engagement. The results indicate that the process of the cross-cultural communication of traditional Chinese clothing is multidimensional and conflictual, influenced by digital affordances, national sentiment, diasporic experience, political context and commercial strategy. The findings from this research inform larger knowledge of the ways in which material cultural heritage is translated, circulated and contested across cultural boundaries and have implications for public policy, cultural diplomacy and world fashion discourse.
Chen, T. (2025). The dissemination of Chinese traditional dress culture in global context: Perspectives on public policy and cultural communication. Lex Localis - Journal of Local Self-Government. https://doi.org/10.52152/3137
Cui, X., Song, Z., & Tang, X. (2025). Embracing history and cultural heritage through the Chinese Hanfu costume tourism. International Conference on Tourism Research. https://doi.org/10.34190/ictr.8.1.3418
Davis, M., Xiao, J., & Wei, L. (2025). Soft nationalism in China: The case of Hanfu style. European Journal of Cultural Studies, 28, 1841–1858. https://doi.org/10.1177/13675494251336606
Fan, C., & Ip, P. (2022). "When showing Hanfu to foreigners, I feel very proud": The imagined community and affective economies of Hanfu among Chinese migrant youth in the United Kingdom. European Journal of Cultural Studies, 26, 781–802. https://doi.org/10.1177/13675494221124633
Ip, P., & Fan, C. (2024). Reinventing fashion as an affective apparatus by China's youth: Bilibili, danmaku commentaries, and the online Hanfu ceremony during the COVID-19 outbreak. Emerging Media, 2, 109–133. https://doi.org/10.1177/27523543241231823
Jiang, H. (2025). Chinese women in Hanfu: A gendered subject narrative in the cultural nationalist movement. Women's Studies, 54, 573–591. https://doi.org/10.1080/00497878.2025.2483459
Min, Z. (2023). The reconstruction and re-popularization of Hanfu culture: Hanfu cross-dressing videos on TikTok. Lecture Notes in Education Psychology and Public Media. https://doi.org/10.54254/2753-7048/4/20220211
Ouyang, M. (2025). From tradition to fashion: The historical evolution, cultural symbolism and contemporary expression of the cheongsam. Transactions on Social Science, Education and Humanities Research. https://doi.org/10.62051/p9zf9b64
Wang, Y. (2024). The role of translation aesthetics in the spread of Chinese culture by Chinese national brands in the context of the Belt and Road Initiative: Taking the spread of Hanfu as an example. Modern Linguistics. https://doi.org/10.12677/ml.2024.124303
Zou, Q. (2023). Research on the effect of cross-cultural communication of Chinese culture on YouTube: Evidence from Hanfu. Communications in Humanities Research. https://doi.org/10.54254/2753-7064/19/20231212
Haiyan, G. (2026). The Construction and Path of Cross-Cultural Communication Discourse of Traditional Chinese Clothing Culture. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 16(5), 984-996.
Copyright: © 2026 The Author(s)
Published by Knowledge Words Publications (www.kwpublications.com)
This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) license. Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for both commercial and non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full terms of this license may be seen at: http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode
