A Study of the Feminization of Young Men's Dress in the Upper Class in the Late Qing Dynasty and the Early Republic of China

When the decree to cut pigtails and change clothing was introduced in the late Qing and early Republican periods, there were many clothing changes. The feminization of men's clothing was widely discussed at the time as a distinctive dress code trend. This article looks at the historical documents that documented this event and analyses the specific manifestations of this phenomenon by looking at the groups and regions where the feminization of men's clothing took place. The article analyses the phenomenon of men wearing women's clothing to blur their gender and explore the image of cross-dressing men in the society of the time and its meaning. Through the analysis of historical documents on the diverse, outward expressions of cross-dressing men, the fact that diversity in masculinity existed in that time is illustrated. This leads to further induction of the respective images of masculinity and a discussion of the various reasons behind this phenomenon. The article concludes with an attempt to reveal the motives that produced the feminization of men's dressing, both in terms of external social and internal causes, and to discuss whether the feminization of men's dressing in the late Qing Dynasty involved transgender identity the analysis of masculinity.