Ku

What it is

Chinese uses the word ku for trousers, and kuzi for the same thing in everyday speech. The character ku also has older written forms. In the broad Hanfu sense, ku means the traditional Chinese trousers worn together with the yi upper garment and the chang skirt, which make up a full set of dress. Ku is worn on its own in the outfit called shanku, and women also wear it beneath the skirt of the ruqun. The term also covers the kaidangku, open-crotch trousers without a rise, as opposed to the hedangku, trousers with a rise.

Origins and early forms

Chinese trousers are native to the central part of China. The oldest form the sources describe is the jingyi, or shin clothing, worn from the Neolithic period. It was not one garment but two legs, each tied to a calf, leaving the thighs bare, so a wrap skirt had to cover the lower body. The jingyi kept off cold and protected the skin. Through the Spring and Autumn period people still wore trousers with no crotch. In the Shang dynasty the word chang, meaning lower garments, could name both the ku and the skirt. Later texts record further names.

Trousers with a rise

The Warring States period brings the hedangku, trousers with a rise. These came from the Hufu dress of northern nomadic peoples. King Wuling of Zhao adopted the Hufuqishe policy, and the loose-rise hedangku entered central China, first through soldiers and later through ordinary people in the dynasties that followed. Chinese-style hedangku, called kun, grew out of this borrowing, and the jingyi-style ku was lengthened to the thigh. A waist enclosure with an open front and back let the wearer urinate and defecate, so a skirt was still needed for modesty. A silk brocade ku was found in the Mashan Chu tomb in Jiangling, Hubei.

Styles across the dynasties

Han dynasty trousers came in many cuts, some with tapered cuffs. Men wore ku in the shanku set for ordinary occasions. The kun branched into wide-legged dashao and the dakouku, tied with strings below the knee. High society disliked the kun because it showed the shape of the leg, and it stayed with warriors and servants. A Han-era ku from the Mawangdui tomb at Changsha has two full legs joined to the waist, covering the belly but not the hips, closed at the front and open at the back. In the Western Han, palace women wore the qiongku, closed at the front and laced at the back.

Later centuries and today

During the Wei and Jin dynasties the wide-bottomed dakouku became common for nobles and ordinary people, bound below the knee so riding and duty were easier. Paired with a short tight top it made the kuzhefu, worn as military and official dress until Sui and Tang times. Tang warriors kept the dakouku, women wore hedangku under their skirts, and narrower legs appeared. Song and Yuan saw narrow xiaoku, and the xiku, a shin-style ku, which emperors sometimes wore. The Ming taoku went over other trousers. Jingyi-style ku survives among Hani and Miao women, now called jiaotong.

How Ku is kept

A full Hanfu outfit puts the yi top above the ku below, and the chang skirt completes the set. In the shanku outfit the ku is the lower half worn on its own, while women may layer it beneath a ruqun skirt. Han-era men wore it for ordinary occasions. Over time each group took the cut that suited it: soldiers first carried the loose-rise hedangku, later wearers used narrow legs or knee-bound trousers, and Hani and Miao women still wear jingyi-style ku.

When and where

There is no fixed date. The ku belongs to everyday and formal dress rather than to a festival. Its forms are dated by dynasty, from Neolithic jingyi through the Warring States, Han, Tang, Song, Yuan and Ming periods, and it is worn today.

Chinese trousers are native to the central part of China, and the tradition is Chinese. Surviving early examples come from tombs at Jiangling in Hubei and at Mawangdui near Changsha in Hunan. The jingyi-style ku is still worn by Hani and Miao women in China, and Chinese-style trousers reached the Vietnamese ao dai in the Nguyen dynasty.

What Ku means

Clothing carried ideas about modesty and rank. Because early ku left the front and back open, a skirt stayed on to keep the body covered. The kun, which showed the shape of the leg, was thought improper by Han high society and was left to warriors and servants. The qiongku had a political purpose: palace concubines were made to wear it so that Emperor Zhao Di would stay with Queen Shangguan and she might bear an heir.

Questions people ask about Ku

See also

Traditional tattooingThe ancient custom of marking the skin for protection, healing, status and sacred ritesQizhuangThe traditional attire of the Manchu people, characterized by riding coats, trousers, and horse-hoof cuffs.BianfuA red ceremonial outfit worn by Chinese emperors during the Zhou dynasty for official court duties.MianfuThe most formal dress of China's emperors, worn at coronations and court rites

Good reading and sources

• Ku (trousers) on WikipediaEncyclopedia
• Wikidata recordOpen data

It may contain mistakes. Traditions differ from one family, village and community to the next, and the people who keep them know them best. If something is wrong, tell us. Last refreshed 2026-10-14.