Ru

What it is

A ru is an upper garment for the body: a jacket, a coat or a short robe. Most are cut to cross at the chest and fasten on the right side, though some open straight down the middle at the front. Collars vary. There are cross collars, square collars, round collars and big slanted lapels, and standing collars came in by the late Ming. The body of the jacket may stop at the waist or reach the knee, with slits at the lower side edges. Sleeves run from the wrist to the elbow, wide or narrow, plain or flared.

Names and terms

Chinese upper garments are called yi (衣), a word that in old texts meant an outer top. Several names sit around the ru. Shan (衫) and ao (袄) are close enough in meaning to be used as synonyms. A short one is a duanru; a waist-length one is a yaoru; a long one is a changru. Lined and padded versions have words of their own, among them furu and gua. The Shiming calls a ru a padded jacket, soft and warm, and adds that a danru carries no wadding at all. In the Han dynasty a ru could be unlined, lined or padded.

Right over left

Closing to the right is called youren (右衽). Chinese robes and jackets are meant to cover the right side, and the way a collar crosses is what marks Hanfu off from the dress of neighbouring peoples, known as Hufu. Groups to the north wrapped the other way, zuoren, to the left, and the Analects records Confucius praising Guan Zhong for keeping the Zhou dynasty from taking up that custom. The cross-collar, right-closing garment, jiaolingyouren, began in the Shang dynasty and became one of the great marks of the Sino Kingdom before it travelled across Asia.

History and change

The style has been worn across many centuries. In the Shang dynasty the upper garment reached the knee and sat over a skirt called chang, and the right-closing form began then. Before the Eastern Han, men and women alike used the ru as a short robe; after that women were its main wearers. In Han and Wei times sleeves could be wide or narrow, and a new kind of shan had straight, equal front panels tied with a string instead of crossing over. Late Qing jackets kept features from Ming-era Han clothing, and they went on changing through the Republic of China. From the 1930s Han fashion lost ground to the qipao and Western dress, and in the 21st century the Hanfu movement brought it back into view.

Dressing the dead

The one time a Han Chinese person is expected to wear zuoren, left side over right, is when they are dressed for burial. Old Yin and Yang thinking gives the left to Yang, which stands for life, and the right to Yin, which stands for death. A living person's jacket keeps the left lapel outside, so that Yang presses down Yin. If the wrap is reversed, the garment belongs to the deceased instead. Wearing zuoren while alive is therefore taboo. Han women in the Yuan dynasty and some areas of the Ming did wear it, and the Khitans kept their own left wrap.

How Ru is kept

A ru is put on over the body, then wrapped so that the left panel lies across the right. Strings or lacing close it. Women set it above a skirt, a pairing called ruqun, or above trousers, called shanku. In winter a lined jia ao may be worn over a long qun. Sleeves can be narrow for daily wear or wide and flared for ceremony, and the garment may be plain, lined or padded. There is no fixed occasion for it: in the Tang dynasty women wore the ru, shan and ao for both formal and ordinary use.

When and where

The ru is not tied to a date. It is everyday dress and can be worn in any season, though thicker lined and padded kinds are winter clothing. Han Chinese women have worn it over many centuries and under many dynasties. Today it appears again in Hanfu circles rather than at one set time of year.

Its home is China, where the right-wrapping closure began, and it belongs above all to Han Chinese women. The cut spread through Asia along with Chinese dress. In the 20th century it gave way in China to the qipao and Western clothing, and since the 21st century it has come back into view through the Hanfu movement.

What Ru means

For Han Chinese people the direction of the lapel carries meaning. A jacket that covers the right side is more than a fastening: it marks Chinese dress and sets it apart from the clothing of northern neighbours. The cross-collar right-wrap shape became one of the standing signs of the Sino Kingdom. In the same way, the reversed wrap belongs to the dead, which is why living people avoid it. Cloth here says who someone is, and which side of life they stand on.

Questions people ask about Ru

See also

DoppaAn embroidered cap, square or round, that Uyghurs and Uzbeks wear across Central AsiaQunA Chinese wrap-around skirt of Hanfu and Chinese opera, tied at the waist or higherPretaOfferings and rites for spirits enduring deep hunger across Asian traditions.BarkclothCloth beaten from tree bark across Africa, Asia and the Pacific

Good reading and sources

• Ru (upper garment) 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.