Summary

Two national dolls produced to represent a Chinese woman and man, they were purchased for Monica Gates circa 1970s-1980s.Traditional Chinese dress can be divided into three key periods, variations of which are still worn today, although sometimes only for special occasions. Hanfu or Han Chinese clothing consists of a yi (narrow-cuffed, tunic tied with a sash), and a chang (narrow skirt) it was worn by both men and women with variations according to rank, sex and dynastic period. Manchu clothing consisted of the changshan (long shirt) worn by men, the qipao or cheongsam (a one-piece dress which fitted loosely) worn by women, and the tangzhuang (Chinese suit, pants and a mandarin style jacket) which could be worn by men and women. The dress of the People's Republic consisted of the Zhongshan suit, which evolved into the Mao suit, for men, and a reworked qipao or cheongsam (into a slender and form fitting dress) for women.

The Gates collection contains 170 national dolls from 74 different countries and some correspondence relating to the acquisition of several of the dolls. The costumes of the dolls represent national costumes from the 19th Century to the 1990s. Monica Gates collected or was given these dolls between 1957 and 1990.

These dolls were purchased as souvenirs of particular countries and like many mass produced souvenirs they are often not accurate representations of a particular country or region, and may actually better reflect neighbouring counties or regions. This occurs because costumes are often stylised and simplified resulting dolls wearing generic costume elements which are common to many countries/regions. Often the fabrics and decorations used are selected to make the dolls cheap and easy to manufacture and aesthetically pleasing. This can result in the fabrics, colours and decorations of the doll's clothing having little or no reflection of the costume associated with a particular country or region they are meant to be representative of.

Physical Description

A pair of dolls, one male and one female, on a single base. The female is in a sitting position with her legs crossed. She wears a black hat with three beads on the front of it. She is elderly as shown by the wrinkles on her face and her greying hair. She holds an object of some sort in her hand and wears a blue top with black pants. The other male doll is also elderly as is shown by his wrinkles and greying hair. He wears a black hat with an orange pom-pom on top. His top is black and his pants are cream with a navy skirt over the top. His shoes are black. He is also in a sitting position and holds an object in his hand.

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