Wang Mei (left) is serious about making Hanfu makeup for foreign girls.
Today's Women's Daily/Fengwang reporter Chen Xueyan Picture: Interviewee
What is the experience of a European girl with yellow hair and white skin wearing Hanfu?
On the banks of the Seine, on the streets of Brussels, many blonde and blue-eyed "foreign faces" held up oil-paper umbrellas and held fans, turning into "foreign concubines" dressed in Hanfu, interpreting a different kind of beauty...... This is not a European fashion show, but a Hanfu stall opened by Chinese girl Wang Mei in Belgium.
"I want to tell the world how beautiful Hanfu is, and my goal is to 'Amway' Chinese Hanfu to 999 foreign young ladies. In an interview with a reporter from Today's Women's Daily/Fengwang, Wang Mei said with a smile.
Going abroad, Hanfu stalls lit up the Chinese Pavilion
Draw a pair of distant mountain dailies, dot a safflower between the eyebrows, and put a simple and generous bun in three minutes...... Completing a delicate Hanfu makeup look is already handy for Wang Mei.
On September 8, at the 2023 Brussels Comics Festival, Belgium's annual international comic festival, the "China Pavilion" exhibition area curated by the Chinese Cultural Center in Brussels was unveiled again.
"Can my daughter try on this red dress?"
"I love this phoenix crown, it looks so beautiful!"
……
Many tourists from Belgium and the surrounding areas come to Wang Mei's stall to experience Hanfu makeup, trying on different forms of Hanfu and choosing their favorite accessories.
At the 2023 Brussels Comics Festival, many foreign girls lined up to make Han costumes.
"I'm very happy that the organizers invited me to set up a stall here, and I'm also very happy that so many foreign friends know about Hanfu here and like Hanfu. Wang Mei smiled as she made Hanfu makeup for the visitors while introducing them to China's traditional clothing culture.
This is not the first time that Wang Mei has set up a stall in Belgium to make Hanfu makeup, and the story of her Hanfu stall starts with a chance encounter during the Mid-Autumn Festival.
Wang Mei is a native of Xiantao, Hubei Province, in 2014, at the age of 26, she went to Belgium for graduate school, and after graduation, she stayed in Belgium to engage in the planning of cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries.
Since she was studying in China, Wang Mei, who loves to watch costume film and television dramas, has become a loyal fan of Hanfu, and she often wears Hanfu with her friends to travel and take Hanfu photos. After going abroad, she found that many foreign students like to wear the traditional costumes of their own country in the atmosphere of European ethnic integration, so she also began to try to wear Hanfu to go out.
Wang Mei often wears Hanfu to travel.
During the Mid-Autumn Festival in 2023, Wang Mei suddenly wanted to wear Hanfu on the street to introduce Chinese Hanfu and Mid-Autumn Festival culture to Belgians. On the way, she meets a blonde American girl. "She showed a lot of interest in hanfu, so I suggested that she try it on. Wang Mei said that this was the first time she had invited foreigners to try on Hanfu on the street.
"I didn't expect her to wear it very well, even if she didn't do a full makeup, she didn't have a sense of disobedience, and she herself liked it very much. Wang Mei recorded this wonderful encounter with a video and posted it on social platforms, which attracted many netizens to like it and many people to make suggestions.
The suggestions of netizens gave Wang Mei some inspiration, and after some careful planning, her Hanfu stall hit the streets.
In order to attract everyone's interest in Hanfu, Wang Mei posed in front of the stall a "Hairpin Lady", she changed Hanfu for the visiting girl according to this famous painting, and did a full set of makeup and styling, after the video was released, netizens exclaimed: "All of a sudden, it will become a 'foreign concubine'!"
The Hanfu cross-dressing video attracted everyone's attention and likes on the Internet, which gave Wang Mei a huge sense of confidence and responsibility, and later whenever she had time, she went to the streets and scenic spots to invite local girls to try on Hanfu, in addition to Tang Dynasty clothing, she also tried on models in the shape of the Song Dynasty, Ming Dynasty and other dynasties. Every time she set up a stall, she would also show a picture of a lady from a related dynasty and dress up the models according to the pictures, trying to make ancient Chinese makeup and clothing culture transcend time and space and present them on the streets of Belgium.
Walking on the streets, foreign friends lined up to experience Hanfu makeup
In this way, Wang Mei's Hanfu stall opened in Belgium.
Sometimes in the park, sometimes in the square of the residential area, and when the weather is bad, Wang Mei camps in the open space of the mall...... In short, where the Hanfu stalls are placed, there will be long queues.
Before this, Wang Mei never imagined that so many people would want to try Hanfu styling.
In addition to the excitement, it is not an easy job to complete so many Hanfu dress up challenges by one person. It takes about two hours to do a set of makeup, hair and clothing each time, and it takes even longer to prepare and sweep the tail in the early stage. Before each stall, Wang Mei will spend at least two or three days preparing in advance, studying the shape of Hanfu in different dynasties, selecting the corresponding pictures of ladies, and Xi following the drawings to learn makeup and hairstyles.
The most difficult thing is that many Hanfu have no sales channels in Europe, so they can only buy them from China, and they have to wait for a long time from placing an order to mailing it, and sometimes they have to go by air for urgent use, and the freight is naturally very expensive. "The most expensive one, the postage cost 1,800 yuan, which was higher than the original price of that costume. Wang Mei said helplessly and funny.
But this did not delay Wang Mei's enthusiasm to continue to set up Hanfu stalls in Belgium. In the summer, she will prepare more Tang dresses, the fabric is light and breathable, the color is bright and beautiful, and it is very popular with everyone; in winter, considering the cold climate of Northern Europe, Wang Meijia bought a lot of Ming clothes, which are warm and beautiful.
Many foreign girls turned into "foreign concubines" in Wang Mei's Hanfu stall.
Many foreign girls turned into "foreign concubines" in Wang Mei's Hanfu stall.
Once, a Belgian father took his daughter to pass by Wang Mei's Hanfu stall, the girl was attracted by these special clothes, and wanted to try it, but was sternly rejected by the father, looking at the girl's reluctant appearance, Wang Mei took the initiative to try to communicate with the girl's father.
During the chat, Wang Mei learned that it turned out that the girl's mother was Chinese, and she returned to China alone after the divorce, and the girl and her father stayed in Belgium. He said that when his wife left, his daughter was still very young and had almost no memory, and he had never told his daughter about China, but he did not expect his daughter to be magically attracted when she saw Hanfu. After listening to the man's story, Wang Mei also sighed, "Maybe this is the inheritance of blood."
Later, the father finally agreed to let his daughter try on Hanfu, and after the change was completed, the man was also amazed, sighing: "It's really like her mother's ......"
Wang Mei then introduced to the man, "This is the traditional costume of the Han nationality in China, there are 56 ethnic groups in China, each ethnic group has its own traditional clothing, each with its own characteristics." Hearing this, the father told Wang Mei that he was once a descendant of an ethnic minority, but when it came to his generation, the culture and characteristics of the nation were about to disappear, and he couldn't help but sigh: "China is really a very inclusive country, and I want to take my daughter back to China to see if I have the opportunity." ”
More stages, let Chinese Hanfu be seen by the world
Gradually, Wang Mei's Hanfu stall became more and more popular, and many locals left her business cards or wrote down her contact information after listening to the introduction, hoping to invite her to make up and style herself in the future, or want to learn more about Hanfu through her.
"Later, I was contacted by the heads of many local Belgian scenic spots and public cultural venues, hoping that I would arrange a time to set up a Hanfu stall at their place. Wang Mei said.
In November, Wang Mei was invited to participate in the Asian Cultural Festival at KU Leuven, where a Hanfu salon was held.
"What is this accessory called?", "Which dynasty in China is this the clothes?", "Why did ancient Chinese boys also wear their hair in a bun?...... When styling visitors, Wang Mei also had to answer questions related to traditional Chinese culture from time to time, and introduce the cultural Xi of each dynasty and the exquisiteness of clothing and makeup.
"Every makeup and every hairstyle has a historical story, such as Hua Tian began to have it in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. Later, Wang Mei simply matched all her Hanfu shapes with pictures and texts for everyone to read when making makeup, "I hope they can not only appreciate the beauty of Hanfu, but also understand the Chinese cultural heritage behind the costumes."
Engaged in cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries for many years, Wang Mei has been planning many exhibitions, lectures and other activities related to Chinese culture and art in Belgium, but really going out to the people to spread Chinese culture is another experience for Wang Mei.
"In the past, on the streets of foreign countries, many people thought Hanfu was beautiful when they saw it, and always mistook it for the costumes of other countries, but now, more and more people know that this is a traditional Chinese costume, which is a big change. Wang Mei said that more and more Chinese people are falling in love with wearing Hanfu to travel, and every time she shares the video of the Hanfu stall on social platforms, it will attract everyone's likes and comments.
Today, Hanfu stalls continue to camp everywhere on the mainland on the banks of the Seine, "Amway" Hanfu to 999 foreign girls, so that Hanfu can be seen by more and more people, which is Wang Mei's wish, and it is also the voice of countless Hanfu lovers behind Wang Mei.
Edit: Yiyi
Second trial: poetry rhyme
Third trial: Ouyang Lingxi