Wearing the Cheongsam

Associations between the cheongsam dress and Chinese cultural identity are well known but what are the meanings of the cheongsam for members of the Chinese diaspora? In a study grounded in first-hand accounts of wearing, Cheryl Sim explores the practices and experiences of women in Canada, a major Chinese diaspora, and carries out the first in-depth study of the cheongsam from this critical point of view.Questions explored over the course of 20 interviews, as well as during personal reflections on the author's own experiences of wearing, include: is there a desire to re-claim or appropriate the cheongsam? Does this desire risk perpetuating stereotypes of Asian women? Does it undermine one’s identification with one's host country? Can erased heritage(s) be accessed through dress? And how does wearing the cheongsam interact with the male gaze? Revealing feelings of repulsion and attraction, Sim combines personal stories with an authoritative use of theoretical frameworks such as feminism, post-colonialism and autoethnography.Covering issues such as heritage, ethnic identity, authenticity, nationalism, patriarchy and assimilation, Sim demonstrates that the meanings of the cheongsam are multifarious. Readable but with strong academic underpinnings, this book is the entry point into discussions of Chinese dress and diaspora.

Provides a thorough and nuanced analysis, of both the cheongsam's place in a globalized world, and what the garment represents to and on the bodies of women of Chinese descent all over the world., By skillfully stitching race, gender and identity onto the cheongsam, Sim reveals the craft of the diasporic community and the multiplicity of this ethnic garment., In the first study of its kind, Cheryl Sim adds original and valuable insights to existing knowledge of the cheongsam. Weaving a path between personal and national histories, she establishes the garment as a signifier of identity, belonging and agency., Wearing the Cheongsam pulls a wily thread on this traditional Chinese dress, unravelling its complexity as exquisite adornment and cross-cultural signifier. Its power to encode women’s bodies is seamlessly explored by Cheryl Sim.

Cheryl Sim is Managing Director and Curator at Phi Foundation for Contemporary Art, Montreal, Canada.