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The Final Competition and Award Ceremony for the Global Han Couture Design Competition, one of a series of international cultural and arts events sponsored by New Tang Dynasty Television (NTDTV), will be held on October 19 in the Prince George Ballroom in New York City, the fashion capital of the world.

Competition organizers say that models are going to showcase magnificent Han couture, presenting spiritual beliefs intertwined with the traditional styles of Chinese dress.

Over 200 works to be contributed, categorized by Formal/Business Attire and Casual Wear, have been approved by the judging committee for the competition since submission of the sketches on July 7. At present, models are preparing for the competition.

The Formal/Business Attire and the Casual Wear categories will each have one gold award, one silver award, one bronze award, four specialized awards (awards for the best concept, best sketching, best craftsmanship, and best garment matching) and several other outstanding awards. There will be a $10,000 reward for gold winners, $5,000 for silver winners, $2,000 for bronze winners, $2,000 for specialized award winners and $500 for other outstanding award winners.

Fan Hong, chairman of the panel of judges for the competition, explains that the participants are to be judged not only by how well they perform by the integration of practicability and ancient style, but also by how well they understand Han couture and utilize the patterns in clothing of the Tang, Song and Ming dynasties to reflect the depth and inner meaning of traditional Chinese culture and the integration between nature and humanity.

She said, “The Han couture design is not a mere copy of ancient Chinese clothing, but rather it is inspired by the rich traditions found in over 5,000 years of Chinese apparel, while addressing the needs of a modern lifestyle.”

As one of the age-old traditional Chinese apparel, the Han couture displays ancient Chinese codes of conduct of benevolence, righteousness, courteousness, wisdom and loyalty and the values of pure kindness and beauty. The competition is of special significance to the revival of authentic Chinese couture culture.

“Traditional Chinese culture was destroyed during the infamous Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), a period of senseless destruction of cultural heritage, unprecedented in Chinese history. At that time the Chinese communist party culture of class struggles and violence permeated the society, the Chinese women had to be dressed like men, wearing army uniforms, or clothing in blue or grey. According to the artistic perception of Chinese traditions, a genuinely beautiful woman of antiquity would be spiritual and gentle. Today the ancient Chinese couture has disappeared completely,” said Zhou Lili, the vice chairman of the Judging committee.

She added that the competition is aimed at showing the traditional and the beautiful including the unstudied elegance of the ancient woman, the match between inner and exterior beauty and the harmoniousness of ancient Han couture.

Read this article in Chinese.