Models present Hanfu, or traditional Chinese attire, to audience in San Francisco, the United States, Jan. 12, 2020. Various examples of traditional Chinese culture were showcased at San Francisco Public Library on Sunday to celebrate the upcoming Chinese Lunar New Year, which falls on Jan. 25 this year. (Photo by Li Jianguo/Xinhua)
SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 12 (Xinhua) -- Various examples of traditional Chinese culture were showcased at San Francisco Public Library on Sunday to celebrate the upcoming Chinese Lunar New Year, which falls on Jan. 25 this year.
One of the event's featured at the city library was a fashion show displaying the traditional attire of ancient China, including Hanfu, which was the most popular clothing worn by the Han ethnic group in ancient China's Han Dynasty (206 B.C.-220 A.D.).
Navneet Matharv, a bioengineering researcher with the University of California who attended the event wearing Hanfu, told Xinhua that Hanfu "is really a beautiful dress."
"Hanfu is pretty traditional, which gives me a different look. I love Chinese culture and have a lot of Chinese friends around here in San Francisco," she said.
Ahead of the Hanfu show, the American non-profit Bridge Road International Foundation, which organized the event, invited attendees to try Chinese calligraphy and write spring couplets, a traditional decoration written in Chinese characters to express good wishes for the coming year.
The Hanfu show was preceded by readings of ancient Chinese poems, a showing of Tang Dynasty (618-907 A.D.) clothing, and the playing of Chinese musical instruments such as the erhu and guqin.
Doris Tseng, a librarian at San Francisco Public Library, told Xinhua that a lot of people, locals and visitors alike, visit the library for reading or research, so the event offered "a perfect opportunity" for them to learn more about Chinese cultural heritage.
