Hanbok

The hanbok (Korean: 한복; Hanja: 韓服; lit. Korean dress) is a traditional clothing of the Korean people. The term hanbok is primarily used by South Koreans; North Koreans refer to the clothes as chosŏn-ot (조선옷, lit. 'Korean clothes'). The clothes are also worn in the Korean diaspora, especially by Koreans in China.

Koreans have worn hanbok since antiquity. The earliest visual depictions of hanbok can be traced back to the Three Kingdoms of Korea period (57 BC to 668 AD) with roots in the Proto-Koreanic people of what is now northern Korea and Manchuria. The clothes are also depicted on tomb murals from the Goguryeo period (4th to 6th century AD), with the basic structure of the hanbok established since at latest this period. The ancient hanbok consisted of a jeogori (top), baji (pants), chima (skirt), and the po (coat). The basic structure of hanbok was designed to facilitate the ease of movement and integrated many motifs of Mu-ism.

For thousands of years, the hanbok most people wore was pure white with no ornamentation. More ornate hanbok was typically reserved for special occasions such as weddings. For some periods, commoners (seomin) were even forbidden from wearing colorful hanbok regularly.^: 104 However, in other periods, commoners were not allowed to wear white, including during the Japanese occupation of Korea.

Modern hanbok are typically patterned after the hanbok worn in the Joseon dynasty, especially those worn by the nobility and royalty.^: 104 There is some regional variation in hanbok design between South Korea, North Korea, and Koreans in China as a result of the relative isolation from each other that these groups experienced in the late 20th century.^: 246 Despite this, the designs have somewhat converged again since the 1990s, especially due to increased cultural and economic exchange after the Chinese economic reform.^: 246 Nowadays, contemporary Koreans wear hanbok for formal or semi-formal occasions and events such as weddings, festivals, celebrations, and ceremonies. In 1996, the South Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism established Hanbok Day to encourage South Korean citizens to wear the hanbok.