Discussion on the Protection of “Hong Kong Cheongsam Making Technique” from the Development of Hong Kong Men’s Cheongsam and Oral Histories of Distinguish Master Tailors

Hong Kong Cheongsam encompasses various forms of dress for both men and women, and its craft is one of Hong Kong's intangible cultural heritages in the category of traditional craftsmanship. “Hong Kong Cheongsam Making Technique” has been successively included in the first Intangible Cultural Heritage Inventory of Hong Kong1, the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Hong Kong2, and the National List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of China3 in 2014, 2017, and 2021 respectively. This tiered recognition highlights the high cultural value and urgent need for preservation of this intangible cultural heritage 2.

Over the past decade, the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and higher education sector of Hong Kong have taken various measures to protect this intangible cultural heritage from different perspectives, including identification and documentation, collection and preservation of related materials and carriers, academic research, organization of inheritance programs, and promotion. The majority of these protective measures focus on women's cheongsam, particularly its development since the 1950s, yielding numerous research results and attracting societal attention. However, there has been a lack of focused measures to protect men's cheongsam and other related attires, leading to an unbalanced situation in the preservation of the “Hong Kong Cheongsam Making Technique”. In light of this, the School of Fashion and Textiles of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University has initiated a series of research projects since 2021 on the history, culture, craftsmanship, inheritance, and development direction of Hong Kong men’s cheongsam. These projects aim to supplement and enrich the data and resources of the intangible cultural heritage, reinvent inheritance models, and investigate the possibilities of revitalizing men's cheongsam from a design perspective.

Our research team has consolidated the results of various preliminary and ongoing preservation efforts, relevant literature, and the memories of practitioners in the local tailoring industry and summarized the development men’s cheongsam in Hong Kong. Based on the findings from the investigation, the team initiates discussions on the preservation work of “Hong Kong Cheongsam Making Technique”.