Magua (clothing)

Common card · No. 490518

The magua (Manchu: ᠣᠯᠪᠣ olbo, simplified Chinese: 马褂; traditional Chinese: 馬褂) was a style of jacket worn by males during the Qing dynasty (1644–1911), designed to be worn together with and over the manshi changshan (滿式長衫) as part of the Qizhuang. Magua is at waist length, with five disc buttons on the front and slightly short, wide sleeves. The garment was available in a number of styles: singlet (Chinese: 单; pinyin: dān), clip (Chinese: 夹; pinyin: jiá), leather (Chinese: 皮; pinyin: pí), cotton yarn (Chinese: 纱; pinyin: shā), quilted (棉; mián) and others. It was worn by Manchu people throughout China from the reign of the Qing Shunzhi Emperor (r. 1643–1661) until the time of the Kangxi Emperor, (r. 1661–1722), whence it became popular throughout Qing China. Rendered literally in English as "riding jacket", the magua had its origins as a simple tabard-like item of clothing intended to protect the changshan during riding and normal everyday activities. However, with time the magua itself...

Read on Wikipedia · Image Photographer: Graves, Roy D. (Roy Daniel), 1889-1971, Public domain