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How the Trickle-Down Theory Works in China Essay

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How the trickle-down theory works in China
The Trickle-down theory, a well-known theory in fashion industry, has significant meaning in 19th to 20th century Europe. The American economist and sociologist, Veblen, published The theory of the Leisure Class by 1899, in which he discussed the split between the leisure class and the industrial class in the US critically. He concluded that leisure class treats dress as a sign of their status and possessions, furthermore, ‘Dress must not only be conspicuously expensive and inconvenient; it must at the same time be up to date’(Veblen 1994), by saying that, he refers to upper class was tend to create new fashion trend which was the top of the trickle-down theory. In the 20th century, Simmel, the …show more content…

However people have little idea about how fashion trends flow in both ancient and contemporary Chinese society, which is an essential issue no matter when people want to explore Chinese fashion history, or promote brands and run their business in China in the future. Actually, in the Han dynasty (206BC-220AD), the trickle-down theory worked in the Chinese Royal Palace. At that time, it is said that all the maid-in-waitings in imperial palaces stimulated the Empress Xiaocheng, Feiyan Zhao (32BC-1BC), wearing fairy retaining skirts (Barbara 2000). And according to Lang huan ji which was a classic novel written by Shizhen Yi, a scholar in the Yuan dynasty (1206-1368), in the Tang dynasty (618AD-907AD), young girls loved to manipulate imperial Concubine’s and Princess’s makeup and hair styles, which indicated that fashion flows from the upper class, such as royal family, to general people. But inevitably, the study had its own limitation, sometimes, things in China influenced by several specific factors, such as traditional Asian culture and social classes, in addition to that, the situation of contemporary China is more complicated which was because of ideology, social structures and fashion industry of China are so different from European countries. This essay will discuss that how the trickle-down theory works in China, what hinders the theory’s utilization and what situation these sociological and cultural factors cause.
First of all, the

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