Qungua
Qungua (， "kwan4 gwaa3" in Cantonese jyutping), also known as or longfeng gua (), or longfeng qungua (), or guaqun (, "gwaa3 kwan4" in Cantonese jyutping), is one type of two-piece ceremonial traditional Chinese wedding set of attire which is composed of a jacket called "gua" (褂) and of a long skirt called "qun" (裙). The "qungua" is a type of Hanfu worn by Han Chinese brides; it is also the traditional wedding attire of Cantonese brides in the Guangdong regions. Nowadays, the "qungua" is still popular as a wedding dress in China, including in Hong kong and Macau. Tradition. Back in  Ming dynasty, the women wedding dress worn by nobles and commoners was known as "fengguan xiapei" (). The wedding dress worn in Ming dynasty continued to influence the wedding dress of the later centuries. What is known as "qungua" started to be worn in the 18th century during the Qing dynasty. The "qungua" originated in Guangdong when "Liang Zhu," a Guangdong Qing dynasty politician, was rewarded with a silk wedding dress embroidered with dragons and phoenixes by the Qing Emperor at the time of his daughter's wedding. This led to the use "qungua" in the Guangdong area. In 18th century , Chinese mothers would start to sew the qungua as soon as a daughter was born in the family. The "qungua" would then be placed as a part of the daughter's bride dowry when she gets married. The qungua follows the ancient traditional system of shangyi xiashang (; upper and lower garment). Construction and Design. The qungua is composed of: Colour. While Western wedding dress tends to be white in colour, Chinese traditional wedding clothing favours the use of red and gold colour. The jacket "gua" was originally black in colour while the skirt was originally red in colour. The gua  which is completely red in colour only appeared in the 1960s. Since then the traditional black "gua" and red "qun" started to be used for the bride's mother instead of being worn by the brides themselves. Embroidery. The qungua is typically embroidered with "long ("龙, 龍) dragons and phoenix "feng" (凤,鳳). It can also be decorated with other auspicious symbols, such as pomegranate (symbolism for fertility), peony flowers, lotus flowers, bats, goldfish, butterfly and birds. Nowadays, there are 5 different types of qungua which is named accordingly to the percentage of embroidery covering the dress: Differences with other  garments. Chinese garments. Fengguan xiapei. The "fengguan xiapei" () is another type of Traditional Han Chinese wedding set of attire which was worn in Ming and Qing dynasties. The attire is composed of a red "mangao" (: a type of Ming dynasty-style round-collar robe decorated with dragons, which was worn by Han Chinese women as a court robe), a xiapei (; a type of long scarf in Ming and a type of stole in Qing), a "mang chu" (; a skirt which can be red or green and is embroidered with dragons and phoenixes on the front and back skirt lapels), and  a phoenix coronet. The Wedding attire is sometimes decorated with Chinese cloud collar. Following the wedding, married women were expected to wear the "fengguan xiapei" on formal occasions, however, trousers or leggings were worn beneath instead of the skirt. Xiu he fu. The "qungua" is distinct from another Chinese wedding set of attire called xiu he fu (). The "xiu he fu" also originated in the Qing dynasty and was worn as another type of Qing dynasty wedding dress; it was a type of "aoqun" which was worn as a wedding dress. The Qing dynasty wedding "aoqun" became popular in 2001  when the actress "Xiu He" wore a modern recreation version of it in the Chinese TV series and thus gained its contemporary name. The "xiu he fu" has a overlapping jacket which closes to the right side (instead of the "qungua" central closing jacket) which is worn with an A-line skirt ("qun)" which looks similar to a mamianqun instead of a straight cut skirt. The "xiu he fu" is typically embroidered with flowers and birds to symbolize love for whole seasons. Cheongsam. The "qungua" is different from the cheongsam which can also be worn as a Traditional Chinese wedding  dress. The "qungua" is a two-piece garment composed of jacket and skirts while the modern cheongsam is currently a one-piece robe. Prior to the 1930s and the 1940s, the cheongsam was also a two-piece set of garment which was composed of a long robe and was worn with a pair of trousers. Non-Chinese garments. Betawi Bridal dress. The Betawi bridal dress, partly influenced by Chinese culture and by Indonesian culture, looks similar to the Chinese "qungua". Like the "qungua", the Betawi bridal dress is a two-piece set of attire which composed of an ankle-length  with wider bottom skirt called "kun" and an upper garment called "tuaki". The "tuaki" is decorated with Chinese auspicious symbols. One difference from the "qungua" is the use of "Betawi Lotus", also known as "Betawi pomegranate", a separate ornamental garment which covers the chest and shoulder areas (similar to the Chinese cloud collar). The "Betawi" "lotus" was used to denote the origins of the Betawi bride, but it was eventually replaced by beads which typically follows the Spanish cherry floral pattern. The kun and tuaki must match in colour.