A female diplomat from the Mission of the People's Republic of China to the European Union is wearing a qipao at the opening ceremony of the exhibition on April 26. [photo/CYOL.com]

Zhang said: “It is a bidirectional process for the world to understand China. I hope our European friends can know more about China’s conditions and people through the qipao exhibition to better understand new development in China, making contributions to communication and cooperation between China and Europe.”

Gao Chunming, representative of the sponsor of this exhibition and president of the Shanghai Intangible Cultural Heritage Conservation Association, introduced that Shanghai was a city possessing memories of the vicissitudes of time and a modern air. The qipao prospering in such a city reflected the collision and fusion of the fashion of the East with influences from the West.

“As an important project of the 2018 China-EU tourism year, the exhibition will surely deepen the cultural exchanges between China and Europe,” said Tan Shu, director of the China Cultural Center in Brussels.

Some of the qipao in the exhibition are from Shanghai collectors, and some from qipao production enterprises, aiming to help European visitors fully understand the history of the qipao and appreciate its charm.