---
node: garment_banbi
type: garment
slug: banbi
title: "Banbi"
lead: "The banbi is a short jacket with sleeves ending at the elbow, worn over the long-sleeved ruqun by Tang women. Its name says exactly what it is: half-arm."
published: 2026-08-17
updated: 2026-08-17
image_file: banbi.jpg
image_source: "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Banbiruqun.jpg"
image_author: "Tomb of Princess Yongtai, Qianxian, Shaanxi — court women in banbi over ruqun"
image_license: "Public domain"
---

## Overview

It sits between the under-jacket and the outer wrap, adding a second colour at the shoulders without a second full sleeve. Tang tomb figurines and the painted ladies of Astana and Dunhuang wear it constantly, most often in a fabric that contrasts with the skirt — a patterned weave over a plain one, or a woven band at the hem where the half-sleeve ends. Because it is short it does not interfere with the high-tied skirt, which is the defining line of Tang women's dress, and because it is open or lightly tied at the front it can be worn over almost anything.

## How it is worn

It goes on over the head or across the front, depending on the cut, and is either left open or closed with a tie at the chest, above the skirt band. The sleeve ends at or just above the elbow and is not gathered, so the long sleeve of the garment underneath shows below it. Worn with the skirt tied above the bust and a pibo stole over the arms, it makes the layered shoulder line the period is known for. Men's and servants' versions exist in plainer cloth, cut for work rather than for the display of a second fabric.

## History

The form is attested from the Sui and becomes common in the Tang, where it appears in every medium that shows women. It travelled with Tang dress: closely related half-sleeved jackets are worn in Nara Japan and in Unified Silla, both of which took the Tang court wardrobe as a model. In China it faded as Song dress narrowed and lengthened, leaving the half-sleeve to the theatre and to revival costume.