---
node: garment_daopao
type: garment
slug: daopao
title: "Daopao"
lead: "The daopao is a cross-collared Ming robe with wide sleeves and an inner panel that closes the side vents, worn by scholars and gentlemen as informal dress. Despite the name, which means Daoist robe, it was ordinary clothing rather than clerical vestment."
published: 2026-08-18
updated: 2026-08-18
image_file: daopao.jpg
image_source: "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Daopao_%28Ming_dynasty_style%29.jpg"
image_author: "LHD — a Ming-style daopao, modern reconstruction, on a stand"
image_license: "CC BY-SA 4.0"
---

## Overview

It crosses right over left at the chest, ties at the right side, and falls straight to the ankle with wide open sleeves. Its defining feature is hidden: an internal panel called the neibai is sewn behind each side vent, so that walking never shows the trousers underneath. It was made in plain silk or cotton, most often in white, blue or dark grey, and carried no rank insignia because it was not court dress.

## How it is worn

It goes over an inner robe and trousers, tied at the side and belted with a soft sash if at all, and is worn with a scholar's cap and cloth shoes. The sleeves are the etiquette: wide, long enough to cover the hands, and used to hold or conceal what the hands are doing. It reads as the dress of someone who does not have to work in his clothes, which is exactly the message a Ming literatus wanted to send.

## History

The daopao takes its Ming form in the mid-dynasty and becomes the standard informal wear of the scholar class, worn to study, visit and drink in. The Qing conquest banned Han male dress and it disappeared from ordinary life, surviving in Daoist and theatrical use — which is how the name outlived the garment's actual wearers. Hanfu revivalists brought it back in the 2000s, and it is now one of the most commonly made men's styles.