Hanfu as invented tradition: presenting cultural identity among overseas Chinese—a case of Hanfu performance in Berlin

This paper examines how Hanfu functions as an invented tradition through which Chinese diasporic communities negotiate cultural identity in transnational contexts. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork conducted with the Chen Yin Hanfu Society during the 2024 Carnival of Cultures in Berlin, the study illustrates how Hanfu—once ruptured from historical continuity—is reassembled as a symbolic medium that bridges tradition and modernity. Engaging Hobsbawm’s theory of invented traditions and Hall’s conception of cultural identity, the paper argues that Hanfu is not merely aesthetic revivalism but a performative strategy that reclaims visibility, counters cultural misrecognition, and rearticulates Chinese national and gender identities abroad. Through ritualized practices and embodied displays such as the “12 Flower Goddesses” performance, the paper shows how participants draw on mediated cultural memory to construct a romanticized yet meaningful vision of tradition. These performances also reconfigure gendered embodiment by articulating an alternative femininity that is both culturally rooted and agentive. The findings suggest that Hanfu practices operate as culturally legible yet politically subtle forms of expression, resonating with “soft nationalism” in diasporic settings, and highlight how tradition is actively reconstructed rather than passively inherited.