We've been misled by the extravagant costumes of Chinese dramas whether Taiwan,  HK or mainland productions, where even the beggars are fat n wear clean new clothes.

Let's look at some real photos of commoners in those days.  Of course where the photos are posed the people dressed up for the photos as it's not as easy as today to hv photos taken. And such photos are of relatively well off commoners.







Poor folks



Mixed

[/YOUTUBE]https://youtu.be/sWon8MPCNMk[YOUTUBE]