Chinese women, long oppressed in feudal China, were freer to express their minds and took part in social activities after the Xinhai Revolution led by Sun Yat-sen (孙中山, Sūn Zhōngshān, 孙逸仙, Sūn Yìxiān, 1866-1925) in 1911.

The change of women's social status was reflected mostly by their costumes. Cheongsam (Qipao), a kind of a body-hugging one-piece Chinese silk dress for women, was a new fashion in the 1920s. It was a modernized version of the qipao of the Manchurians who conquered China in the 17th century (Qing Dynasty), integrating Chinese traditional style and the western fashion in the early Republic Period. Cheongsam became more form fitting and revealing to highlight women's figures The Shanghai female students were the pioneering group wearing Qipao. It became the kind of daily wear of many Chinese women after late 1920s. Young women of the high society also had their hair permed, wore makeup, applied lipsticks and wore high heels, bringing about a sense of modernity.