Young Chinese people, both at home and abroad, are embracing Hanfu, traditional Chinese clothing, as a way to reconnect with their cultural roots. Thanks to TV dramas, the trend has skyrocketed over the past decade. In Shandong's Caoxian County, a hub for Hanfu manufacturing, entrepreneurs are shifting their focus from general costume design to meet the growing demand. Reporter Jen Copestake traces the craze from London to Caoxian, showcasing how this cultural revival is gaining momentum across borders. 

JEN COPESTAKE London "I'm about to meet a group of Hanfu enthusiasts here in central London, who have a workshop really close to Big Ben, and I'm going to get to try the trend for myself."

Jen: "Hi nice to see you! I'm Jen."

Shi: "I'm Shi!"

Jen: "Nice to meet you."

This Hanfu studio offers people the opportunity to try on Hanfu from different eras and have authentic hair and makeup done for photo shoots.

Jen: "You have these different greetings. Is it to do with the costumes as well?"

Shi Jao: "Mine is from Song Dynasty, about 1,000 years ago."

Shi: "So put your left-hand over right hand."

Lijun Zhang: "From Qin dynasty. Like this."

Haojiangshan Huang: "My one (Mine?) is from Ming Dynasty, it's about 600 years ago, it's like this."

They've chosen to dress me from the Ming dynasty as well.

These are all recommended for you.

Jen: "I think I will go with this beautiful green."

The hair and makeup takes around two hours to perfect.

Jen: "And so the lips are quite small?"

Makeup artist Lijun: "When you smile you cannot show your teeth."

Jen: "And with the red color, what kind of material would the lipstick be made out of?"

Hair artist Haojiangshan: "They have like lipstick paper. The paper is red and when you press your lip."

Jen: "It makes it red."

The Hanfu revival has generated great interest from Chinese young people online, both inside and outside the country.

I've come to Shandong Province over 600 kilometres from Beijing.

JEN COPESTAKE Caoxian "Caoxian County is known as the Hanfu industry capital of China, making 50 percent of all Hanfu garments sold nationwide."

And one of the main hubs is Daiji town, it's also known as a Tao Bao town, because of the volume of online orders shipped from here.

There are over 14,000 online stores selling Hanfu here as well as 2,000 businesses at every link in the supply chain.

12 billion yuan worth of Hanfu was sold in this region in the last year alone, and the numbers are growing.

LIU XIA Deputy director, Caoxian's e-commerce service center "It led to a 'Caoxian Model' where one store inspired a household, a household inspired a street, a street inspired a village, a village inspired a town, and a town inspired the entire county. It grew from a small spark to a prairie fire."

Yao Chixing runs a large e-commerce business called Luo Ruyan, and is passionate about promoting traditional Chinese culture.

Her e-commerce showroom includes dozens of live-streaming rooms, where people can purchase thousands of designs 24 hours a day.

The most popular item for sale is the horse-face skirt, which was first seen in the Song Dynasty.

YAO CHIXING General Manager, Luo Ruyan "It is made in the workshop behind us. Our designers first draw the patterns on the computer, and then the fabric is woven with these patterns. After the fabric is woven, it is then processed and pleated. The skirt can be machine-washed. The finished product looks like a pleated skirt."

Incorporating these beautiful clothes into daily fashion is one of the aims of promoting the horse face skirt.

Back in London, my fully traditional transformation is nearly complete.

Jen: "Do you think there are any lessons for today, for young people for embracing this kind of tradition?"

Makeup artist Lijun: "I think we shouldn't forget what we are. We need to be proud of our own culture."

Jen Copestake, CGTN, London and Caoxian.