Qifengtang 旗风堂
A qipao boutique and culture center in Hayward, California, and home of the Overseas Qipao Culture Museum.
We bring tradition and modern life together through handmade qipao, Chinese wedding couture, jewelry, and a calendar of exhibitions, workshops and community events.
Founder & Curator
Sunny Shen 沈籽苏
Founder of Qifengtang, curator of the Overseas Qipao Culture Museum, international ambassador for Chinese qipao culture, and founder of the San Francisco International Qipao Culture Month.
Sunny wears qipao 365 days a year. She has carried qipao culture around the world, and is admired at home and abroad for her classic elegance and deep artistic expression.
Judging & publications
- Judge, 2015 Finding Chinese Beauty grand finals
- Judge, 2017 Miss World Fashion Tourism grand finals
- Featured in Qing Yun Bi Yue 《轻云蔽月》 (2017), China’s first book series on the qipao, published by People’s Daily
- Judge, 2018 Global Figure-in-Painting Recitation & Elegance Competition world finals
- Judge, 2019 New Zealand Chinese Attire Competition finals
Honors
- Top Ten Leading Figures in Chinese Qipao (2016)
- Gold Award for Chinese Qipao Culture Promotion
- Special Contribution Award for Chinese Qipao (2017)
- Special Contribution Award for Chinese Qipao Culture (2017–2018)
- Named Ambassador of Chinese Qipao Culture (2019)
In the community
Sunny has recorded cultural interviews for Sing Tao Radio, Chinese-language radio in the U.S. and AM1400. Qifengtang’s “Walking Chinese Beauty in San Francisco” public lectures on traditional dress are held several times a year.
Our journey · 旗风十年
From a love of qipao to a home for qipao culture
Qifengtang began with one woman’s devotion to the qipao. Sunny Shen, a first-generation immigrant who wears qipao every day of the year, founded Qifengtang to share the beauty of Chinese dress with her new home in the San Francisco Bay Area.
The name tells our purpose. Qi 旗 is the qipao, and it is also a flag: the belief that traditional Chinese dress can fly proudly anywhere in the world. Feng 风 is the wind that carries it.
What started as gatherings of qipao lovers has grown into a boutique, a dance and posture studio, a heritage craft workshop, an annual festival and, since 2026, a museum. Through it all, our aim has stayed the same: to help people of every background see, wear and understand the qipao.
2016
The first San Francisco Qipao Culture Month. More than 400 Bay Area women take part in the San Francisco volume of the Global Chinese Qipao Impressions scroll, a 40-meter portrait of women in qipao.
2017
At the second Culture Month, co-hosted with the City of San Francisco at City Hall, Mayor Ed Lee proclaims April 14 San Francisco’s Chinese Qipao Day. In Beijing, Sunny receives the Special Contribution Award for Chinese Qipao.
2019
The fourth Culture Month marks 40 years of U.S.–China diplomatic relations with a hand-painted commemorative qipao, with brushstrokes added by Mayor London Breed and other guests.
2021
Qifengtang’s qipao model, dance and posture classes bring women of all ages to the stage, from the Culture Month runway to annual showcases.
2025
The tenth Culture Month comes to the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco. That summer, our heritage workshops bring sachet-making, chanhua hairpins and Song brocade to Bay Area families and young people.
2026
The Qifengtang Eastern Aesthetics Space opens at the Silicon Valley Asian Culture Center. On May 16, the Overseas Qipao Culture Museum opens, home to Republic-era qipao and family heirlooms entrusted to us by overseas Chinese elders.
“Qipao is more than a garment. It is an expression of cultural confidence.”
旗袍不仅是一件衣裳，更是一种文化自信的表达