Dudou
A dudou (; also known by other names) is a traditional Chinese article of clothing that covers the front of the torso, originally worn as an undershirt with medicinal properties. With the opening of China, it is sometimes encountered in Western and modern Chinese fashion as a sleeveless shirt and backless halter-top blouse. Name In Ancient Chinese, referred to a kind of helmet or hood. By the time of the development of the dudou, it had taken on extended senses of encasing or enwrapping something as in a hood, scarf, or loose parcel. Dùdōu may thus be understood as Chinese for "belly wrap" or "cover", referring to its early use to flatten the breasts and, within traditional Chinese medicine, to preserve stomach qi. Using the same characters, it is also known as a doudu or doudou. The latter form is diminutive and is particularly used for the dudous worn by Chinese children. Its various Chinese names are typically left untranslated in English. In Chinese sources, the dudou is sometimes mistranslated as a "bellyband", which more commonly refers to a variety of other devices including a horse's harness and a compression garment used by expectant mothers. The oddity arises from the