On Yuan Chwang's Travels in India, 629–645 A.D. v1.c5.73

v1.c5.73

Then as to the phrase "rend their garments", the words lie-ch'ang (裂裳) would seem to be susceptible of no other interpretation, and the pilgrim tells us afterwards that the people of India "rent their garments and tore out their hair" as expressions of mourning. The rending of the garments, however, was not a custom common to the tribes between India and China, and it could not have been practised by them generally on account of the material which was in general use for their clothing. Some native scholars explain the words lie-ch'ang here as meaning "they wear clothes without folds and seams", that is, their garments are strips or single pieces. Something like this was the style of the outer articles of a Chinaman's dress in the T'ang period and it was probably adopted by some of the foreign tribes to which Chinese influence reached. We still see survivals of it on the streets in Korea.