Paofu (Chinese: 袍服; pinyin: páofú; lit. 'robe'), also known as páo (袍; 'robe') for short, is a form of a long, one-piece robe in Hanfu, which is characterized by the natural integration of the upper and lower part of the robe which is cut from a single fabric. The term is often used to refer to the jiaolingpao and the yuanlingpao. The jiaolingpao was worn since the Zhou dynasty and became prominent in the Han dynasty. The jiaolingpao was a unisex, one-piece robe; while it was worn mainly by men, women could also wear it. It initially looked similar to the ancient shenyi; however, these two robes are structurally different from each other. With time, the ancient shenyi disappeared while the paofu evolved gaining different features in each succeeding dynasties; the paofu continues to be worn even in present day. The term paofu refers to the "long robe" worn by ancient Chinese, and can include several form of Chinese robes of various origins and cuts, including Changshan, Qipao, Shenyi, Tieli, Zhisun, Yesa.

The term paofu (袍服) is composed of the Chinese characters pao (袍), which literally means "robe", and fu (服) which literally means "clothing". The character pao (袍) is the same character which is used as an abbreviated synonym of paofu.

The Chinese character 袍 can be found in ancient texts dating prior to the Qin and Han dynasties, such as in the Lun Yu (論語). According to the Guangyun, the character 袍 can also refer to the chángrú (长襦; 長襦; 'long jacket'). The term changru which appear in the ancient texts has been described as the precursor of the chang ao by scholars.

There are different types of paofu, which can be referred by different names and terms based on its style, cut, length, and specific features.

The term changpao is a generic term which refers to robes which are long in length and can include different forms of long robes, such as the ancient shenyi, the yuanlingpao.

There are also specific terms which is used to described pao with or without lining or padding: for example, jiapao and mianpao, yunpao (縕袍; 'hemp robe') which is robe quilted with hemp.

There are specific types of paofu, which can be named based on their specific cut, construction, accessories, and wearing styles, are the:

The paofu and the shenyi are both one-piece robes as an result. However, the difference between those two is the cut and construction of the garment.