Chinese dynasties women's attire and ornaments

Author: Zhou Xun
Publisher:
Publish Date: 1997-10-01
Features: This book is another masterpiece by the author following his highly acclaimed Costumes of Ancient China. It was a collaborative effort by the two compilers who spent over a decade researching, examining over a thousand ancient texts, and collecting tens of thousands of artifact images from museums, grottoes, ancient tombs, and historical sites across more than 60 cities in over 20 provinces and municipalities in China. The book blends academic rigor, knowledge, artistry, and practicality, setting a new standard for publications of this kind. China, an ancient civilization with a long history, is also the cradle of human civilization. Known as the "Kingdom of Dress," China has a long history of auspicious development. Over thousands of years, the Chinese people have used their ingenuity to create countless types of clothing and headgear suited to the national conditions and reflecting ethnic characteristics, adding brilliant splendor to the cultural heritage of the Chinese nation. Ancient Chinese women's adornments, influenced by specific social systems, production methods, moral concepts, national spirit, and customs, displayed unique styles. Among them, women's adornments were more distinctive than men's, better reflecting the pulse of the times, and thus more captivating. This book covers women's adornments from the Paleolithic Age to the Qing Dynasty. The depictions of figures are based on paintings by masters of past dynasties, supplemented by murals, terracotta figures, clay sculptures, wood carvings, and stone carvings from various periods. The women's clothing is drawn from unearthed artifacts to comprehensively reflect the styles of women's adornments in major historical periods since the Han Dynasty. This book helps readers vividly understand the life styles of women in different periods of ancient China, recognize the fine traditions of Chinese culture, and also provides valuable references for historical research, ancient text compilation, artifact appraisal, literary creation, and arts and crafts.
Prehistoric women generally did not know how to tie their hair up, most kept their hair long and uncut, draped over their shoulders. Later, as they found draped hair inconvenient, they began to braid their hair. Draped hair, also known as "bearded hair," was one of the oldest hairstyles among ancient peoples, particularly common in the northwest region. Even after entering civilized society, many women in the northwest still retained this style. Legend has it that during the reign of Qin Li Gong, a Qiang tribal leader named Ai Si fell in love with a girl who had her nose cut off and married her. The girl, ashamed of her appearance, covered her face with her hair. The Qiang people imitated her, and over time, it became a custom. In recent years, archaeologists have unearthed numerous prehistoric artifacts in areas where the ancient Qiang people lived, such as Gansu and Qinghai, many of which depict figures with draped hair. For example, a painted pottery jar with a human head-shaped mouth unearthed from the Dadiwan site in Qin'an, Gansu, features a human head at the mouth, with exceptionally detailed facial features and hairstyle: deep-set eyes, prominent nostrils, and a row of neatly trimmed short hair hanging in front of the forehead, while the rest of the hair falls naturally downward, forming a draped style. This is the earliest known painted pottery with a human figure in China, dating back approximately 5,000 years and belonging to the Miaodigou period of the Yangshao culture. From the images, it can be seen that people of this period were accustomed to draped hair but did not cover their faces with it. However, later artifacts, such as fragments of painted pottery bowls with human face patterns unearthed from Dongxiang, Gansu, reveal the custom of covering the face with draped hair. Additionally, in areas like Ledu, Qinghai, and Yongchang, Gansu, painted pottery vessels from the Ma Chang period of the Majiacheng culture depict figures with draped hair, and all have clear black lines drawn on their cheeks, symbolizing hanging hair. More typical is a painted pottery pot unearthed from Liuwang, Qinghai, depicting a completely naked woman with draped hair and dark lines on her face, as if covered with sparse hair. This indicates that the custom of draped hair covering the face was indeed popular among women in this region and, in terms of timing, predates the legend of the woman with a cut nose.
Besides the Qiang women, the Yue and Yue peoples in the south and the Xiongnu in the north also practiced draped hair. The Sayings of Han Feizi records the "Yue people with draped hair," and the Book of the Southern Dynasties mentions that the Turks "were bearded and wore their hair to the left, like the ancient Xiongnu." In Western Han bronze artifacts unearthed in Yunnan, images of draped hair among the Yunnan women can still be seen. However, the style of draped hair during this period was no longer as simple as in prehistoric times but had been neatly arranged, tied in the front and back with ribbons, and then draped behind. The disheveled, bearded hair of the primitive society had largely disappeared by this time. The further development of draped hair was braided hair. The earliest historical records of braided hair are a painted pottery bowl from the primitive society. The painting depicts three groups of five people each, standing in a row and dancing in a celebratory manner. Due to the abstract flat-painted style, the faces, expressions, and details of the clothing of the figures cannot be clearly seen, but each person has a root of hair