Chinese dynasties clothing and dress system

Author: Chen Maotong
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-09-01
Features: Over 5,000 years, the Chinese people have relied on their wisdom and exquisite craftsmanship to create a rich and profound clothing culture. This book systematically introduces the clothing and dress customs of China from ancient times up to the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom period, including the development of the textile industry in each dynasty, as well as the names, styles, and systems of clothing and accessories. Clothing and accessories are an extremely important aspect of human history, evolving in tandem with production levels, economic foundations, material civilization, social customs, and aesthetic concepts. Therefore, studying the history of human clothing and accessories can help us understand various aspects of ancient society and enrich our historical knowledge. These records provide important historical materials and evidence for researching the evolution of ancient Chinese clothing and accessory systems. Although specialized historical accounts are very detailed, when compared with unearthed stone carvings and murals, there are still many discrepancies. The reasons for this are generally two: First, the documented clothing and accessory systems in historical records mostly refer to the attire used in rituals by the ruling class, such as court gatherings, banquets, sacrifices to heaven, and offerings to the earth, while stone carvings and murals primarily depict daily life and the labor of slaves. Second, when later dynasties recorded the history of earlier dynasties, there were often several centuries between the time periods, with wars and conflicts leading to scattered records that were difficult to gather comprehensively. Additionally, since archaeological findings from tombs were not yet available, the understanding of certain clothing items may have relied on imagination or speculation, making it challenging to be accurate. For example, according to historical records, the Liang crown in the Han Dynasty was closely related to rank, and logically speaking, imperial crowns should have nine ridges. However, based on the visual materials from Han Dynasty stone carvings and murals, they generally had only one to three ridges. Furthermore, the Ou Fu Zhi records that the Fuzhong (a type of flat cap) was introduced by Wang Mang of the Western Han Dynasty because he was bald. However, analysis of Shang Dynasty jade carvings reveals that head wraps were already in use as early as the Shang and Zhou periods, over a thousand years earlier. Numerous unearthed artifacts have corrected inaccuracies in historical records. Therefore, when describing the specific forms of clothing and accessories in each dynasty, we refer as much as possible to unearthed artifacts and visual materials. If discrepancies exist between artifacts, images, and historical records, we either present both sides and indicate the differences or focus on the artifacts with brief explanations. The illustrations in this book not only enhance our intuitive understanding but are sometimes also used as evidence to judge the accuracy of historical accounts. Clothing and accessories have different systems in ancient and modern times, with two major distinctions: First, ancient clothing consisted of an upper garment and a lower skirt, while modern clothing refers to them collectively as "clothing and skirt," with the name "skirt" falling into disuse. Second, ancient clothing (especially that of the upper class) was extremely loose and wide, with only military uniforms being more narrow and fitted. Today, apart from monk's and Taoist robes that still retain ancient styles, most clothing is tight and form-fitting, emphasizing lines and aesthetics. Thus, while ancient and modern clothing items may share the same names, their forms and styles are vastly different. For example, robes, shirts, skirts, pants, as well as shoes, socks, crowns, and hats, are all familiar and commonly used items in daily life, but their ancient forms differ significantly from their modern counterparts. Therefore, it is necessary to trace their origins and describe their evolution. In this book, for clothing names used in both ancient and modern times, we provide detailed descriptions in the dynasties where they were created or clarify their evolutionary relationships to give readers a more comprehensive understanding. Ancient people's decorative items were diverse and peculiar, including head ornaments, neck ornaments, hand ornaments, clothing accessories, and facial decorations like rouge and powder. There were numerous names, categories, and forms, but we only introduce the more important ones—those that represent the characteristics of a dynasty, were used across multiple dynasties without change, are familiar and widely used in both ancient and modern times, or are frequently mentioned in poetry, prose, and other literary works. Others cannot be covered in detail. The reforms of clothing and accessory systems in each dynasty and the updates in clothing items are closely related to the development of silk and cotton production and the improvement of weaving and dyeing techniques. Each chapter of this book dedicates some space to describing how the rulers of each dynasty valued, promoted, and encouraged silk and cotton production, serving as material evidence for the reform and renewal of clothing and accessory systems. The content of this book, in addition to using historical records from the history section, artifacts unearthed from the ground, and records from various dynasties, also references and incorporates some research findings and materials from contemporary scholars. Special thanks are given for this.