Illustrated Guide to Ancient Chinese Human Body Decoration

Author: Zheng Jie
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-05-01
Features: This book covers a wide time span, from prehistoric times to the Ming and Qing dynasties, and explores and studies ancient Chinese body adornments in various categories, including head ornaments, facial ornaments, limb ornaments, tattooing and body painting, and accessories. To compile this book, I reviewed a large number of artifacts and archaeological books, drew, copied, and photographed historical decorative items unearthed from past archaeological excavations, as well as decorative elements from historical sculptures and paintings. I also extensively collected ancient literature related to body adornments, including historical records, local gazettes, treatises on etiquette, travelogues, poems, songs, notes, anecdotes, encyclopedias, dictionaries, diaries, letters, novels, legends, dramas, and songs, as well as domestic and international ethnological and folkloric materials, and so on. This book has several distinctive features: , it primarily features vivid illustrations accompanied by concise textual explanations, allowing for both text-to-image and image-to-text interpretation. Second, it not only includes abundant historical and archaeological materials but also incorporates numerous ethnological resources, combining the study of "fossilized" and "living fossils." Third, it is organized by topic while maintaining a historical sequence, giving readers a strong sense of history and vivid imagery. Illustrated History of Ancient Chinese Body Adornments is the result of systematic investigation and research on ancient Chinese body adornments, head ornaments, facial ornaments, limb ornaments, tattooing and body painting, and accessories by Ms. Zheng Jie, the disciple of Mr. Shen Congwen, the pioneer of Chinese fashion, based on her over two decades of research. The book is accompanied by numerous illustrations, beautifully produced, printed in full color on pure-quality paper, and easy to understand.