The period from 220 AD to 589 AD was the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties periods in my country. The Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties were an era of both destruction and establishment in the history of Hanfu. In the early Wei Dynasty, Emperor Wen Cao Pi formulated the "Nine Ranks of Zhongzheng" official position system, "purple, green and purple are the three colors of the nine ranks", and the official position was customized in terms of color, making it clear at a glance. This system was followed through the generations until the Yuan and Ming Dynasties. At the same time, during the Wei and Jin Dynasties, the strict hierarchical crown and uniform system of the Han Dynasty was broken. All civilians, including civil and military officials, wore scarves to tie their hair, replacing the previous restrained crowns and hats. For a time, various kinds of headscarves appeared in a dazzling variety.
During the Southern and Northern Dynasties, northern ethnic minorities took over the Central Plains. Emperor Xiaowen of the Northern Wei Dynasty comprehensively pushed forward the Sinicization reform, from etiquette, language to clothing. At the same time, the short clothes of the northern ethnic groups gradually replaced the previous ones. The dark-colored robes have become the mainstream clothing among the people. At the end of the Northern Dynasties, the futou, which was born out of the Xianbei hat, first took shape and created a unique first-class logo for men's clothing in my country. It has been popular for more than a thousand years since then.
The following content is selected from "Hanfu Tibetan Beauty Record" and has been abridged and modified from the original text. The illustrations used in the article are from this book. Published with permission from the publisher.
"Hidden Beauty of Hanfu", written by He Jidan and Sun Hong, Huacheng Publishing House, December 2022 edition.
Fashion symbols of the Wei and Jin Dynasties
The seven sages in the picture are naked. The clothes are wide and have wide sleeves, and they are as elegant as gods. Brick carvings of the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove (part), unearthed from the Southern Dynasties Tomb in Xishanqiao, Nanjing in 1960, nowHidden in Nanjing Museum (Illustrations from the "Hanfu Hidden Beauty Record").
In the traditional society of ancient China, scholars were always the elite class that led the fashion. The literati of the Wei and Jin Dynasties during the war were even more responsible. They vented their dissatisfaction with the times in a violent way. They took poison, wore togas, roared in the mountains and forests, and relieved their depression... Under the guidance of their exaggerated costumes, in the past, The strict etiquette system of crown uniforms is no longer popular, and the formal suit form is gradually replaced by "favorable clothes and belts". The free-spirited wide shirt with big sleeves became the fashion symbol of the Wei and Jin Dynasties. The deep clothing system from the Pre-Qin Dynasty to the Han Dynasty has basically disappeared since then.
This work depicts the seven bohemian scholars Ruan Ji, Ji Kang, Shan Tao, Xiang Xiu, Wang Rong, Liu Ling and Ruan Xian who were famous among the people at that time. Wearing long robes with sleeves and bare feet, with loose hair and bare feet, drinking and singing under the bamboo forest, a scene of indulgence.
According to legend, during the Wei and Jin Dynasties, a kind of medicine - "Wu Shi San" was popular among the nobles and scholars. This medicine is dry in nature, and the person who takes it will feel hot all over the body, have a peach-like face, and strong physical strength. It will make people feel intoxicated and intoxicated for a while, just like a drug. In order to distribute the medicinal properties, you must eat cold food, drink warm wine, take cold baths, and walk in loose clothes after taking it. If the medicinal properties cannot be dispersed, medicine must be used to deliver it. Therefore, "Wushi Powder" is also called "Hanshi Powder". At that time, many people who had taken this medicine for a long time died due to poisoning.
The Seven Sages of the Bamboo Forest are fans of "Five Stone Powder" and take it often. After taking the medicine, they wore loose robes, invited each other to drink wine, gathered in the mountains and forests, and behaved wildly. Because they were celebrities, this style became a footnote to the style of the Wei and Jin Dynasties. It can be seen that the wide robes and large sleeves that were popular among literati at that time, also known as Baoyi Bodai, were originally a practical clothing produced to eliminate the "Five Stone San". However, due to the guidance of celebrities, they became fashionable and developed into a fashion. A symbol of the times.
The Cantonese embroidered skirt and "miscellaneous train hanging down" in "Luo Shen Fu Tu", Eastern Jin Dynasty silk painting, Song Dynasty copy, now in the Palace Museum, Beijing ("Hanfu Cangmeilu" interior illustration).
According to legend, Gu Kaizhi, a great painter of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, was so amazed after reading Cao Zhi's "Ode to the Goddess of the Luo River" that he drew this picture inspired by it, thus outlining all kinds of customs of that era for future generations.
The female figure in the picture is holding a small tail and wearing aWearing an underskirt with wide sleeves and fluttering belt, she looks graceful and looks like a fairy. The so-called wide-sleeved skirt has an apron outside the skirt, and the lower part of the apron is decorated with a triangular 裳 (same pronunciation as Xian) 饫, that is, a "mixed 饥褾". Clothes with this kind of decoration already appeared in the Han Dynasty, and they were called 袴衣. The bottom of the tunic has two sharp corners, wide at the top and narrow at the bottom, in the shape of a knife and a guide, which are called "裾". The robe is lined with Shang, which was the common clothing of ladies at that time. After the Southern Dynasties, this kind of decoration gradually disappeared. However, this kind of skirts decorated with elegant drapes were later deified as fairy costumes.
Cao Zhi in "Luo Shen Fu Tu" (internal illustration of "Hanfu Zangmei Lu").
The male protagonist in the picture is Cao Zhi. He wears a long-distance travel crown, a jacket and lower skirt to cover his knees. The male attendants beside him are holding canopies, wearing cage crowns, robes, gentry belts, and large hakama. The maids wore cage crowns and long-sleeved skirts, and one of them was carrying a seat.
Gu Kaizhi's other work "The Picture of Women's History" is an illustrated scroll based on the article "The Picture of Women's History" written by Zhang Hua, a famous official in the Western Jin Dynasty. It depicts the moral stories of court women in the Han Dynasty. The original painting consisted of twelve sections, of which nine are now available. During the Gengzi Campaign in 1900, the Eight-Power Allied Forces entered Beijing, and this picture was looted by the British army. Three of the scenes are captured below for appreciation.
The fourth scene in "The Pictures of Admonitions of Women's History": Dressing Picture, Eastern Jin Dynasty silk painting, Tang Dynasty copy, now in the British Museum (inner text illustration of "Hanfu Cangmeilu").
In the painting, a noble lady is sitting on the ground, wearing a long-sleeved gauze robe.Wearing three layers of clothes, with a shawl collar wrapped around his shoulders, he looked in the mirror. The maid behind her combing her hair is wearing an underskirt, her hair is combed in a low-crotch style, and she is walking like a tree, with a graceful posture. The mirror stand next to it and the lacquer box containing powder are both of Han Dynasty style.
The seventh scene in "The Picture of Women's Admonitions", a silk painting from the Eastern Jin Dynasty, a copy from the Tang Dynasty, now in the British Museum (illustration in "Hanfu Cangmeilu").
In the picture, there is a man and a woman. The man wears a handsome crown and a gauze straight-sleeved robe as thin as cicada wings, tied in front to cover his knees. The woman wears a wide-sleeved skirt with an apron. The "miscellaneous train" flows out from under the apron. She is covered with a gauze coat as thin as cicada wings. Her posture is graceful, just like the "three capitals" described in Zuo Si's "Sandu Fu" She has long sleeves and dances frequently, dancing gracefully to her descendants."
The ninth scene in "The Picture of Women's Proverbs", a silk painting from the Eastern Jin Dynasty, a copy from the Tang Dynasty, now in the British Museum (illustration in "Hanfu Cangmeilu").
In the picture, three women are walking with their heads in the shape of a tree, and their hair is styled in the Han Dynasty; they are wearing wide-sleeved skirts, waist belts, and drooping aprons.
Although Gu Kaizhi’s paintings are about characters from the Han Dynasty, the hairstyles and utensils are all Han Dynasty style, but the clothes are in the Eastern Jin Dynasty style. The sizes of both men’s and women’s clothing are much looser than those of the Han Dynasty, which proves that the style of the Wei and Jin Dynasties originated from the Han Dynasty. The perspective of the new era and new fashion evolved from the deep clothing system.
Women’s clothing style shifted to “frugality at the top and abundance at the bottom”
From the Han Dynasty to the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, women’s clothing became more sophisticated.The big change is the shift in style to "frugality at the top and abundance at the bottom". The Ru skirt suit that began in the Han Dynasty developed into the Jin Dynasty, becoming a short and close-fitting top and a wide skirt. Women's clothing mainly consists of tops and skirts, and is fashionable with slim and feminine figures. Based on the Qin and Han Dynasty customs of wearing long-sleeved clothes with deep trains, and combined with the cultural elements introduced from the north, a mixed-sewed train with long sleeves was developed. The long ribbon on the top is called "褳", and the swallowtail-shaped decoration fixed at the hem of the long skirt is called "髾". The main style features are a tight and narrow upper body, wide sleeves, multiple hems, and ribbons. The overall feeling is broad and elegant, like a fairy stepping on the clouds, indicating that people's concept at this time has changed from natural simplicity to luxurious carving. Although the flying robe is stunning, its popularity was short-lived. By the Tang Dynasty, no one wore it except for maiko.
Aristocratic women in the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, like men, wore high-rise Wat-head shoes and heavy platform shoes at their feet. The high-rise toes were decorated with patterns, which could collect the floor-length skirts and facilitate walking. , while showing an elegant and swaying gait. Emperor Wen of Liang Dynasty wrote a poem called "A Play for a Beauty", which vividly describes the fashion of this era: "The skirt should be thin and simple, and the skirt should be painted on the high wall."
"Biography of Women" (detail), Eastern Jin Dynasty silk painting, Southern Song Dynasty facsimile, now in the Palace Museum, Beijing (inner text illustration of "Hanfu Cangmeilu").
Another famous painting drawn by Gu Kaizhi based on "Biography of Women" compiled by Liu Xiang, a famous scholar in the Western Han Dynasty. The style is similar to "Pictures of Proverbs of Women". The original painting is divided into eight sections, with a total of 28 paintings. people.
The lady in the picture has her head bouncing and her steps swaying. She wears a large-sleeved shirt, a floor-length skirt, and a gentleman's belt around her waist. She is as graceful as a fairy. It is reminiscent of the poem "The Spring Poems of the Beauties of Fenghe and King Zhao" by Yu Xin, a famous poet of the Southern and Northern Dynasties, "The hairpins are shaking with steps, the beams are moving, the corners of the red wheels are tilted"...
Popular headwear in the Wei and Jin Dynasties and hairstyle
Horse head and deer antlers from the Northern Dynasty (Illustration from the "Hanfu Zangmeilu").
In ancient times, women’s jewelry moved with each step, and the base was called a mountain title. It is named because it looks like a mountain and is placed on the forehead. "Book of the Later Han·Yufu Zhixia" says: "Buyao uses gold as the title of the mountain, and the white beads running through it are the cassia branches." Lin Yishan of the Qing Dynasty's "Jingshu·Queen Shi's First Service IV": "Buyao has hangings on it. The pearls sway when walking, because the white beads running through them are intertwined with cinnamon branches, so the Eight Jue, Jiuhua, and Six Beasts are listed on the Golden Mountain title, and they sway when walking." The tree-shaped walking hairpin was worn by women in the Wei and Jin Dynasties. A highlight of the decoration is that almost every woman in Gu Kaizhi's paintings has a swaying flower tree on her head.
Cross bun (Illustration from "Hanfu Zangmeilu").
The hairstyles of women in the Wei and Jin Dynasties were mainly various buns set off by wigs. In the Western Jin Dynasty, there was a big cross bun, while in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, there were two sideburns hugging the face and covering the eyebrows, and exaggerated slow sideburn buns - a fashionable hairstyle in which the sideburns are loosened and the cross bun is tilted. Because the bun is large and heavy, it cannot be worn regularly. It is usually left on the shelf and is called "fake bun". The poor people who cannot afford to buy it will laugh at themselves as "headless" and can only "borrow hair" from others when in trouble. From the end of the Eastern Jin Dynasty to the Qi and Liang Dynasties, women's hair style evolved into a double-ring bun with the hair tied up.
During the Han Dynasty, men usually wore crowns and caps, but among the working class, the habit of wrapping their heads with cloth was popular. During the Han and Wei dynasties, due to wars that destroyed finances, it was difficult to maintain the crown and uniform system that represented the dignity of the court. People abandoned the crowns and hats of the past and replaced them with scarves that evolved from simple turbans. They were somewhat similar to modern skullcaps, which were both light and practical, yet chic and elegant. It is not only used by literati, but also commonly used by generals who command thousands of troops.
For a time, various light headscarves appeared on Chinese men's heads in turn, giving them a unique and unruly attitude. For example, Zhuge Liang commanded the war with a feather fan and a turban. Su Shi also praised Zhou Yu in "Red Cliff Nostalgia" for his "majestic appearance and a feather fan and turban", leaving us with the image of a good man in ancient China who was both literary and military.
The female figurine wearing a small crown (small crown) is based on the unearthed Northern Wei pottery figurines. This female figurine wears a small crown on her head, a long-sleeved skirt, and a gentleman's belt around her waist (illustration in the "Hanfu Tibetan Beauty Record").
The plain turban is a popular headscarf during the Wei and Jin Dynasties. In the Western Jin Dynasty, the back part of the bow was higher. The height of the back part of the bow worn by the pottery figurines was almost half of the face. At about half of the top of the bow, two longitudinal openings were opened, with a flat hairpin (Hairpin) is worn across the bun to achieve the purpose of fixation. The Jin-style flat top cap is also called "small crown" and can be worn alone. "Song Book·Five Elements Chronicles" records: "At the end of the Jin Dynasty, all small crowns were worn, and the clothes were broad and wide, with similar styles and fashions, and it became a custom to wear a platform." The flat top skirt can be called a small crown, which shows that its style is very close to a crown.
A pottery figurine wearing a small crown (a small crown) (internal illustration of "Hanfu Zangmeilu").
The cage crown is a crown ornament that originated in the Han Dynasty and was popular in the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties. It evolved from the early military crown and can be worn by both men and women. During the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, the land was not divided into north and south, and people, regardless of gender, all wore "cage crowns on their hats and red clothes on their hakama." Cage crowns and red clothes have become the most fashionable standard combination. This kind of dress can be found in countless "Pictures of Proverbs of Women", "Pictures of Luo Shen Fu", as well as pictures of worshiping Buddhas, worshiping figures and unearthed pottery figurines in various grottoes in the Northern Dynasties. It is just a cage crown in the Southern and Northern Dynasties. The two drooping ears are longer than those in the Western Jin Dynasty, and the top is slightly longer. There is convergence.
The attendant wearing a cage crown is based on the mural unearthed from the Northern Dynasty tomb in Ci County, Hebei Province. This attendant wears a cage crown on his head, red clothes, and a large hakama (illustration in the "Hanfu Zangmeilu").
The Southern and Northern Dynasties deepened the integration of Han and Hu, and hakama pleats replaced dark clothes
Emperor Xiaowen of the Northern Wei Dynasty was a shocking Xianbei emperor. During his reign, he implemented a comprehensive sinicization policy , not only moved the capital to Luoyang, changed the Han surname, but also led "all ministers to wear Han and Wei clothes", so that the old system of clothes and clothes since the Qin and Han Dynasties, which had been impacted by the times, could continue in the new social groups.
Although Emperor Xiaowen loved wearing Han clothing and ordered the people across the country to follow him, the Xianbei people were not used to this kind of Han clothing that was inconvenient for work, so they still wore Hu clothing. During the Southern and Northern Dynasties, Hu and Han people lived together, so Hu clothing, which was convenient for movement, was also popular among the Han working class. Even the upper class of the Han people also wore Xianbei clothing. The peaceful coexistence of various ethnic groups in clothing has truly achieved integration, coexistence and mutual influence.
The Picture of Ancient Sages and Women, a lacquered screen painting from the Jinlong Tomb of Sima Jinlong of the Northern Wei Dynasty was unearthed in Datong City, Shanxi Province, and is now in the Shanxi Provincial Museum (inner text illustration of "Hanfu Cangmeilu").
This picture is an unearthed lacquer painting based on the "Biography of Lienu" written by Liu Xiang of the Western Han Dynasty. The characters in the picture, Zhou Taijiang, Zhou Tairen and Zhou Taisi, have their hair in a cross bun and wear a bunao; they wear cross-collar large-sleeved undershirts, decorated with miscellaneous trains and flying beards, and round-neck shirts tied around their waists to cover their knees. Compared with the women in Gu Kaizhi's works, the clothing here is similar, but the details are different: the women's clothing here is the style of the Northern Wei Dynasty, and the cross bun hairstyle is a typical Wei and Jin hairstyle, reflecting the fusion of northern and southern styles.
Northern Wei Dynasty figurines of girls holding hands, based on Henan ProvincePaintings of pottery figurines unearthed from the tomb of Yang Ji in the Northern Wei Dynasty in Luoyang City are now in the Luoyang Museum. These two figurines wear hakama pleats with large left sleeves and their hair is combed into double buns
(Girls in the Wei and Jin Dynasties usually wore double buns), holding hands and smiling (illustration in "Hanfu Tibetan Beauty Record").
The leather belt is convenient and neat; the hakama is a crotch trousers made of thick woolen cloth.
The early hakama pleated styles were narrow sleeves and narrow legs commonly used by nomadic people. By the Southern and Northern Dynasties, they had been integrated into Han characteristics. The cuffs and trouser legs were specially widened and enlarged, making the wide trousers look similar to the traditional Han style. The lower garment is similar. During the Southern and Northern Dynasties, hakama trousers had narrow or wide legs, with wide-legged trousers being the most fashionable. At the same time, in order to facilitate movement, a three-foot-long brocade belt was used to tie the trouser legs below the knees, which is called "tying hakama". The pleats develop into wide-sleeved shorts, showing an alternative belting effect.
During the Southern and Northern Dynasties, hakama pleats were generally popular among the Han people, and were worn by almost everyone regardless of gender. The coat has left and right pleats, made of brocade, and worn with long boots or short boots. In the early days, nobles still wore robes.
In short, during the Southern and Northern Dynasties, hakama pleats had become a common clothing for men. The standard clothing of officials at that time was "a cage crown on the hat and a red robe on the hakama." Even female officials wear hakama pleats and cage crowns. The hakama pleats have become the best "compromise" between Xianbei Hufu and Hanfu, and are the most characteristic clothing of the Southern and Northern Dynasties.
Original author/He Jidan and Sun Hong
Excerpt/He Ye
Editor/Zhang Jin
Introduction proofreader/Zhao Lin
