Ancient trousers are different from what we know now. Our pants now have crotch, but many ancient pants are crotch-opening, generally made wider, which can form the effect of matching files when worn, and some even have only trouser legs. According to "A Brief Introduction to Huang San Collection", in primitive society, the habit of "changing clothes in autumn leaves" had already existed. According to Wuyuan Art Garden No.11, it is recorded that there is a nest skin, that is, clothes made of leaves and animal fur, which should be the earliest clothing record in the history of China.
The ancients began to see underwear in the Han Dynasty. Before King Wuling of Zhao popularized "Khufu riding and shooting", the ancients did not have the concept of trousers, which belonged to the period of single clothing, that is, skirt. For the sake of the country's strength, King Wuling of Zhao changed his single-bottom petticoat into a double-bottom petticoat, which is what we now call open-backed pants, in order to conform to the trend of the war mode from "stepping war" to "riding war" and imitate the dress of the Hu people. So before the Warring States Period, people in China wore skirts, and after the Warring States Period, they wore open-backed pants before underwear became popular in the Han Dynasty.
China's trousers originated in the northwest. Archaeological data show that as early as 3000 years ago, crotch pants appeared in Xinjiang, which is similar to today. The habit of not wearing pants can be traced back to the Neolithic Age. At that time, the typical clothing was probably wrapped in a whole piece of cloth, with no sleeves and no cuts, let alone pants. Amazingly, this simple and breathable "vacuum suit" has been circulated for thousands of years. Until the era of the Book of Songs, there was generally a "reward on the top", wearing a short jacket with narrow sleeves and an elegant skirt under it.
Let's go back to Xia Dynasty and Shang Dynasty. Due to the continuous upgrading and development of farming technology, textile technologies such as leather, leather, silk and hemp have been greatly developed, and even silk and hemp fabrics have become the mainstream. In Shang dynasty, relying on powerful weaving technology, relatively fine silks began to appear, and with a large number of market demand, the status of crops such as cotton and hemp was greatly improved. But unfortunately, the quality of the cloth at that time was not good, and it was thick and rough. At the same time, the knitting is completely hand-made, which takes a long time and makes the clothes relatively simple.
Therefore, in the Shang Dynasty, most people's clothes were still in the "petticoat" period, similar to the current "sloping shoulder skirt", with bare arms. However, in order to keep out the cold, at that time, the lower garment had been worn to the chest-high position. In the Zhou Dynasty, official positions such as "Si Fu" and "Inner Si Fu" began to appear, which were in charge of the royal costumes and included them in the ritual system. The cultural relics unearthed in the Zhou Dynasty have been divided into upper and lower parts. The top refers to the clothes worn on the top, and the top refers to the skirt worn on the bottom. Length is the name of pants before evolution.
During the Warring States Period, King Wuling of Zhao realized the importance of "riding a war" after seeing the fighting of the Hu people. Single archery on horseback is not only effective, but also more flexible than "chariots" and infantry. So he ordered the implementation of "Khufu riding and shooting" in Zhao State, so that both legs of soldiers were covered by lower skirts, which was one of the most important changes. At that time, King Wuling of Zhao never imagined that he, as a king, would become the promoter of clothing reform.
Because the soldier's legs are covered with a reduced skirt, it is very convenient to fight and has better warm-keeping function. The most important thing is to save a considerable part.
Cloth, so this kind of reform soon spread among the people. With the productivity at that time, who didn't want to improve the thermal performance while saving cloth, so the double-tube skirt gradually evolved into a knee-length dress. The shin garment is also called "crotch", which is what we call open-crotch pants.
During the Warring States period, due to weak productivity, only a few people could use high-grade silk, and most ordinary fabrics were still rough. If you don't wear open-backed pants and sew a piece of coarse cloth in your crotch, it will not only make people inconvenient to move, but also easily hurt important parts when rubbing frequently during activities, so open-backed pants will have a chance of popularization. Of course, because the nobles are usually pampered, they don't need to engage in manual labor at all, and they don't know how to run and jump. So for them, the disadvantage of wearing open-backed pants is that it is a little cold in winter.
However, wearing open-backed pants has a problem that we have to face, that is, it is easy to be naked and ugly. But even if it is easy to run out, the advantages of open-backed pants still make the nobles unable to give up. In order to wear open-backed pants reasonably, the nobles also formulated a set of walking and sitting force to restrain people's behavior norms, so the ancients had extremely strict requirements for sitting posture. The ancients invented kneeling posture to a great extent to prevent the spring from leaking out. There is a kneeling posture called "Qi", which the ancients thought was the most polite way.
That is, long kneeling-knees on the ground, legs on the ground, hips sitting on the calves and heels, upper body straight, looks very stable and dignified, but in fact this sitting posture will make people feel very uncomfortable, especially after a long time, and even make people feel legs or leg cramps. Sedentary is undoubtedly a cruel test of perseverance. The Japanese have learned a lot about China culture, and it was during this period that the nobility spread to Japan. Kneeling has been regarded as a "proper ceremony" by the Japanese since ancient times, but today, on some important occasions, the Japanese will stick to this traditional sitting posture.
The sitting posture of modern people sitting on the ground with their legs apart was called "sitting on the ground" in ancient times. This is a sitting posture that is considered indecent. The reason is naturally because they are wearing open-backed pants, and it is easy to burst into spring when sitting on the ground. When Jing Ke failed to stab the king of Qin, knowing that his time had come, Jing Ke directly "squatted" on the ground and opened his crotch to express his final contempt to the king of Qin.
At the same time, in order to prevent the sudden release of spring, people will make the dresses they wear outside very long, especially the women who enter the harem, almost all dress up and mop the floor. Those ordinary people certainly don't have such good conditions. After all, the longer the clothes, the more cloth you need. But not ordinary people can't help it. Just put a petticoat over the shin coat.
The ancients also used the "calf nose" to deal with exposure. This is a kind of crotch shorts, two round legs are similar to a bull's nose, similar to the "undershirt" that modern men often wear, and it is the minimum for men to wear clothes. If a person parades in the city wearing a "calf nose", he is either poor or an eclectic "spiritual boy".
From a practical point of view, leggings are actually the predecessor of underwear. At the end of the Warring States Period and the Qin Dynasty, shin clothing was widely used, that is to say, before the Qin Dynasty, the ancients kept the habit of wearing open-backed pants, which were their "underwear". During the Han Dynasty, China made a qualitative leap in silk technology, and various silk products and materials were exported to Persia and Rome through the Silk Road. Because silk was thin, soft, smooth and breathable, it was the most suitable material for underwear at that time, and the technology of underwear was not so advanced, so underwear finally began to spread widely at this time.
However, there is still a sentence. Some people think that underwear only became popular in the Tang and Song Dynasties, because during this period, men had basically cancelled their lower skirts and began to fashion "short-sleeved" close-fitting clothes. Without the cover of the petticoat, if you continue to wear crotch, you can't show it all over the street. This statement is also reasonable and has been supported by some people.
Of course, in the process of the real rise of underwear, there is no exact source of information, so we naturally have no way to verify it. But before the Qin Dynasty, underwear was not popular. At that time, the cloth was thick and rough, so it must be uncomfortable to stick to privacy. However, the textile in the Han Dynasty was already at the leading level in the world, and there were no technical obstacles in the simple sewing of underwear itself, and the use of cloth was not much. Therefore, the popularity of underwear in the Han Dynasty is the most reasonable statement.
In terms of physiological needs, in fact, physiological needs are not the main reason why the ancients wore open-backed pants, at least most ordinary people are not. Although open-crotch pants will indeed facilitate the ancients to go to the toilet, it is still inconvenient to go to the toilet, because there will be a lower skirt outside, not to mention the aesthetic problem. Moreover, in the long river of history, some emperors are full of energy, and will specifically ask harem concubines and ordinary maids to wear open-backed pants, while some brothel women will also wear open-backed pants to attract guests in order to improve their performance.
With the continuous development of traditional etiquette and the continuous improvement of productivity, open-backed pants have been run over by the wheel of history and swept into the dust. Now you can only see the existence of open-backed pants in children. In fact, it is not the ancients who want to wear open-backed pants. After all, they are willing, but unable to do so.