There is a saying in the gorgeous book Clothing and China Culture: "People without clothes have no culture, and China people have no China culture without making clothes." It is true that when humans were still in primitive times, out of the most primitive instinct and demand, they would peel off the fur and bark of animals and weave grass leaves to wear as warm things. At this time, the "clothing" is not divided into ethnic groups, and there is no difference between "totem", "pattern" and "color", only the material difference between hot and cold areas.
When the spinning wheel appeared in Banpo, Shaanxi Province, Hemudu, Zhejiang Province, Gebu appeared in Caoxie Mountain, Jiangsu Province, and silk textiles appeared in Qian Shan Ocean, Zhejiang Province, these ancient fabrics showed differences in patterns and dyeing, showing the same skills (handed down from generation to generation) and different decorative preferences. The original "warm clothes" such as skins and grass leaves were abandoned by the Chinese ancestors, and the primitive material culture of China began to sprout.
Shang and Zhou Dynasties
By the Shang Dynasty, there were grade differences in crowns, hats, styles, colors and decorative patterns, and the concepts of "clothes are so expensive and cheap" and "printing is to serve the whole Ming Dynasty" had been formed. However, due to incomplete information, I only know that the Shang Dynasty was still white, with many coats and trousers, and nobles also had robes, so I don't know the details of other clothing grades. However, among the unearthed fabrics of Shang Dynasty, there are four colors: black, red, white and yellow, and most of them are red and black.
Clothes with collars, lapels and round necks appeared as early as the Shang Dynasty. The round neck is different from the round neck robe of later generations and can be understood as a through-head shirt. It is not unique to cut a round hole in the cloth. Take a piece of cloth and cross it on your chest, which is also the simplest way to wear it in ancient times. However, the use of tailoring as a collar, bias and emphasis on right-handed people (all unearthed are right-handed, and Oracle Bone Inscriptions's word "clothes" is left or right) shows that China has produced unique aesthetics and thoughts in clothing culture.
Qin and Han dynasties
Qin Shihuang unified the six countries and "accepted the flags of the six countries to serve the royal family" to rectify the chaotic clothing system since the Warring States Period. However, the short life of the Qin Dynasty allowed us to see only the clothes of soldiers and military attaché s at that time from the Terracotta Warriors. Qin Bing wears a short straight robe with trousers, square shoes, a headscarf or a small crown with a hood. Officially, the robe is slightly longer.
However, in the Han Dynasty, the Qin system largely retained the system of the early Western Han Dynasty. On the other hand, the discovery of Zhou Li and the compilation of The Book of Rites made the etiquette system of Han Dynasty more perfect than that of Warring States and Qin Dynasty. China's clothing system can be said to have started from the Yellow Emperor, laid in the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, developed in the Warring States and achieved in the Han Dynasty. The name of the Han nationality also began in the Han Dynasty.
The reappearance of The Book of Rites and The Book of Rites in the Han Dynasty, although recorded and changed in Yu Fu Zhi of successive dynasties and generations for thousands of years, is still generally within the scope set by the Han Dynasty. After thousands of years of natural evolution, the costumes of the Han nationality are obviously different from those of the Han dynasty. And the formal dress system stipulated in the Book of Rites, Zhou Li and another Confucian classic, Yili, such as mourning, deep clothing, mysterious clothing, crown clothing, silk clothing and so on. , is still in the same strain. Therefore, the coronation clothes of Han (Sinicized) emperors in past dynasties are all the same style, with only subtle differences in color and heraldic application.
Sui and Tang Dynasties
The Sui Dynasty was unified, and in the Tang Dynasty, the clothing system of Hanfu finally returned to the "Han system". However, due to the long-term confusion, except for major dresses such as coronation, the rest of the civilian uniforms and contemporary costumes are far from those of the Han Dynasty. There is a hoe on the headdress, which was originally just a soft cloth head and gradually developed into a hat type. Later generations are commonly known as black hats, and there are many styles such as soft feet and scattered feet.
Curtains and hats were originally used in the west to keep out wind and sand, and were also widely used by women in the Tang Dynasty. As props to keep out passers-by during travel, they were still used in the Song Dynasty. According to records, in some places in the Ming Dynasty, women still wore veils when traveling.
At this time, the round neck robe gradually transformed from the western regions into a big costume in Hanfu. T-shirts are not top-down shirts, but right-handed shirts, and they are just T-shirts.
In order to abide by the ancient system of deep clothing, the hem of the clothing only reaches the knee, and then the cloth is connected to the instep, and the hem of the clothing symbolizes the deep clothing in which the top and bottom clothes are sewn together. Students in Song Dynasty and Ming Dynasty still often wear shirts.
Song and Yuan Dynasties
With the rapid development of commerce and the prosperity of market culture in Song Dynasty, citizens can in turn influence the aristocratic trend. In the Song Dynasty, the big dresses remained unchanged, and the clothes and hat badges of the empresses were also very developed. After the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, the official uniforms of the Song Dynasty were determined as hoes and round neck robes, which influenced the Ming Dynasty. However, compared with the Tang Dynasty, civilian costumes are different.
Women in the Song Dynasty, from ordinary people to aristocratic families, all like to wear trousers with a tube top, a belly wrap and trousers outside (there are several layers of trousers inside), or short skirts, waist skirts and occasionally long skirts. There is no coat at the top of the pipe, only buttons, no knots. It can be said that it is the earliest model of underwear worn outside, so that the necklaces of several female Song tombs have not been unearthed, all of which are lapels, tube tops and trousers (skirts).
tomorrow
After Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang of the Ming Dynasty, the first thing was to ban Hu Yu, Hu surname and Hu Fu left over from Liao and Yuan Dynasties, and advocated restoring the clothing system of the Han nationality. However, due to the lack of information and the limitation of textual research, the imperial edict only returned to the Song Dynasty and developed itself.
Dresses, official uniforms, etc. They are still the same as in previous dynasties, but they are not official uniforms, and there is a tonic system. In the later period, the emperor's crown clothing innovated the round neck robe-style clothing.
Men's wear is still in the traditional style, such as round neck robe, straight hem, Taoist robe, deep coat, long coat, brown coat and so on. And the new crown scarf has increased, as well as the drag robe handed down from the Yuan Dynasty.
In the Ming dynasty, a distinctive collar appeared, that is, a collar with different colors, usually white, was inlaid on the collar of clothes, which was convenient for disassembly and washing.
Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China
In order to strengthen the rule, the rulers of the Qing Dynasty forced the Han people to shave their hair and change clothes, which ruined the Hanfu. From the Yellow Emperor, it has been passed down for thousands of years. From emperors to officials, even descendants of Confucius who hate "left-handed people" have not escaped. Hairpins that have been polished since the Neolithic Age are gone. The main features of the horizontal-collared right-handed owl are gone. The dresses and crowns that have lasted for thousands of years are gone. In the past 200 years, the costumes of the Han nationality have suffered a devastating blow. Although some of them have been preserved, they are just candles in the wind. With the blind westernization of the late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China, there were few left.
In the Qing Dynasty, women, children, actresses, monks and the dead could also wear Hanfu. Now, China costumes handed down from the Qing Dynasty are mostly costumes, children's clothes and Taoist robes. Although women's clothing has some reservations, most of them have become the product of the combination of Manchu and Han with the alienation of men's clothing, such as factory collar and buckle. Hanfu children's clothing has been preserved as "monk's clothing", "sweater", "earth cotton-padded jacket" and "baby's clothing", which has always existed, but few people pay attention to it.
At the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Republic of China, the Han nationality was in high spirits, and many students studying in Japan fell in love with kimono at first sight. In every city in China after the recovery, people wore "costumes" and "ancient costumes" to welcome soldiers. Many intellectuals put forward a plan to restore Hanfu, but at that time, Sun Yat-sen pushed for westernization and did not accept the idea. Since then, wars have broken out again and again. Although there are occasional events related to Hanfu, such as the restoration of monarchy and the farce of Hanfu, after a series of turmoil and chaos such as the Civil War, the Cultural Revolution, the last memory of Hanfu left by the late Qing Dynasty almost disappeared from the minds of Han people. After the founding of New China, whenever all ethnic groups get together, Han people either wear a cheongsam that combines Chinese and Western styles or a suit.
Modern future
"What is the national costume of the Han nationality?"
At the beginning of this century, with the popularity of the Internet, more and more netizens in China are used to discussing various issues in online communities. Finally, someone raised this question. Perhaps it is a stone that stirs up a thousand waves, or it may be a password that can open the misunderstood and neglected treasure chest of Chinese culture. More and more people are involved in this problem. After a period of discussion and debate on the Internet, in 2003, Wang Letian, an ordinary worker, took to the streets wearing Hanfu and announced the return of Hanfu to the media and the world.
It's been seven years since Hanfu returned to China, or nearly ten years, and it's almost a round. From one person to Hanwang, Tianhan, Baidu Hanfu Bar and Hanfu websites everywhere, Hanfu organizations have mushroomed, and more and more people have joined. More and more Hanfu styles have been verified and restored, and some styles are different from the previous ones. For example, in some big cities such as Chengdu, Shanghai and Guangzhou, passers-by no longer take a strange attitude towards people who wear Hanfu shopping, but understand and encourage them.