Chapter 8 The first part is selected from the posthumous works. Section 8. Dressing of ancient people

We didn't know much about the clothes worn by ancient people in the past. Although there are many records left in the literature, it is more and more difficult to understand clearly because of the passage of time, citations and certificates, and repeated meetings.Thanks to the efforts of archaeologists in recent years, a large number of ancient cultural relics have been unearthed from the ground, which can be used as a reference for comparison, and we have gained new understanding. From the Shang Dynasty to the Western Zhou Dynasty, the Spring and Autumn Period, and the Warring States Period, about a thousand years before and after, it can be roughly divided into three historical stages to see its evolution.In the earlier period, except for the clothing styles of special people in special situations, we are not very clear. As for general rulers and slaves, it seems to be a common practice to wear knee-length clothes.From this, we can know that the stone carvings of the Han Dynasty and the statues of several famous kings and ministers in history still have some ancient meanings, and they are not entirely based on conjecture.Because people in the Shang Dynasty at least three thousand years ago were like this.At that time, people had already worn trousers, a thousand years earlier than later generations said.The clothing materials of people in the Shang Dynasty were mainly leather, silk, and hemp.Due to the development of weaving technology, silk and hemp have played a particularly important role. Slave owners and nobles usually wear colored silk clothes with various embroidered patterns, and a wide floral belt around their waists.Slaves or civilians wear plain or coarse woolen clothes.Aristocratic men often wear hats on their heads, which are flat-topped and made of silk. They were popular until the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period.Some women put their hair into a bun and run it across a bone hairpin.Bone or jade are also used to make double hairpins, and the tops are carved with the shape of birds (mandarin ducks or phoenixes) about an inch in size facing each other. The two sides of the top are slanted, the curly hair hangs down to the shoulders, and a string of variegated and shining jade beads is hung on the neck. .Daji, a famous beauty in history, should have been dressed like this at that time.Girls are added to Ji when they are adults, so they are called "Ji Ji", which means they can get married.Children have the habit of combing two small corners on the top of their heads, and the older ones may still braid their hair.Commoners or slaves had scarves wrapped around their horns and swashplates upwards, their heads were wrapped flat and folded into a square corner, and there were many other styles, all of which were reflected in jade, copper, and pottery figurines.Most of the appearance is similar to that of the Miao and Yao people living in Southwest China now. (This is not a coincidence. In fact, many ancient patterns and patterns 3,000 years ago can still be found on the fabrics of the Southwestern Brothers.) Many wild plants such as Sophora japonica, gardenia, and oak bucket have been used as dyes, and bluegrass has also been planted. It can be dyed in various shades of blue and red and purple.

In history, it was called the Zhou Gong system of rituals, and clothing was divided into grades and different uses, which was one of the most important things.Clothes are getting bigger and bigger, and more and more people wear them, and it is treated as a new system, and the hierarchy is roughly from the Western Zhou Dynasty.At that time, the rulers not only owned a large number of slaves, but also taxed all civilians. The adult population had to pay two cloths and a certain amount of grain every year. Sit in the clothes with long sleeves and talk.Emperors and ministers, in order to show dignity and majesty, gowns must be more solemn and have different colors according to the needs for ceremonies, ceremonies and weddings and funerals. Clothes, equip chariots and horses of appropriate colors, everything has to cooperate with each other.Fur clothes are also worn according to grades and cannot go beyond the system.Even the precious foxes, otters, and minks hunted by hunters must all be dedicated to the ruler, and they are not allowed to be used or sold in private.According to the system of the Zhou Dynasty, people over the age of seventy could wear silk and eat meat, but not many people could benefit from the system.As for ordinary people, they can only wear natural linen or coarse woolen clothes, and the extremely poor can only wear that kind of straw "cow clothes".

Although clothing changed a lot after the Western Zhou Dynasty, some aspects were not.For example, the bronze helmets worn by military generals during battles are almost the same from the Shang Dynasty to the Warring States Period.There have been more types of armor, including rhinoceros armor, combined armor, and training armor. Later, iron armor was invented. The most valuable is the rhinoceros armor, which is made of rhinoceros hide and painted with various patterns on it.Because there are more and more annexation wars, weapons are becoming more and more sophisticated, and new weapons such as swords and crossbows appear.The spear is very sharp, and the shield is also very strong.

According to the system at the beginning of the Zhou Dynasty, the whole country was divided into many states of different sizes, and each place had a ruler, who was appointed by three special identities: one was the sons of the royal family, such as Zhao Bofeng Yuyan 1, Zhou Gong and his son were entrusted to Lu; the second is ministers who have made contributions to the country, such as Jiang Shang was entrusted to Qi, Xiong Yi was entrusted to Chu; the third is the descendants of the previous dynasty.When these people went to office, in addition to getting many slaves as usual, they also got some beautiful jade wares, an exquisite bronze sacrificial vessel and daily food and drink vessel, and some bronze weapons specially used as tools for oppressing the people. The flag, and the gorgeous embroidered silk clothes that represent class status.Although more than 2,000 years have passed, many things have been dug out in recent years, and some of them are still completely preserved.Silk clothes are prone to decay, so knowledge in this area is not comprehensive enough.However, since it became popular to use pottery and wooden figurines to replace the dead for burial a little later, and there are still a lot of image data preserved in other materials, and after comprehensive analysis and comparison of the real situation, it gradually becomes clear.

The development of clothes is closely related to the social system and also reflects the development of production.Clothes are becoming more and more exquisite and their quantity is increasing, which is in line with the development of social production.For example, in the Shang Dynasty, there were only a few people who could wear silk clothes. The situation was different in the Western Zhou Dynasty. King Cheng and the Duke of Zhou did not necessarily dress more luxuriously than King Zhou. All kinds of pomp and circumstance.In places with better conditions, it is undoubtedly easier to make clothes, curtains, and mattresses extraordinarily gorgeous and exquisite.By the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the political power was shifted downwards, and the Zhou royal family was no longer in existence, and it was too poor to be added.Then the five tyrants and the seven heroes each developed production, smelted copper and iron, repaired water conservancy, and focused on commodity circulation in peacetime. The technological competition is also particularly evident when it is reflected in the daily wear of the upper class.

The era of the most exquisite clothing is the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period.Not only the ruler himself is often dressed in gorgeous clothes, but also the ministers and guests are also wearing pearl shoes, wearing gold and jade around their waists, and going in and out of high chariots and four horses.Because Confucianism says that jade has seven qualities, all of which are indispensable to being a human being, so the saying that "a gentleman should not wear jade for no reason" has affected all aspects of society. Nobles, regardless of gender, often wear several pieces of beautiful carved jade.The sword was a new weapon at that time. In order to show bravery and self-defense, the nobles must wear a jade sword inlaid with gold and jade.Belt hooks were popular at that time, so various precious materials were used to make them into various shapes, some were inlaid with gold and jade inlaid with iron, and some were inlaid with colorful glass beads inlaid with jade in silver.Even the weapons used for war, the new swords and the developing spears, are mostly inlaid with fine gold and silver threads to form various exquisite patterns and characters in the shape of birds and animals. The shields are also painted with colorful clouds, dragons and phoenixes, and inlaid with gold and silver.The crown on the man's head is even more eye-catching. The fine ones are made of gauze as thin as a cicada's wings, the gorgeous ones are made of gold and jade, and some are as tall as a lampstand.The patriotic poet Qu Yuan mentioned this kind of strange clothes and high crowns in the article.The shoes are made of deerskin, silk or fine grass. The soles are hard or soft, and the precious ones are inlaid with beads and jade.

Wearing leather clothes in winter is extremely heavy white fox fur, which is light and warm, and is worth a thousand dollars.Among the women, white fox fur is also inlaid on the edge of the cuffs and skirts to make a front, which looks very beautiful. Social ethos often changes with the preferences of powerful people. For example, Duke Huan of Qi likes to wear purple clothes, and Chinese people sometimes wear purple clothes all over.The king of Chu loved thin waists, and many court ladies starved to death because of this. Other countries also followed suit, and most women's waists were tied thin.There are more variations on women's head dresses.In the state of Chu, braiding is popular, with two rings in the middle, and the rest of the hair drooping.There are also many kinds of buns, some are combed into magpie tail style, and some are made into ingot style.Women also wear hats, which are almost like an oval cup.Some have hair hanging by their ears, curled like a scorpion's tail.Girls often wear double braids and wear knee-length shorts with pleats on the lower edge.Adult women already wear gold and silver rings, and dot clusters of triangular rouge next to their cheeks.According to ancient documents, it was originally a system in the court of the Zhou Dynasty. The gold and silver rings indicated whether there was pregnancy or not, and the rouge recorded the menstrual date.

Clothes are made of more and more refined materials, resulting in a wide variety of items. Huajin from Xiangyi, Henan, Bingwan, Wenxiu, Qi, and onyx from Qilu, Shandong are even more popular all over the country, and there is an excellent market; and ordinary silk The price comparison has exceeded twenty times.The fine linen cloth produced by Wuyue in the south, the felt fur cloth produced in the Yan State in the north, and the fine wool flowers made by the Hu people in the Western Regions are extremely exquisite and extremely valuable.Chu State may have printed silk production, but the most exquisite clothing and quilt materials are still gorgeous embroidery and brocade.

There are many different styles of clothes, some of which are wide-sleeved robes, but they are not too procrastinating.Long jackets with water sleeves are still popular in some areas, and they still have a lower edge. They are as long as knees, and they wear flat hats and ribbons around their waists, which are similar to those of the Shang Dynasty. The most common clothes are three styles found in Chu tombs, one of which is wrapped around and tied with a wide belt, which is an older style.The edges of the clothes are mostly wide, and the use of brocade as the edge is consistent with the "brocade as the edge" mentioned in the records, which is probably why the too thin clothing will not hinder the movement.This style was still used by the people of the Han Dynasty.Another kind of sleeves that are as large as the knees, exceeding the proportion, and look extraordinarily solemn when worn, may belong to a specific dress category.Some musicians wear hoods, and dancers wear sleeves as long as several feet.The hunter's clothes and pants are usually tightly tied, so that it is convenient to move in the jungle and grass.On bronzes with finely carved patterns obtained from Shanxi and Henan in the Central Plains area, a kind of bronze ware with a horned magpie tail and a crown with small sleeves is often found, and the lower skirt is folded obliquely downward.A jade pendant was also unearthed in Luoyang, Henan Province. It was carved with two dancers with long sleeves, a very thin waist, and hair drooping down to the shoulders, slightly curled up. It was roughly the typical style of Yanzhao beauty at that time.On the pottery fan unearthed in Shanxi, there are knee-length floral dresses and flat caps, a sash around the waist, a chain button, and two small pompoms on the head. Both men and women wear them.This kind of human figure with similar attire was also found in Henan, and it is generally said that it was influenced by the "Hu suit". In fact, it is worth further research.It is often said in history that Zhao Wuling Wang Hufu riding and shooting had a great impact on Zhao's military organization at that time and the lives of later generations.The main effect is still "riding and shooting".Qingqi advances sharply and engages in hand-to-hand combat, which changes the traditional combat method of using chariots as the main force.As for what the "Hufu" looks like?It was hard to say clearly in the past.Mink clothing is Hu clothing, which is not likely to be worn by most people. According to relevant materials at the same time or later, the main feature of the clothing is knee length, but it has existed in ancient times.Roughly due to the social habits of the Zhou Dynasty for hundreds of years, the upper class has regarded wearing long clothes as a system, and only slaves or other working people wear short clothes for practicality.Zhao Wang initiated the change of clothes to the knees to connect with riding and shooting, and the official historian wrote a book, which became a big event.Of course, there are some other features of the Hu clothing. The belt around the waist is fixed with a hook, and there is a pointed leather or felt hat on the head, because it is the same as a wonton. The Hu people in the Western Regions of the Tang Dynasty also liked to wear it.At the beginning of Tang Dynasty, Chinese women liked to dress up in Hu. Therefore, this kind of hat appeared in various decorations from the early Tang Dynasty to Kaiyuan Tianbao. It is said that the portrait of Wu Zetian painted by Zhang Xuan wore such a hat. He was stabbed and survived by wearing this kind of felt hat.This hat shape was also found in the stone carvings of the Han Dynasty. In recent years, we have unearthed several real objects of the Han Dynasty in the northwest, which proves that it is one of the characteristics of Hufu.

There is a further new change in clothing, and the new unified standard starts from the Qin and Han Dynasties.From a few points of view, the princes and nobles adopted the crown style that Liu Bang always liked, with the front beams soaring high and the back like a slanted bridge, so it became the standard official hat with three beams and five beams as a grade distinction.In addition, no matter men or women, there must be a ribbon more than ten feet long folded into two stacks of different colors next to the belt of an official.The triangular cluster of rouge next to the woman's cheeks is no longer found, and the braided hair has been changed into a ring.Many aspects are already set.According to the literature, due to restrictions on businessmen, brokers must wear shoes of different colors on the left and right.However, on the one hand, there are various rules and regulations, which impose great restrictions on merchants and slaves; Put on brocade.The situation naturally appears to be more complicated, and it is not easy to get a clearer impression from simple generalizations when talking about it.However, in the complexity, there are still some rules that we have grasped, that is, the high-end brocade patterns of the Han Dynasty, mainly no more than a dozen kinds, and the theme patterns, but come from two aspects, one is the reflection of the thoughts of gods, and the other is the real hedonic behavior Therefore, it is always nothing more than the running of strange birds and beasts amidst the mountains and clouds.The inscription "climbing high and looking at the world" is roughly related to Qin Shihuang and Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty ascending Mount Tai to enshrine Zen, and "Changle Mingguang" represents the name of the palace.Most of these materials were found in Northwest China, Xinjiang, Gansu and Northeast China, Mongolia and North Korea. From this, we know that at that time, Chang’an weaving room or Qidi’s three-servant officials spent a huge amount of money to produce a large amount of high-grade silk for rewarding ministers and exporting a large amount. , mostly like this.

These are not easy to understand for scholars in the past thousand years. Due to the continuous unearthing of a large number of physical objects and comparative materials in recent years, and the combination of real cultural relics and documents for comprehensive analysis, we gradually understand. Newer discoveries will undoubtedly further enrich our knowledge in this area. , and correct some of the inferred errors. Written on June 25, 1962