Chapter 58 Section 3 Prohibition of Outlandish Clothes

The first is to stipulate how the people of the country should dress. Zhu Yuanzhang made clear and strict regulations on the clothing styles of the emperor, princes, civil and military officials, and ordinary people.These regulations cover almost everything from style, color, pattern, material, to the length of sleeves and the height of slits.It is almost impossible to list them all, so I can only give a few simple examples: He stipulated that materials such as gold embroidery, brocade embroidery, and silk silk could only be used by nobles and officials, and ordinary people could not use these materials to make clothes no matter how rich they were.Common people's clothes are limited to four kinds:

Silk, silk, plain yarn, cloth.Generally speaking, merchants have relatively strong economic strength, but it is stipulated that merchants are inferior and can only wear clothes made of silk and cloth. Even if you are rich, you have no right to wear silk.As long as one person in a peasant family is in business, the whole family is not allowed to wear silk or gauze. Except for the royal family, the clothes of officials and common people are not allowed to embroider patterns such as flying fish, big roc, and lion, and are not allowed to use patterns of four treasures, big passion flower, and big cloud, and are not allowed to use black, purple, green, willow yellow, turmeric, bright yellow, etc. color.Ordinary people are not allowed to use gold, white jade, pearls, and emerald jade in their jewelry, only silver is allowed.

In the third year of Hongwu (1370 A.D.), Zhu Yuanzhang issued an edict stipulating that ordinary people are not allowed to wear "four belt scarves" to tie their hair.He invented a net towel, which is square and square, and its shape is in harmony with "Sifang Pingding", so it was named "Sifang Pingding Scarf", which was issued to the world and all people in the country must take it.In the 22nd year of Hongwu, it was stipulated that farmers could wear bamboo hats and cattail hats in and out of the market, but non-farmers were absolutely not allowed to wear them.As for officials, in addition to the detailed rules for official hats formulated in the early years of Hongwu, in the 22nd year of Hongwu, Zhu Yuanzhang also ordered civil and military officials to wear rain hats when it rained, and sun hats when they were on business trips, but they were not allowed to wear them after entering the city. .In the last years of Hongwu, in order to reflect the emperor's special care for scholars, he was especially merciful, allowing scholars to wear sun hats in hot weather.

Zhu Yuanzhang paid special attention to wearing boots. He stipulated that the boots of ordinary people should not be decorated with patterns and gold threads, that is, there should be no decorations on the boots.In the twenty-fifth year of Hongwu, Zhu Yuanzhang made a visit in a micro-clothes and found that some common people had embroidered patterns on their boots. He was furious. , It is strictly forbidden for ordinary people to wear boots. Later, officials in the north reported that the winter in the north was too cold to survive the winter without wearing boots.Zhu Yuanzhang was especially merciful, "but the north is cold and bitter, so you can use cowhide straight-sewed boots."That is to say, boots can be worn, but only leather ones are allowed, and only the style of "straight seam boots" is allowed.

When the officials entered the court, it was raining, and they all wore spiked boots, which made a loud noise when they stepped on the stone road.Zhu Yuanzhang seriously studied this issue. In the sixth year of Hongwu, he ordered: "The ancients wore shoes when they entered the court, and boots began to be used in the Tang Dynasty. Now officials are asked to wear soft-soled leather shoes, which are put on outside the boots after entering the palace. You can take it off." In Zhu Yuanzhang's clothing policy, in addition to discrimination against businessmen, the more obvious discrimination against artists, advocating excellence, and musicians.In the first year of Hongwu, Zhu Yuanzhang ordered that "music prostitutes are not allowed to have sex with common people's wives, and the musicians wear crowns with soap and green characters, and wear red and green silk belts."He also ordered the men in the brothel to wear green scarves, red waists, and pigskin boots with hair. You are not allowed to wear fancy clothes" (Liu Chen's "Stories of the Early Ming Dynasty"). The term "green hat" originated from this regulation.

Zhu Yuanzhang was very interested in this work, and he repeatedly deliberated and studied every detail in detail.In order to ensure that his instructions were strictly implemented, he also specially set up "ceremony officials" to check the clothes of the people across the country.Failure to comply can have serious consequences.For example, if officials and ordinary people embroider dragon and phoenix patterns on their clothes, which can only be used by the royal family, they will be punished with a hundred sticks and three years in prison: .” In his later years, Zhu Yuanzhang once had a private visit in micro-clothes, and saw a group of soldiers and urban homeless people, who cut off the high tops of their boots and decorated them with gold thread, and gathered to play football.Zhu Yuanzhang then ordered them to be locked up and taken to Wucheng Bingma Division, where they all had their feet cut off.Due to Zhu Yuanzhang's severe punishment and severe laws, the service system regulations were well implemented during the Hongwu period.As the people of the Ming Dynasty said: "All the costumes of scholars and women in the country are custom-made. During the Hongwu period, people followed the law of painting."

After Zhu Yuanzhang's death, these regulations became the ancestral system of the Ming Dynasty and were strictly observed by successive emperors.For example, during the Wanli period, some scholars relied on the imperial court's emphasis on intellectuals, and they were so proud that they even wore ear warmers in winter.Emperor Wanli was furious, and specially issued an edict to ban scholars from wearing warm ears, and those who violated it would be "sent to the censors of five cities for questioning".