Since ancient times, the development of society has been inseparable from food, clothing, shelter and transportation, and throughout China's dynasties and dynasties, it has also spent efforts on these aspects, and if we want to fully understand China's history, we must take these points as the starting point. The most prosperous period of economic development in Chinese history is the Tang and Song Dynasties, the development of clothing in the Tang Dynasty period enjoys a high reputation in ancient and modern times, and the subsequent dynasties are based on this, integrating the characteristics of their respective dynasties, the costumes of the Song Dynasty are the most worth mentioning, and then let us reveal the costume culture of the Song and Yuan Dynasties from the famous "Embroidered Halogen Thin Chart".
The status of the Song Dynasty in Chinese history is also extraordinary, as we all know, although the Song Dynasty emphasized literature and light weapons, military development was not ideal, but it flourished economically, and even once exceeded the prosperous Tang Dynasty, which can be seen from the research of various cultural relics and various documents that have been handed down to the present.
It is said that after Zhao Kuangyin became emperor in the yellow robe, he released his military power with a cup of wine, and implemented a policy of emphasizing literature over military force throughout the country, and the emperor did not attach importance to the military, like a faint prince who did nothing, but Zhao Kuangyin enjoyed a high reputation in history. In fact, it is also due to his economic development. The economy of the Song Dynasty was unprecedented, and the economic prosperity of the Great Song Dynasty can be seen from the famous "Map of the Upper River of the Qingming Dynasty".
From the "Embroidery Halogen Thin Chart" to see the development of clothing in the Song Dynasty
The costumes of the Song Dynasty are quite exquisite, which can be seen as early as the establishment of the Song Dynasty. After Zhao Kuangyin ascended the throne, he soon unified the southern region at that time, ending the division of the situation for decades, and thus obtained a lot of materials, just the Jinduan colored veils have millions of horses, at that time in order to publicize the national prestige, to show the national strength to the world, Zhao Kuangyin specially set up a large-scale honor guard, more than 20,000 officers and soldiers holding different weapons, wearing various kinds of clothes, the magnificence of the scene is really rare, in order to record this historical moment, at that time he also specially ordered people to draw the "Embroidery Thin Map", This has left a lot of basis for future generations to study the official uniform system of the Song Dynasty, and the development of the costume culture of the Song Dynasty should also start from here.
The economy of the Song Dynasty was unprecedentedly prosperous, so there was a lot of attention to clothing. At that time, the princes and ministers would receive a large number of brocade robes every year, and the flowers were also divided according to the grade, and every time there was a grand festival or a court meeting, the princes and ministers had to dress appropriately according to the regulations at that time, which could see both the importance of the Song Dynasty on clothing and the exquisite clothing of the Song Dynasty.
In addition to the princes and ministers, of course, it is the members of the royal family who pay more attention to clothing, especially the queens and princesses in the court, who are more luxurious. Their clothing is not only strict in terms of clothing, but also very particular in the pattern. The clothes worn by the queen princess can often be seen in the pearl embroidery, and the phoenix crown on the head pays attention to various patterns made of gold and jade, which is not only beautiful, but also shows the identity of the royal family.
Although the ordinary aristocratic family members are not as gorgeous as in the Tang Dynasty, they are more elegant and elegant, which is also profoundly reflected in "Dream of the Red Chamber", one of the four famous works in China. Every character in the book is impressive, not only from the character's personality, but also from the different wearing characteristics of different characters, of which the role of clothing color is also very prominent. And the Song Dynasty costumes are also very bold in color matching, breaking the characteristics of the main color of blue, blue and blue tail in the Tang Dynasty, and a large number of colors such as pink purple, green onion white, and agarwood are used. And because at that time, it was stipulated that qingming tomb sweeping must wear a white dress, so for a time it became popular again, which looked plain and fresh.
In addition to the above crowds, the diversity of Song Dynasty costumes is more reflected in the le prostitutes. Because of the economic prosperity of the Song Dynasty, people also know how to enjoy, whether it is the royal family or the ordinary wealthy family, are very focused on holding various banquets, and the indispensable thing at the banquet is the entertainment program of the music prostitute performance, beautiful music plus gorgeous costumes, bringing people a different kind of enjoyment.
The paintings of the Song Dynasty also depict a large number of depictions of court banquet scenes, from the paintings, it can be seen that most of the prostitutes in the palace are mountain flower plugs, dressed in extremely thin sarongs, full of folk flavor, from here it can also be seen that the Song Dynasty pays more attention to the actual spirit, compared to the Tang Dynasty's procrastinating and heavy wear, the Song Dynasty costumes pay more attention to the material of clothing, using lighter materials, not only beautiful, but also more convenient to move.
The influence of Song Dynasty costumes on ethnic minorities
Because the Song Dynasty's military was relatively weak, it did not unify the country politically at that time, so it also had strong national characteristics during the Song Dynasty, which was also reflected in the costume. The Khitans, Jurchens, Qiang, etc. are all distributed in the northeast and northwest of China, living on nomadic herders, so there are obvious differences with the Central Plains in living habits, and the characteristics of clothing culture are also very obvious.
Khitan and Jurchen clothing characteristics are also related to their perennial nomadic, combat hunting tradition, their clothing is mostly small neck round sleeves, and the clothes are relatively short, the longest is only to the knees, foot boots, wearing leopard skin bow sac, such clothing is more conducive to their hunting nomadic in the wild. Khitan men usually wear hair, Jurchen shaved off the top of the hair, the rest of the hair into a braid hanging next to the ear, and later by the influence of Han culture, some of the more status of the talent began to slowly pull the hair up, wrapped into a "rabbit scarf", such a hair ornament and the Tang Dynasty head similar, but in the style did not pay too much attention, the main decoration is mostly a bead on the forehead.
Most of the ordinary women wear small-sleeved slanted collared long shirts, with their feet together, wearing a gold brocade hat on their heads, a brocade belt hanging behind them, decorated with two beads, and the belt they wear is sagging and flush with the clothes. Because the Khitan and Jurchen Liaojin regimes at that time both had southern officials, their costumes were also greatly influenced by the song dynasty's official uniform system.
Song Dynasty costumes mainly pay attention to practicality, followed by embroidery decoration
From the above, it can be seen that the influence of Song Dynasty culture on ethnic minority areas at that time was not only the Song Dynasty costumes that brought influence to the costume culture of ethnic minorities, and the costumes of ethnic minorities at that time were also adopted by the Song people to a certain extent. As mentioned above, the ethnic minorities in the north mostly live on nomadic herds, hunting in the wild all year round, and the clothing does not pay too much attention to the ornamentation, mainly paying attention to the role, wearing heavy, protracted clothes and not using them to hunt and fight.
Because most of the clothes of the ethnic minorities in the north are relatively light, streamlined, and easy to move, it is this practicality that attracts the Song people, and soon such clothing will slowly spread among the Song people. For example, the famous anti-gold hero Yue Fei and others around the family will wear clothing except for the waist part, the rest is basically similar to the Jin people. It can also be seen from here that the costumes of the Song Dynasty mainly pay attention to practicality, followed by embroidery decoration.
At that time, the national integration expressed was mostly a realistic requirement, with the reality of life as the main starting point, which caused knee-length small sleeve clothing to be widely circulated at that time. Of course, in addition to the generals choosing such streamlined clothing for the convenience of combat, the vast number of working people are also more enthusiastic about this kind of clothing, and in the various paintings preserved today, it can be seen that the working people at that time were wearing knee-length and small sleeves.
In addition to the common brocade in terms of clothing, the Song Dynasty also used rare materials such as "tight silk" and "velvet back", which were more advanced and practical than before, both in terms of cold and warmth, color and quality.
All in all, the Song Dynasty was a period of unprecedented economic and cultural prosperity, although there were deficiencies in military aspects, but it developed rapidly in terms of life, food, clothing, shelter and transportation, especially in clothing culture. Not only inheriting the advantages of the previous clothing, but also adding more features, forming a unique costume culture of that period, not only making the style of clothing more abundant, but also making certain improvements in practicality, integrating the characteristics of various regions, and greatly facilitating people's actions.
bibliography:
"Ancient Chinese Clothing, Food, Shelter and Travel" by Xu Jialu
Dream of the Red Chamber