Christianity believed that the ancestors of mankind were unclothed, and that Adam and Eve lived naked in the Garden of Eden, living freely without the shackles of the precepts.
However, later they were tempted by the serpent, they ate the fruit, and began to have seven passions and six desires, and they began to have a sense of shame, and they were ashamed to tie the fig leaves into clothes and talk about it to cover their shame; about the clothes of the ancestors of man, condensed a feeling of shame of man, at that time, the clothes did not have the function of shielding the wind and rain from the cold, and perhaps there was no cold in the Garden of Eden.
For clothes, there is an old Chinese saying, called: "First respect the clothes and then respect the people." ”
There is a cartoon in Germany that goes like this: a father and son go together to collect horse manure, and when they come to the door of a luxurious mansion, the arrogant doorman stops them and prevents them from entering to collect horse manure. But when both the father and son appeared in front of the doorman in their glamorous tuxedos and tie their bow ties, the doormen immediately became very respectful.
It can be seen that whether it is ancient or modern, whether it is Chinese or foreign, clothing has always represented the etiquette and culture of society, and is the embodiment of a person's social status, identity, cultural quality and cultivation.
In China, there is a kind of clothing that runs through almost the entire feudal society, marking the level of people's ranks, as if it is like a chasm that cannot be crossed, that is, "official uniforms". For five thousand years of the Chinese nation, official uniforms have left a deep imprint in the long river of history, because each emperor's hobbies, dislikes and aesthetics are different, so official clothes in different dynasties also have different styles.
Before the Sui and Tang dynasties, the dresses and official uniforms of the emperor and the civil and military officials basically inherited the style and style of the Han Dynasty. The official clothes of the Han Dynasty were mainly robes, and the color was biased towards some more solemn and calm colors, such as black and red. Moreover, before the Sui and Tang dynasties, the differences in the positions and ranks of officials were mainly reflected in their official hats.
If you really want to count, there are too many officials in the country, except for some important ministers and ministers who are relative to each other, the emperor alone cannot remember the names and faces of so many officials, let alone match the faces of the courtiers to their positions. Therefore, the emperor used the difference in clothing to distinguish the rank of officials.
The Sui Emperor first proposed to distinguish between the rank of officials and civilians by color, and he stipulated that officials of five pins and above could wear purple robes, officials of six pins and below could only use red and green, ordinary officials should use cyan, soldiers should use yellow, ordinary people should use white, and butchers and merchants could only use black. It is no wonder that poets say, "There is no white clothing in and out", because civilians can only wear white clothes.
In the Tang Dynasty, Wu Zetian pioneered embroidery and used embroidery to distinguish between civil and military officials and distinguish the ranks of officials. She rewarded the civilian officials with embroidered bird robes and the embroidered animals to the military attaches, which made the officials' costumes colorful, and thus the term "clothed animals" was born. However, it should be noted that at that time, "dressed animal" was not a derogatory term, but a praise for official uniforms, which was also once sought after by people at that time.
In the Ming and Qing dynasties, because of the active commodity economy and the budding of capitalism, coupled with the influence of the Tang Dynasty, during this period, the costumes of officials became more abundant, and officials not only made official coats with mink, sheepskin, etc., but also tattooed various patterns on official uniforms, flowers, birds, insects and beasts. When it came to the shang dynasty, the official uniforms of the wenwu hundred officials had both the crane of the immortal wind dao bone and the mighty qilin on it, which can be said to be a real "pilgrimage of hundreds of beasts", which is very powerful.
However, because the problem of corruption in this period was very serious, people began to use the term "dressed as beasts" to scold corrupt officials, which made the part of speech of the word begin to change.
After reading the complicated official uniforms of the Ming and Qing dynasties, we can find that the official uniforms of the Officials of the Song Dynasty are really concise and cannot be more concise.
Since the beginning of the Song Taizu period, the Song people have produced the concept of frugality, people take simplicity and simplicity as beauty, therefore, the official uniforms of Song Dynasty officials are not as complicated as those of the Ming and Qing dynasties, it only pursues the differences and changes in accessories, as well as the difference in the color of official clothes, and is not like Bao Zheng wearing flowery official clothes in the TV series. This is clearly wrong and contrary to historical facts.
In the Song Dynasty, people mainly used color to distinguish the rank of officials, and the official uniforms of officials with three pins and above were mainly purple, five pins and above were vermilion, seven pins and above were green, and nine pins and above were cyan. During the reign of Emperor Shenzong of Song, the official uniforms of officials of four pins and above were changed to purple, six pins or more were used in crimson color, and more than nine pins were used in green.
In addition, the official uniforms of the Song Dynasty also used accessories such as belts and fish bags to distinguish ranks. The belt is generally divided into two parts, one part is used to drill holes and needles, and the other part is a "hammer" that marks the level of people. The hammer has two forms, square and round, and the size of the official position determines the number of hammers they wear.
When wearing it, people had to wear the side of the hammer behind the waist, and then, with their hands crossed on the chest, because the sleeves of the clothing at that time were very wide, so that it would not block the hammer. In this way, people can know the identity and social status of a person from behind that person. In addition, the laws of the Song Dynasty also stipulated that all officials wearing crimson official uniforms must wear fish bags and a soft scarf called a head.
This kind of turban is also called "folding scarf", because it is mainly blue-black, so people call it "wusha". Later, the Song Dynasty added two wings to the head of the hat twice to form a hat, so that as long as the head moved, the soft wings flickered and trembled, and the emperor was condescending and could see clearly. Moreover, according to the official rank, this hat is different in material and style.
After arriving in the Ming Dynasty, after zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, made a rule in the third year of Hongwu: When all civil and military officials went to the court and worked in the court and office, they should wear a black gauze hat, a round neck shirt, and a belt. In addition, those who have achieved meritorious titles but have not been awarded official positions can also wear a black hat. Since then, the "black hat" has become a unique symbol of officials, and officially become synonymous with "being an official as a eunuch".
Resources:
[New Book of Tang", "History of Song", "Book of Song, Five Elements Zhi I", "History of Ming", "Ancient and Modern Chinese Notes , Wu sha hat"]