Author: Li Renfei, the keynote speaker of the "Chinese Clothes" series of lectures at the Baijia Forum
Figure 1: Seven Crowns
Fig. 2: Portrait of Qin Shi Huang in the Ming "Three Talents Picture Society"
Figure 3: Liu's crown
Figure 4: Fan Duoguan
The ancients called the hat worn on the head yuanfu, the first dress, and the head coat. "Yuan", "first" and "head" sound the most important. Among the many hats in ancient times, the highest status was a ceremonial crown called "crown", which is arguably the most peculiar invention in ancient Chinese clothing.
So important and peculiar, of course, costume film and television dramas will not let go, so we see some of the crowns: the two heads of the crown plate are upturned, or wavy; the length of the crown is above the line of sight; there are 11 crowns in front of the face, and the orbs on each crown are 20...
Wearing such a crown, the actor often shakes his head sharply, and the crown is swung up with a "whoosh" sound, which looks very dashing and strengthens the charm of the role. But such design and performance is only out of the understanding of modern people, who have thrown out their demeanor and lost their connotations.
The crown was an invention of the Yellow Emperor
Historical documents say that the crown was invented by the Yellow Emperor and was made by his chancellor Hu Cao. Later ceremonial crowns were called "Emperor" during the Yu Dynasty, "Receiving" in the Xia Dynasty, "Yan" in the Shang Dynasty, and "Crown" in the Zhou Dynasty.
The emperor's "emperor" word, the earliest is a hat, using clothing to express identity, which is still reasonable today. However, in history, the emperor, the reaper, the crown, and the crown, are they the same shape and structure? This question has become difficult to verify, and only the style of the crown has survived (Figure 1: Seven Crowns). This style is undoubtedly very peculiar today.
History has left no explanation for the style of the crown, and can only speculate according to the ideas of modern people: First, in primitive society, people often wear colored stones and animal teeth as jewels on the head and face to show identity and ability, the more worn, the higher the identity, the stronger the ability; secondly, when there are too many jewels, sticking to the hair and cheeks will be very obstructive, so it is necessary to let them leave the face for a certain distance.
From this point of view, the appearance of the crown becomes reasonable. It's just that our ancestors used a plate to hang jewelry behind their faces, which is more accidental —other peoples tend to use the jewelry larger and larger, or set higher and higher.
The crown is mainly composed of crown rolls, crown plates, crown plates, crowns, yao, tassels and other parts. The crown plate, the crown plate, and the crown plate are the components with more details.
The cover plate at the top of the crown is called the ancient silk, also called the crown plate. Black on the top and red on the bottom, and the front is low and the back is high. The size of the crown plate will vary from dynasty to dynasty, some are one foot two feet wide and seven inches long, and some are two feet long and four feet wide and one foot two feet two. Moreover, this board is flat, not two heads up or undulating like in some costume dramas.
The string of beads hanging at the front and back ends of the crown plate is called the crown plate. The length of the crown is to reach below the line of sight, which is generally composed of multicolored silk threads through multicolored beads. Depending on the identity, the number of crowns is different. Wang Wei, a famous poet of the Tang Dynasty, has a poem, "Nine days open the palace, and all the nations worship the crown", describing the grand and solemn scene of the early dynasty of daming palace. The imperial weather is still coming after a thousand years, which shows how strong the visual impact caused by the crown is.
瑱, is two pieces of topaz hanging on the side of the two ear holes, commonly known as "filling ears", and sometimes made of yellow cotton, the size of an orange. In winter, hanging two stones around your ears will feel cold, and switching to yellow cotton will have a thermal insulation effect.
The design of the crown is related to the governance of the world
Because of its high value, the crown has been the crown of honor for emperors, princes and qing masters since the Zhou Dynasty. These people were often members of the imperial family, so the crown was a symbol of family rule. So, what does the design of the crown have to do with governing the world?
The crown plate has a lot of basic exquisiteness, the most important of which is the front low and the back high, which is related to the name of the crown. In ancient times, some people explained it this way: the "exemption" in the crown word means "俛", and the meaning of 俛 is equivalent to leaning forward. Such a gesture represents the humility and diligence of emperors and high-ranking officials. Therefore, wearing a crown reflects status, and at the same time reflects cultivation from a cultural point of view. Therefore, those who make the tiara board into two heads upturned or undulating, at most can only show the character's personality or dramatic style, which is far from the realm of the ancients.
In the eyes of modern people, the most mysterious may be the string of crowns hanging behind the front of the face.
The highest configuration of the imperial crown, there are 12 in front and behind each, and each has 12 colored beads. Other high-ranking officials, on the basis of rank, decrease in the number of crowns and colored beads, thereby strengthening the rank. It has a very nice name - Fanlu, which means a lot of dewdrops. The Han Dynasty scholar Dong Zhongshu has a book "Spring and Autumn Dew", which at first glance knows that it is discussing matters related to the heart of the emperor.
However, the ancestors were not satisfied with the fact that The Crown only embodied identity and status, but also made a richer cultural interpretation of it, with intentions beyond imagination.
The ancients explained that the purpose of hanging the crown is to maintain a solemn image. The head is upright, the movement is slow, the crown is not shaken, and the imperial majesty is displayed. If you can't sit in front of you or walk slowly, the action of shaking your head and shaking your head will be magnified by the crown, and isn't it a little embarrassing? In some costume dramas, the little emperor could not bear such a shackle, and shook the crown to a chaotic sound, obviously not enough cultivation.
Some people also start from the crown to block the line of sight, believing that its intention is to remind the emperor not to see his subordinates so clearly, and what should be seen and what should not be seen is the wise emperor. The Western Han Dynasty celebrity Dongfang Shuo held this view, believing that the role of the crown was to "cover the light". In his view, when the water is clear, there is no fish, and when people are observed, there is no vain.
The ear is a less conspicuous part that many people may not notice, but this design also contains the good intentions of the ancestors. Dongfang Shuo explained the role of ear filling as the emperor not listening to everything, listening to what should be listened to, and not listening to what should not be listened to, and ear filling is equivalent to "Sai Cong".
Of course, "Concealing The Ming" and "Sai Cong" have a positive side, but if they are all as Dongfang Shuo said, an emperor is blind and deaf, I am afraid it will be difficult to govern a country well. Therefore, if we do not give a cultural explanation to the crown and the ear, it may be more reasonable to say the following: the so-called crown is to hope that the emperor can understand that everyone is as rare as the jewelry in front of him; the so-called ear filling is also the hope that the emperor can understand that every word of advice is like the jade in his ear, although it has hardness, it is precious.
Qin Shi Huang abolished the crown and developed the crown
According to the ancients, there were three ministers during the Yellow Emperor's period, Hu Cao, Xun Shi, and Yu Ze, of which Hu Cao was crowned, Xun Shi was crowned, and Yu Ze was made of doors, and the title was straw shoes. These three can be said to be the grandfathers of China's garment industry.
The crown is the most noble of the crowns. Generally speaking, only high-ranking officials could wear crowns, most of whom were members of imperial families. But from the Zhou Dynasty onwards, the scale of rule continued to expand, and the number of officials with other surnames became larger and larger, so other types of crowns became a big stream. This trend has become very clear by the time of Qin Shi Huang.
In the modern impression, Qin Shi Huang was crowned (see Figure 2), but such an image is inaccurate. Qin Shi Huang could only wear the crown before the unification of China, because immediately after the unification he did one thing - abolished the six crown system of the Zhou Dynasty, and showed great enthusiasm for the crown from then on.
Qin Shi Huang himself often wore the Heavenly Crown and absorbed the crowns of other princely states into his own official clothing system. For example, the sable cicada crown of the State of Zhao was designated as the crown of the warrior general; the crown of the badger of the State of Chu was designated as the crown of the judge; and the crown of the mountain of the State of Qi was designated as the crown of the Gurudwara. The reason for this is not difficult to understand, to govern the whole of China, it is no longer enough to rely on the surname alone, and it is necessary to build a bureaucratic system with a large number of foreign surnames. The crown reflects the family rule, and the abolition of the crown and the development of the crown have become a practical need.
As can be seen from the Ming Dynasty's encyclopedic catalogue book "Three Talents Tuhui", Liu Bang inherited the clothing system of the Qin Dynasty, so none of the western Han emperors wore a crown in the portrait. Other historical sources also show that in the Western Han Dynasty, There were Liu Bang's favorite Liu Clan Crown (see Figure 3), Fan Duo Guan (see Figure 4), as well as Wei Mao Guan, Jin Xian Guan, Jianhua Guan, Fang Shan Guan, Qiao Shi Guan, but Enemy Crown and other head dresses.
Unlike modern times, which primarily serve aesthetics, ancient clothing serves more politics. Understanding such differences, you can see the historical truth and evolution behind the clothing.