It has been said that humans possess shame and are able to cover, protect, and decorate themselves through clothing, which is one of the main differences between humans and animals.
Indeed, the invention of clothing is for mankind not only a symbol of civilization, but also a sign of the development of human culture. Every race and country has its own unique clothing, and the mainland is no exception, for example, the historical Hanfu, which has the origin of "starting from the Yellow Emperor and preparing for Yao Shun" since ancient times.
According to the "Book of Han": "Counting the pilgrimage, the Le Han clothing system", it can be seen that "Hanfu" has formed a complete clothing system system in the history of the mainland, and has a strong etiquette culture.
In fact, the clothing of each dynasty on the mainland is different, and these clothing differences also reflect the different ideas of the rulers, and reflect the differences in the atmosphere of the dynasty and the social environment.
Throughout the dynasties, according to the development process of Hanfu, it is only right that it is more and more relaxed, but after the Tang Dynasty, especially in the Ming Dynasty, Hanfu is more and more "atavistic" and can only show its head and hands.
First, the years of Hanfu's development
1. The origin and characteristics of Hanfu
The aforementioned Hanfu is rumored to have originated from the invention of the Yellow Emperor, and it was not until his wife Zhuzu discovered the silkworm weaving silk that the clothing could be developed and improved.
According to historical records, Hanfu may have first appeared in the Yin Shang period, when 'tops and bottoms' appeared.
By the time of the Western Zhou Dynasty, Hanfu developed rapidly. At that time, people referred to Xia and Shang, and formed a set of crown service system and chapter service system with the central idea of "Son of Heaven's crown service".
Since then, the word "clothing" has become synonymous with civilization, and with the change of dynasties, this Hanfu has also continued to develop and improve.
For example, in the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, the "deep clothes" with straight collars and wide body and large sleeves, it is recorded in the "Liji Shenyi", "In the case of Yu clothing, the top and bottom of the garment are not connected, and the deep clothes are connected, and the body is deep, so it is called deep clothing." In addition, a tunic that facilitates movement has been derived.
In general, Hanfu is basically divided into: clothing, deep clothing, robe, skirt, and hakama, which are composed of four parts: first clothing, body clothing, foot clothing, and accessories, each of which has strict technical requirements and aesthetic pursuits.
No matter how Hanfu developed, the characteristics of the right side of the collar, the bottom of the tunic, and the hidden button of the tie have not changed to this day, and later because the sleeve circle corresponds to the "heavenly circle", and the collar overlaps the rectangle corresponding to the "place", it is highly respected and loved by the rulers.
2. The integration of Hanfu and culture
In addition to the idea of "Heavenly Round Place", the ancients also liked to integrate their cultural ideas into clothing, combining "ruling the world" and "ruling clothing", for example, the "I Ching · Zhixia" has a record: "The Yellow Emperor and Shun ruled the world by hanging their clothes, and the benefits were taken from Qiankun".
When it comes to cultural thought, we have to mention one of the favorite doctrines of ancient rulers - Confucianism.
In the Confucian concept of governance, there is a saying of "the crown of the Zhou", so Hanfu contains Confucian thought, and this idea has influenced the history of clothing in China for thousands of years.
What's more, the classic books of Confucianism in the four books and five classics all write about the characteristics of Hanfu, which makes Hanfu run through the entire crown service system, the system of respect and inferiority, and even the word "Huaxia" in the country today also comes from Hanfu, according to the "Shangshu Justice" note: "Crown service Huazhang Yuhua, big country Yuxia".
For women, the style of Hanfu can not only reflect their status, but also reflect the requirements of society for women at that time. For example, the Tang Dynasty was open, and there is a poem: "The pink chest half-hides the dark snow, and the drunken eyes oblique back to the small sample knife." "At this time, women's clothing was mostly low-cut skirts, wide skirts and colorful colors.
Finally, to a certain extent, Hanfu also reflects the integrity and cultural self-confidence of the Han people.
In the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, after the Manchu iron horse invaded the Central Plains, the rulers at that time wanted to destroy the integrity and backbone of the Han people and weaken the Han people's sense of national identity in order to maintain their rule, and repeatedly issued the "shaving and changing clothes" order.
"Jin Tianmei has been united, Emperor Taizong forbids the people to be in Han clothes, and makes them bald", this is from the record of "Barnyard Banknotes", which shows that the importance of Hanfu is not only a piece of clothing, but a symbol of national spiritual culture.
Second, the clothing of the Ming Dynasty
Then again, since the Tang Dynasty, Hanfu has continued to improve, especially women's clothing has become more and more restricted, narrow, and more "retro", and in the Ming Dynasty, even women's clothing is allowed to show their heads and hands, and the reasons are none other than the following.
1. Characteristics of clothing in the Ming Dynasty
"Inherit the Zhou Han on the top, take the Tang and Song Dynasties below" This is the clothing inheritance characteristics of the Ming Dynasty, but compared with the gorgeousness of the Tang Dynasty, the clothing of the Ming Dynasty is more simple and elegant, and people take this as a fashion pursuit, and the clothing at this time generally includes shirts, jackets, xia drapes, pants, bijia and skirts.
The so-called "flower crown skirt, large sleeves and round neck" refers to the clothing of women in the Ming Dynasty. Its development in the clothing of the Song Dynasty, mostly round neck, wide sleeves, the top gradually lengthened, but the skirt gradually shortened, there are historical records, three collars and narrow sleeves, more than three feet long, showing skirts two or three inches, looking quite like the traditional clothing of the Han Dynasty.
In addition, the clothing of women in the Ming Dynasty had a strict hierarchy, grading colors, materials, suits, etc., and there were clear regulations on when to wear what kind of clothes, so the Han clothing of the Ming Dynasty was also divided into ceremonial clothes and ordinary clothes, and the clothing of noblewomen and folk women.
For example, noble ladies can wear big red robes, while ordinary women can only wear light colors such as light pink and green, and the decorations on their clothes are also different, which also represent the difference in status of these people.
2. It is not easy for women
When it comes to women's clothing in the Ming Dynasty, the first thing to be clear about is that women are not easy.
In particular, the ancient feudal society was extremely harsh on women, basically women were appendages of men, which meant that women did not have real freedom and the right to choose, and basically fell victim to male rule.
"Rites, Funeral Dresses, and Zixia Biography" writes: "A woman has three righteousness, and there is no special way. Therefore, if you do not marry your father, you marry your husband, and your husband dies from your son", which shows that the ancients had strict requirements for women.
For the rulers of the Song Dynasty, this traditional clothing with only their heads and hands could be a good demonstration of their rights and political ideas, limited the development of women, and better maintained their dominance.
By the time of the Ming Dynasty, the rule of patriarchal society had reached a new stage that was unimaginable to previous dynasties, and the pressures and constraints faced by women in this period became stronger and stronger.
What "a woman's talentlessness is virtue", "men do not speak internally, women do not speak outside, internal words do not speak, foreign words do not enter", "marry chickens with chickens, marry dogs with dogs" ideas abound, and women are only their private property.
The Ming Dynasty completely inherited the conservative nature of the Song Dynasty in this regard, and also carried forward this characteristic, and they oppressed women step by step through conservative clothing, making them lose their own thoughts and their right to speak.
There is no doubt that the Ming Dynasty succeeded.
At that time, women's minds had been changed, they would not think, they would not resist, silently adapt and withstand these pressures, which made the promotion of "atavistic" retro clothes extremely smooth, and even they thought that this kind of clothing was a reward and honor.
In fact, this kind of conservative clothing is not only not an honor but also a shackle, but also directly reflects the low social status of women, forming a strong contrast with the high male status.
3. Social bondage
As mentioned earlier, the Ming Dynasty inherited the conservative clothing of the Song Dynasty, in addition, the Ming Dynasty also inherited the conservative cultural ideas of the Song Dynasty.
The Song Dynasty was a magical dynasty, during which many literati and scholars were born, and a Confucian doctrine "Cheng Zhu Lixue" that influenced later dynasties was also born.
This doctrine can be called a cancer of women, and its advocacy of "saving heavenly reason, destroying human desire" directly attributes "desire" to women, and women in that period were almost not allowed to go out and could not socialize, developing "men and women are not intimate" to the extreme.
During the Ming Dynasty, the development of Cheng Zhu Lixue reached its peak, and also developed the ideas and propositions of "male superiority and female inferiority" and "three principles and five constants" in Confucianism to the peak, and the restraint on women became more and more serious.
Among them, the "Three Principles" are recorded in the "Liwei Hanwen Jia": "The three principles mean that the king is the principle of subjects, the father is the son, and the husband is the wife", and the "five constants" refer to benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and faith, these five codes of conduct, which are full of ethics and morality and hierarchy of dignity and inferiority.
It happened that Hanfu contained these ideas, and based on this, the Ming rulers restored the crown clothing system, chose more conservative styles in clothing, and strengthened ideological control.
Coupled with the feudal ideology of etiquette adding a chain to women, making them pay more and more attention to their chastity, so they naturally choose this kind of conservative clothing to make themselves meet the requirements of social ethics.
III. Concluding remarks
In the end, the biggest reason for the retro and even atavistic clothing of the Ming Dynasty is the culture and ideology of patriarchal rule, especially since the emergence of the Zhou etiquette system, ethics and hierarchy have been integrated into clothing, and rulers have increasingly relied on the crown service system in order to better govern the country.
Another is that women's non-resistance exacerbates this situation, fueling this culture of oppression, in a sense that this old-fashioned, retro clothing is also their own choice.
It is undeniable that Hanfu is the carrier of a nation's spirit and solar terms, and the cultural system and system it carries are an important part of etiquette culture and an indispensable part of Chinese civilization.
However, whether good or bad, Hanfu, which has a history of thousands of years in China, not only carries the inheritance of civilization and witnesses the rise and fall of the times, but also sees the small and the big from these costumes, and can see the etiquette, humility and cultural spirit of patriarchal rule under feudal society.
Reference literature:
The Development and Decline of Hanfu
"The Evolution, Development and Revival of Hanfu"
"Basic Characteristics of Hanfu and Development of Past Dynasties"
#历史开讲 #