Preface
Clothing, food, housing and transportation summarize the basic aspects of human life, and there are many kinds of clothes and fabrics worn by people today, including cotton, wool, silk, linen, wool, leather, chemical fiber and so on.
Paper clothes, that is, clothes made of paper, are paper products rather than textiles, and modern people use fashion catwalks for very different purposes, the ancients wore paper clothes to cover the body, against the wind and cold, sometimes also used as paper silk, paper robes, Chu clothes and other names.
Of course, the old custom of incinerating paper clothes for the dead is still practiced in some parts of modern society.
Paper clothing is used for garment inspection
The ruling class of feudal society was arrogant and lascivious during their lifetime, and after their death, they also had to build mausoleums on a large scale, and emperors who used paper clothes as clothing for inspection were rare. Guo Wei (Later Zhou Taizu) during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period advocated thrift and benevolence for the people during his lifetime.
Before his death, he also asked his adopted son Chai Rong (later Zhou Shizong) to bury him in a thin coffin of "paper clothes and tiles", "The History of the Old Five Dynasties, Zhou Shu, Taizu Ji" contains: "If I can't afford this disease, you will quickly cure the mountain mausoleum, and the mausoleum does not need to use stone pillars, labor, only replace it with bricks."
Cloth with tile coffin paper. Don't guard the mausoleum people, and don't use stone men and stone beasts, only set up a stone to remember.
Engraved word cloud: "The emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty made an appointment with the emperor of the heir, and he was very frugal in his life, so he only ordered the burial of the tile coffin and paper clothes." If this is not done, the Yin Spirit will not help. ”
It is not known whether the tile coffin paper clothes are really used in the Songling Tomb, but there are no stone people, stone beasts and other things in front of the tomb.
In the forty-first year of Qianlong in the Qing Dynasty (1776, "Xinzheng County Chronicles" recorded: there was an old stone tablet in front of Songling, which was engraved with "Zhou Tianzi was frugal in his life, and his testament was made of paper clothes and tile coffins, and the heirs of Tianzi did not dare to disobey it".
In Guo Wei's hometown Guoyuan Village, there is still a thin burial talk of "the funeral is rude, the burial is safe, the post-Zhou legacy is the wind, and the paper clothes and tile coffin" are still circulated.
The history of the Song Dynasty recorded that when Fang Shi (later known as Taoist priest) Zhen Qizhen died, he wore paper clothes, and "History of the Song Dynasty, Fang Ji Chuan Zhen Qi Zhen" contained: "Mu Cheng (note: that is, Zhen Qizhen, Fang Shi), did not eat for a month, said goodbye to the paper known to the common people, and died on December 2. ”
Among the ethnic minorities of the Yuan Dynasty, there were also funerals of "paper clothes and tile coffins". "Yuan History, Biography Tenth Taben" contains: "Taben, Yiwulu people.
People are good at promoting people's kindness, called Yang Gong, similar to the spring day, feasting the crowd, returning to the disease, and then dying, it is the sunset star, faintly sounding. The testament was buried in a paper cloth coffin, and the gift was given to the meritorious heroes of Chengding Yuanzuoyun, Tai, Shi, Kaifu Yi and the three divisions, Shangzhu Guo, and the posthumous seal of the camp Guogong, Yi Zhongwu. ”
In addition to ancient documents, paper clothes also have archaeological physical evidence, and paper clothes and paper shoes were unearthed in the Yuan tomb found in the "Five Women's Tomb" in Jishan County, Shanxi.
Paper clothing is used for everyday clothing
The most basic function of clothing is to cover shame, in addition to the role of wind and cold heat preservation, which are the practicality of paper clothing. As a paper product, paper clothing has the economic characteristics of low price compared with textile clothing.
Looking at the historical background of ancient China, it is not difficult to understand why people at that time "used paper as clothing"
Obviously, there is a prerequisite for cotton to become the basic raw material for public clothing, that is, the popularization of cotton cultivation.
So before the large-scale cultivation of cotton in ancient China, did people ever think about what people used to make clothes at that time?
Professor You Xiuling, an agricultural historian, believes that before the Tang Dynasty, the population of the country was not very large, and the Han Dynasty reached 60 million at its peak, and the Three Kingdoms, the Northern and Southern Dynasties all decreased to less than 40 million, and it was only in the early Tang Dynasty that it recovered to 60 million.
Successive dynasties vigorously cultivated mulberry hemp, so the pressure on clothing of the population was not very great; From the Yuan Dynasty to the Ming and Qing dynasties, although the population increased greatly, because of cotton, the pressure on clothing was also eased.
Only during the 600 years of the Tang and Song dynasties, the population of the Yangtze River valley increased significantly, and the farmland reclamation efforts were made to develop, mainly to solve the food problem, and the problem of clothing was relatively tense.
It is precisely in this period that China's papermaking technology is developing greatly, and the sources of papermaking raw materials are abundant, and the processing technology and types of paper have been unprecedentedly innovative.
In the case of the great development of paper production, in addition to the use of paper for printing books, Buddhist scriptures, paintings, documents, pasting windows, pasting walls, etc., some people who lack clothes and quilts naturally want to use paper to make paper clothes, paper jackets, and paper quilts to keep out the cold.
Combing through ancient historical materials, modern people will inevitably be surprised to find that wearing paper clothes is a very common phenomenon in a period of history. This period of history is mainly the end of the Tang Dynasty and the Song Dynasty.
All kinds of people in paper clothes
Sima Guang, Zizhi Tongjian, Volume 222. Tang Ji 38 recorded: "Back in Tokyo, wanton killing, thousands of dead, the fire will not be extinguished."
Shuofang, the Shence army also took Tokyo, Zheng, Bian, and Ruzhou as thieves, and the houses were plundered, and the March was already, and the houses were wiped out, and the people were clothed and papered. Back to the looted treasure in Heyang, leave it to abide by it. ”
Wang Pizhi of the Northern Song Dynasty recorded in "Mixed Water Swallow Talks, Volume 9, Miscellaneous Records": "In the eighth year of Xining, there was a great hunger in Huaixi, and people were cannibalistic.
And the measures can not be the deputy court to love the meaning of the Yuan Yuan, appease the first county, with magnolia roast tofu, open the appetite of the hungry people, and mention the punishment of the county to make more paper jackets for clothing, and get the rice field to live in, appeasement can be worry-free, the person who heard it is ashamed, the court knows it, and re-dethroned. ”
The paper jacket mentioned above is a lined jacket made of paper, and the "paper jacket" mentioned below is similar to the paper jacket, which is specially thickened to enhance the effect of keeping out the cold.
In the Tang Dynasty, Yin Yaofan's poem "Gift to the Teacher" reads: "The cloud locks the wood and chats about the shadow, and the snow incense paper jacket does not produce dust." Song Dynasty Zeng Marrow "The Legend of the Immortals": ", Mr. Wang Yin Wang Wushan, often dressed in paper jackets, people call Wang paper jackets,. ”
Zhang Kejiu of the Yuan Dynasty "Drunk Taiping, Small Hidden in the Mountains" song: "Wrapped in white cloud paper jackets, hanging green bamboo and linen, a pot of village wine and fishing wood, looking at Penglai prostitution." ”
Liu Kezhuang, a poet and poet critic in the Southern Song Dynasty, quoted Xu Siyuan's quatrain in "Houcun Poems, Words Sequel Volume 1": Paper clothes and bamboo are a futon, close the door and burn their self-bending plates, recite the twenty-fifth of "Lisao", and I don't know that the moon is falling and the night is cold.
The lyricist vividly depicts the scene of himself wearing paper clothes and burning his house to keep warm, no wonder the Southern Song Dynasty physicist Ye Shi (Ye Shuixin) said that Xu Siyuan "has the joy of freezing and starving and self-defense"
Lu You of the Southern Song Dynasty wrote in "Jiannan Collection, Volume 48. The poem "Rain and Cold Play" also says: Sweeping the garden to harvest coconut leaves, grounding Xiaobo furnace, fortunately Cai cooks porridge, and he is ashamed to make glutinous paper.
Glutinous is a short coat, Lu You's "He is ashamed of paper is glutinous" may not be indifferent, but just self-deprecation, after all, paper clothes are cheap and inconsistent with the identity of literati and bachelors, and I am afraid that people who judge people by their appearance will be ridiculed.
Unlike other literati and bachelors, the king of the Yuan Dynasty swept away the shabby atmosphere of the papyrus paper clothes and praised the paper clothes, "Ruan Lang Gui, Yong Paper Clothes": Cai Lun helped to make Ruan Langgui, and he showed the paper clothes.
Fresh and clean, the world is rare. Right and wrong in the dust, Qiong Biaoying, jade brilliance, frost and wind turn slightly, the cold power retreats to the sky, and the white clouds fly freely.
It is really helpless for the poor people who are hungry and cold to wear paper clothes, and it is surprising that some of the soldiers wear paper clothes.
History of the Song Dynasty. Volume 194: Soldier VIII records that when there were "those who have clothes and paper and armor" among the soldiers, Wang Anshi sighed as "extremely embarrassed" and pointed out that "this is the most worrying".
The "great worry" must be that the soldiers' uniforms are still so "shabby", and the combat effectiveness of the army is even more worrying.
Hongmai of the Southern Song Dynasty "Rong Zhai Three Strokes, Volume 6" contains: "Sunday Chapter, Xinzhou Yongfeng people. Conduct and cleanliness, be respected by the people of Yi, open the door to teach apprentices, only to self-sufficiency, not to take anything from its righteousness.
The family is poor, and they often go on hunger strikes all day long, and their neighbors may give little to them. From time to time, I would rather endure hunger with my wife, die than ask for people, and the cold is draped in paper, and the guests are visited, and they are also glad to accept it, look at their appearance, listen to their discussions, and they are all shrugged.
The county lieutenant Xie Sheng left behind his clothes, saying: Mr. did not have a request, I want to cause him to be diligent and diligent, and he was not injured, and Rizhang replied with a smile: "A dress and ten thousand bells and other ears, if there is no name to accept it, it is not to distinguish etiquette and righteousness, and to resign, Wang Shengxi also knows his sage, thinking that it is close to the so-called lone wanderer in ancient times." ”
Another example is "History of the Song Dynasty - Volume 483: The Biography of Li Guanxiang" records that Zhou Xingfeng was cold and cruel, and when Li Guanxiang served as his secretary, "he was afraid of disasters, and he was self-motivated to seek knowledge. ”
It can be seen that Li Guanxiang wants to express his incorruptible image through "using paper as a thing".
Raw materials and production technology for the production of paper clothing
In the Song Dynasty, Su Yijian's "Four Scores of the Study, Volume 4, Paper Spectrum" proposed the method of making paper clothes: "I also tried and smelled the method of making paper clothes, and every 100 pieces were boiled with walnuts and frankincense one or two."
No, steaming is also wonderful, such as steaming, that is, Hengjiu frankincense, so that the hot and ripe dry, with the arrow dry horizontal roll and smooth it, near the scholar doctor also has clothes, Galli its resistance to the wind in the condensation. ”
The so-called "roll horizontally with the arrow and follow it", which means that the paper is wrinkled and wrinkled by squeezing, so that the stress can be dispersed and tears can be avoided.
"The Buddha's Chronicles, Volume 44" records: "Wash and cook the bulbs of the weak and other underground bulbs, cool them to a moderate rate, peel them, pound them into a paste, stick thick paper to make them garments, and apply persimmon astringency, and knead them by hand after drying them to make them soft."
Sleeping overnight, the smell of persimmon astringency can be removed, the texture is strong, enough to block the rain and dew, wind and cold, light and convenient, the cost is also less, and there are many users in ancient times.
The excellent quality of the ancient paper clothes in the mainland can be seen, and the raw materials of the paper clothes are generally sewn from thick and strong plugging paper, or dyed or natural.
It is crumpled and quite durable, and it is also wind-resistant and breathable when wearing paper clothing. It became more popular after the Song Dynasty.
The mid-20th century paper dress made of paper rope in the collection of the Kaisung Museum in Seoul, South Korea, is 93 cm wide and 53 cm high, which can be regarded as the "weaving method" for making paper clothes.
epilogue
It can be seen that paper clothing has been widely used because of its practical performance and excellent quality of covering the body, avoiding cold and keeping warm, which is a social phenomenon under the historical conditions of the Tang and Song dynasties.
At that time, it solved a considerable number of clothing problems, especially for people who were not yet rich, which was another major contribution of the mainland paper industry to mankind, and will continue to shine in the annals of history, and also fully reflected the development level of the ancient handmade paper industry in the mainland at that time.
As one well-known cultural figure pointed out: "Clearly, in history, paper has not only played a single role as a "carrier of writing".
Therefore, it is necessary to conduct a more comprehensive tracking study on the scale, nature and status of paper manufacturing in Chinese history, as is the case in the history of glass in the West. ”
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