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Food, clothing, shelter and tranportation are usually
regarded the four most basic neccessities of life by Chinese people.
In ancient
society people lived in crude caves, naked. During the
New Stone Age they invented bone
needle and began to sew simple winter
dress with leaves and animal skins.
With the development of the society, people
were engaged in agriculture and they
started to spin and weave, even sewed coats with linen.
In the class society, dress
became the token of social status. It was
from the Xia and Shang Dynasties that
dress system came into being in China. In
the Zhou Dynasty, the system was perfected.
From then on the distinctions as to color,
design and adornment of dress were
strictly made among the emperor, officials and the
common people.
A coronet-shaped hat (Qing) |
China is a multi-national country. Each
nation has a traditional culture of its own.
The mutual support and inspiration among
different nationals made Chinese dress
more plentiful and glorious.
During the Sui and Tang Dynasties, the
economy boomed and people led a quiet
life. People from different countries gathered in
Changan and Luoyang to promote the
international cultural exchange. Particularly
the culture of middle Asia deeply influenced
Chinese dress system.
On the other hand the ideology also directly
influenced dress and adornment. During
the Warring States period, many vassal states were competing with each other,
hence the patterns of dress and adornment
became diversified. During the Sui and Tang,
the unity of ancient China and the prosperity of
economy brought about new thoughts, and
the dress became splendid, particularly the
decolIetage appeared. Because of the
intensity of the feudal ideology, the patterns
of dress and adornment gradually became
conservative from the Song and Ming
Dynasties. Influenced by western cultures,
the designs were more fitting and tasteful
from late Ming.
The patterns of ancient dress were classified
into two groups:"coat-and-skirt" and "one-
piece". "Coat-and-skirt" were mainly worn by
women and "one-piece" by men.
A cotton-padded jacket with round lower hem |
Stringent rules are made for the color of
ancient dress and adornment. Yellow is the
most valuable color as a symbol of center.
Green, red, white and black symbolize the
East, the South, the West and the North
respectively. Green, red, black, white and
yellow are pure colors applied by the
emperors and officials. The common people
could only apply the secondary colors. With
the development of the society, the colors of
the dress, which are more harmonious and
form a partial contrast, replace that of
remote ages, which was very simple. These
changes make the dress and adornment
splendid.
The geometrical patterns, the pictures of
animals and plants were widely adopted on
ancient dress and adornments. Before Shang
and Zhou, the patterns were primitive,
succinct and abstract. After Zhou the
patterns became much neater. The
compositions were balanced and symmetric.
During the Tang and Song more attentions
were paid to the compositions. From the
Ming and Qing Dynasties most of the
patterns were realistic, and the flowers,
animals and mountains-and-waters were all
really true to life.
Jinlian (a sort of out-of-date shoes for ancient Chinese women) |
The articles of clothing of past dynasties are
one chapter of Chinese long history and
culture. They are not only the reflection of
the politics and economy of a given society,
but also the great contributions for world
civilization.
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