The Gorgeous Han Style

Cao Zhe

Cao Zhe is a researcher specializing in the history of ancient Chinese clothing and an associate professor at the School of Textiles and Clothing of Nantong University.

This book covers two basic topics： traditional Hanfu and modern Hanfu. While sorting out the history of the development of traditional Chinese clothing， this book presents the beauty and evolution of Hanfu with 220 beautiful pictures.

Hanfu

Cao Zhe

Zhonghua Book Company

October 2022

78.00 （CNY）

The Qin Dynasty integrated the six kingdoms and established a great unified empire， but unfortunately the time of its ruling was too short. Although Qin achieved the standardization of written characters and measures in a dozen years， it was impossible to achieve a truly great cultural integration at that time. The Han Dynasty lasted for more than 400 years， which gave it enough time to form a highly cohesive cultural system. In the early Han Dynasty， the rulers believed in the theories of the Yellow Emperor and Lao Zi， and used Taoism as a guiding strategy for governing the country. Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty adopted Dong Zhongshu’s advice and established Confucianism as the core ideological system and the orthodoxy of society. Confucianism has persisted as the orthodoxy for more than 2，000 years and still has a profound influence today. Confucianism’s concept of grand unity allowed us to maintain its unity as a nation centered around Han culture throughout history， no matter how divided and fragmented it was. Confucianism became the ideological core of the system of Hanfu， and even the change of dynasties and forms of dress did not change this core. The clothing system was actually a visual hierarchy， a concrete manifestation of the patriarchal system.

The Book of Later Han — Yu Fu elaborated on the ritual order that the Yu Fu （meaning carriage and clothing respectively） system was meant to maintain， elegantly describing the hierarchy， implying that in order to honor benevolence and reverence for the wise， it was necessary to honor those who were virtuous and of high status. Those who did not have that status were not allowed to wear that kind of clothing. The actual meaning was that the hierarchical order could not be messed up， and this was the dress code followed throughout Chinese feudal history.

In the early Han Dynasty， the clothing system of the Qin Dynasty was largely maintained， and both Xiang Yu and Liu Bang should be considered as Chu people （there is also controversy that Liu Bang was from Wei）. Although there is no direct record， we can see from the images the similarity between the clothing of the Han Dynasty and those of Chu， and it is possible that the Han Dynasty followed the clothing of Chu more closely. The difference between the clothing of the Qin terracotta warriors and those of the Han Dynasty is obvious， and the Han clothing was probably a modification based on the Chu clothing. The Han Dynasty’s clothing system of quju （curving-front） shenyi （full length robe with connected upper jacket and bottom skirt） was gradually improved and refined until the second year of Yongping， Emperor Ming of the Eastern Han Dynasty， when a completed crown and clothing system was established， marked by the perfection of the official clothing. In the early Han Dynasty， there was no limitation on the color of clothing for the general public， and the officials were all in black garments. The distinction of rank was mainly reflected by the crown cap and seal and its silk ribbon in the Han Dynasty， so the crown systems in the Han Dynasty were more complicated， and there were as many as sixteen kinds recorded in the literature. In the Han Dynasty， the name of the crown was used to name the whole set of clothes， which was related to the fact that the head was in the upper part of the body thus having a prestigious status. In Han Dynasty， there were more than ten kinds of crowns， such as Jue bian， leather bian， Tongtian crown， Yuanyou crown， Jinxian crown， Gaoshan crown， Fa crown and Wu crown. According to the Book of Later Han， Liu Bang also created a kind of crown， a high crown made of bamboo skin， called “Liu crown，” but it is difficult to know its specific shape today. The crown was worn according to the official rank and was used in line with different ceremonial rituals. There was also relatively simple headgear such as jin and ze. The common people used jin， a kind of turban， to bundle their hair， and later on， the high-status people used fujin to wrap their heads. The clothes of the Han dynasty mainly include pao （robe）， chanyu （plain jacket）， ru （short jacket）， qun （skirt）， etc. The difference in style between men and women’s clothes was minor， mainly in color and patterns. In the early years of the Western Han Dynasty， merchants were not allowed to wear fabrics such as jinxiu （brocade）， qi （figured woven silk material）， hu （crepe）， ji （fine linen cloth）， jian （wool fabric）， etc. During the time of Emperor Cheng of the Han Dynasty， it was said that commoners could wear green clothes， and livid purple was only allowed to be worn by high officials， but it was also common for servants of noble families to wear embroidered clothes and silk footwear at that time. During the Han Dynasty， weaving and embroidery were developed， and although the style of clothing was simple， rich and noble people could wear silk and satin and clothes with complicated embroidery. The main clothing for the commoners was a short coat and kua. The kua， also called the jingyi （calf-length legging）， was a tube-shaped garment that wrapped around the legs and later developed into open-crotch pants.

The most common attire for women in the Western Han Dynasty was a full-length curving-front robe with a right lapel， with a belt around the waist， the end of which hung down in front. The collar and cuffs were decorated with trimmings， without which the clothes would be called “rags.” The most common hairstyle was to divide the hair at the top of the head and gather it into a bun at the back of the head， called the “tongxin bun， ” or to bind the hair down and hang it at the back， called the “chui shao. ” During the Han Dynasty， working women wore a jacket on top and a skirt on the bottom for ease of movement， while working men wore a jacket on top and calf-nose pants on the bottom， and a cover skirt on the outside of the jacket， which was mainly worn by slaves， serfs and merchants. Although there were many styles of clothing in the Han Dynasty， the most representative style of the Han Dynasty was shenyi and its derivative clothing， among which the more distinctive one was a dance costume. In the early Han Dynasty， there was a popular dance which focused on the techniques of long sleeves and back-bending. Lady Qi， a favorite concubine of Gaozu Liu Bang， was good at this dance. The dancers wore a kind of clothing with very long sleeves， which matched well with this dance.

Fu Yi described in his Dance Fu： “The silk clothes fluttered with the wind， and the long sleeves soared in the air. The dancer’s body was graceful and pulchritude， and her movements were light and fluid. The body was like the long dragon flying in the wind， and the sleeves were like pure clouds hanging in the sky.” The dance clothes worn by the excavated Western Han pottery figurines are mostly shenyi， with long sleeves on the inner clothes. After the Eastern Han Dynasty， shenyi were mostly robes with straight fronts. A straight front means that the hem of the bodice is vertically shaped and does not need to be wrapped around the back， making it convenient to put on and take off. The modern design of Han-style Hanfu is also based on straight-front shenyi. During the Wei and Jin dynasties， shenyi were still used as formal wear， and at that time， all of them were straight-front.

During that period， women also wore plain upper garments and lower skirts， with long skirts touching the ground. In the late Three Kingdoms period， a new style of women’s clothing appeared with a long top and a short bottom， with the hem of the upper garment reaching below the knee to cover the long skirt. At that time， women’s dress style was renewed， and the embroidery pattern of clothes was complicated. There were also innovations in style， resulting in more flowing and graceful jackets and skirts for women. Although the Wei and Jin dynasties had seen more turmoil in society， clothing was varied. The popular attire for women in the Jin Dynasty was a cross-collared jacket with a waistcoat and a wide belt around the waist. The women’s clothing was constantly changed， sometimes long and sometimes short， sometimes wide and sometimes narrow， within a very short time. The overall trend was that the upper garment became shorter， and the waistline was gradually raised. In the Jin Dynasty， women wore a new kind of shenyi， with more layers of lapels around the body， and the hem of the clothing increased in size and was decorated with xian and shao. For example， the women in the painting Luo Shen Fu also wore a type of shenyi， which consists of an elaborate top garment and a plain bottom garment， with the front of the skirt decorated with xian and shao. “Xian” is usually made of silk fabric， wide at the top and pointed at the bottom like a triangle， with layers overlapping each other. “Shao” is a ribbon that stretches out from the wrap. The ribbon was long and would be carried in the wind when walking. This style emerged in the Han Dynasty and flourished in the Wei and Jin dynasties. The ribbon was no longer used in the North and South Dynasties， while “xian” was lengthened.

There is also a kind of formal attire commonly worn by women called gui， which is largely similar to shenyi， wide at the top and narrow at the bottom， with sharp corners formed by the coiling of the lapels at the bottom of the attire. After the Southern Song Dynasty， the empress wore a gui ceremonial gown on occasions of sacrifice. The gui ceremonial gown is also known as huiyi， with a knotted band hanging down in front of the tunic. In the Sui Dynasty， the gui ceremonial gown was also used as a girl’s wedding dress.