Transcript The Inheritance and Development

Chinese Dress and
Adornment Culture
Dress and Adornment Culture



Dress and adornment culture is a culture
formed in the course of protecting people’s
bodies and beautifying their images. “Hunger
breeds discontentment.”
It is made up of dress and adornments
including ornaments and jewelry. The former
mainly functions as a physical protection with
certain aesthetic consideration, and the latter
displays appreciation of beauty, with protection
as a minor function.
So the culture has two functions: protection
and aesthetics.
The Inheritance and Development




Dress culture is characterized by distinctive
development stages. Different styles in different
historical periods, with prototype in ancient dress.
In primary times, people used leaves and grass to
cover their bodies. Fur clothes with bone needles
twist linen into threads with stone or pottery
spindles. “apron, cloak and slip-overs” “围，披，
套”
During Shang and Zhou dynasties, “right-buttoned
and hari-bound” dress characteristics were formed.
As for hair-style, ancient Chinese all bound their
hair upward with hair claps.
The Inheritance and Development


Of all the hats in ancient China, coronet had the
longest history.
There were 12 strings
on emperor’s crown,
But only three on the
coronet of the peers.
People of lower ranks
were forbidden to wear it.
The Inheritance and Development

Dress in Western Zhou Dynasty inherited the customs of
Shang. Men usually wore high hats, broad belt with pleats
under it, while women wore low collared narrow sleeved
blouse with pleats decorated beneath the waist.
The Inheritance and Development
.In the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring
States Period, gown and Hu Dress appeared.
In the same period, hat-wearing was a much
emphasized rite.
The dress of the Qin and the Han dynasties basically
followed those of the Warring States Period.
The pant of the Han were equivalent to today’s split
pants. Furthermore, pants with crotch and short
pants also appeared. Women in Han liked awlshaped hair bun with ornaments, such as Buyao
and scarf.
The Inheritance and Development


From Wei Dynasty to the South and North
Dynasty, China was in a period of ethic merging.
The dress of this period was characterized by
diversified styles and obsolescence.
Skirt-wearing was a fashion among women in the
Tang Dynasty. Women’s clothing was mainly
made up of three parts: skirt, blouse and shawl.
The characteristics of ancient Chinese Dress
In remote ages, little difference was found
between women wearing and that of men.
 Clothes had become a distinct symbol of
professions as different clothes
corresponded with different careers in
ancient China.
 Originally, dress did not symbolize social
status, but the situation changed after class
polarization（分化).

Different kinds of ancient clothes
 Civilian
clothes
 Working suits
 Ceremonial dress
 Religious dress