What is that white veil on Wu Jinyan’s new costume look? Fans spotted leaked photos from Daobi Niangzi (刀笔娘子), showing her draped in plain pale traditional robes with a soft white fabric falling from her hair down toward her shoulders. Online viewers offered two quick guesses. Some thought it copied the shawl seen on Guanyin (观音), while others mistook it for mourning cloth. Neither guess hits the mark. This head covering traces back to an old traditional item called Fujin (幅巾), once widely worn across ancient China.
Guanyin Shawl
This flowing cloth belongs only to Buddhist statues and stage performances. Common people never wore it in daily life. It never served as regular headwear for ordinary men or women in ancient times.
Two classic styles exist. One attaches to a long robe like a hooded cover. The other is thin and sheer, stretching down past the waist or ankles. It loosely covers shoulders and arms, as seen with the Water-Moon Guanyin inside Fahai (法海) Temple.
Its purpose stays tied to religious imagery. It carries no connection to secular outfits, so the drama’s headpiece cannot be this design.
Mourning Cloth
Mourning cloth formed part of strict ancient funeral rules. Craftsmen usually wove it from rough linen or plain cotton, with no decorative details at all.
Local customs set fixed folding methods for it. People folded square fabric into sharp corners or wrapped white cloth tightly around the head. It only appeared during mourning periods.
The piece in the show uses lightweight gauze paired with small silver ornaments. Its texture and decorative touches separate it completely from plain, functional mourning cloth.
Fujin
Fujin ranks among the longest-used ancient head coverings. People wrapped a single strip of cloth horizontally over their hair bun, letting the ends hang loosely behind. It could be linen, gauze or silk, with dark and white as common choices.
Records of Fujin appear in the Book of the Later Han. Scholars and commoners wore it daily in the Han Dynasty. From late Eastern Han to the Wei-Jin period, educated men favored it over rigid official hats during gatherings and debates.
Men kept wearing Fujin through the Tang, Song, Yuan and Ming dynasties for casual outings at home. Late in the Ming era, young women also started to wear it to show they owned knowledge, just like the talented writer Liu Rushi.
Design Choice
The crew picked Fujin for three practical reasons. First, it fits the lead character Ruan Qingqing. She works as an ancient legal advocate, honest and principled. White Fujin matches her drive to uncover honest truth and highlights her scholarly spirit.
Second, it sets her apart from other female roles. Most costume drama heroines wear tall hairstyles piled with pearl hairpins. This simple white covering creates sharp visual contrast and makes her easy to recognize.
Third, it works well for filming. Its vertical lines adjust facial proportions. Thin gauze drifts gently outdoors in wind, and soft white fabric makes her face look bright and clean in close shots.
Many similar-looking costume pieces mix separate cultural traditions because of shared colors or shapes. The Fujin here gets artistic changes for cameras: it sits lightly above the bun, extends all the way to the heels, and pairs with three hairpins. It borrows from old records yet adapts fully for storytelling. This gentle white gauze look turns out to be a thoughtful reimagining of a forgotten traditional accessory.
