History & Culture

Kesi (缂丝), the most traditional type of silk weaving in the Chinese silk industry, which is highly appreciated for its decorative qualities. Kesi is a kind of pattern with warp and weft, forming a pattern border, with the effect as if was carved, and rich two-sided three-dimensional sense of silk crafts. The knitting technique of Kesi is different from the embroidery and brocade. Suzhou Kesi painting is also known as the "Four Great Weavers" of China, along with Hangzhou silk painting, Yongchun paper painting and Sichuan bamboo curtain painting. The Kesi technique has appeared many times in the collection of ancient costume dramas, such as the delicate Kesi fans in the hands of the concubines of “Story of Yanxi Palace”, adding endless style to them. The another drama “Marvelous Women” which take the Qing Dynasty as the background, has restored the weaving scene of the Kesi.   The Uniqueness of Kesi Different from the weaving method of Song brocade, Shu brocade, cloud brocade which are woven through the warp and weft. Kesi with raw silk as the warp, a variety of colorful cooked silk threads for the weft, which are dug and woven by the method of passing through the…

In the Chinese lunar calendar, the 15th day of the seventh month is the traditional Zhongyuan festival (Ghost festival). There is a folk saying that "At the half of the seventh month, the gate of ghosts will be opened", just like the plot of the movie "Coco". But is this really the case? And why is the Zhongyuan festival commonly considered to be a ghost festival? How did the ancient people spend this festival?   Zhongyuan Festival = Ghost Festival? Zhongyuan festival has a thousand-year history, and is also known as "Qi Yue Ban (七月半)" and "Yulanpen Festival (盂兰盆节)", each name representing a different ideological origin of the Zhongyuan festival. Simply put, it originated as a folk custom of ancestor worship, and later incorporated the ideas of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism. When it comes to traditional folklore ancestor worship, we have to mention the "Qiu Chang (秋尝)": an ancient sacrificial ritual held in July. Autumn is the harvest season, and ancient people offer the ripe grains to their ancestors to pray for a good harvest in the coming year. In the beginning, there was no fixed date for "Qiu Chang". As the 15th day of the 7th lunar month is…

Unlike the noble and elegant clothes of women in the Tang Dynasty, when it comes to Song Dynasty women costumes, maybe we are thinking of a graceful and restrained and a plain and neat feeling. The Song Dynasty was the dynasty with the most prosperous literati temperament in Chinese history. Women’s clothing in the Song Dynasty not only inherited the women's clothing system in the Tang Dynasty, moreover, combined with the characteristics of the times, created a dressing mode that belongs to the Song Dynasty. Its aesthetic standard is skinny beauty with fresh and elegant. It advocates slenderness and fit, exquisite material processing, soft tone, lightness, softness, elegance, and it has a strong atmosphere of life. So what kind of clothes did the women wear in the Song Dynasty thousands of years ago? In this article, ArtMoment will introduce 11 classic Song Dynasty women costumes to you.   1-Top In the Song Dynasty, women’s clothing was basically still coat and dress shape, divided into different forms. Tops mainly have Moxiong, Shan, Ru & Ao, Pao, Beizi, Banxiu, and so on. Moxiong Moxiong (抹胸, bandeau) is the most close-fitting clothing for women in the Song Dynasty. Its function is like today’s…

Can foreigners wear Hanfu? Which dynasty's Hanfu style is more suitable for non-Chinese people, Tang, Song, or Ming? Wearing Chinese hanfu costumes, tasting traditional Chinese food, and learning traditional handicrafts, three young ladies from different countries immersive experienced Chinese culture, in the recently released Chinese traditional culture creative short film "They Are All From China" by the Sichuan Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism, China. https://youtu.be/Ufvs8bqcYgA   Traditional Chinese Hanfu Costume Hanfu is the traditional national costume of the Han people and has a history of over 3,700 years, with different costumes and makeup for different dynasties. In this video, Ms. Ting Yue, the Chinese costume enthusiast and promoter, leads three foreign friends in a special Chinese cultural experience. They put on different dynasties Hanfu to achieve a "gorgeous transformation".   Tang Dynasty Hanfu The Tang Dynasty saw an unprecedented flourishing atmosphere of feudal society, with advanced society, cultural prosperity, advanced silk weaving techniques, and a nationwide tea drinking culture, making it a dynasty in which China exported a great deal of culture, art and technology to surrounding countries. At this time, clothing styles, colors, patterns, and so on, all presented a new situation, the gorgeous crowns and clothing are…

Much of Chinese culture involves Chinese myths. To understand the many festivals and holidays of China, here are 3 popular Chinese myths that you might find interesting:     The New Year Legend The Chinese New Year legend begans in a small village thousands of years ago. Every winter, a monster with the body of a bull and a head of a lion would enter this village and attack the villagers. The monster is called a “Nian.” The villagers were scared and didn’t know what to do. Until a wise old man came up with an idea! The next time the Nian appeared to attack their village, the people would use fireworks and drums to scare of the monster! The plan worked perfectly and the monster fled into the hills. From today onwards, every year on the day they scared off the monster, they would light fireworks and celebrate their victory. This day was the start of the Chinese New Year and the Spring Festival.   Houyi and Chang’e - The Mid-Autumn Festival Houyi and Chang’e is an immortal couple living in heaven, according to the legends. One day, the ruler of all heavens, the Jade Emperor, orders Houyi for…

Daxiushan (大袖衫, big sleeves shirt) were originally men's clothing in the Wei and Jin dynasties, but in the Tang dynasty it referred to women's extra wide big sleeves outfits. The shape of the Daxiushan is straight collar, symmetrical lapels, long sleeves, large cuffs, mostly long clothing body and with splitting and lacing.   Daxiushan in Tang Dynasty During the Tang Dynasty, the society was open and Hu clothing was prevalent. Women were free-spirited and often wore men's or Hu clothing. After the flourishing Tang period, the style of women's clothing became wider and wider, and this feature became more obvious in the middle and late Tang period, with general women's clothing, the sleeve width was often more than four feet. Wide sleeve shirts, long skirts and Pibo were worn as the noble dresses at that time, and usually worn on important occasions, such as court meetings, ceremonial, and marriages. The Daxiushan costume is recorded in Zhou Fang's painting "Court Ladies Adorning Their Hair With Flowers" records the Daxiushan costume. The beauty in the painting wears a long dress with a large-sleeved sarong shirt draped directly. The artist's realistic approach not only portrays the delicate clothing materials of the Tang Dynasty,…

As requested by user @Wei on my Mamianqun article, here’s a little summary of all the most popular hanfu skirt (qun or 裙) types and what the difference between them is! I’m not going to go into as much detail as the previous article since my goal is to go through them all quickly and teach you the differences between them, but I’ll be including some brief details on their name, history, construction, and features so that you can better understand the huge variety of skirts in hanfu. Let’s start off with some basics rules hanfu skirts tend to follow. Skirts are made up of one or two pieces of fabric, usually, and they take the shape of a flat piece of pleated or non pleated cloth that gets wrapped around the body and tied in place by ribbons/ties. There are very few exceptions to this, except in hanyuansu, which is modified hanfu for convenience and style. The waistband of the skirt is usually 6-8cm wide and made with a different piece of fabric than the body of the skirt, which the body of the skirt is then attached to—this is referred to as the skirt head (裙頭). But even…

Brief history describing the purpose of yunjian, history, and changes overtime between modern period and past.

According to legend, in the Tang Dynasty, during spring, Emperor Li Xian would order his servants to take out "colored flowers" from the inner palace and give them to the concubines of the harem to welcome the new spring, and these "colored flowers" referred to the Rong Hua (绒花, velvet flower). Today, Rong Hua is often worn with traditional hanfu and has become one of the most popular accessories in Chinese traditional costumes. The flower hairpin was always one of the most popular decorative styles of the ancients. In the painting "Court Ladies Adorning Their Hair With Flowers" by the famous Tang Dynasty painter Zhou Fang, the woman is wearing a high bun and wearing a flower as a hairpin, which is as elegant and beautiful as a fairy in a fantasy world. But flowers are limited by the season and easily withered, and the petals often wither. So the ancient noble ladies wished to have flowers that would last forever as accessories, and that's when the handmade Rong Hua came into being. The Chinese word for velvet flower is similar to the pronunciation of "Rong Hua (荣华, prosperity)" and has been given a meaning of good luck and blessing. The…

The air-conditioning, cold drinks and ice cream seem to be the standard of modern summer. But in ancient times, how did people spend the long summer? In this article, we will peek at the ancient summer time through a large number of ancient paintings.   Summer Festival July 4 is the sixth day of the sixth month of the lunar calendar, which has been officially designated as Tian Kuang Festival (天贶节) since the Song Dynasty, with the custom of offering sacrifices to ancestors and prohibiting slaughtering. At this time of the year, ancient people would expose grain, clothes and books to the sun to prevent them from getting moldy and being moth-eaten, so the sixth day of the sixth month was also called the Shai Xi Festival (晒洗节). In the Ming and Qing dynasties, people would take their pets to the river to give them a bath, officials would conduct bathing ceremonies for pets owned by the imperial family, such as elephants brought in from other countries. They are often performed during grand celebrations to show the royal majesty. During the Tian Kuang Festival, ancient people also used to store some well water for brewing sauce and vinegar, and for…

Have you ever noticed the motifs on a hanfu? They are diverse and can even be considered the finishing touch to a hanfu. Maybe it is some kind of animal from ancient times or different kinds of plants to match. Most of them have a special meaning, and some fantastical motifs even contain mythological stories.   Animal Motifs Qilin Motifs Although the production environment of the ancients was much less than the modern society, the ancients never skimped on their imagination when it came to creating sacred animals. For example, the Qilin (麒麟). With a dragon head, deer antlers, cow hooves, and lion's tail, the Qilin changed several times before the Tang Dynasty and had no fixed appearance. In the Song Dynasty, the body became a common lion-shaped scaly body, basically into the current form. In "Fantastic Beasts 3: The Mystery of Dumbledore", the Qilin appears as a new fantastic beast. This is the second Chinese mythical creature launched in the "Fantastic Beasts" series, Zouwu from the "Shan Hai Jing" appeared in "Fantastic Beasts 2: The Crimes of Grindelwald". Qilin is a symbol of auspiciousness and has a very high status in ancient times, and has been assigned with simple…

Su embroidery (苏绣, Suzhou Silk Hand Embroidery Art) is the general name of embroidery products in Suzhou, the traditional folk arts. It is one of the four famous embroideries in China and was listed as one of the national intangible cultural heritages in 2006.

Dongmaiying (动脉影) is a cultural artifact and museum photography blogger, who does his job in the finance industry. In the past ten years, he has taken advantage of holidays and business trips to travel to more than 200 museums, taking 470,000 photos. Unlike the official heritage photos released by museums, his photos are clean, quiet, and linear. With the most common photographic equipment, he did not use tripods or flashes, and even used the backs of other visitors to give the photos a background, but he captured the most beautiful angles of the artifacts. Dongmaiying currently has 3.93 million followers on Weibo, and many staff members of famous museums, even curators, are his fans. However, he never shares photos of himself, "It doesn't matter what I look like. I would prefer that more people, through my photography, inspire an interest in traditional Chinese culture and choose to go into museums and have a look at the valuable treasures of Chinese culture." The following is from an interview with Dongmaiying conducted by Yi Tiao reporter Xiao Yue, and is mostly oral I am a cultural artifact and museum photography blogger. From 2012 to now, I have traveled to more than 200…

More than a thousand years ago, Wei Zhuang once wrote the poem "Spring Tour, apricot blossoms blowing all over the head", walking towards the apricot forest during the blossoming season, and the apricot blossoms would fall on hair bun at the wind. In ancient times, seasonal flowers in addition to floating down in the hair bun, but also may be inserted in the hair or brim, embellished as a touch of spring color in the ancient head. Putting flowers on the head is also called Zan Hua 簪花 (Flower Hairpin, or wearing flowers). In ancient times, both Sheng Hua and Xiangsheng Hua were used to Zan Hua. Sheng Hua is flower, and Xiangsheng Hua is a kind of fake flower made in imitation of a flower. All the flowers mentioned in this article are Sheng Hua. In the Han Dynasty, although the culture of wearing flowers was not really formed, but flowers had already entered people's lives in various forms. For example, on the day of the Chongyang Festival, people in the Han Dynasty, in addition to climbing mountains and drinking chrysanthemum wine, would take off dogwood flowers and wear them around their waists to avoid disasters and repel evil…

Unlike modern clothing, which is updated so frequently, the development of antique Chinese clothing was not only accompanied by the change of dynasties, but also combined with the level of fabrics of the time. However, there is no doubt that different periods in ancient China had distinctive fashion items.   01 Shenyi in Han Dynasty In 1972, when the three-month archaeological excavation ended, the archaeologists of Tomb No. 1 of the Mawangdui Han Tomb in Changsha were still excited. During the subsequent work, they discovered a dozen pieces of well-preserved Western Han costumes, thus opening a window for later generations to peek into the aesthetics of the dress worn by ancient Chinese 2000 years ago. The relics of the tomb that the archaeologists cleaned were from the tomb of Xin Zhui, the wife of Li Cang, the prime minister of Changsha in the early Western Han Dynasty. Based on archaeological and textual records, we know that there were two main types of clothing for the ancient Chinese during the Qin and Han dynasties. Type Yichang (衣裳), in which the clothing of the upper body and the lower body were not connected; Type Shenyi (深衣) in which the upper garment and…

China has a long history of tea drinking, which emerged in the Tang Dynasty and became prosperous in the Song Dynasty. It is in this context that the story of A Dream of Splendor takes place. In the drama, Liu Yifei as Zhao Pan'er, together with two girlfriends, opened a tea store in Bian Jing, the capital of the Song Dynasty. With Zhao Pan'er's excellent marketing skills, Sun San Niang's delicious pastries, Song Yin Zhang's wonderful Pipa performance, and most importantly, Pan'er's extensive experience in Dian Cha, as well as Cha Bai Xi, their tea store has achieved initial success. Dian Cha (点茶, whisking tea), as an important part of Chinese tea culture, is the main tea drinking method in the Song Dynasty, and also an important way of leisure and entertainment for the literati and ordinary people. Cha Bai Xi (茶百戏, tea painting art), also known as: Fen Cha (分茶), Shui Dan Qin (水丹青). Firstly, the finely ground tea powder is injected into the tea bowl with boiling water, while stirring with a tea whisk, the tea froth floats up and forms a suspension. Then use the teaspoon and water to draw words and patterns on the surface. Cha Bai…

The illustrations in this series of articles are from the work of Chinese illustrator Xiao Ling Chun (小鈴春) Xiao Ling Chun combines the features of Chinese historical relics and shows the characteristics of women's hanfu clothing in different periods of ancient China through illustrations.   Han Dynasty The Han Dynasty was a great unification dynasty after the Qin Dynasty, divided into the Western Han and Eastern Han periods, with a total of 29 emperors and reigning for 405 years. The Han Dynasty was the first golden period in the history of China's development, and the Han Chinese were named during this period. Although the names of the dynasties have changed since the Han Dynasty, the status of the Han as the main ethnic group in China has remained unchanged. Western Han (202 BC – 8 AD) Xin dynasty (9–23 AD) Eastern Han (25–220 AD)   Wei, Jin, the Southern and Northern Dynasties Wei, Jin, the Southern and Northern Dynasties were the most frequent period of regime change in Chinese history, mainly divided into the Three Kingdoms (Cao Wei, Shu Han, and Eastern Wu), Western Jin, Eastern Jin, Sixteen Kingdoms, Northern and Southern dynasties. The development of Chinese culture during this…

The Duanwu Festival (端午节, Dragon Boat Festival) has long been transformed into a concrete and profound contemporary cultural symbol in the annual ritualistic repetition of the action. As the fifth day of the fifth lunar month approaches, various flavors of Zongzi are marketed, many traditional villages begin preparing for dragon boat races, and Chinese office workers and students await the holiday with great anticipation. Are there any other traditional Duanwu customs that have continued from ancient times? And how did the ancient people prepare for the Duanwu Festival? Let's search the Duanwu Festival in the classic paintings that have been passed down through the ages.   Eat Zongzi Whenever the Duanwu is mentioned, Qu Yuan is the most familiar to people. In order to commemorate Qu Yuan, who committed himself to the Miluo River, on every fifth day of May, people throw Zongzi into the river; at the same time, they make dragon boats to expel the augur dragon so that Qu Yuan's flesh will not be robbed. This is also the most widespread source of Zongzi and dragon boat racing. As the most ritualistic necessity of the Duanwu Festival, eating Zongzi has long been a popular habit for all Chinese. Many…

When was the traditional Chinese fan born and what did it first look like? These are no longer available in kind. According to the speculation of Mr. Shen Congwen, the traditional Chinese fan was used at least not later than after the appearance of pottery in the Neolithic period.   Pre Qin Dynasty In ancient times, human beings picked a leaf of a plant or a feather of a bird in the hot summer, and simply processed it to fan the wind and take shade from the sun, which is the prototype of the original fan. In the initial era, the fan was called "箑(shà)" or "萐(shà)", and also "翣(shà)”", and only in the later development was it unified and called "扇(shàn)". The above-mentioned different fan of the ancient name, but also reflects the material of the fan at that time are bulrush, feathers, bamboo, and so on. The oldest fan excavation artifact at present is a short-handled bamboo fan, also known as Bian Mian (便面), unearthed from an ancient tomb of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty in Jing'an County, Jiangxi. As the earliest image of a fan, it appears on a bronze pot unearthed in Chengdu, which belongs to the…

The tiger hat (虎头帽, tiger head hat) is a typical child's hat style in Chinese folk costumes with the image of a tiger. Tiger hats, tiger shoes, tiger bibs, tiger dudou, etc. as an important part of Chinese children's clothing, with distinctive characteristics. The tiger is considered a kind of auspicious beast in Chinese traditional culture, and is an important object of totem worship for the Chinese nation. The tiger hat as a folk handed down to this day a kind of children's hat ornament, with the tiger as the image, hat shape, the pattern is also more tiger head model, so-called the tiger hat.   Origin and Development Origin 1: Ancient China was a traditional agrarian society that experienced a lot of hardships in claiming nature's materials, and various symbols and forms of divine power to help ward off disasters emerged. The tiger, as a positive symbolism, was recognized as a sheltering god that could block disasters, and the tiger totem has been passed down to this day in the worship of many evil suppresses. People gradually infiltrated this worship as a belief into the people's daily life, and developed unique handicraft clothing such as tiger hats. Origin 2: Chinese tiger…

Chinese clothing is the epitome of Chinese civilization. Traditional clothing colors are influenced by the "Theory of the Five Elements" and are divided into five colors: green, red, black, white, and yellow. The different colors revered by different dynasties reflect the characteristics of their dynasties. In this article, the most representative six dynasties of ancient China are selected: Han, Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing, and their popular colors are analyzed.   Chinese Colours in Han Dynasty Characteristics: Simple and natural Popular colors: Xuan (玄, smoky black), Chi (赤, upsdell red), White (白), Green (绿) In 206 B.C., the Han Dynasty was founded. Influenced by the Taoist art of Huanglao and Confucianism, Han Dynasty costumes pursued the essential beauty. The color of Han Dynasty clothing was mainly monochromatic, and it was a respect for the dark and light colors, which made it look dignified, simple and natural. Carried the idea of "ritual rule and Taoism", and fabric dyeing of Han Dynasty clothing followed the beliefs of the five elements of yin and yang, with dark colors representing dignity. Color Xuan in Han Dynasty clothing After the Han Dynasty destroyed the Qin Dynasty, water virtue was revered according to the doctrine…

When you browse through the tutorials of hanfu hairstyles, you will find that the use of wigs is widespread. Is it true that girls had long and dense hair in ancient China? The eternal problem of thinning hair is not only a problem for modern people, but ancient beauties also needed to rely on wigs to complete the look. The application of wigs has a history of thousands of years. Today we briefly introduce the history of wigs.   Di (髢, dí) and Bi (髲, bì) were the original names for traditional Chinese wigs. However, not everyone had access to wigs in ancient China. At the beginning of the wig's birth, it was not an ordinary accessory. The Rites of Zhou records that Zhuishi (追师), a kind of palace official in charge of the empress' headdress, made wigs and headdresses. 追师掌王后之首服，为副编次追衡笄…… ——《周礼》 Fu (副), Bian (编), Ci (次) are three different levels of wig types, only worn during critical events such as rituals, and only for the exclusive use of noblewomen such as empress and madam. The famous Mawangdui Han tomb has unearthed a well-preserved "Fu" wig. This set of wigs is thick and black, and Lady Xin Zhui chases…

For thousands of years, the Chinese have used rings to symbolize essential events, births, deaths, weddings, anniversaries, etc. The rings are generally worn by the oldest person present and passed down through generations. While the modern ring represents romantic love and commitment, what are the symbolic meanings of the traditional rings in Chinese history? Let's go into the past life of the ring.   Ancient - The Ring of Bone More than 5,000 years ago, when humankind was still in its primitive society, the "ring" was already born. At that time, it did not have an exact name, but was just a ring-shaped object worn on people's fingers. In 1959, archaeologists found twenty traditional rings in the burials of the Dawenkou Longshan culture in Tai'an, Shandong province. Several of them are still worn on the finger bones of the deceased. These rings were made from natural animal bones, tooth bones, jade, etc. Although the process was simple, they were well made, and the surface was polished smooth, and some were inlaid with turquoise. This is the earliest "ring" found in China. It appeared in people's daily lives before records about it in history books.   Yin Shang - The Ring…

What hanfu styles are from which dynasties? Can you tell what dynasty the cover photo for this article depicts?