Introduction: Clothes are a person’s external modification. Neat, clean and decent clothing is the cultivation we should have, and it can also show a person’s good mental outlook. In ancient China, the significance of clothing was particularly important. We often say that China is a country of "propriety and righteousness", and the most direct external manifestation of "property and righteousness" is clothing, so we also talk about "clothing, etiquette and righteousness", "clothing and cultural relics", and so on. It can be seen that "clothing" is closely related to etiquette and morality.
What is the connection between "clothing" and "rituals and righteousness"? "Garments" and why are they so important to "rituals and righteousness"? "The Book of Changes" says that the Yellow Emperor, Yao and Shun hung down their clothes and ruled the world, and conquered the universe. ?, that is to say, ancient sage kings such as Huangdi, Yao, and Shun just dressed appropriately and governed the world well. The ancient clothes and the clothes we call are not the same thing, but two parts: clothes and clothes. The upper clothes are called clothes, and the lower clothes are called clothes. The upper clothes and the lower clothes are called clothes. It's like the sky is above and the earth is below. This is to teach the people to abide by their duties and do their own things well. If everyone can do this, the entire country will be stable and harmonious.
For us ordinary people, clothing is also very important. What makes human beings different from animals is that they understand etiquette, justice and morality, and the beginning of etiquette and justice is that the body must be upright, the attitude must be respectful, and the speech must be docile. On this basis, we can be filial to our parents, love our brothers, respect our elders, and serve our country. And the beginning of it all is that the clothes must be neat and decent. If you can't dress appropriately, the rest is empty talk. Therefore, the "Guanyi" in the "Book of Rites" says: "The crown should be followed by the uniforms, and the uniforms should be followed by correct appearance, uniform color, and smooth speech." ?That is to say, only if you dress appropriately and standardly can you have a correct body shape, respectful attitude, and smooth speech.
So, what did ancient clothes look like? Let’s start with the Zhou Dynasty more than two thousand years ago. There was a "Guan Li" in the Zhou Dynasty, which was the so-called coming-of-age ceremony. When a man reaches the age of twenty, he must hold this crowning ceremony, also called a crowning ceremony. After being crowned, it means that the person has reached adulthood and must have adult virtues and fulfill adult obligations. This ritual lasted for more than two thousand years and throughout the imperial era. The crowning ceremony mainly involves dressing men into adult clothes. Let's take a look at the ancient clothing system from the crowning ceremony:
There are three main links in the crowning ceremony. The first is the "primary crowning", that is, the first crowning. The guests put on the "缁布冠" for the men who are about to grow up, which is a hat made of black cloth, and the shape is a bit like the current straw hat. Then the man got up and went back to his room, putting on "Xuan Duan" and "Jue Pi", that is, black clothes and decorations tied around his waist and in front of his knees. The so-called "Xuan Duan" means that the upper garment and the lower garment are separated. The part connected with the front opening of the upper garment is called "衽". The right garment garment covers the left garment garment, which is the "right garment garment". Chinese clothes are generally right-garmented. The collar is called the collar, the sleeves are the collar, and the cuffs are the collar. The lower skirt was similar to today's skirt, but it was divided into two pieces, front and back, to make it easier to walk.
The second is "adding", that is, the second crowning. Guests wear "piben" for men, which is a hat made of deerskin, somewhat like the current melon skin hat. Then the man got up and went back to his room to change into a new set of Xuanduan and Juebei. The third is "three plus", that is, the third crowning. The guests put on the "Jue Bian" for the man, which looks similar to the leather Bian, but is made of red leather with black elements. Then the man got up and went back to his room, changing into a set of "灁裳" or "靺鞞", which were some reddish lower clothes and a knee-block made of leather.
The crowning ceremony mentioned above was an etiquette popular among low-level nobles and nobles at that time. The three sets of clothes were suitable for different occasions. ?The clothes with a cloth crown added to the first are the daily wear of scholars; the leather bean robes are added to them, which are the clothes that scholars wear when they go to the capital to worship the king; clothes.
Of course, there were more than just these three types of clothes in ancient times. The most important thing in a set of clothes is the hat. If we use hats to distinguish various types of clothes, there are three types: Mianfu, Bianfu and Guanfu.
The emperor and the princes have "mianfu". The so-called "mianfu" is the hat of the emperor and princes. It is like a melon-skin hat with a wooden board on it, with many strings of jade beads hanging from the front and back of the board. There are many types of crown clothes, and the situation is more complicated. The next step is the "Benfu". In addition to the aforementioned "Pi Bianfu" and "Jue Benfu", there is also the "Wei Bianfu". Further down is the "Guanfu", including "Xuanduuan" and "Chaofu".
After talking about men’s clothes, we can talk about women’s clothes. Unlike men's tops and bottoms, women's clothes are connected from top to bottom. There are many poems describing clothes in "The Book of Songs", such as "Shuo Ren has a handsome face, and his clothes are rich and beautiful." The so-called "褧衣" is a single garment worn by women. In the song "Out of the East Gate", there is "煦衣禦狠,笑乐我人", "煦衣" is a top made of white silk, and "禦禦" is a light green apron, which were not yet known at that time. Clothes worn by married girls.
The "Book of Songs" also writes about men's clothes. For example, "Zi Jin" says "Qing Qing Zi Jin, You You My Heart", "Jin" is the collar, and clothes with green collars were worn by students at that time. Below, "Qing Qing Zi Pei, You You I Think" means that students wear cyan clothes. In the poem "Ephemera", it is said that "the clothes are beautiful", "the clothes are beautiful", "the linen clothes are like snow", the so-called "clothes" are the upper clothes and lower clothes we mentioned earlier. "Ma Yi" is a top made of linen. Because the linen is white, it is said to be "linen like snow".