In the TV series A Love So Beautiful, the "Xian Dian" (仙钿) became the lifelong pursuit of many little fairies. The character played by Cheng Yi even achieved the transformation between immortal and demon identities by switching the marks between his eyebrows of different colors and shapes. Taking a closer look, isn't this "Xian Dian" just the Huadian (花钿) in traditional makeup?
In most ancient - costume dramas, the classic "red dot between the eyebrows" often appears. These Huadian between the eyebrows are truly amazing.
Not only women, but also more and more male characters in various popular ancient - costume TV dramas are using all kinds of Huadian. Even in many fairy - tale dramas, in order to distinguish status, derivatives such as "Xian Dian" for immortals ascending the immortal rank and "Asura marks" have emerged.
In the game Black Myth: Wukong, the forehead of the spider spirit is also decorated with different Huadian.
Huadian may also be an inherited mark. Different Huadian can be designed according to personal characteristics. Although the usage of Huadian in movies and TV shows is also strange, the facial makeup decorated with Huadian actually has a bit of classical charm.
Where Does Huadian Come From?
If it looks familiar to you, it may be because you often see similar examples in Indian movies. One theory is that Hinduism believes that the space between the eyebrows can store power, so believers put cinnabar or paint on their eyebrows. There is also a kind that is purely for decoration, with different patterns. Some are cut out of gold foil paper. This dot between the eyebrows is a bit similar to our Chinese Huadian.
In China, there are several theories about the origin of Huadian. One of the more vivid ones is related to Princess Shouyang of the Song Dynasty. When she was sleeping, a plum blossom happened to fall on her forehead and couldn't be removed. After three days, when she washed it off, a plum - shaped mark remained. The maids thought it was beautiful and imitated it one after another. (According to Taiping Yulan in the Song Dynasty, quoting Za Wu Xing Shu: "Princess Shouyang, the daughter of Emperor Wu of the Song Dynasty, was lying under the eaves of Hanzhang Hall on Renri. A plum blossom fell on her forehead and formed a five - petal flower. She couldn't brush it off. It took three days to wash it off. The maids were amazed by its strangeness and competed to imitate it." ) Therefore, it is called the "plum blossom makeup" or "Shouyang makeup".
There is also a legend that this custom was already popular in the Tang Palace. Lady Guo, the sister of Yang Guifei, liked Huadian. She not only put it on her forehead but also dotted white powder on her face and the corners of her eyes, looking like she was crying. This is what was later called the "tear makeup". (Biography of Yang Guifei: "Lady Guo received the emperor's favor. She rode a horse into the palace gate at dawn. She disliked that makeup would stain her natural beauty and just lightly painted her eyebrows to meet the emperor." )
Styles and Colors of Huadian
In the Tang Dynasty, it was a daily routine for women to paste Huadian. (In Xu Xuan Guai Lu - Ding Hun Dian by Li Fuyan of the Tang Dynasty, it is said that Wei Gu's wife "always pasted a Huadian between her eyebrows. Even when bathing or resting, she never took it off for a moment." ) In the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, some even pasted Huadian almost all over their faces, indicating that the trend was in full swing.
But legends are just legends. There are many portraits of donors decorated with Huadian in the Mogao Caves in Dunhuang. There is more than one color. The red one is called Huadian, and the green one is called Cui Dian (翠钿) (Du Mu's poem: "The spring shade flutters on the Cui Dian"). The color of Huadian is generally determined by the color of its production materials, and only a small number of people artificially change its color.
The Huadian in Ladies with Head - ornaments is yellow (Wen Tingyun's poem: "Picking stamens and adding Huang Zi"). There is also a saying in The Ballad of Mulan: "Facing the mirror, she pasted yellow flowers on her forehead." It is also said that Huadian originally evolved from the Ehuang makeup in the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, which had a certain relationship with the spread of Buddhism at that time. Women were inspired by the golden - painted Buddha statues and developed this custom.
From various materials, the shapes of Huadian are also different. The simplest one is the small dot mentioned at the beginning of the article. Others, such as plum blossoms, water droplets, pearls, fans, and fish - scale shapes, are also very popular.
In terms of texture, some are directly painted with pigment, some are carefully trimmed from gold foil sheets, some are made of mica or black light paper, and some are even cut from dragonfly wings. Its popularity is no less than that of various cosmetics today. (In Shan Yi Lu by Tao Gu of the Song Dynasty, it is said: "Some court ladies in the Later Tang Dynasty caught dragonflies with nets. Loving their delicate green wings, they painted the wings with a gold - painted pen and made small folded flower patterns." ) Their interpretation of Huadian is the same as ours today. They follow the fashion trend and don't want to "wear the same clothes".
These popular things seem exaggerated to us today. But according to the dressing style at that time, it was normal. Now we can only glimpse the elegance of that era from some records.
In modern times, simple Huadian can also be used as a daily new - Chinese - style makeup embellishment. After all, even the beauty mole we had when we were kids represents a beautiful wish and modifies the face shape. So the increasing popularity of Huadian may also be our inner expectation and yearning!
