Hey everyone, thanks for waiting! Our next topic is gonna be pretty exciting for most of you who love the classic ruqun aesthetic: we’re going to be going over the historical relics for the Wei/Jin and Northern/Southern Dynasty! Since there are so few of these relics, this article is going to focus on the Wei/Jin Dynasty as a whole, including restored relics, art references, and misconceptions about the Wei/Jin Dynasty. It might be a bit of a shorter article due to little material, but I know that people are really interested in this period of time, so let’s get to it! 魏晉南北朝/魏晋南北朝/wei4 jin4 nan2 bei3 chao2/Wei/Jin and Northern/Southern Dynasties refers to the period of time between 220 and 589CE. Also known as 六朝/六朝/liu4 chao2/Six Dynasties, this set of dynasties are compressed into one general block of time by historians because of the rapid exchange of power. Following the Eastern Han dynasty, the Three Kingdoms period had the Cao Wei kingdom at its forefront, with the Western Jin Dynasty coming right after ruled by Sima Yan. This was followed by the Northern Dynasties, when the Northern Wei, Western Wei, Easter Wei, and Northern Zhou and Qi Dynasties followed each other rapidly,…

  Tang Dynasty - Fei Qian Fei Qian (飞钱, flying cash) in the Tang Dynasty, the earliest prototype of Chinese paper money. The New Book of Tang – Recordings of foods and goods contains: “商贾至京师，委钱诸道进奏院及诸军诸使富家，以轻装趋四方，合券乃取之，号飞钱。” Fei Qian are also called "Bian Huan (便换, convenient exchange)" and "Bian Qian (便钱, convenient money)". In the middle of the Tang Dynasty, the production of copper coins could not meet the market demand, and there were many restrictions on the flow of copper coins. Besides, the carrying and transportation of large amounts of copper coins were also a problem. So, a new financial method was born. The merchants in the capital sent the money to the Jin Zou Yuan (进奏院, the official statutes of report) which is the office in the capital, and the Jin Zou Yuan issued a ticket for the merchants, with the amount, date, name and other items written on it. And this ticket would be divided into two halves, half sending to the merchant, and another half back to the local. The merchant returned with his half of the ticket to the designated department to exchange for the money, as long as the two halves of the ticket can be…

Recently, Dragon Television announced that China's first documentary to briefly describe the creation story of China and Chinese civilization with national archaeological discoveries, "He Yi Zhong Guo (何以中国)", will officially meet with the audience in the near future. The program team spent more than 400 days and nights photographing more than 40,000 kilometers, which is equivalent to more than one week around the equator, and photographing more than 230 archaeological sites, archaeological workstations, museums, and other sites across the country. In the "He Yi Zhong Guo" Special Program: Talk About Archaeological History, the program team invited the Chinese Hanfu restoration team  (中国装束复原小组). In the program, they took the audience on a tour of "fashionable clothing" from the Spring and Autumn period to the Three Kingdoms period through a hanfu show. The first is the long dress from the late Spring and Autumn periods to the early and mid-Warring States Period. It is characterized by the hollowing out behind the long dress, revealing the long skirt dragging on the ground. Red is the right color, which is suitable for the attendance of some important occasions. The hairstyle is a chic and delicate combed bun, showing the slender neck behind the head.…

The 馬王堆漢墓/马王堆汉墓/ma3 wang2 dui1/Mawangdui Han tomb is one of the most famous Han dynasty archaeological sites in China. Located in Mawangdui, Changsha, this elaborate tomb was found in 1968 and excavated in 1972 to reveal the remains of an incredibly well-preserved noblewoman that we now know was the wife to the Marquis of Dai in the Han Dynasty Kingdom of Changsha, Li Dai. A multilayered burial site containing furniture, food, art, accessories, and other belongings, the tomb contained her personal seal, which was found with the name 辛追/辛追/xin1 zhui1/Xin Zhui engraved in it; thus we know her as 辛追夫人/新追夫人/xin1 zhui1 fu1 ren2/Lady Xinzhui.  (A quick disclaimer—this series of articles is a result of my own research. I’m not a trained historian or archaeologist, I’m an inexperienced student with an interest in hanfu and chinese history. I don’t have a works cited page for these (though I can point you towards some of the resources I used off the top of my head if you really want them), and I didn’t spend a long time verifying my sources beyond checking with multiple sources to make sure the information was consistent, because frankly I don’t have the time to do that. All…

Lantern Chinese lantern is a classical traditional cultural craft in China, also known as Dengcai (灯彩), originated in the Western Han Dynasty more than 1,800 years ago. Every year around the Lantern Festival on the fifteenth day of the first month of the lunar calendar, people hang red lanterns symbolizing the meaning of reunion to create a festive atmosphere. Later, lanterns became a symbol of the festiveness of the Chinese people. Lantern has the meaning of symbolize reunion, festive, and peace. Lanterns in traditional culture are integrated with painting art, paper-cutting, paper tie, bayonet, and other crafts. Among the lanterns made in ancient China, Gong Deng (宫灯, palace lanterns) and Sha Deng (纱灯, gauze lanterns) are the most famous. Lanterns are closely connected to the Chinese people, a ballad tells its festive colors and functions: carry lanterns on the Lantern Festival, hang red lanterns on the Dragon Boat Festival in May, fly lanterns in June, release lotus lanterns on the Ghost Festival, buy jade rabbit lanterns on the Mid-Autumn Festival, and Kongming lanterns on the Double Ninth Festival. In fact, many traditional cultures handed down from ancient times are also symbolic. They are the products of the wisdom of predecessors…

If you are a traditional Chinese culture and clothing fan, then the 1987 version of Dream of the Red Chamber is a drama you can’t miss. Although it was a drama 35 years ago, relying on the strong support of the original work and high-quality clothing, makeup and props, it is still the top Chinese costume drama in many people’s minds. A blogger that is introduced to everyone today, she is obviously also a loyal audience of The Dream of Red Mansions. She has successfully imitated several characters in Dream of the Red Chamber and won the love of netizens. She is @Wo Shi Ba Pi Ya (我是扒皮呀). Let's take a look at her interpretation of the characters in Dream of the Red Chamber.   Wang Xifeng Wang Xifeng, one of the heroines in Dream of the Red Chamber. She is beautiful, with a pair of phoenix triangular eyes and two slender and long eyebrows, slim and good-looking. Appearing dressed in colorful embroidery splendor, laughter first gets, like a divine concubine fairy. Because of her beautiful appearance and charming bearing, Jia Rui was fascinated by her. The left picture is the 87th version of "Dream of the Red Chamber" Wang…

We often say that fashion is a cycle, but have you ever wondered what fashion items were popular in ancient China? What kind of clothes are popular in different periods?   The ancient pleated skirt The preppy style has been really popular in recent years, various brands have also repeatedly used retro college style as the main style of the season. Kinds of pleated skirts and white shirts can be seen everywhere. However, in the Han Dynasty of China more than 2,000 years ago, there was already such a "pleated skirt" design. According to legend, its origin is related to Zhao Feiyan, one of the top ten beauties of ancient times. In the records, Zhao Feiyan was slim and likes to dance in long skirts. One time, a strong wind suddenly blew while she dancing on the lake. Zhao Feiyan was almost fly into the sky by the wind, and the palace maid hurriedly pulled her skirt to save her. The skirt was pulled out a lot of folds, but everyone felt that these folds made the skirt look more beautiful. The fairy-like Zhao Feiyan was not only not blown away by the wind, but also left the beautiful name…

Fabric and craftsmanship are both very important aspects of hanfu making. In this article, several common hanfu fabric processes will be briefly introduced to you.   Zhuang Hua Zhuang Hua (妆花) is the most complex variety of weaving technology in Nanjing cloud brocade, and also the representative jacquard silk weaving variety with the most local characteristics of Nanjing, was popular in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Traditional Zhuang Hua is made of artificial weaving, and the Zhuang Hua on nowadays are all "imitation Zhuang Hua", which are made by machines. The Zhuang Hua fabric is characterized by many colors and is rich in color changes. In terms of the weaving method, the pattern on the fabric is partially painted by using a colored fleece weft bobbin. The color matching is very free and there are no restrictions. The main pattern of the design is usually expressed in two or three levels of color, and some patterns are expressed in simple color (such as pedicels, leaves, and buds). A piece of Zhuang Hua fabric with patterns and colors can be matched in more than a dozen or even 20 or 30 colors. Although there are many colors of Zhuang Hua, but…

Quju is a type of hanfu that belongs to the Shenyi dress system and was common during the Qin and Han dynasties, with characteristics such as "overlapping and hooked edges". In ancient times, the more grand the occasion, the more gorgeous the overall look of the Quju was, giving it a sense of grace and elegance. There is a wide variety of accessories and items that can be matched with Quju, and different types of accessories can create different effects with Quju dress. Let's follow Hanfu Shidai (汉服世代) to learn more about it.   01 Dao Shan Dao Shan (刀扇), also known as Bian Shan (便扇), Bian Mian (便面), is a kind of Chinese traditional fan, used to cover the face, shaped like a door. Book of Han - Zhang Chang's Tale has recorded: "自以便面拊马 (patting a horse with a Bian Mian by himself)". Yan Shigu, the historian of the Tang Dynasty, also explained the function of the Bian Mian in his commentary on the Book of Han: “便面，所以障面，盖扇之类也。不欲见人，以此自障面，则得其便，故曰便面，亦曰屏面。” We can learn that the "Bian Mian" can be classified as a fan, but its focus is different, the main function of is not to fan the wind and cool, but to…

In recent years, with the rise of the China-Chic trend, many gold stores have also begun to favor products of traditional culture and launched the so-called ancient gold craft and inheritance series of Chinese gold jewelry. The ancient Chinese used goldware as body decoration, dating back to the Xia Dynasty 4,000 years ago. The gold eardrops unearthed in Gansu is the best proof. The simple circle obviously cannot reflect the skill level of the ancients, so today let’s take a look at the gold earrings and gold bracelets in the museum’s collection of cultural relics. Let’s experience the luxury aesthetics of ancient Chinese gold jewelry.   Eardrop Eardrops (Er Zhui, 耳坠) is a kind of traditional Chinese earrings, with an additional part of the drop than earrings. This pair of gold eardrops in the Warring States Period adopts a cone and spring design, and the color matching of gold and turquoise is even more ingenious. This pair of gold eardrops from the Northern Wei Dynasty is composed of amber, silver ring, gold ring, silk column, hollow gold beads, wheat ear flower and other elements. Through weaving, welding, hammering, wire drawing, and other technologies, it creates a complicated but not messy…

The bronze mirror had a special meaning and use for the ancients. After the death of Wei Zheng, Li Shimin, Emperor Taizong of Tang Dynasty, said, "Using copper as a mirror, one can arrange one's clothes; using history as a mirror, one can know the ups and downs of history; using others as one's own mirror, one can know one's gains and losses every day." It can be seen that the mirror is not only a cosmetic appliance, but also rose to the humanistic meaning of mirror for people. Before the widespread use of mercury glass mirror, the ancients by adjusting the ratio of copper, tin and lead, so that the bronze mirror is a necessary tool to reflect the face of ancient Chinese people when dressing. In order to prevent the bronze mirror surface from becoming blurred by air oxidation, on the one hand, mirror boxes were needed for storage and preservation, and on the other hand, the mirror needed to be wiped and polished from time to time. So the mirror table, mirror frame, mirror trousseau, mirror box and other devices came into being, mirror polisher craft also passed down for thousands of years. These equipment can not…

China is an ancient civilization with a history of more than 5,000 years. There are many kinds of handicrafts, and they are all dazzling. Chinese traditional handicraft, each of them is a treasure of Chinese culture, and these handicrafts are worth inheriting and protecting.   1 Tuanshan Tuanshan (团扇), also known as Gongshan (宫扇) and Wanshan (纨扇), is traditional handwork and art of the Han nationality in China. It is a round fan with a handle, which represents a friendly and auspicious reunion. Fans have long circles, plum blossoms, hexagonal and other shapes; and making with silk, thin silk and so on; the craftsmanship includes Suzhou embroidery, Kesi, gold and silver inlays, and so on; the fan handle has wood, bamboo, bones, and so on. A Tuanshan contains too much learning.   2 Cheongsam The cheongsam (旗袍) is one of the traditional women's clothing that can represent Chinese characteristics. The cheongsam was formed in the 1920s, and some scholars believe that its origin can be traced back to the Shenyi of the pre-Qin and Han dynasties. Although its definition and timing are still controversial, it is still one of the most gorgeous phenomena and forms in China's long-standing clothing culture.…

One-third of life is spent on sleeping, and beds play an important role in people's lives. So, what did the bed look like in ancient China? Ancient humans often lived in caves. In order to keep warm, weeds, leaves, and animal skins were spread on the ground, which was roughly the earliest bed. During the Banpo cultural period of the matrilineal society, the prototype of the bed appeared, that is, the Tutai (土台), which is similar to today's kang bed-stove. In "Guangbo Wuzhi", there is such a record: "Shennong invented the bed, and Shaohao made the Kui (篑), and Lu Wang made the Ta (榻)." During the Shang and Zhou dynasties, the prototype of the bed was slowly determined. Compared with our modern beds, the ancient traditional beds had many functions. At night, the ancients slept on the bed, but during the day, they also needed to sit or lie down to rest, so the "Ta (榻, couch)" was invented. The earliest prototype of the couch is the mat. In other words, putting a mat on the ground can sit and lie down. In ancient times, people in northern China generally used grass to make mats, while southerners generally used…

Restoration of lychee wine from 1300 years ago, ancient palace traditional cuisine Chinese sweets dragonbeard, non-stick egg pudding, all of these classic Chinese cuisines making are from the Chinese blogger Jiu Yue / Jiang Xun Qian's videos. Not only traditional cuisine, but also Chinese crafts such as paper kites, fish lanterns, and whisking tea are the subjects of her videos, and she is also the initiator of the previously popular sugar painting challenge.   Focusing on traditional cuisine and crafts "A steed that raised red dust won the fair mistress' smiles; how many steeds that brought litchi died on the run!" 1,300 years ago, the Tang Dynasty's Yang Guifei loved lychee wine very much, and it has also made generations of people yearn for it. What is the taste of lychee wine that made Yang Guifei drunk? The blogger Jiang Xun Qian uses traditional techniques to recreate the taste from the Tang Dynasty, she also put on an opera costume and staged the song "Drunkened Concubine". Not only the lychee wine with the flavor of the Tang Dynasty, Jiang Xun Qian was also made fine as hair Chinese sweets dragon beard, and non-stick egg pudding. All are handmade, restoring the…

A brief history of waist fan (yaoshan) and steps to DIY one for anyone interested. Vocab Tuan Shan: moon-shaped fan, 团扇, tuánshàn; Zhe Shan: folding fan, 折扇, zhéshàn; Yao Shan: waist fan, 腰扇, yāo shàn; Ping Feng: screen, 屏风, píngfēng.   Introduction When it comes to hanfu, one accessory that it is paired with is a fan. Well-known types of fans are moon-shaped fan and folding fan. But there is another type of fan known as Yao Shan, which translates as "waist fan." The reason why it is called a waist fan is that it can easily be secured at the waist when not used. When the fan is needed, you can just slip it out of the belt and open it up by twisting. It's unlike others where you will either have to constantly hold or unable to close it to take up less space. Waist fans contain characteristics from both moon-shaped fans and folding fans. It took the common round surface of a moon-shaped fan and the ability to close and open when needed from a folding fan. But the round shape is just a common shape everyone goes by. Moon-shaped fans have expanded from simply using a circle…

So you’ve built up a little bit of a collection, and you’re having a bit of a dilemma: With all this fabric hanging out in your closet, you’ve begun to run out of space. You don’t even know how to store these properly—and yet you want to buy more hanfu! Never fear; here’s a tried and true system that I and many other hanfu enthusiasts use to store our hanfu in a way that doesn’t harm the fabric and allows you to use your space most efficiently.   Skirts The easiest, most intuitive way to store your skirts is always going to hanging them. Look for these kinds of hangers that have strong clips on them, and try to choose ones that have larger, flatter clips so that they don’t leave marks on your skirt. To hang the skirt, fold the head of the skirt in thirds, then pull the ribbon out from the innermost side of the skirt. Clip the skirt head with the clips on the hanger, making sure that all three layers are clipped in, then pick up the ribbons together and loop them around the hanger’s hook so they don’t trail on the ground and get…

Chinese style, and traditional culture, has become a necessary element of the Mid-Autumn Festival traditional gala. China Central Television set the site of the Mid-Autumn Festival Gala at Jiyang Lake, where the full moon stage and the bright moon are intertwined. Hunan TV uses giant letterheads to pull out famous paintings of ancient Mid-Autumn themes in the gala, which is a new visual experience. But we can not ignore the most outstanding gala production, Henan TV, as well as the "Adventures of the Mid-Autumn Festival".   01 Mid-Autumn Festival - Reunion The 2022 Henan TV Mid-Autumn Festival Gala revolves around "Shuidiao Getou (水调歌头, poet Su Shi's work)", from which four keys are extracted: missing, healing, reunion and dreaming. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHPeAZUfEaM As the first program to open the show, "Chang'e Flying to the Moon" is highly expected. Henan TV, intends to recreate this fairy who is closely related to the moon. In the usual imagination, the quiet Guanghan Palace has the Jade Rabbit pounding medicine, Wu Gang felling laurel, and only Chang'e fairy, lonely as a beautiful symbol. The moment of amazement and reluctance to flying to the moon seems to have made her whole life. Henan Weiwei refocused its attention on Chang'e,…

Wearing armor, riding a horse, holding a traditional weapon, fighting on the battlefield. Such a scene may have appeared in the dreams of many people when they were young. But there is a person who turned the traditional Chinese armor in the dream into reality, he is the first person to restore the ancient armor of the Tang and Song dynasties, Wen Chenhua (温陈华). He has highly restoration the armor of the Song dynasty, which has been lost in China for 700 years, after 6 years. He founded the Lian Kai Tang (炼铠堂), and with his own strength, he promoted the obscure armor restoration craft, and let Chinese armor on the world-class combat stage.   #01 The first person in traditional Chinese armor restoration There are only about 1000 armor restorers in China, 90% of them are Wen Chenhua's students, and for 40 years, he has been restoring Jiazhou (甲胄, traditional Chinese armor) to the extreme. On Wen Chenhua's social platforms profile, there is only a simple sentence "Top Chinese Jiazhou maker" as an introduction. However, he has shared a lot of armor design drawings and finished armor photos, all revealing his deep love for Jiazhou. Traditional armor restoration and…

So now that you’ve learned about all these pieces separately, we arrive at the question: how do we put all of these pieces together? Let’s go over some ways these are usually put together, how to refer to them, and other details that might not have been covered in previous articles. Body, sleeves, collar: these are the main three things that we use to distinguish types of hanfu. In naming conventions, we usually refer to a piece in the order of collar-sleeve-body. Take a look at this image: What body type, sleeve type, and collar type is it? Well, I’ll tell you first that this is a Shan, meaning that it’s a single-layered top or robe shorter than the knees with no yao lan. Take a look at the sleeves—do they curve or change in diameter at all? Yes, they seem to narrow in a striaght line from the root of the sleeve to the cuff, meaning this is a feijixiu design, or airplane sleeve. The collar’s shape is pretty obviously parallel, or duijin, since the two sides come straight down and don’t touch. Well then, we can refer to this as a duijin feijixiu shan: a parallel collar, airplane…

Huaxia dresses brilliantly for thousands of years. How rich is the Chinese traditional wear? Follow the INSTITUTE FOR PLANETS to enjoy a journey through a thousand years of Chinese costumes.   Huaxia Dresses - Prehistory to Shang & Zhou Period Looking back tens of thousands of years ago, human beings learned to sewn clothes with Guzhen (骨针, bone needle). Perhaps inspired by making ropes and bamboo baskets, around 7,000 B.C., Chinese ancestors began to weave fabrics with plant fibers. In order to improve the weaving efficiency, the Fanglun (纺轮, spinning wheel) was created that used pottery sheets to rotate inertial for twisted threads. There is also the Yaoji (腰机, waist machine) that is used to bind lines and make them tight and easy to knit. In that era of extremely backward productivity, it was not easy to get fabric, so the shape of clothes was relatively simple. Two narrow pieces of cloth were directly combined and then tie a straw rope, which may be the daily dress. With the continuous development of society, the function of clothing has long been more than just covering up and keeping warm, it has also been endowed with a lot of aesthetic concepts, which is…