Study On The Dress Of Sui And Tang Dynasties

This thesis contains nine chapters. The focus is on the discussion of the clothes status of common people of the Sui and Tang dynasties and their living status. Besides, there are some discoveries of important issues, such as, the women’s clothes cost and nudity in the Tang Dynasty, the influence of the women’s clothes styles of the Sui Dynasty on Korean women’s clothes, the influence of the Tang clothes on Japanese clothes, the clothes system and changes in the Tang Dynasty.PrefaceThis chapter is an account of the beginning of this book and the main theoretical instructions and the historical instruction theories.Chapter OneThis chapter is mainly about the implement of relative systems’ changes and seasonal dress in the Tang Dynasty. The dress code in the early stage of Tang Dynasty derives from the Tang code, which based on Code of Wude, and the contents are mostly about royal dress and stress the combination of rituals and codes. The official dress is regulated by Ritual Type with completed systems. After the rebellion of An and Shi, the official dress became ritual and the crown dress became mere formality. The dress styles took place of the seasonal dress gradually and Ge and After Chi came into power as the official dress system. The dress policy at this time is limited by rituals and emphasizes the system. Since the dress code is restricted by the Zhou rites, poorly targeted, and there is much discrepancy in the actual implementation in the early stage. While the Chi policy had strong aims and powerful executive force in the late stage.Chapter TwoAimed at the fresco "the Cheng Tianci Family"(the62nd Grottoes in Dunhuang), I discussed the common people’s clothes status in the Sui Dyansty. Take the headwear for example:from the Cheng’s headwear, the common women used handkerchiefs to cover their heads which reflects the influence from the Nan Dynasty. While the common men used turbans and there is a clear transition process from turbans to futou. One thing to emphasis is that the existence of the transition from soft headwear to hard ones in the Sui people explains the inner changes of the society during the process from turbans to futou, for example, the progress of the wood moulding technology in futou, the declination of the aristocrats after the Wei and Jin Period and the loose of the social life classes are all the reasons for that, while not only because the promotion of foreign cultures’interchanges.In addition, from the point of view of the wearing situations, the Southern Dynasty style is the orthodox in the ordinary social life in the Sui Dynasty, while the Northern Dynasty style is the fashion among youngsters. That is different from what Mr. Chen Yinque said,"The Sui and Tang dynasties are the descendents of the standard of the central Shaanxi Plain. There are big differences between social conduct of civilian society and the ruling class’s attitude towards politics and political strategy.It is worth noting that after Gao’s Korean once held frequent intercourses with the Sui after Sui united the whole country, which is the decisive impact of the form of the Korean women’s wearing style. That is the reason why the traditional women’s clothes of the Korean Peninsula are much like the clothes of the common women in the Sui Dynasty while the men’s clothes style are not as much as the Korean traditional clothes styles like women’s and that is the subsequent issue to be discovered later.Chapter ThreeThe main discussion in this part is the women’s dress and personal adornment in the Tang Dynasty. The common ladies’ clothes are simple and the textures are mainly linen and tough silk of low quality. Even in prosperity, the commoners’ life was hard which could be seen from their dress and personal adornment and make-ups, because there are big differences between the dress of them and of the aristocratic women on materials, styles and colors. And their life differences are great as well.Chapter FourThere are many styles of the headwear of the common men in the Early and High Tang Periods and there also exists differences according to seasons and living conditions. In the retention of the traditional customs of the Northern Zhou and Sui, the Early Tang’s style is mainly soft turbans. In the environment and different regions, the priority is given to wear Futou in the High Tang Period and there are also the forehead (mpa), the Hu cap, hat, cap and sheepskin muddy hat, etc. The main clothes are garment, single-arm robe, trousers or kun. The main shoe-wears are linen shoes and wood shoes and some hunters with special status and musicians among civilians wear boots. The common men are like the common women in the Tang Dynasty. Even in prosperity of the whole society, they don’t lead an easy life. Their clothes are greatly influenced by economic conditions and climate.Chapter FiveThe clothes styles and materials of the commoners in the Late Tang period are quite different from what in the Early and High Tang, according to the description of Ennin. This chapter uses the commoners’clothes which Ennin had to wore since he was force to resume secular life in the fifth year of Huichang as a guide, discovers the clothes status of common men during the latter part of the Tang Dynasty. According to what Ennin’s description of his clothes in the four seasons from March in the fifth year, his secularization, to July in the seventh year of Huichang, returning to kasaya, there main wears are:headwear, garment, trousers, crotch patch and soft shoes. The main materials are die, cloth, and a little silk and linen product. That reveals the ko-hemp cloth is not in the commoners’life after the Middle Tang. The use of wrapped felt hat also tells the fact that men in the Late Tang don’t use Futou as the hat. The Record of a Pilgrimage to China in Search of the Law is the Chinese diary of Ennin on his journey to the Tang Kingdom to seek Buddhist laws. That book is mainly about what he had seen and what he had experiences in the kingdom of Tang and provides the valuable first hand information of the civilian life in the Tang Dynasty. While the academia has not paid enough attention to his descriptions about the clothes in the Middle and Late Tang Periods, so I am trying to do some research on this part to contribute myself.Chapter SixThe main materials of the commoners’ clothes in the Tang Dynasty are:Ko-hemp cloth, linen and etc. The cloth in that period is linen usually. According to the Otani documents-fragments of case document in Gaochang City in the second year of Tianbao, I reckon the production cost of clothes at that time and we can find that the production cost of clothes is also a large expenditure in the general civilian life during the Tianbao period.Chapter SevenThis chapter studies the survival of the commoners in the Tang Dynasty.the commoners’ life was hard,The main factor leads to their hard life is the random apportion:Unscheduled the tax. AddendaChapter OneThis chapter is on the discussion of the nudity of women’s dress in the Tang Dynasty. The popularity of dress nudity and transparency is inconsistent with traditional Confucianism and the reason for that is not clear either. This involves all women of various social classes from Yonghui to Dezong periods. The modern scholars’ explanations of the reasons for that are mainly as following:Ritual System by Shen Congweng, decadence and customs in the Northern Dynasty by Sun Jin, multi-cultural intercourses by Wang Qiming and etc. But each explanation is questionable. There is no historical inheritance in the nudity of the women’s dress in the Tang Dynasty, while development of the appearance and disappearance of it could be clearly traced. Behind the exaggerated openness of the early stage reveals women’s trying to please the powerful men in the patriarchal society. While as Wu Zhao tried to create a relatively equal society of male and female, the reason for this nudity changed from please to self-affirmation. This social atmosphere established by Wu Zhao after Zhong Zong’s restoration did not disappear but moved on to the matriarchy society pushed by the Princess Taiping and Queen Wei. In a society like this, nudity represents for the first time ancient females accept themselves as women and are proud of the physiologic differences from males. This is the moment that sexual relation is closest to that of the modern society in ancient times of the relatively low productivity.Chapter TwoThe clothes in the Sui and Tang dynasties influenced greatly on the traditional clothes’ formation of Japan, Korean Peninsula in East Asia and Vietnam in Southeast China, no matter styles, materials or adornment, especially on Japan. The dress of Prince Shotoku in the oldest portrait Crown Prince Shotoku of Tang shows the acceptance of Chinese system and cultural influence.