A Study On Clothing In The Eastern Jin And Southern Dynasties

Clothing in Eastern Jin and Southern Dynasties played a role as an intermediate link between Clothing in Han and Wei Dynasties and Clothing in the Middle Ages of china.As the Jin Dynasty moved to the South,Clothing system in Han and Wei Dynasties which was orthodox Cathaysian Clothing system was remained essentially,which followed to the Southern Dynasties.Government of Eastern Jin and Southern Dynasties inherited the system of "ceremonial clothing" and"government official clothing" in Han and Wei Dynasties.Informal clothing of Central Plains in Han and Wei Dynasties had an influence on clothing of southern china,which produced a new Informal clothing system."ceremonial clothing" and "government official clothing",which belonged to clothing system in Southern Dynasties,and Informal clothing system which belonged to clothing system in northern Dynasties composed Chinese Clothing system in the Middle Ages,which had extensive and far-reaching influence on Clothing in later ages.This paper consists of four chapters.The exordium is a discussion on academic background,Present Research Situation,and the significance of this paper.Chapter one concentrates on“ceremonial clothing" in Eastern Jin and Southern Dynasties."ceremonial clothing" in Yongping era(60AD)in Eastern Han Dynasty was followed to Eastern Jin and Southern Dynasties,which is consisted by flat Mian that is fixed in a crown,red coat,black full skirt,a red apron made of leather,red shoes and baldric.Decoration on flat crown,such as material of beads and the number of finagles,and baldric was symbols of social status.During early Eastern Jin and Southern Dynasties,the length of finagles in front of flat Mian is 4 cun(approximately 8.5cm)and the length of finagles in back of flat Mian is 3 cun(approximately 6.4cm),which both had changed into shoulder length since mid Southern Dynasties.During Eastern Jin and Southern Dynasties,nobles wearing a shirt edged with dark red under coat which was kept its shape by a round neckline underclothes.During Eastern Ji dynasty the black full skirt was wore under the red coat.Men's "ceremonial clothing" was changed gradually through Liu Song period in the Nan Dynasty:the red coat was wore under the black full skirt and "ceremonial clothing" changed into a wider shape,at the same time the toe cap changed into a large height.A ribbon in large length was folded and hung at men's right side during early Eastern Jin and Southern Dynasties,and changed into two ribbons in large width.Women's "ceremonial clothing"consists Gui rope and full skirt during early-mid-Eastern Jin dynasty.In Eastern Jin and Southern Dynasties,the palace women's hairstyle is "da shou updo" which evolved from "xie zi updo" in western Jin dynasty,while the other noble women wear a jinguo around her updo.In mid-Eastern Jin,Women's "ceremonial clothing" was simplified into guishu rope,which consisted a rope,an apron,and a short sleeve shirt.Chapter two concentrates on "government official clothing" in Eastern Jin and Southern Dynasties.The crown,as a part of"Government official clothing",is main symbol of official rank in Han and Wei Dynasties,which continued to Eastern Jin and Southern Dynasties.In Eastern Jin and Southern Dynasties,"Government official clothing" consists of a crown,a cap,a dark red rope made by gauze,a shirt edged with black,a leather belt,a pair of trousers,a pair of stockings,a pair of shoes with high heels."Government official clothing" of members of imperial family and senior officials has added part:five ropes or four ropes in different colors that stood for different seasons,which is known as "official clothing for five seasons" or“official clothing for four seasons"."official clothing for five seasons" had five colors:blue,red,yellow,white and black,while“official clothing for four seasons"had four colors:blue,red,yellow and black.As a part of their "Government official clothing",the emperor's crown was tongtianguan,crowns of sons and brothers of the emperor were yuanyouguan,crowns of civil officials were jinxianguan and crowns of military officials were wuguan during Eastern Jin and Southern Dynasties.Wearing rape made by gauze as "Government official clothing" and changing colors of official clothing should be traced back to Han Dynasty.Chapter three concentrates on informal clothing in Eastern Jin and Southern Dynasties.Informal clothing in Han and Wei Dynasties continued to Eastern Jin and Southern Dynasties.Local clothing style of southern and northern china also had influence on informal clothing during Eastern Jin and Southern Dynasties.Men's informal clothing includes danyi and kuzhe.Danyi was a kind of rape,which was noble's mainly informal clothing.Kuzhe,that can dated back to Han dynasty,was made up with a short coat and a pair of trousers,which was the most popular men's informal clothing.Warriors and servants who were in lower statues wore tight kuzhe so as to work efficiently,while officials who were in higher statues wore wide kuzhe.Women's informal clothing was ruqun which consists of short coat and full skirt.In early Eastern Jin and Southern Dynasties,most women wore the full skirts under short coats.Since the mid Southern Dynasties,women had worn short coats under full skirts so as to show their narrow waists.In the mid to late Southern Dynasties,for the probable influence from the Northern Dynasties,women's belt line was up to their chests,and women's short coats had open collars.Besides ruqun,kuzhe and danyi also belonged to women's informal clothing,which were not common.Danyi belonged to female officials' informal clothing while kuzhe belonged to maids' informal clothing.The custom that women worn kuzhe in Southern dynasties were spread from Northern China.Chapter four concentrates on historical position of clothing in Eastern Jin and Southern Dynasties.Clothing in Han and Wei Dynasties was remained in Eastern Jin and continued to Southern Dynasties.During Eastern Jin and Southern Dynasties,clothing in south china stood for orthodox Cathaysian clothing system,and made a significant influence on clothing system in Northern Dynasties."ceremonial clothing" and "government official clothing" in mid ages of china mainly came from clothing system of Southern Dynasties while informal clothing came from clothing system of Northern Dynasties."Ceremonial clothing" and“government official clothing" in Southern Dynasties,informal clothing of xiabei,and clothing of sogdians constituted clothing system in mid ages of china.The epilogue of the paper sums up the main contentions of this dissertation.