Cultural Study Of Woman Costume In Tang Dynasty

Human clothing history starts at pre-historic age, in the simplest form being made of animal furs and leathers, and evolves into today's vast varieties of patterns and styles. It is directly related to the technology advances, economic development and culture revolutions in history. The costume at certain historical age not only reflects the unique taste of the rulers and people, but more importantly shows the political, economical and cultural conditions at the time. Based on this relationship, with reference to anthropological facts, literature works, ancient paintings and archaelogical remainings, this essay will study the Tang dynasty using woman costume as a viewpoint to further discloses Tang dynasty in various aspects. The essay has three chapters:Chapter one introduces and summarizes the woman costume history before Tang dynasty. Comparison shows the difference of Tang woman costume from other dynasties and highlights the uniqueness of Tang woman costume.Chaper two relates the woman costume evolvement to the social evolvement of Tang dynasty. The Tang dynasty will be observed in three ages: New Tang Age, Great Tang Age and Late Tang Age. The chapter analyzes the political, economical and other social influences behind the fashion change of Tang woman costume.Chapter three picks several woman costume patterns from these three ages and explains the specific social and cultural factors reflected.Chapter four explores more aspects of Tang woman costume and quotes ancient literature works to disclose Tang woman's unique living and characteristics. Clothing is the symbolic representations of the dresser. The ultimate goal of studying human clothing is to understand human spirit and beliefs.Supplementary chapter is about the Tang woman cosmetics, consolidating other studies on hair-style and facial makeup to extend the analysis of the Tang woman costume.