Study On The Person’s Costumes In Story Painting Of Northern Zhou Dynasty In The Mogao Grottoes

There are plenty of costume images in Story Painting of Northern Zhou Dynasty in Mogao Grottoes which are the significant materials for the costumes research of Dun Huang area even the whole China of Northern Zhou dynasty. The costumes of person’s in story painting of Northern Zhou Dynasty in Mogao Grottoes are selected to research. By analyzing and reorganizing thousands of person’s costumes of twelve story paintings in the seven caves of Northern Zhou dynasty in Mogao Grottoes, all the persons are classified by their identities and status and we could take the conclusion of the apparel mod of different person in diverse occasions. Eight hair styles, eight crowns or hats and four clothes patterns which were used most frequently are summarized by comparing the costume styles without considering the contents of the stories. Then, the style characteristics, the collections, users and the using occasions are studied.Then, further analysis about the pattern constructions, the collections and the names in ancient of all the hair styles, crowns or hats and the clothes are carried out. Here are the names of those mentioned above as follow:hair style:Kuang or Tiao Kuang, Wan Ji, Fei Ji, Jinghu ji or Jinghe ji, Bing jiao, Bei Fa or Pi Fa. Crown: Tong Tian gold Bo Shan Crown, Yuan You Crown, Long Crown and Bai Sha Mao crown. Hat:He Huan hat, Qia cap, Lian Ye hat or Juan He hat, Dou Mou helmet。Costumes:Ku Zhe, Zhe match with long skirt, Pao with front opening and wide sleeves match Ju Ling or Zhong Dan, Ru or Ao match with long skirt or Fu Ku pants, Du Bi kun.In order to make this research more deeply and the conclusion more creditable, we put the costumes in a larger environment for discussion. We have compared their with the patrons’apparels in the same cave of the story paintings of Northern Zhou dynasty and West Wei dynasty’s, Sui dynasty’s caves of Mogao Grottoes, the costumes of patrons in other Northern Dynasties grottoes such as Kizil Caves, Maijishan Grottoes, Bing Ling Temple, Longmen Grottoes and the cave temples of Gongxian and so on. Furthermore, we also have compared theirs with the person’s costumes of murals or pottery figures found from Northern Dynasties tomb in different area of China.It is found that the costumes of story paintings in Northern Zhou dynasty of Mogao Grottoes are appearances which correspond with the discipline of fashion development in the Northern dynasties instead of an isolated phenomenon with the influence of the Buddhism. All the people of various classes choose their clothes according to the status, institution, custom of region and requirement of life, and the choice also influenced by the fashion trend to a certain extent. The costumes in feudal society are the symbol of etiquette and statue, therefore, people only could pursue the fashion between the range themselves belong to and could not overstep the grade.The costumes’characteristics of Northern Zhou dynasty as a dynasty dominated by Chinese localized Xianbei ethnic minority group are showed by the person’s costumes of story paintings of Northern Zhou dynasty in Mogao Grottoes. The Xianbei people admired the culture of the Han nationality; the glitterati are like to wear the clothes with Han style although which still not break away from the traditional Xianbei ethnic minority costumes. The costumes combined Hu with Han style are emerged during this period. The common people of lower class are like to wear the clothes with narrow sleeves and trouser-legs which is the traditional Xianbei ethnic minority costumes but some details are became similar to the costumes of the Han nationality. The costumes of Northern Zhou dynasty are a significant connection in costumes advancing which not only inherit the apparels’ feature before but also have some changes continue to Sui and Tang dynasty.