Revealing the characteristics of the Tang Dynasty ladies’ clothing, what vehicles did they use to travel?

What did the ladies of the Tang Dynasty wear when going out? What kind of transportation did they take? Next, I will bring the historical facts, let’s take a look together!

1. Colorful, luxurious and beautiful costumes of the Tang Dynasty

The Tang Dynasty was a prosperous age of ancient society, inclusive, and the costumes showed the characteristics of grandeur, breadth and splendor. Due to the special status of palace women, they were bound by the palace system and had to wear the dresses stipulated in Tang law at certain times and occasions.

In addition, the clothes they wear every day can reflect the extraordinary atmosphere of that era. During the Tang Dynasty, drapery hats that gradually became more revealing in shape, Hu clothing with exotic characteristics, and open and boldly revealing clothing appeared successively. All of these are amazing and novel at the same time, which has never happened in any other dynasty. In addition to the formal dresses stipulated in the Tang Dynasty system, on the whole, there are three main types of clothing for court women in the Tang Dynasty: narrow waxy skirts, Hufu, and some men's clothing that women like.

Due to the Sui system in the Tang Dynasty, the dress of court women was still similar to that of the Sui Dynasty. During the prosperous Tang Dynasty, due to the openness of social atmosphere, clothes became looser than in the previous period, and the overall characteristics were fat and gorgeous. During this period, influenced by the costumes of ethnic minorities, Hu clothing became popular and accepted by the majority of women.

In such a social environment, women wearing men's clothing is also popular. In the late Tang Dynasty, the social atmosphere of the Tang Dynasty gradually changed from openness to conservatism, and the trend of wearing Hufu also gradually weakened, and the previous tradition was gradually restored.

So let’s talk about it in detail, starting with the queen’s clothing: In the early Tang Dynasty, the old system of the Sui Dynasty was followed. The queen’s dress included four types of clothes: Yi Yi, Ju Yi, Qing Yi and Zhu Yi. The so-called Yi Yi is explained in the book:

"Yi Yi is decorated with twelve trees of flowers and has two hairy temples. The clothes are made of dark green and the text is in the shape of a halo. In the plain yarn Single, arresting leader, Luo Yi escort, wearing a large belt, wearing green clothes, leather belt, green socks, white jade double garb, and wearing a pair of white jade hats. /p>

In other words, this kind of dress is specially used for large-scale formal occasions. It wears twelve branches of flowers on the head. This is to correspond to the emperor’s nine twelve crowns (nine beads are nine beads). ).

Wearing a dark blue coat with green stripes on it, plain bottom, five colors and twelve styles. There is this black and white pattern on the collar, and the sleeves are edged with red Luo Yi (a very fine fabric). The knee-covering is the same color as the clothes, with Zhai's pattern embroidered on it. There are three types. The color of the large belt must be the same as the color of the top.

Juyi is the formal dress worn by the queen during the wedding ceremony. The silkworm kissing ceremony is a ritual in which the queen personally picks mulberry and performs silkworm making. In order to show that they attached great importance to mulberry farming, the ancient Chinese emperors plowed the fields and the queen personally sewed the silkworms every spring. This system began in the Zhou Dynasty and has been used throughout the ages. It has a symbolic meaning to show the world. Juyi is the formal dress for this event. It is generally elegant and beautiful, and its formality is second only to Yiyi.

The mother-in-law dress is the dress worn by the queen when she meets guests. There are twelve headdresses inlaid with gold flowers, which are also in line with the emperor's twelve charms.

In terms of color, there are no special regulations, no complicated patterns and accessories. It can be said to be a kind of daily dress. The so-called "flowers and flowers left to the ground but no one can collect them, green and green gorillas scratching the head" refers to this kind of dress.

Not only the queen, but also the general concubines have very clear requirements for their clothing. The "Old Book of Tang" also has specific regulations on the clothing of Jie Hao, beauty, talent, etc. From this we can see that the regulations on concubines’ dresses are very complete, and different identities and different levels determine different dresses. This also reflects the strict hierarchy of the harem. According to the rank, the number of jewelry pieces of the concubines decreases in descending order.

However, although the regulations are like this, in the actual implementation process, it is "extravagance has become the trend, people do not follow the rules, and they are beautiful and beautiful, and they follow their own tastes. From the palace to the common people, they follow suit. There is no distinction between high and low."

They can choose their favorite attire according to their personal preferences on different occasions, and the institutional regulations are almost in vain.

In addition to dresses, ladies also have many daily clothes, which can also be worn on non-formal occasions.

The first type is the skirt. As the main clothing of women in the Tang Dynasty, the skirt played a very important role in the lives of women in the Tang Dynasty. Nuo is a short top, no longer than the knee.

Wearing a short top and a long skirt, this basic style has always been maintained despite repeated changes over hundreds of years in the Tang Dynasty. Even when Hufu was popular, this style It was not completely abandoned; after the Hufu became obsolete, it became the main clothing for women.

In addition, the Hufu has the characteristics of being thin and tight, so people in the Tang Dynasty often wore Hufu when riding horses. Convenient and comfortable. For its specific shape, you can refer to the picture below. As you can see from the picture below, the hat worn by this woman is characterized by being higher on the sides and hollow in the middle.

The material is generally thicker. The brocade is embroidered with exquisite patterns, and the more sophisticated ones are inlaid with various gems and other accessories. The tops have round collars and narrow sleeves. In the late Tang Dynasty, especially after the Anshi Rebellion, affected by political factors, Hu Feng gradually weakened, Hu clothing was no longer popular, and the costumes of the Tang Dynasty gradually returned to the previous tradition. So after talking about clothing, what about the means of transportation for ladies to travel?

2. Each shows his or her own talents. , a variety of means of transportation for ladies

For palace women, the different vehicles they used to travel were actually symbols of different statuses. The status of women in the Tang court was in a strict hierarchical order, including queens and concubines. They are different from ordinary palace ladies. If you travel through time and become an ordinary palace lady, you will not be eligible to ride on a vehicle in this life.

The queens of the Tang Dynasty had six carriages. The first four types are Chong Zhai Che, Yan Zhai Che, Zhai Che, An Che, Si Wang Che and Jin Gen Che. The first four are inherited from the Sui Dynasty, and the latter two are new systems in the Tang Dynasty. Concubines can also ride in carriages, but ordinary concubines are different from the queen's carriage, which is mainly reflected in the shape and decoration of the carriage and the number of driving animals. The queen's carriage is not only particularly large, but also has a special interior. Luxurious (BMW-level), the horses driven are also eight horses (super powerful), which can't be compared with ordinary concubines. At most, six horses are good.

But under normal circumstances, if the concubine doesn't. Most of the journeys were carried by manpower. In the Tang Dynasty, chariots and carriages were carried without wheels and relied on manpower. They were commonly used for traveling by funeral concubines. Regarding the difference between chariots and carriages, we can read from the "Book of Sui". We can see something.

"Book of Sui Dynasty" records: "In today's generation, we make elephants to attract Zhuo, but do not use wheels... we use people to carry them."

Lifting The chariot maid hung the shoulder straps of the sedan chair on her shoulders, and several other palace maids helped. The chariot and carriage were not only used by the concubines, but also by higher-status women in the court. This is shown in the mural on the east wall of the tomb of the eldest princess in the new city. , although it is unclear, we can see that there is a house-shaped closed elder carried by four people, which can be seen from this.

In short, for the palace women. The means of transportation and different status levels are very different in shape, style, decoration and category.

The author believes that in the early Tang Dynasty, the social atmosphere was open and the restraints of ethics were relatively loose. Under the influence of the Tang Dynasty, and with the help of Wu Zetian, the status of women was greatly improved during the Tang Dynasty, which was unprecedented in the entire feudal society. Their images are also more vivid.

Historical scrolls show us the vivid style of court women in the Tang Dynasty. From the emperor (Wu Zetian) to the ordinary palace maids, you can see their heroic appearance and heroic spirit of "riding and shooting in Hufu" when traveling. Even ordinary palace maids have moments of enjoying a moment of joy when they go out of the palace, from which you can feel To the strong open atmosphere of the times.

Wu Zetian replaced the Tang Dynasty with the Zhou Dynasty, which was an impact on the deep-rooted traditional feudal ethics and had a profound impact on the society at that time and even later generations.

It can be said that women in the Tang Dynasty were the luckiest group of women in ancient society, and this kind of luck was given by that era.

The restraints and oppressions they suffered from ethical ethics were not so heavy, and they still retained a certain degree of freedom. As a very special group, palace women’s travel activities can be said to be a microcosm of an open society.

However, this openness did not last throughout the Tang Dynasty society, and the openness gradually turned conservative. The Anshi Rebellion that lasted from 755 AD to 763 AD can be said to be a watershed in the entire Tang Dynasty society, and the Tang Empire turned from prosperity to decline. The trend of palace women participating in politics gradually weakened, the number of people participating in politics decreased compared with the early Tang Dynasty, and the palace system became stricter.

In the Song Dynasty, due to the prevalence of Neo-Confucianism, women's social status underwent epoch-making changes, and women's rights were almost denied. This is mainly reflected in the fact that women in the Song Dynasty were removed from household registrations by the rulers, or were treated as private property. Property and collateral were at the mercy of others, trampled on, and their economic status was almost deprived;

Marriage and property rights were also gradually reduced; under the constraints of Neo-Confucianism, women in the Song Dynasty were even more restricted in their daily activities. , clearly reflects the increasingly low social status of women.

The "strong" beauty of women advocated in Tang Dynasty society gradually changed to "frail" beauty, and the entire society's aesthetic view of women underwent major changes. As the constraints of etiquette gradually strengthened, the cruel and inhumane practice of foot binding became popular in the Song Dynasty.

On the surface, foot binding is a way for women to satisfy men’s aesthetic needs. In fact, it is a manifestation of the reduction of women’s social status and the strengthening of their dependence on men. But we can see the colorful costumes and various magical means of transportation worn by the noble ladies of the Tang Dynasty, which is also amazing.