Study On Ceremonial Costume Of Han And Tang Dynasties Chinese

Han and Tang Dynasty was respectively a unified powerful empire in Chinese history, and the features of grading and hierarchy of ceremonial costume have been suited to effective governance of the upper ruling class. When the world was dominated by Confucianism of Han Dynasty, the theory of“divine right”endowed the emperor the title of“son of heaven”, and the conception of emperor homage and etiquette emphasis in Confucianism was deeply rooted in people’s hearts, guided by this thought, a variety of ceremonial events took a great proportion in people’s daily life, and the booster role of ceremonial costume became more prominent. The ceremonial costume of an era is closely related with the social environment, it retained the trace of history vertically, and meanwhile it showed and reflected its own understanding on etiquette laterally, and its inheritance and change has always existed in Han and Tang Dynasties.The resplendence and brilliance of Han and Tang Dynasties was associated with the open mind, no matter in great empire of the same period, or in the long incompatible split stages, ethnic and cultural exchange and integration have maintained strong vitality. The continuous development of foreign exchange has injected fresh blood into ceremonial costume increasingly, and frequent business activities have introduced exotic religions, costumes with the religious characteristics have also affected the development direction of ceremonial costume. The interactions between nations promoted integration of Hu and Han style dressing, particularly in Wei Jin Southern and Northern Dynasties between Han and Tang Dynasties, and this integration has been further strengthened after the northern nomad ruled central plains. The orthodox debate of Hu and Han style dressing has been affecting the trend of ceremonial costume. During the integration process, in order to strengthen its rule of agricultural civilized land, the northern prairie nomads had to learn more advanced Han etiquette system and dress in ceremonial costume with obvious levels. Meanwhile, the light and practical features in dressing of Hu tribe have been taken and incorporated into ceremonial costume by Han nationality, represented by formalization of Hakama fold clothes, and formation of scarf in Tang Dynasty was also developed from Xianbei cap.As for acceptance of ceremonial costume by people of Han and Tang Dynasties, the unique aesthetic value is not ignorable, and origin of this aesthetic appreciation was affected by the aesthetic ideas of Han and Tang Dynasties. Rusticity of Han Dynasty and romance and ebullience of Wei Jin Southern and Northern Dynasties, as well as splendor and elegance of Tang Dynasty were all reflected in their ceremonial costumes. These aesthetic factors are all reflected in pattern, material, workmanship and moral of the ceremonial costumes,“round neck and narrow sleeves”and“wide robe and top sleeves”have also run parallel due to existence of aesthetic perceptions of Hu and Han.Development and change of ceremonial costume in Han and Tang Dynasties not only inherited costume tradition of the ancestors but also represented characteristics of the times. It was a long and controversial, but it finally affected the future trend of ceremonial costume, just like in the following rather long period of time, the shape of crown cap has maintained the basic structure of scarf in Tang Dynasty, except for Yuan and Qing Dynasties under the governance of foreign nations. To some extent we can conclude that the developmental progression of ceremonial costume in Han and Tang Dynasties was basically the mainstream for development of that in ancient times.Taking the ceremonial costume of Han and Tang Dynasties as the object of study, the cause of formation is explored in this paper through study of its evolving process. Based on generalization and ordination of literatures, pictures and physical materials, changes and rules of ceremonial costume at various stages are summarized. Costumes at different times have been associated with the historical background, as a microcosm for characteristics of the times, they represented essence of characteristics of the times. Ritual system in ancient China since its establishment has become a governance tool of rulers in controlling the world, and the ceremonial costume was an important carrier.