What material was the ancient Chinese corset made of?

Chinese-style chest covering, also known as "tube covering", is a kind of underwear that protects the chest and abdomen in China traditional dress. The shape is mostly square or rectangular, with diagonal design, the upper corner is cut into a concave semicircle, and the lower corner is a sharp corner or a circle.

The front of Chinese-style chest covering usually has patterns, including printing and embroidery. Most of the popular prints are blue calico, with auspicious patterns such as "Giving birth to a precious child", "Sending a unicorn", "Phoenix wearing peony" and "More than one year". Embroidered Chinese corsets are more common, and the theme patterns of embroidery are mostly China folklore or some folk customs. For example, the golden toad in Liu Hai's play, the magpie in plum blossom, the mandarin duck in the water, the lotus flower and other flowers and insects are mostly auspicious and happy themes.

Belly pocket is a kind of traditional folk underwear. In modern times, due to the evolution of society and the introduction of western woven fabrics, urban people first replaced Chinese-style bellies with shirts and vests. But today, there is still a tradition of wearing Chinese corsets in remote areas, which are only made for children, but it seems that little is done for adults. In traditional society, Chinese-style chest covering is a folk art for women to express their feelings for their lover, husband or newborn. Therefore, many traditional auspicious patterns and symbols of love and reproductive desire are displayed on the close-fitting Chinese corset.

The art of Chinese corsets is mainly embroidery, and there are also patched patterns. Because it includes sewing, embroidery, tailoring, modeling and color composition, the Chinese-style corset belongs to the comprehensive performance part of folk women's art, and women only embroider Chinese-style Chinese-style Chinese-style Chinese-style Chinese-style Chinese-style Chinese-style Chinese-style chest covers for lovers, husbands or sons; Chinese-style chest covering for personal use is generally solid color (mostly red) cloth with a little lace decoration. Couples embroidered Chinese-style chest covering, mostly based on love stories in operas, myths and legends. Embroidered Children focuses on protecting life and reproduction, such as tigers, tigers eating five poisons, and lotus (lotus) giving birth to expensive children.

If the topic is Chinese corset, it will be an exquisite art series. In particular, the newly-married embroidery, the change of Chinese-style chest covering for newborns during pregnancy and childbirth, or the congratulatory gifts made by grandma and uncle to nephews are the most direct blessings and praises for new life. Chinese-style corsets, tiger-headed shoes, tiger-headed hats, tiger-shaped bibs, ear pillows, and various cloth toys of gods constitute the supporting artistic expression around the theme of life reproduction. It can also be said that it is created around the growth of a new life, or around the first project of the three etiquette of life-childbirth, marriage and funeral, which has formed a special field in folk art and is worth further study.