Were earrings originally used for decoration? What is the history of earrings?

In the hit drama "Qingpingle", Huirou got married, and her pearlescent makeup surprised everyone. Among them, the string of white pearls and tassel earrings in the ear embellishes its beautiful appearance and adds a bit of luxury and charm!

The famous Yuefu poem Peacock Flying Southeast once wrote:? If the waist is flowing, you will smell the bright moon. ? , in the poem? Hey? It's earrings. Yue Ming? It's usually like this.

In the long historical evolution, due to the constraints of etiquette, national cultural differences and social atmosphere, the shapes, wearing methods and customs of earrings in different periods are also different.

Ear piercing was originally a punishment and warning.

Women in China have a long history of wearing earrings. It is said that women in China have been wearing earrings for more than 2,000 years. Earrings are one of the most commonly used jewelry for women, and their ups and downs in history are the biggest among all jewelry.

But you may not believe it. In ancient China, earrings did not beautify the ears when they were born in the early days.

Since primitive society, ancestors began to wear earrings. At this time, earrings are a kind of amulet or exorcism, and only witches in the tribe are qualified to wear them.

Some primitive tribes also regard earrings as? Humble people? The symbol of. In the book Liu Qing Ri Za in the Ming Dynasty, there is also a clear record:

Whether women wear earrings or not has been a problem since ancient times. ?

Because primitive tribes often have wars, there must be prisoners of war when there is war. They regard prisoners of war from all directions, men, women and children, as slaves and wear iconic earrings as a sign of slavery. Once you put on the earrings, you must obey your master and never take them off without permission. Even the children they gave birth to will be nailed and continue to be small slaves.

Later, some people wearing rings moved to the Central Plains, which changed the meaning of wearing earrings. People began to wear earrings for some time by wearing rings to mark water and beauty.

However, after the history entered the pre-Qin period, with the development of etiquette, earrings that need to be pierced became extremely rare in Han areas, because the ancients paid great attention to maintaining the whole body shape. The body is damaged, and parents dare not damage it. It is absolutely impossible to wear ears. Therefore, the development of earrings quickly fell to the bottom in Han areas.

During this period, the ancients invented a special kind of earrings. Han people invented a special kind of earrings called stuffing. Fill the fake earrings similar to our modern ones, instead of piercing the ears, they are tied to the hair pins and hung by the ears.

During the Han and Jin dynasties, people also hung ear beads on the ears of maids to remind them to behave themselves and act cautiously. At this time, the role of earrings in binding ethics is greater than decoration. This situation lasted from the pre-Qin Dynasty to the prosperous Tang Dynasty.

Ear piercing ornaments have been very popular among Han people in China since the Southern Song Dynasty. Due to the rise of ethical codes, women's ear piercing is unprecedented. Not to mention ordinary women, even the queen and concubines are no exception. Soon, ear piercing, like foot binding, became an important feature to distinguish men from women.

Classification of earrings

Ear praise and ear praise in the new timepiece period

Ear hairpin is a round jade with a notch.

As early as the Neolithic Age, the jade-worshipping culture had arisen in China, and the jade block was also the earliest earring in the world, with unearthed objects all over the country.

Among them, the jade earrings found in Xinglongwa Culture Site in Aohan Banner, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region date back about 8,200 years. 7400 years of history.

But as a relatively primitive earring, no one knows how to wear it until now. Some people say that wearing ear clips can clamp the gap in the ear, while others say that it needs to be tied to the ear with a string. It is also said that the ancients wore rings before their death and wore kings after their death. ...

Although I don't know how to wear it, the reason why I decided that Jade Jue was an earring was mainly because similar Jade Jue was found in other Neolithic tombs. Most of its storage sites are in the ears of the remains. At the same time, the ears of human idols have also been perforated, which proves the role of jade Jue as earrings.

In addition to earrings, the rich and beautiful ancients also created another kind of earrings under limited conditions.

ear

Erjun's appearance is somewhat similar to that of a condensed hamburger, with round ends and narrow middle. It appeared about 1500 years later than Yujun's.

Of course, I fully understand that there was no mature metal smelting technology in the Neolithic Age, so most of the earrings we found were made of natural jade and other materials, and their shapes and styles were relatively simple.

Forgive vulgarity, like me, but really don't understand the beauty of ears.

Bronze Age Earrings and Earrings

With the passage of time, metal smelting technology gradually appeared, human civilization entered the bronze age, and people began to make and use metal ornaments.

Interestingly, at this time, influenced by feudal culture, earrings gradually faded out of people's lives in the Central Plains and entered a low point of development.

Zhuangzi? Inside? "DeChongFu" cloud:? For emperor penguins, they don't scratch or pierce their ears; A wife stops at home and can't make it. ?

On the contrary, the surrounding ethnic groups set off a fanatical pursuit of earrings. Therefore, the earring wearers in Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties were mainly ethnic minorities, and both men and women wore them.

At this time, the materials of earrings are mainly gold and copper, but some nobles like to make earrings with gold and decorate them with turquoise, which is both beautiful and shows their identity.

From the Han Dynasty to the Three Kingdoms period.

As mentioned earlier, in the Han Dynasty, influenced by Confucianism, it was not allowed to wear ears, but how could the ancients willingly give up such beautiful ornaments?

Since you can't get your ears pierced, why not get one? Modern ear clips? Good, so hairpin was born in Han Dynasty.

hairpin

As we know, it's just a hairpin, which is used to insert in the head. As mentioned above, earrings hang on the ears. It is easy to understand that the hairpin is a combination of these two objects.

People connect their hair pins with their hair pins, and then insert them into the hair behind their ears. Earrings naturally fall behind their ears, even if they decorate their ears. This kind of jewelry has even been written into the clothing system of the Eastern Han Dynasty, and it has become an officially recognized essential jewelry for marrying women inside and outside marriage.

It is mentioned in the Book of the Later Han Dynasty that all empresses have hairpin, but? All pins are made in the same system, but are there levels? Based on this, it is inferred that hairpin should be a very common jewelry in Han Dynasty, and it can often be seen in ancient paintings of Han Dynasty.

Since the Song Dynasty, ear piercing has become popular, and all kinds of earrings are in full bloom.

Although the Tang Dynasty was recognized as an open dynasty in history, hair accessories, clothing and other accessories developed unprecedentedly. However, in the matter of piercing ears, the Tang Dynasty still followed the conservative principle, and earrings were not worn in ancient paintings handed down from generation to generation.

During the Southern Song Dynasty, earrings became the mainstream and flourished.

Especially the pearl earrings mentioned at the beginning are rare. This is mainly because the Song Dynasty attached great importance to pearls, and the system at that time stipulated that pearls were forbidden in the palace and only allowed to be used by concubines in the palace, and ordinary people could not use them.

However, the more people are forbidden to use it, the more people feel that it is a good thing to improve their status. Therefore, some women from wealthy families illegally use beaded rings.

Apart from pearls, most of the earrings in the Song Dynasty are made of gold, which is mainly due to the open politics and unprecedented prosperity of the economic system in the Song Dynasty.

Yuan and Ming dynasties followed the custom of piercing ears in Song Dynasty, but they were not satisfied with the single material of gold or pearl in style. The opening of the Silk Road introduced all kinds of precious stones from the Western Regions to China, so all kinds of earrings inlaid with precious stones became popular.

Manchu established political power in Qing dynasty, and introduced the custom of one ear and three pliers earrings to Han nationality. On the basis of the Ming Dynasty, the Qing Dynasty incorporated the Manchu style. Women had to punch three holes in their ears and wear three earrings.

Therefore, those young people who think that they can show their personality by hitting three ears can see clearly that these are all left over from their ancestors' play.

Small earrings have such a bumpy history of development. It seems that the development history of earrings actually reflects the production technology, economic level and social atmosphere of each dynasty, and the progress of earrings is also the progress of that era.

On the other hand, the exquisite and beautiful shape of ancient earrings has nothing to do with modern aesthetics, showing the advanced technical achievements and aesthetics of the ancients.