Ancient Chinese hats

In China, it is said that the Yellow Emperor, the ancestor of China, first invented the hat.

During the slave society, hats were only commonly used by the bureaucratic ruling class at first, not to protect themselves from heat, but for decoration and identification purposes.

Symbolizes ruling power and noble status.

The hats here should be called "crown" and "mian". Only emperors and civil and military ministers can wear hats to mark their status and power, forming a bureaucratic order, which is the so-called crown system in ancient China. "Shiming"

"It is said that "Twenty adults, a scholar's crown and a commoner's scarf", it can be seen that only those who are scholars and above can wear hats, and other common people have no right to wear hats.

At first, what the emperor wore was called "mian" and what the scholar-bureaucrats wore was called "guan". Later, they were used interchangeably. What the emperor wore was always called "Tongtian crown". Of course, there were other detailed regulations.

During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, great scholars like Confucius and Mencius were not allowed to wear hats. Instead, they used "kerchiefs" to wrap their heads, and students were taught to establish the "aspiration of Xuan Mian."

Taking an official career shows that riding in a car and wearing a hat were the only privileges of officials at that time.

Ordinary people can only tie up their hair with a "kerchief", while the poor can let their hair hang loose or tie it up with hemp ropes.

As a sign and symbol of status and power within the ruling class, hats have remained unchanged despite the changes in the dynasties. The style has undergone great changes, but the symbols of power and status have become more detailed and precise until the Qing Dynasty.

It ended and the establishment of the Republic of China was cancelled.

With the development of society, during the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, social unrest occurred, and crowns began to become popular among Confucian scholars.

Lu Ji, a native of Jin Dynasty, wrote in "Ode to You Ren" that "the crown of clouds is played to die, and the sky is covered with brown to linger".

At this time, the Hu people from the north brought a real "hat", the "leather hat", but it did not become popular due to the general "Hanization".

During the Sui and Tang Dynasties, with the development of social productivity and the gradual opening up of social atmosphere, especially the open atmosphere during the prosperous Tang Dynasty, the special symbol of the hat gradually faded away, but it still gradually became popular among the people as a status symbol: ordinary scholars and wealthy businessmen and their

Young people can wear hats, but there are still differences. There are prescribed styles. There are typical scholar hats and businessman hats, which were more popular in the Five Dynasties and Song Dynasties.

Ordinary people still tie up their hair and wrap it with cloth, called a "kerchief".

During the Yuan Dynasty, the hats of the northern nomads in the Central Plains began to gradually become popular, including fur hats and felt hats. The emperors of the Yuan Dynasty also wore hats made of precious fur with pearls on them.

The establishment of the Ming Dynasty restored the Han people's "crown" system.

After the Qing Dynasty took over the Central Plains, hats became really popular. Everyone from the emperor to the poor could wear hats.

This situation lasted until the end of the Qing Dynasty. The introduction of Western culture and the introduction of Western hat culture made "hats" generally popular in society, ranging from bureaucrats and businessmen to coachmen and beggars. They can be seen in movies and TV series

Gentlemen wearing noble hats attended the banquet, rickshaw pullers wearing felt hats, and even beggars who put money in their hats.

The hat became popular and its practical value came into play.

In ancient times, women could be said not to wear hats. Women would tie their hair and wear hairpins when they were fifteen years old. They would use "women" to pull their hair back or bandage it to shape it.

Of course, except for some ethnic minorities who wear hats during festival celebrations, that is just a kind of decoration.

In ancient times, there were two types of women who wore hats: aristocratic women such as queens and princesses, who had the privilege of wearing "phoenix crowns" and "flower crowns".

Some maids with official positions also wear hats, which are also a symbol of power and status.

During the Tang Dynasty, an improved hat called a "curtain hat" passed down from the barbarians was popular among upper-class aristocratic women. It was surrounded by gauze and was used to prevent sand, "cover the face" and prevent strange men from peeking at their "women".

", which is equivalent to the black veil worn by women in today's Islamic areas.

The tradition of Chinese women generally wearing hats started in the late Qing Dynasty. They learned from Western women. Various summer hats and windshield hats can be said to be a status symbol at first, but later they became complete decorations and practical values.

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The origin and evolution of hats fully reflect the power and status of male-dominated society, as well as the historical development and gradual disintegration of this history.

Regarding the culture of hats, we can be divided into two major groups. One is the bureaucratic culture, which can be summarized as "black gauze hat".

Du You of the Tang Dynasty's "Tongdian" said, "In the early days of Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty, he tasted the black gauze hat..." The black gauze hat later became a symbol of Chinese bureaucratic culture.

The other is folk culture, which can be summarized as "cuckold".

The culture of "Wishaomao" includes: the ambition to be crowned, establishing the ideal of being an official; the crown is high-sounding, solemn and upright, and very impressive; congratulating each other with their crowns, congratulating each other on their promotions; well-dressed, showing great temperament and grace; dressed like an animal, looking like a noble hypocritical villain; angry and angry.

, get angry to the extreme; act proudly, reverse status.

To wear a crown while wearing a monkey's head is a metaphor for the ignorance and rudeness of a villain.

These idioms can be said to very well embody the power, status, orthodoxy, and beautiful symbolic meaning of "hat". They are connected with the ruling class and men. It can be said that they are the bureaucratic culture and patriarchal culture in hats.

The folk culture of "cuckold" is only associated with women. It appears as a negative example of women's "infidelity" to men and challenges to men's status. It is also a warning to women not to "cuckold" their husbands.

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Judging from the historical evolution of hats, the original crowns in China cannot be regarded as "hats". Hats were introduced to the Central Plains from the Hu people and became popular after improvements.

Modern hats were introduced directly from the West.