Looking through this blog, it is probably obvious to you that I love ethnic clothes. However, I equally love historical dramas as well. After watching so many Chinese historical dramas, I've became fascinated by the various ethnic clothes of China. I searched up many different style of clothing like the hanfu, hufu, ming, etc. Out of the various styles, the Tang dynasty clothing captured my heart. I just love how light the clothing looks and the design. If you look at the picture below, you can see how beautiful it is.
(Tang dynasty women clothing) (Tang Dynasty Male clothing)
This is the three main style of Tang dynasty clothing for women. The male clothing at this time did not change much from the previous Sui dynasty. Therefore, I will be focusing on the glory of women’s clothing at this time.
(Three Types of Tang dynasty Clothing)
The Tang dynasty (608-907) is known to be the “glorious age” and is regularly cited as the greatest imperial dynasty in Ancient China. The Sui dynasty, the previous dynasty, was bankrupt due to the emperor's military expansions. Li Yuan, the first emperor of the Tang dynasty, rebelled against the Emperor and successfully created the Tang dynasty. His son, Taizong, made many reforms such as introducing a copper coinage system. The reforms that Taizong and later Emperors made led to the economic and population growth of the Tang dynasty. What does it mean when the economy is growing? It means that trade flourishes.
(Li Yuan, the first emperor of Tang dynasty)
With the growth of the economy, many different objects and ideas were brought into China (through the Silk Road) at this time. One of the things that became popular through trade was Persian and Indian clothes. The Tang Ladies incorporated materials and designs from India and Persia for their clothes and design. Due to the influence of India’s bindi (the forehead dot), women in this era placed motifs between their eyebrows. The design on the upper clothing (look at image on the bottom left) is said to be a Persian style design. The women in the image also has a bright red motifs on her forehead. Some popular motif designs can be seen below as well. Aren’t the design beautiful? Which design do you like the most? Comment below!
(Clothing that has foreign Influences) (Various style of Motifs)
The Increase in trade also lead to the introduction of Buddhism in China. Confucianism was the major religion before this. With the spread of Buddhism, Confucian and Buddhism merged to create the neo-Confucianism. Neo-Confucianism was liberal and rationalistic compared to the older religions. It believed that the universe can be understood through human reasoning. This new religion helped create a liberal society in the Tang dynasty. Due to this spread of liberalism, women gained many rights. Women were able to own property, divorce, hunt, do business, and participate in politics. Some women were appointed to important government positions at that time. The image below shows a clay figure that depicts a Tang dynasty women riding a horse. In the past, women were expected to stay indoors but this clay figurine tells us that women were able to work outdoors in this time period.
The growing power of women is evident with the rise of the first and last Empress Regnant of China, Wu Zetian. Isn’t it amazing that in China’s extremely long history, there was only one Empress Regnant!? Wu Zetian also made many reforms that helped expand women's right. She allowed women to travel on their own and expanded the mourning period for a mother to equal that of a father. She also sponsored scholars to produce a collection of biographies on famous Chinese women. Maybe she was the first feminist in China?
(A women riding a horse from a Tang dynasty tomb)
The growing power of women is evident with the rise of the first and last Empress Regnant of China, Wu Zetian. Isn’t it amazing that in China’s extremely long history, there was only one Empress Regnant!? Wu Zetian also made many reforms that helped expand women's right. She allowed women to travel on their own and expanded the mourning period for a mother to equal that of a father. She also sponsored scholars to produce a collection of biographies on famous Chinese women. Maybe she was the first feminist in China?
(Wu Zetian)
This growing freedom in women’s lives can be seen in their clothing. If you look at the image below, the woman is wearing a revealing clothing. She is exposing her cleavage!! (By the way, this is Ancient China for those who forgot). In a way, these people might have been more liberal than us. I had a classmate in high school that wore a t-shirt that showed her cleavage and got in trouble. During the Sui dynasty (the previous dynasty), women were expected to cover most of their body parts and had a more insignificant role due to the Confucianism. You can see the Sui dynasty clothing below. However, Neo-Confucianism saw men and women as an equal, thus this freedom in fashion and power were possible. Do you see the difference between the clothing from the Sui dynasty and the Tang dynasty?
This growth of Women’s power became detested by the male population. Though Wu Zetian had a successful reign with a flourishing economy, her evil deeds were well known among the people. In order to gain the position as the Empress, Wu Zetian killed her own daughter and framed the first wife of the emperor for the murder. Due to her brutality, Wu Zetian became a prime example for the male population of what happens when women gains too much power. Maybe this is why the Song Dynasty (the dynasty after Tang) became stricter on women? Women lost all the rights that they enjoyed during the Tang dynasty like the right to divorce, own property, participate in politics, etc. This strictness can also be seen in the clothing style. If you look at the image below, the women is covering every single section of her body except for her face and a part of her neck.
(Song dynasty clothing)
Out of all the dynasty’s clothes, I love the Tang dynasty the most because of its beautiful design and the liberal/social background that the clothes conveys to us. As a history nerd, I also love how the Tang dynasty led to the advancement of other countries clothes. The rich culture and economic success of the Tang dynasty was known by every nation around China. Many of those nations copied the Tang clothing and culture to become more modern and advanced like the Tangs. If you look at my Japanese Clothing blog post, I talked about how the Japanese clothing was a copy from the Tang dynasty. In a way, the Tang clothing is the foundation of many different ethnic clothing.
Sadly, this freedom in clothing that the Tang dynasty had was destroyed with the rise of the Song dynasty. However, many people still wear Tang dynasty clothing for ceremonies and dances. It is also one of the most popular ethnic clothing in China.
Sadly, this freedom in clothing that the Tang dynasty had was destroyed with the rise of the Song dynasty. However, many people still wear Tang dynasty clothing for ceremonies and dances. It is also one of the most popular ethnic clothing in China.
Here is a video for you, if you want to know more about Chinese clothing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wiWEBzZofjo
