Hanfu Through the Ages, Part 3: The Three Kingdoms, Jin, and Tang Periods
Welcome back to Hanfu Through the Ages, my series on the various styles of hanfu, or traditional Chinese clothing, throughout history! Today I'll be talking about styles of hanfu that were popular during the Three Kingdoms period, as well as the Jin and Tang Dynasties.
Three Kingdoms/Jin Dynasty
Women’s wear developed further after the Han Dynasty ended, resulting in the rise of ruqun (襦裙). As a type of yichang, the ruqun consisted of a shirt paired with a long skirt, with the ru being the shirt and the qun being the skirt. The ru often had wide sleeves, while the qun could be so long that it reached the floor. In succeeding dynasties, the ruqun would become very popular with the elites in Imperial China. Uniquely, the ruqun is that it could come in a variety of styles—the collar could be crossed in the traditional right-over-left style (交领), parallel (直领), or u-shaped (坦领). Men’s wear during this time did not change as drastically, but they retained the loose fit and wide sleeves characteristic of hanfu. That would begin to change in the next few centuries, though…
Tang Dynasty
Due to flourishing trade networks and relative stability, the Tang Dynasty (618 – 907 AD) is often considered the golden age of Imperial China. The dynasty expanded further west than any previous dynasty, bringing elements of Central Asian fashion into hanfu. The yuanlingpao (圆领袍), or round-collar robe, skyrocketed in popularity, becoming daily outerwear for men. Early forms of the robe were borrowed from non-Han Chinese people groups, such as the Xianbei, so they had narrow sleeves as opposed to hanfu’s wide ones. In later years, it would also become fashionable for women to wear yuanlingpao.
Previous dynasties, having Confucianism as their dominant belief system, had conservative fashions and clothing showed little skin. However, the Tang Dynasty was more influenced by foreign cultures and readily syncretized both belief systems and clothing styles. Women’s clothing became more loose and relaxed, with some paintings from the era depicting women with cleavage.
Other than the yuanlingpao, women’s clothes during this era were often extravagant and more revealing than previous dynasties. The qixiong ruqun (齐胸襦裙), or chest-high ruqun, became more popular; in the modern-day hanfu movement, it is instantly recognizable as Tang Dynasty-style clothing. Legend says that the heziqun (诃子裙), a variant of the qixiong ruqun, was also invented during the Tang Dynasty. Allegedly, Yang Guifei (杨贵妃), a favored consort of the emperor, used a piece of cloth to cover her chest after it got scratched by a general, and it was so fashionable that all the other ladies at court began copying her.
Next up: hanfu during the Song and Ming Dynasties!
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