Types of Hanfu Headwear, Part 2: Jin (巾)

Next up on our crash course in headwear is the jin (巾)!

An Introduction to the Jin

Unlike the guan, which I talked about in my previous post on hanfu headwear, the jin is usually just a cloth that one can wrap around the head. It could be worn by men and women of all social classes, while the guan was restricted to the scholarly elite and formal rituals, except on special occasions. Finally, the jin is typically associated with commoners, laborers, and even military personnel, since its structure is more suited to casual, everyday wear.

Here’s a list of common types of jin you may encounter out in the wild (or maybe on the couch while binging C-dramas):

Wangjin (网巾)

The wang in its name means ‘net’; accordingly, the wangjin resembles a mesh-like covering. It originated during the Ming Dynasty, and could be made with silk or horsehair. Government officials and the scholar-gentry used it to line their guan and gather up their hair, while and laborers wore it directly over their topknots for daily work.

Ming-era portrait of a man wearing a wangjin.

According to legend, the first emperor of the Ming Dynasty, the Hongwu Emperor, saw a Daoist priest wearing a wangjin and asked him what is was. The priest replied, “网巾，用以裹头，则万发俱齐” (“this is a wangjin, used to cover the head and gather all your hair together”). The Hongwu Emperor had just reunited China after a period of chaos, so he was pleased with the priest alluding to those events (the word 齐 can also mean ‘to make whole’). Hence, he decreed that all men in China, from the officials to the commoners, should wear the wangjin.

Futou (幞头)

While officials in most dynasties wore guan, from the Tang Dynasty onwards, they wore futou, a type of jin. The futou originated sometime around the Sui Dynasty as a black cloth tied in a kerchief-like style, with two ribbons hanging loose from the back of the head. During the Tang, Song, and Ming Dynasties, it experienced some changes:

In the Tang Dynasty, the invention of the jinzi (巾子), an inner lining for the futou, gave it more structure. As a result, instead of being mostly flat and close to the head, futou from this era onward had a taller, more rigid shape. The type of futou worn by officials was known as the chuijiao futou (垂脚幞头), since the two ribbons at the back tended to droop downwards.

Portrait of a man wearing chuijiao futou.

By the Song Dynasty, the primary style of futou used ribbons supported by a rigid wire framework or bamboo strips, causing them to appear straight and stiff. Hence, they were known as zhijiao futou (直脚幞头). Additionally, the body of the futou itself now used wood supports, enabling it to look like various styles of guan.

A particularly famous style of futou from the Song Dynasty is the zhanjiao futou (展脚幞头), so-called because of the enormous length of its ribbons. It was designed by the first Song Dynasty emperor, Emperor Taizu, in order to stop his officials from whispering to each other during meetings. (I like to call it the ‘social distancing hat’.)

Portrait of Emperor Lizong of the Song Dynasty wearing zhanjiao futou.

During the Ming Dynasty, a variant of the futou known as the wushamao (乌纱帽) was used exclusively by government officials. Instead of thin ribbons like the zhijiao futou and the zhanjiao futou, the wushamao had wide, short ‘wings’ that extended from the back of the head. Accordingly, it was also known as the zhanchi futou (展翅幞头), where 翅 means ‘wing’.

Portrait of a Ming Dynasty politician wearing zhanchi futou.

Guanjin (纶巾)

Originating during the Han Dynasty, it was first worn in a style resembling the early futou. During the Three Kingdoms period, Zhuge Liang, a famous strategist, popularized a style of guanjin that had a greater resemblance to guan. Hence, it became known as the zhugejin, and gained popularity among the scholar-gentry.

Artist's rendition of the zhugejin from Gujin Tushu Jicheng, a Qing-era encyclopedia.

Rujin (儒巾)

The rujin was a black, rectangular jin that was primarily worn by scholars—especially those who hadn’t yet passed the provincial level of the imperial examinations, or juren (举人). It had a tall, boxy shape in the front, and draped down behind the wearer’s head.

A painting of two men wearing rujin.

Next time, I’ll be talking about different types of mao (帽)!