I. Dress
Dress refers to the traditional dress of women in the Tang Dynasty, including short sleeves or shirts, long skirts, silk and half-arms. Under the influence of foreign costumes, Tang Nv's dress retained its original shape, so it became the most exciting and moving accessory costume in the Tang Dynasty and even in the whole history of China. Land, usually only grows to the waist, very short, which is the characteristic of women's wear in Tang Dynasty. Shirts like this one grow to the hips or longer. Tang Nv's coats, shirts, etc. are the uniforms of all classes. Yuan Zhen's poem "Lotus Silk Shirt and Lotus Silk Skirt", Zhang You's poem "Where to Take Yuanyang Embroidery, Who Will Pay for Peacock Sweater", and Ouyang Jiong's poem "Young girls with red sleeves attract each other". Judging from these poems, it is very common for women in the Tang Dynasty to wear clothes and shirts, and they like red, light red or light ochre, light green and other colors, and the appearance is even more beautiful with the gold and silver embroidery of "Luoshan embroidered leaves and Jinfeng embroidered geese". The neckline of a swallow often changes. The neckline types of a swallow shirt include round neck, square collar, straight collar, chicken heart collar and so on. In the prosperous Tang Dynasty, there was a kind of naked collar, that is, the neckline was very low, which was popular only among court concubines and kabuki actors in the early days, and later even rich girls were favored. Judging from the stone carvings at the tomb entrance in the Tang Dynasty and a large number of ceramic female figurines, bare collars became popular and probably spread all over Lebanon, so there were quite a few bare-collar female images in the artistic images at that time. Skirts, women in the Tang Dynasty all wore skirts. This was a form of petticoat that women attached great importance to at that time. Skirt fabrics are mostly silk fabrics, but there are many differences in materials, usually one more piece is better. The waist of the skirt can be raised, and part of it can cover the chest. The lower body only wears a tube top and a gauze shirt, so that the skin of the upper body is faintly exposed. For example, Zhou Fang's Picture of a Lady, Zhou Juan's poem and painting "A Dress with a Half-revealing Chest" all depict this kind of dress, which is the boldest among the ancient women's dresses in China, enough to imagine the degree of openness at that time. The material, color and style of skirts in the Tang Dynasty are much higher than the previous generation, which can be described as gorgeous and colorful. For example, there are many skirt styles involved in Tang poetry, such as "Fairy first wears a blue skirt", "Lotus leaf skirt with the same color", "Two-person hidden flower skirt", "Bamboo leaf skirt", "Blue gauze skirt" and "New neon moonlit skirt". The skirts in the Tang Dynasty are colorful and can be compared with people, mostly crimson, apricot, crimson, moon green and turquoise. Among them, pomegranate color has the longest popularity. Li Baiyou "deceives willow leaves with eyebrows and envies pomegranate flowers with skirts." Wan Chu has "Mei Dai wins the color of day lily, and the red skirt envies pomegranate flowers." Its popularity can be seen from the "Yanjing May Song", "Pomegranate flowers are burned all over the street, and the branches are all falling, and thousands of households can't buy them, leaving their daughters in red skirts." The biggest feature of pomegranate skirt is its high skirt and short coat, which is in sharp contrast with the width and length of the two. The "Tang suit" of this dress is the inheritance, development and perfection of the previous generation of clothing. From the overall effect, the coat is short, the skirt is long, and it looks slim and slender.
Secondly, women wear men's clothes.
In the long feudal society of China, it is rare for women to wear men's clothes. The Book of Rites once stipulated that "men and women can't wear clothes." Although it is impossible to be so absolute in fact, it is often considered immoral for women to wear men's clothes. Before the Tang Dynasty, although there was a slight difference between men and women in clothing styles during the Han and Wei Dynasties, it did not belong to women wearing men's clothing. Only in the Tang Dynasty, when the atmosphere was very relaxed, could women wear men's clothes. Even so, part of the reason is due to the influence of nomadic people. At that time, most of the foreign costumes that influenced the Central Plains were the costumes of direct ethnic groups. Those rugged body frames, heroic costumes and vigorous war horses have had a penetrating influence on Tang Nv's dress consciousness, and at the same time created an atmosphere suitable for women to wear men's clothes. According to the Records of the Old Tang Dynasty, "I may have my husband's clothes, boots and shirts, but I always respect the inside and the outside", which has clearly recorded the scene of women wearing men's clothes. "New Tang Book Five Elements" records that "Emperor Gaozong tasted the banquet, Princess Taiping wore a purple shirt and jade belt, and the soap was folded with a towel, holding seven objects and singing and dancing in front of the emperor.
The emperor and queen smiled and said,' Women can't be military officers. "Why are you dressed like this?" "Although Princess Taiping acted a little coquettish this time, it also shows that there has been a trend of women wearing men's clothes in the early Tang Dynasty. Especially in the Kaiyuan and Tianbao years of the Tang Dynasty, the fashion of women wearing men's clothes was popular. "China's Notes on Ancient and Modern Times" records that "by the middle of Tianbao, the scholar's wife wore her husband's boots, shirt and whip cap, which were integrated inside and outside." "New Tang Book Li Shichuan" Note: "I heard that there are golden birds in the forbidden area, and Xuanzong is fortunate in hot springs and Yang Guifei's clothes." It can be seen that it was quite common for women to imitate men's wear at that time.
Third, Khufu
From the early Tang Dynasty to the prosperous Tang Dynasty, the northern nomadic people Xiongnu, Qidan and Uighur contacted the Central Plains many times, and camel caravans on the Silk Road came in an endless stream, which had a great influence on the costumes of the Tang Dynasty. The so-called conference semifinals are derogatory terms for the northern nationalities by the Han people. We are here to tell the history and keep the title at that time. The culture that came with the Hu people, especially the national costume of Khufu, which contains many national elements such as India and Persia, made women in the Tang Dynasty feel refreshed. As a result, a gust of wind swept the cities in the Central Plains, especially Chang 'an and Luoyang, and their ornaments were the most peculiar. Yuan Zhen's poem: "Since Hu rode the smoke and dust, it has been full of stench. Women have studied Hu makeup and have been engaged in Hu Wei ... Hu Yin Hu rode and Hu makeup for fifty years." Tang Xuanzong loved Hu Dance and Hu Le, and Yang Guifei and An Lushan were experts in Hu Dance. Bai Juyi's Song of Eternal Sorrow is a kind of Hu dance. In addition, Huntuo Dance, Dead Branch Dance and Hu Xuan Dance also have great influence on Han music, dance, costumes and other artistic categories. You can also imagine the exciting scene of "all male and female servants study in one group" at that time. Yao Runeng's "An Lushan Deeds" records that "at the beginning of Tianbao, expensive tourists wore Hu Mao, while women swayed and the clothes were narrow." The image of women wearing khufu can be found in stone carvings, line drawings and other historical sites. A typical example is wearing a mud hat, tight lapel robes with narrow sleeves, trousers and boots. According to the "Yu Fuzhi" cloud, "those who have clothes after Zhongzong, their boots are like the clothes of Qidan."
The harem system in Tang dynasty
Since ancient times, there has been a so-called "internal affairs office" system in the palace. Zhou Li said: "Ancient emperors set up six palaces, three concubines, nine concubines, twenty-seven concubines and eighty-one concubines to listen to the rule of the world. During the period of Wude, a complete system of "internal officials" was established with reference to the Sui system. According to the regulations, a queen and four concubines-an imperial concubine, a Shu Fei, a virtuous concubine and a virtuous concubine-were followed by nine concubines-Zhao Yi, Zhao Rong, Zhao Yuan, Yixiu, Xiurong, Xiu Yuan, Chongyi, Chongrong and Chongyuan. Each has its own taste, * * * 1 12 people. Except the queen is a wife, all the others are nominal concubines-the emperor's concubines.
In addition, there is an "official" in the Prince's East Palace, a crown prince's concubine, and other grades such as Liangdi, Liangyuan, Cheng Hui, Zhao Xun and Fengyi. Under the king and princess, there are wives and concubines such as children.
The emperor doesn't care much about the choice of the imperial court and the favor of the harem, but he attaches great importance to family status if he wants to award the title to the harem. In particular, the appointment of the queen absolutely needs a noble family, and it is necessary to "choose the home of the world." The Queen of the Book Hall first emphasized "the land of Tsinghua" and "the house of Xuanmian" and so on, and then it was virtue. Sometimes, although the emperor doesn't care, ministers will take family background as the most powerful reason to object, which makes the emperor very helpless. Although Wu Zetian's father was a businessman in his early years, after the establishment of the Tang Dynasty, his official position was high and he could not be regarded as a humble family. Ministers who opposed Wu Zetian's establishment of government still criticized her for "barren land"; When Gao Zai made her his successor, he strongly emphasized that she was "a suitable scholar with rich flowers". Even if she loved her son deeply or gave birth early, she would only be in the right place if she died posthumously or her son acceded to the throne.
Compared with Feng, the title of concubines is a little more casual, and the requirements for family background are not so strict. Most of them are registered because they have children or are favored, including some people from humble origins. But among concubines, family background is still very important. For example, Yang Fei, Emperor Taizong, is the daughter of Yang Di, so "the relatives of the land look high and the Chinese and foreign countries want it."
Imperial secretary lives in a house on the ninth floor, which looks very noble, but in fact she is just a royal maid. Besides several famous empresses, there are thousands of ordinary ladies in the palace. There were also maids, maids and maids in the Tang Dynasty. They are distributed in three palaces in Chang 'an, as well as the gate and Shang Yang Palace in the east, as well as the farewell hall, the prince's palace and the emperor's mausoleum.
The imperial court is a small society, and there are also high and low, three or six ugly in the imperial court. Just as concubines have the system of "internal officials", imperial secretaries have the system of palace officials. Imperial secretary is the highest-ranking imperial secretary and an official at all levels in the harem. There are six bureaus in the Tang Dynasty harem-Shanggong Bureau, Shangyi Bureau, Fu Shang Bureau, Shangshi Bureau, Shangshi Bureau and Shanggong Bureau to manage all the affairs in the palace. The chief female official of the Sixth Bureau is the six ministers of the harem, namely, official, ceremony, clothing, food, sleep and work. The Sixth Bureau has 24 divisions, and the female officials in each division are Secretary Ji, Secretary Yan, Secretary Shu, Secretary Wei, Secretary Ji, Secretary Yue, Secretary Bin, Secretary Zan, Secretary Bao, Secretary Yi, Secretary Shi, Secretary Fan, Secretary Yao, Secretary Jian, Secretary Yu, Secretary Yuan and Secretary Deng. There are also twenty-four classics, twenty-four palms, and female officials at all levels, such as Gong Zheng, A Jian, General History and Female History. These female officials have their own grades and supplies, and are in charge of etiquette, personnel, laws and regulations, finance, food, clothing, housing and transportation, and so on. Palace officials are career officials, so they don't have to pay attention to color and pet. They just need to choose those who are well-born and have both ability and political integrity to fill this position.
In addition to the imperial secretaries in the Sixth Bureau, there is also an internal literature library in the palace. Writers are selected from the imperial secretaries as bachelor's degrees, and they are responsible for teaching cultural books and calculations of concubines and court officials. Some of these palace officials hold high positions, and they are not only respected in the palace, but even foreign officials cater to them in order to gain fame, and some can even interfere in foreign affairs. However, their identity is, after all, the handmaid of the emperor. Bao Chuan said to Emperor Taizong's younger brother Shu Wang: "Those who respect the palace and have high official ranks will worship when they see it." King Shu asked, "What's the use of worshipping my second brother's maid?" A word tells the identity of the palace master.
Due to the large number of harems in the Tang Dynasty, the harem accumulated resentment and the people were dissatisfied, so the harem problem was concerned by the society and the court. People in all dynasties criticized this malpractice and demanded that the emperor pity the departure roots and grievances of his wives and return them. Emperors often show that they implement moral policies and are not good at expressing their feelings; Sometimes, in order to save the expenses of the imperial court, or for fear that the harem would suffer too much resentment, imperial officials were often released by imperial edicts. Since Gaozu, almost every generation of emperors has released empresses, ranging from 3,000 to hundreds. After leaving the palace, these imperial secretaries can go home to get married, and those who are old, weak, sick and disabled who are not adopted are sent to temples for placement, and sometimes some wealth is given to settle down. This is a little benevolent policy of the emperor of the Tang Dynasty.