Buyao () is a type of Chinese women's hair ornament. It is a type of

Chinese hairpin () (also known as ( or ), () or () for short) and (钗) are generic term for hairpin in China. (with the same character of ) is also the term used for hairpins of the Qin dynasty. The earliest form of Chinese hair stick was found in the Neo ...

which was often times decorated with carved designs and jewelries that dangles when the wearer walks, hence the name, which literally means "shake as you go". The buyao is similar to a zan hairpin, except for the presence of its dangling ornaments, which are its primary featured characteristics. The buyao appeared as early as in the

Han dynasty The Han dynasty (, ; ) was an imperial dynasty of China (202 BC – 9 AD, 25–220 AD), established by Liu Bang (Emperor Gao) and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–207 BC) and a warr ...

, where only noble women in the royal family could wear it. In ancient times, the use of buyao denoted noble status. Some noble women also put buyaos on their

tiara A tiara (from la, tiara, from grc, τιάρα) is a jeweled head ornament. Its origins date back to ancient Greece and Rome. In the late 18th century, the tiara came into fashion in Europe as a prestigious piece of jewelry to be worn by women ...

s, making their hair decoration more luxurious than simple buyao. Common material used in making the buyao was gold; the ornaments were typically jade and pearls. Other valuable materials could be used, such as silver, agate, etc. Many centuries after the fall of the Han dynasty, the buyao was introduced to ordinary civilians; and when all women were allowed to wear to it, more variety of materials were used to produce them. Buyao was passed down over generations; buyao decorated with pendants are still popular in modern day China.

History

The wearing of buyao were fashionable during the

Han Han may refer to: Ethnic groups * Han Chinese, or Han People (): the name for the largest ethnic group in China, which also constitutes the world's largest ethnic group. ** Han Taiwanese (): the name for the ethnic group of the Taiwanese p ...

, Wei, Jin,

Northern and Southern dynasties The Northern and Southern dynasties () was a period of political division in the history of China that lasted from 420 to 589, following the tumultuous era of the Sixteen Kingdoms and the Eastern Jin dynasty. It is sometimes considered as ...

. During this period, there were two types of buyao: the ''buyao flower'' and the ''buyao crown'' (). The buyao flower was more prevailing in the Central plains and in the

Southern dynasties The Northern and Southern dynasties () was a period of political division in the history of China that lasted from 420 to 589, following the tumultuous era of the Sixteen Kingdoms and the Eastern Jin dynasty. It is sometimes considered as ...

and was worn by women only whereas the buyao crown was worn by both men and women in the

Yan Yan may refer to: Chinese states * Yan (state) (11th century – 222 BC), a major state in northern China during the Zhou dynasty * Yan (Han dynasty kingdom), first appearing in 206 BC * Yan (Three Kingdoms kingdom), officially claimed indepe ...

and Dai regions, which were the location where the ancient

Xianbei The Xianbei (; ) were a Proto-Mongolic ancient nomadic people that once resided in the eastern Eurasian steppes in what is today Mongolia, Inner Mongolia, and Northeastern China. They originated from the Donghu people who splintered into the ...

resided. These two forms of buyao were influenced by the gold crown culture of the nomadic tribes who lived in the grasslands of

Central Asia Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a subregion, region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes t ...

however, the cultural differences between the Central plains and the Yan-Dai areas contributed in the difference in shapes, wearing fashion, aesthetics preferences and meaning of historical culture, etc.

Han dynasty

During the Western Han period, buyaos were created and adopted the style of the Western region's accessories, and became popular. The earliest depiction of buyao so far can be found on the Mawangdui tomb funeral banner which shows Lady Dai wearing a buyao which was painting in the Western Han dynasty. In ancient Chinese texts, the buyao is largely defined in terms of their structure. For examples, according to the

Shiming The ''Shiming'' (), also known as the ''Yìyǎ'' (逸雅; ''I-ya''; ''Lost Erya''), is a Chinese dictionary that employed phonological glosses, and "is believed to date from ''c''. 200 E. This dictionary is linguistically invaluable because it ...

in the section ''Shi toushi'' (), it is written that:

"The top of a buyao has hanging beads, and when one takes a step, they sway ()."

The

Hanshu The ''Book of Han'' or ''History of the Former Han'' (Qián Hàn Shū,《前汉书》) is a history of China finished in 111AD, covering the Western, or Former Han dynasty from the first emperor in 206 BCE to the fall of Wang Mang in 23 CE. I ...

mention the ''buyao guan'' worn by an official in the ''Jiang Chong zhuan'' ():

"Chong wore gauzy diaphanous robe, and the overlapping curved panels of his robes hung down in back. He wore on his head a sheer head covering and a ''buyao cap'' lso known as ''buyao crown'' and fluttering feather tassels. ()"

During this period, the buyao was not only worn by the

Han Chinese The Han Chinese () or Han people (), are an East Asian ethnic group native to China. They constitute the world's largest ethnic group, making up about 18% of the global population and consisting of various subgroups speaking distinctive va ...

but also by the

Wuhuan The Wuhuan (, <

Eastern Han Chinese

: *''ʔɑ-ɣuɑn'', <

women who would grow their hair long, divide it into buns and decorate their hair with hairpins and buyao. The buyao were worn also by the Han dynasty empresses; according to the ''Yufu zhi'' () of the ''

Hou Han shu The ''Book of the Later Han'', also known as the ''History of the Later Han'' and by its Chinese name ''Hou Hanshu'' (), is one of the Twenty-Four Histories and covers the history of the Han dynasty from 6 to 189 CE, a period known as the Later ...

'':

"When empresses dressed to visit the ancestral shrine, they wore dark purple on the top and black on the bottom, silkworms, and greenish black on the top and pure white on the bottom. The dress code was all dark clothing, and silk ribbons were used to hide the edges of the collar and sleeves. hey worefake chignons, buyao, hairpins, and ear ornaments. Their ''buyao'' used gold for the mountain-shaped frontal piece, and white pearls were strung on the intertwining cassia branches. hey worea sparrow and nine flowers, and the six beasts: the bear, tiger, red bear, heavenly deer,
bixie Pixiu (; Old Chinese ( ZS) *''bi-qʰu'') is a Chinese mythical hybrid creature. Pixiu are considered powerful protectors of feng shui practitioners, and resemble strong, winged lions. A Pixiu is an earth and sea variation, particularly an inf ...
, and the grand cow from Nanshan. ()".

At the time of the

Eastern Han Dynasty The Han dynasty (, ; ) was an imperial dynasty of China (202 BC – 9 AD, 25–220 AD), established by Liu Bang (Emperor Gao) and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–207 BC) and a warr ...

, the buyao was introduced to Japan.

Wei, Jin, Northern and Southern dynasties

According to the ''Yufu zhi'' () of the

Jin shu The ''Book of Jin'' is an official Chinese historical text covering the history of the Jin dynasty from 266 to 420. It was compiled in 648 by a number of officials commissioned by the imperial court of the Tang dynasty, with chancellor Fang Xu ...

also mentioned that the palace ladies from Western Han through Jin wore buyao in their hair as hair ornaments. Buyao are depicted in the

Admonitions Scroll The Admonitions Scroll is a Chinese narrative painting on silk that is traditionally ascribed to Gu Kaizhi (''ca''. 345 – ''ca''. 406), but which modern scholarship regards as a 5th to 8th century work that may or may not be a copy of an origi ...

attributed to

Gu Kaizhi Gu Kaizhi (; c. 344–406), courtesy name Changkang (), was a Chinese painter and politician. He was a celebrated painter of ancient China.Cihai: Page 1846. He was born in Wuxi and first painted at Nanjing in 364. In 366, he became an officer (Da ...

as a pair of zan (), a type of

, decorated with delicate ornaments which are shaped like birds and sits on delicate branches which extend out like blooming flowers and when the wearer would walk, the thin branches would move slightly causing any hairpin ornaments or beads to shake. The buyao worn by the court ladies in the

might have been variants or lower-ranking variants of those worn by the empresses. Buyao made of gold appear to be representative head ornaments of the early elite culture of the Murong Xianbei. The Murong, similarly to the people of

Buyeo Buyeo or Puyŏ (Korean: 부여; Korean pronunciation: u.jʌ or 扶餘 ''Fúyú''), also rendered as Fuyu, was an ancient kingdom that was centered in northern Manchuria in modern-day northeast China. It is sometimes considered a Korean ki ...

, wore gold ornaments which had dangling leaves called ''buyao guan'' (); they looked like golden-leaf and tree-like head ornaments and were worn by both men and women; they were however different from the Chinese buyao which were only worn by women. According to the ''Murong Hui zaiji'' (; lit. 'Chronicles of Murong Hui') of the

, Mo Huba (), the Murong

leader, introduced the buyao ornaments to his people by copying it from the Chinese. Initially, the Murong clan lived in the Liaodong regions, but during the

Cao Wei dynasty Wei (Hanzi: 魏; pinyin: ''Wèi'' <

Middle Chinese

: *''ŋjwei^C'' <

, they migrated to the Liaoxi regions. When Mo Huba saw the people of

and Dai wearing the ''buyao guan'', he ordered all his people to tie their hair and wear the ''buyao guan''. The buyao crown largely disappeared when the Tuoba Xianbei conquered Northern China.

Tang dynasty

In the

Tang dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an Zhou dynasty (690–705), interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dyn ...

, golden buyao which were decorated with flowers and birds were favoured by the Empresses. The Tang dynasty empresses would attach their buyao to their ceremonial wig. Buyao were also worn by the Tang dynasty upper-class women.

Types and designs

Dragons and phoenix designs were typically used to decorate the buyao Other shapes and decorations included: *

Bixie Pixiu (; Old Chinese ( ZS) *''bi-qʰu'') is a Chinese mythical hybrid creature. Pixiu are considered powerful protectors of feng shui practitioners, and resemble strong, winged lions. A Pixiu is an earth and sea variation, particularly an inf ...

design – a symbol to ward off ill luck and maintain happiness, * Birds, and other winged animals; * Butterfly, * Flowers, * Tassels and pendants, and * Valuable gemstones. File:花树状金步摇06323.jpg, Tree-shaped gold shimmering buyao crown (''buyao guan'') of

Jin dynasty (266–420) The Jin dynasty (; ) or the Jin Empire, sometimes distinguished as the (司馬晉) or the (兩晉), was an imperial dynasty of China that existed from 266 to 420. It was founded by Sima Yan (Emperor Wu), eldest son of Sima Zhao, who had pr ...

. File:Court Ladies Wearing Flowered Headdresses - cropped - woman wearing buyao crown.jpg, Tang Court Lady wearing flower buyao crown

Notes

References

{{decorative-art-stub Decorative arts Chinese fashion Chinese headgear