Damao (), also known as Big hat in English, is a type of Chinese round hat with a wide brim, which was worn in the

Ming dynasty The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last ort ...

. It was commonly worn by commoners of the Ming dynasty and is often seen in Ming dynasty portraits. It originated in the

Yuan dynasty The Yuan dynasty (), officially the Great Yuan (; xng, , , literally "Great Yuan State"), was a Mongol-led imperial dynasty of China and a successor state to the Mongol Empire after its division. It was established by Kublai, the fifth ...

; it was derived from the Mongol's ''boli hat'' ().

Design and construction

Damao is composed of a wide brim, a high crown and a long string which is used as a tie. It could be made from straw or fabric.

History

Yuan dynasty

Boli hat (钹笠帽), a

cymbal A cymbal is a common percussion instrument. Often used in pairs, cymbals consist of thin, normally round plates of various alloys. The majority of cymbals are of indefinite pitch, although small disc-shaped cymbals based on ancient designs soun ...

-shape hat with a round crown and with a brim which extended outwards and downwards, was one of the most popular hats worn by the

Mongols The Mongols ( mn, Монголчууд, , , ; ; russian: Монголы) are an East Asian ethnic group native to Mongolia, Inner Mongolia in China and the Buryatia Republic of the Russian Federation. The Mongols are the principal membe ...

(including the Yuan Emperors, officials and male commoners) in the Yuan dynasty. The use of boli hat by the ordinary Mongols in their every day lives in the Yuan dynasty. This eventually influenced the Han Chinese. File:元色目人俑.jpg, Figurine wearing a boli hat, Yuan dynasty. File:元急递驿.jpg File:元背囊负匣骑马俑、急递驿.jpg

Ming dynasty

The boli hat continued to be used in the Ming dynasty where it was renamed damao in historical documents of the Ming dynasty, which may be because they were rounder and bigger than the

futou Futou (; also pronounced and written as ), also known as () and (), was one of the most important form of Chinese headwear in ancient China with a history of more than one-thousand years. The first appeared in Northern Zhou under the reign of ...

had traditionally been worn by the Han Chinese. The damao was also widely worn by government clerks and family servants of the Ming officials and the Imperial family, and postmen (yishi 役使). They were also symbols of low-ranking servants as they were commonly worn by family servants; it was worn by people of lower-ranking occupations due to their practicality. The damao also appeared in the Ming dictionary, ''

Sancai Tuhui ''Sancai Tuhui'' (, ), compiled by Wang Qi () and his son Wang Siyi (), is a Chinese ''leishu'' encyclopedia, completed in 1607 and published in 1609 during the late Ming dynasty, featuring illustrations of subjects in the three worlds of heaven ...

'', where it is depicted and is called damao; according to the accompanying text in the Sancai Tuhui: in the early Ming dynasty, the Emperor saw the imperial examinees sitting under the sun; therefore he ordered a damao hat for each of the examinees to be worn so that they would be protected from the sun. Since then, the hat was used by ''kegong'' (科貢, i.e. nominees for offices). File:唐寅.jpg File:大帽圓領袍像.jpg, Portrait of a man wearing damao, Ming dynasty

Similar items

Humao Humao () is a type of brim hat which was used in the Tang dynasty by both Chinese men and women when horse-riding. Women of all social ranks (ranging from palace ladies to commoners) wore humao when horse-riding since the beginning of the Kaiyuan ...

Weimao Weimao () is a type of wide-brimmed hat with a shoulder-length veil hanging. The weimao was a popular form of head covering during the Tang dynasty. It was invented during either the Sui or the early Tang dynasty, according to Liu Zhiji and Zha ...

* Gat - A traditional Korean hat

References