Mianfu () is a kind of

Chinese clothing Chinese clothing includes both the traditional hanfu and modern variations of indigenous Chinese dress as recorded by the artifacts and some traditional arts of Chinese culture. Chinese clothing has been shaped through its dynastic traditions, as ...

hanfu ''Hanfu'' () is the traditional styles of clothing worn by the Han Chinese. There are several representative styles of ''hanfu'', such as the (an upper-body garment with a long outer skirt), the (an upper-body garment with a long underskirt ...

; it was worn by

emperors An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife ( empress consort), mother (empr ...

, kings, and princes, and in some instances by the nobles in historical China from the Shang to the

Ming dynasty The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last orthodox dynasty of China ruled by the Han peo ...

. The mianfu is the highest level of formal dress worn by Chinese monarchs and the ruling families in special ceremonial events such as coronation, morning audience, ancestral rites, worship, new year's audience and other ceremonial activities. There were various forms of mianfu, and the mianfu also had its own system of attire called the mianfu system which was developed back in the

Western Zhou dynasty The Western Zhou ( zh, c=, p=Xīzhōu; c. 1045 BC – 771 BC) was a royal dynasty of China and the first half of the Zhou dynasty. It began when King Wu of Zhou overthrew the Shang dynasty at the Battle of Muye and ended when the Quanrong nom ...

. The mianfu was used by every dynasty from Zhou dynasty onward until the collapse of the Ming dynasty. The Twelve Ornaments were used on the traditional imperial robes in China, including on the mianfu. These Twelve Ornaments were later adopted in clothing of other ethnic groups; for examples, the Khitan and the Jurchen rulers adopted the Twelve ornaments in 946 AD and in 1140 AD respectively. The Korean kings have also adopted clothing embellished with nine out of the Twelve ornaments since 1065 AD after the Liao emperor had bestowed a nine-symbol robe () to the Korean king, King Munjong, in 1043 AD where it became known as ().

Construction and design

The mianfu is typically a set of clothing, which includes a type of Chinese

crown A crown is a traditional form of head adornment, or hat, worn by monarchs as a symbol of their power and dignity. A crown is often, by extension, a symbol of the monarch's government or items endorsed by it. The word itself is used, partic ...

( guan) called mianguan (冕冠), looked like a board which leans forward and had chains of beads at the front and back. Usually, the ''mianguan'' has 12 chains; however, it could also vary in numbers (i.e. 9, 7, 5, 3) depending on the importance of an event and in rank difference. To fasten the ''mianguan'' to the hair, hairpins are used. The mianfu was also worn together with other accessories, such as gedai (革带) which is a type of leather belt, dadai (大带) which is a large silk belt, peishou (佩綬) which is a type of ribbon ornament, and clogs with wooden soles called xi (舄) The shoes worn by the emperor which goes with the mianfu is made of silk with double-layered wooden soles. The shoes could vary in colour depending on events, and by order of importance, the emperor would wear red, white, or black shoes. All these originated from the primitive clothing worn by the shamans in ancient China. The upper garment of the emperor's mianfu is usually black in colour while the lower garment is crimson red in colour in order to symbolize the order of heaven and earth. The upper and lower garment are tied with a belt. A pure red coloured ''

bixi Bixi, or Bi Xi (), is a figure from Chinese mythology. One of the 9 sons of the dragon, 9 sons of the Dragon King, he is depicted as a Chinese dragon, dragon with the shell of a turtle. Stone Chinese sculpture, sculptures of Bixi have been used ...

'', an important component for ceremonial clothing, hangs down under the belt. Twelve Ornaments, including the

dragons A dragon is a reptilian legendary creature that appears in the folklore of many cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but dragons in western cultures since the High Middle Ages have often been depicted as ...

, are the usual decoration of the ''mianfu''. When decorated with all the Twelve Ornaments, the mianfu can be classified as () while decorated with nine out of the twelve symbols, it is can be classified as () or (). Zhou Wu Tang.jpg,

Emperor Wu of Northern Zhou Emperor Wu of Northern Zhou ((北)周武帝) (543 – 21 June 578), personal name Yuwen Yong (宇文邕), Xianbei name Miluotu (禰羅突), was an emperor of the Xianbei-led Northern Zhou dynasty of China. As was the case of the reigns of his broth ...

wearing ''mianfu'' Han Guangwu Di.jpg, Emperor Wu of Han wearing ''mianfu''

Designs and social ranks

There are various forms of mianfu which can be classified in five grades and which was worn by the members of the nobility aside from those worn by the Chinese emperor. The difference in forms and appearance was used to distinguish between the ranks of its wearer; these differences were ofen form in the number of symbols and the tassels which were attached to the headwear worn in the mianfu. Examples of mianfu include the: # () # () # () # () # () # ()

History

Mianfu was first developed in the

Shang dynasty The Shang dynasty (), also known as the Yin dynasty (), was a Chinese royal dynasty founded by Tang of Shang (Cheng Tang) that ruled in the Yellow River valley in the second millennium BC, traditionally succeeding the Xia dynasty and ...

, and later improved and standardized during the

Zhou dynasty The Zhou dynasty ( ; Old Chinese ( B&S): *''tiw'') was a royal dynasty of China that followed the Shang dynasty. Having lasted 789 years, the Zhou dynasty was the longest dynastic regime in Chinese history. The military control of China by ...

. The mianfu was also a strict system of attire which was defined based the social rank of its wearer and had to fulfil requirements based on specific events. The mianfu system was developed in the Western Zhou dynasty. In the Zhou dynasty, there were various types of mianfu; including the gunmian, bimian, cuimian, ximian and xuanmian, which are the five grades of the mianfu worn by the members of the nobility apart from the Emperor; the

Zhouli The ''Rites of Zhou'' (), originally known as "Officers of Zhou" () is a work on bureaucracy and organizational theory. It was renamed by Liu Xin to differentiate it from a chapter in the ''Book of History'' by the same name. To replace a lost ...

stipulated which types of mianfu were allowed to be worn depending on each noble and official ranks of its wearer: In the

Song dynasty The Song dynasty (; ; 960–1279) was an imperial dynasty of China that began in 960 and lasted until 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song following his usurpation of the throne of the Later Zhou. The Song conquered the rest ...

, the emperor wore mianfu which included: daqiumian and gunmian. The crown prince of the Song dynasty also wore gunmian. The rulers of the Jurchen-led Jin dynasty also created their own carriages and apparel system by adopting the clothing system of the Han people and by imitating the Song dynasty; and the Jin emperors wore gunmian. According to the Yuanshi, Möngke wore the gunmian in 1252. After the Manchu conquerors established the

Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-spea ...

, the new government initiated a policy that forbade Han Chinese to wear

Hanfu ''Hanfu'' () is the traditional styles of clothing worn by the Han Chinese. There are several representative styles of ''hanfu'', such as the (an upper-body garment with a long outer skirt), the (an upper-body garment with a long underskirt ...

. Qing emperors did not use Mianfu as the emperor's official garb, which eventually resulted in this style of clothing disappearing from use.

Influence and derivatives

Due to the strong cultural influence China exerted on its neighbours, Mianfu was also worn by rulers in other East Asian countries that belonged to the so-called

Sinosphere The East Asian cultural sphere, also known as the Sinosphere, the Sinic world, the Sinitic world, the Chinese cultural sphere, the Chinese character sphere encompasses multiple countries in East Asia and Southeast Asia that were historically ...

, such as

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...

(in the form of

myeonbok Myeonbok is a kind of ceremonial clothing worn by the kings of Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910) in Korea.Japan (known as Raifuku) and

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

during the imperial era.

References

{{Types of Han Chinese clothing Chinese traditional clothing Court uniforms and dress Ancient institutions in East Asia

Construction and design

Designs and social ranks

History

Influence and derivatives

See also

References