The costumes of the Qing Dynasty can be said to be the ugliest costumes in all dynasties. The first impression given by people is that they look like funeral costumes, which are quite scary especially at night. So why are the costumes of the Qing Dynasty so ugly? Actually there is a reason.
Photos of court ladies in the late Qing Dynasty, these are photos optimized by AI
First of all, in the 9th year of Shunzhi, the Qing Dynasty promoted shaving and changing clothes, and promulgated the "Regulations on Clothing, Color, and Shoulders", which abolished the Ming Dynasty's crowns, gowns, and all Han costumes, and required all men to "keep their heads or hair dry." "Let your hair grow but not your head." From the perspective of his dominant position, this man from outside the customs is understandable. The key is that he did it across the board. From then on, the man with long flowing hair disappeared.
Everyone knows that the Ming Dynasty wore long hair in buns, and the Tang and Song Dynasties were more liberal and open, so you can see Li Bai's long hair flowing, and you can also see the Seven Sages in the Bamboo Grove drinking and singing. That was the confidence of the dynasty in that era. Take a look. In the Qing Dynasty, all men had to shave their heads, but they didn’t shave them cleanly, leaving a handful behind to tie a long braid. Everyone also knows that the Eight Banners disciples started out as horsemen and shooters. You may have shaved off your hair to prevent horseback shooters, but why not shave your heads cleanly? What about braids? Is it showing hair? It is more convenient to ride and shoot with a bald head. All this habit has been widely criticized in the West, and it can be regarded as the ugliest hairstyle in all dynasties.
In the Qing Dynasty, there was a saying that "you should keep your head but not your hair, and you should keep your hair but not your head", so men had to compromise to get their heads.
Secondly, the costumes of the Qing DynastyBoth men and women are particularly complicated, adding a lot of useless things. For example, it divides winter and summer styles based on seasons, maybe because it is too cold outside the customs. Another example is that it divides clothes into court clothes, auspicious clothes, regular clothes, and line clothes. Isn't it OK to just wear a folk costume? The key is that it has a lot of patterns in accessories and decorations. For example, the patterns include sun, moon, stars, mountains, dragons, Chinese insects, 黼, 黻, algae, fire, and zodiac. Who can remember the twelve chapters of Yi and rice noodles? The key thing is that the colors used are extremely dark, mostly using cyan, gray, black, white, and dark red colors. This kind of clothes would be really scary if worn at night.
This is a photo of Empress Dowager Cixi wearing Qing Dynasty clothes. It is very real. Do you think it is beautiful?
Thirdly, the costumes of the Qing Dynasty were extremely destructive to women. Let’s put it this way, it is difficult to distinguish the clothes worn by women and men in the Qing Dynasty if you turn your back or just look below the head. "Qing Huidian" and "Qing Tongli", these legal stripes have extremely strict regulations and legal restrictions on women's daily clothing, so you can see how rigid the Qing Dynasty was, and the subsequent isolation of the country was just It’s not difficult to understand,
This is the palace maid of the Qing Dynasty. Do you remember her beauty?
Of course, the Qing Dynasty did not make any contributions. It is worthy of praise for cracking down on women's foot binding. This bad habit has caused a lot of harm and has been poisoned for thousands of years. I heard my mother say that my grandmother is an old lady with small feet.Tai, almost only the big toe, the other toes almost grow together, making walking very unstable. The Qing Dynasty came from outside the customs, so they naturally did not have this bad habit, especially when they saw that the palace maids' walking posture was extremely unsightly due to foot binding. Seeing the little feet of the palace maids like babies was extremely uncomfortable, so the emperor issued a decree prohibiting women from binding their feet. During the Shunzhi period, Empress Xiaozhuang even issued an edict: "Any woman who enters the palace with bound feet will be killed." It is difficult for this self-proclaimed dynasty to have It's remarkable, but banning women's foot binding is actually a major contribution.
The Three-Inch Golden Lotus is indeed a devastation to women, and the Qing Dynasty was opposed to it from top to bottom. This was considered a great progress for the Qing Dynasty
Look at the Hanfu that is popular everywhere now. Even my little baby likes Hanfu very much. The reason is that Hanfu is beautiful and conforms to the public's aesthetics. It is very free and comfortable to wear, and it has a fairy-like cleanness. This is culture and Aesthetics, but do you see who wears Qing Dynasty clothes and hangs out? Others must think you are scary when you come out, and you may even feel like you are haunted.
Nowadays, you can still see old ladies with small feet in rural areas. This is a testament to the bad habit of foot binding
Therefore, the Qing Dynasty was not without merit, and its opposition to women's foot binding is indeed worthy of praise.
From the portrait of Li Qingzhao, we can see that the Song Dynasty still had magnanimity and aesthetics
Let’s look at Li Qingzhao’s self-portrait and compare it with the clothing of women in the Qing Dynasty. What do you think?
Generous and dignified Hanfu
Clothing is one of the cultural symbols. If we look at the Hanfu that is popular at home and abroad today, we will know the profound influence of Han culture. You should not look at the appearance of Hanfu, but you should see that it is the phantom of culture that has spanned thousands of years. This aesthetic is admired by the world , even what is praised by China and foreign countries is the display of the Han Dynasty’s magnanimity across time and space. We should be proud of the time-honored Han Dynasty costumes