Recently, Dragon Television announced that China's first documentary to briefly describe the creation story of China and Chinese civilization with national archaeological discoveries, “He Yi Zhong Guo (何以中国)”, will officially meet with the audience in the near future.
The program team spent more than 400 days and nights photographing more than 40,000 kilometers, which is equivalent to more than one week around the equator, and photographing more than 230 archaeological sites, archaeological workstations, museums, and other sites across the country.
In the “He Yi Zhong Guo” Special Program: Talk About Archaeological History, the program team invited the Chinese Hanfu restoration team (中国装束复原小组). In the program, they took the audience on a tour of “fashionable clothing” from the Spring and Autumn period to the Three Kingdoms period through a hanfu show.
The first is the long dress from the late Spring and Autumn periods to the early and mid-Warring States Period. It is characterized by the hollowing out behind the long dress, revealing the long skirt dragging on the ground. Red is the right color, which is suitable for the attendance of some important occasions. The hairstyle is a chic and delicate combed bun, showing the slender neck behind the head.
The second one is the robe of the late Warring States Period, which was restored according to the Zhiju robe unearthed from the Mashan Chu Tomb. Its sleeves are three meters long, and its hems are staggered into herringbone, which is convenient for people to walk. What the model holds is Zhubian Mian (竹便面), with the main function of cover the face of the noble, and use it as a guard of honor when going out.
The third one is the winding lapel Quju robe invented by the State of the Chu in the late Warring States Period. It is characterized by a winding lapel, forming a wrapping effect, showing that the waists are relatively thin. It is representative of Chu culture, which is confirmed by the statement that “the king of Chu like the thin waist” in the historical story. This kind of Quju robe was very popular in the early years of the Western Han Dynasty. The early years of the Han Dynasty pursuits of low tax rates, and moderation of material desires, so the dress is relatively simple and elegant.
The fourth one is the shape of the middle and late Western Han Dynasty. Since Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the clothes have become high-spirited. For example, the golden Buyao (步摇) on the model shows an elegant posture. The clothes were restored according to the physical objects of clothes unearthed in the Dingtao Han tomb of Empress Dowager Ding in the Western Han Dynasty.
The fifth one is the aristocratic women's Ruqun (襦裙) costume during the Three Kingdoms of the Eastern Han Dynasty, wearing golden Buyao on their heads, and the Ru on the upper body is the collar edge and embroidered edge that was inserted by the most expensive brocade. The dress is a combination of jacquard and print. This suit was worn by Feng Lin, the host of Dragon Television, who said that the moment she put on the clothes, “the dignified feeling of an ancient eminent family came out” as if she could have a spiritual sense with the ancients through the clothes.
The Chinese Hanfu restoration team invited by the program team was established in 2007. Now more than 200 pieces of Hanfu have been restored. The restored clothing can be divided into four periods:
- pre-Qin
- Qin, Han, and Jin
- Southern and Northern Dynasties, Sui, Tang, and Five Dynasties
- Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing Dynasties
The ancient noble, civilians, soldiers, singers, dance ladies, and countrymen traveled to modern times under their archaeology and restoration so that the world can appreciate the beauty of Chinese hanfu clothes for thousands of years to people.
Liu Shuai, the founder of the Hanfu restoration team, originally learned painting. After understanding the charm of hanfu, he switched to learning clothing design and led the team to restore hanfu. Despite the lack of ancient records and the difficulty of retaining cloth, they still face difficulties and look for first-hand verification materials from murals, ancient paintings, and cultural relics. Like Zhang Xuan's “Court Ladies Preparing Newly Woven Silk” in the Tang Dynasty, they not only draw the shape, color matching, and pattern of the clothing but also drew the production process.
They went to the country of origin of silk to collect raw materials, made satisfactory pattern fabrics based on archaeological data, and learned and explored ancient dyeing techniques and textile techniques. Manual restoration is time-consuming and labor-consuming, but in order to pursue 100% restoration, they constantly pay attention to details and work hard in dyeing, tailoring, sewing, makeup, and other aspects. To restore the Gui Yi (袿衣) dress worn by noble women in the Wei, Jin, and Southern Dynasties, they spent nearly three years.
The team is not only committed to the research, verification, and restoration of Hanfu shapes, fabric patterns, makeup, and accessory, but also to showing the beauty of ancient Chinese clothing. In the past 15 years, this team with only a few members has grown. They have published two authoritative works, “Han Jin Yi Chang (汉晋衣裳)” and “Zhong Guo Zhuang Shu (中国妆束)”, which have become professional literature for the study of Hanfu.
The Hanfu restoration team is also working hard to promote the spread of Hanfu culture. They not only filmed short videos of costume restoration, participated in and organized Hanfu exhibitions, cooperated with Zi De Guqin Studio to restore ancient music rhyme, cooperated with Luoyang Museum to hold the costume restoration show “Luo Shui Ni Chang (洛水霓裳)”, and represented China at the invitation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to participate in the traditional Chinese, Japanese and Korean costume exhibition.
The Hanfu culture that has been passed down for thousands of years, requires young people to wake up, inherit and innovate, and make Hanfu walk out of the museum and enter ordinary people. The costume restoration team and the restoration costumes of the pre-Qin and Han dynasties appeared on the trailer stage of the documentary “He Yi Zhong Guo” and contributed to the promotion of Hanfu culture.
