Chinese cultural traditions and customs. The materials, elaborateness of the hairpin’s ornaments, and the design used to make the hairpins were markers of the wearer’s social status. Chinese women would wear a hairpin, regardless of their social rank. Hairpins could be made out of various materials, such as jade, gold, silver, ivory, bronze, bamboo, carved wood, tortoiseshell and bone, as well as others. Prior to the establishment of the Qing dynasty, both men and women coiled their hair into a bun using a ji. During the Chinese funeral period, women in mourning were not allowed to wear hairpins. Ji played an important role in the coming-of age of Han Chinese women. There were many varieties of hairpin, many having their own names to denote specific styles, such as zan, ji, chai, buyao and tiaoxin. Before the age of 15 years old, women did not use hairpins, and always kept their hair in braids. When a woman turned 15, she stopped wearing braids, and a hairpin ceremony called “Ji Li” (笄礼), or “hairpin initiation”, would be held to mark the rite of passage. After the ceremony, the woman would be eligible for marriage. When engaged to be married, Chinese women would take the hairpin from their hair and give it to their male fiancé. During the ceremony, their hair would be coiled into a bun with a ji hairpin. After the wedding, the husband would then return the hairpin to his newly-wed wife by placing it back in her hair. Similarly, when married couples were separated for a long period of time, they would break a hairpin in two and each keep one part. If they were to meet again in the future, they would then put the hairpin together again, as a proof of their identity and as a symbol of their reunion. Initially, Chinese people liked hairpins which were made out of bone and jade. Hairpins which were made out of carved jade appeared in China as early as the Neolithic Period (c. Some ancient Chinese hairpins dating from the Shang dynasty can still be found in some museums. Some ancient Chinese hairpins dating back to 300 BC were made from bone, horn, wood, and metal. By the Bronze Age, hairpins which were made out of gold had been introduced into China by people living on the country’s Northern borders. The art of engraving wood first appeared in the Tang dynasty, and this new form of art was then applied to large wooden Chinese hairpins. Many of these wooden hairpins were then coated with silver. Hairpins could also be decorated with gemstones, as well as designs of flowers, dragons, and phoenixes. In the Ming dynasty, the hairpins became more elaborate, and the carvings were made on silver, ivory, and jade, with pearl being used often as a setting. The Zan is a type of hairpin with a single pin. Ruyi-style: A style of zan hairpin in the shape of a ruyi scepter. Ji-style: A style of zan hairpin which likely refers to the hairpin used to secure the hair in a bun. Coral hairpin, Song dynasty. Hairpin from Southern Song. Tang dynasty jade hairpin. Phoenix (Fenghuang) hairpin originated in Qin dynasty and had an upper part made of gold and silver while the feet was made of tortoise shell; it later evolved into the fengguan during the Song dynasty. Ming jade hairpin decorated with flowers. In the Han dynasty, an imperial edict decreed that the hairpin with fenghuang decorations had to become the formal headpiece for the empress dowager and the imperial grandmother. The fengguan then continued to evolve further in the Ming and Qing dynasties, and in the modern republic. Phoenix hairpins were also made and used by Peranakan women after settling in the Straits as part of their wedding headdresses. The Fenghuang is an auspicious bird in Chinese tradition and is believed to represent the empress or the bride in a wedding. The chai is a type of hairpin with double or multiple pins. A pair of fire-gilded silver phoenix hairpins of the Southern Song dynasty. The buyao was an elaborate and exquisite form of hairpin which denoted noble status. The double-pin chai evolved from the zan; it was frequently found in Chinese poetry and literature as it played an important symbol and as a love token. It was generally made of gold and was often decorated with jewels (such as pearls and jade) and carved designs (such as in the shape of dragons or phoenix). Qing dynasty gold phoenix zan hairpin. The buyao became popular in the Western Han dynasty. Chinese art of diancui. The Flower-hairpin headdresses is a generic term which was used to refer to the jewelry and headdresses worn by the Song dynasty Empresses and imperial concubines. Different numbers of flowers were used depending on the imperial consorts’ ranks and specific imperial rules were issued on their usage. The Flower-hairpin headdresses were decorated with flower hairpins. Ming dynasty hairpin in the shape of a cicada made of gold sitting on a piece of jade carved in the shape of a leaf. Chinese hairpin worn by women in the Ming dynasty in their hair bun; the upper part of the hairpin was usually in the shape of a Buddhist statue, an immortal, a Sanskrit word, or a phoenix. The Chinese character shou (寿, traditional qipao “longevity”) could also be used to decorate the hairpin. Hairpin Museum 百鍊鋼化作繞髮柔 髮簪博物館. Wu, Shu-Ling (2019). Mastering advanced modern Chinese through the classics. Hidden dimensions of education : rhetoric, rituals and anthropology. Haiwang Yuan. Abingdon, Oxon: Taylor & Francis. Werler, Tobias. Wulf, Christoph. Sherrow, Victoria (2006). Encyclopedia of hair : a cultural history. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press. Hairpin Museum 百鍊鋼化作繞髮柔 髮簪博物館. Yuan, Xiaowei (2017). “Traditional Chinese Jewelry Art: Loss, Rediscovery and Reconstruction Take Headwear as an Example”. Living the good life : consumption in the Qing and Ottoman empires of the eighteenth century. Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Contemporary Education, Social Sciences and Humanities (ICCESSH 2017). Atlantis Press. Leiden: Brill. 2018. p. Elif Akçetin, Suraiya Faroqhi. Shou” – Chengdu Museum”. Lester, Katherine Morris (2004). Accessories of dress : an illustrated encyclopedia. Mineola, New York. p. Cheng, Hui-Mei (2001). “Research on the Form and Symbolism of the Chinese Wedding Phoenix Crown”. University of Sydney (Thesis). 21, 30, 33, 43-44. hdl:2123/24005. Zhu, Ruixi; 朱瑞熙 (2016). A social history of middle-period China : the Song, Liao, Western Xia and Jin dynasties. Bess Viola Oerke, Helen Westermann. Bangwei Zhang, Fusheng Liu, Chongbang Cai, Zengyu Wang, Peter Ditmanson, Bang Qian Zhu (Updated ed.). Cambridge, United Kingdom. pp. Liu, Fang (2011). “Rare collections of the Ming and Qing Dynasties”. This page was last edited on 3 September 2024, at 16:23 (UTC). 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