Chinese hairpin

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Two styles of Chinese hairpin, zan and chai.

Ji (筓) (also known as fazan (髮簪 or 发簪), zanzi (簪子) or zan (簪) for short)[1][2] and chai (钗) are generic term for hairpin in China.[3] 'Ji' (with the same character of 笄) is also the term used for hairpins of the Qin dynasty.[4]

Hairpins are an important symbol in Chinese culture,[1] and are associated with many Chinese cultural traditions and customs.[5] They were also used as every day hair ornaments in ancient China;[3] all Chinese women would wear a hairpin, regardless of their social rank.[6] The materials, elaborateness of the hairpin's ornaments, and the design used to make the hairpins were markers of the wearer's social status.[1][5] 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.[3][7][1][8]

Prior to the establishment of the Qing dynasty, both men and women coiled their hair into a bun using a ji.[3] There were many varieties of hairpin, many having their own names to denote specific styles, such as zan, ji, chai, buyao and tiaoxin.[9][3][10]

Cultural[]

Burials[]

During the Chinese funeral period, women in mourning were not allowed to wear hairpins.[1]

Ji ceremony[]

See also: Guan Li

Ji played an important role in the coming-of age of Han Chinese women.[1][4] Before the age of 15 years old, women did not use hairpins, and always kept their hair in braids.[1] 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.[3][1][5][4] During the ceremony, their hair would be coiled into a bun with a ji hairpin.[1][4] After the ceremony, the woman would be eligible for marriage.[3][5][4]

Hairpins as a love token[]

Betrothal and wedding customs[]

When engaged to be married, Chinese women would take the hairpin from their hair and give it to their male fiancé.[1] After the wedding, the husband would then return the hairpin to his newly-wed wife by placing it back in her hair.[1]

Separation and reunion love token[]

The chai hairpin[11] also used to be a form of love token; when lovers were forced to break apart, they would often break a hairpin in half, and each would keep half of the hairpin until they were reunited.[3]

Similarly, when married couples were separated for a long period of time, they would break a hairpin in two and each keep one part.[1] 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.[1]

Design and construction[]

Materials[]

Silver hairpins, Tang dynasty

Initially, Chinese people liked hairpins which were made out of bone and jade.[12] Hairpins which were made out of carved jade appeared in China as early as the Neolithic Period (c. 3000–1500 BC), along with jade carving technology.[6] Some ancient Chinese hairpins dating from the Shang dynasty can still be found in some museums.[13]

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.[12] Some ancient Chinese hairpins dating back to 300 BC were made from bone, horn, wood, and metal.[7]

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.[14] Many of these wooden hairpins were then coated with silver.[14]

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.[14]

Decorations[]

Hairpins could also be decorated with gemstones, as well as designs of flowers, dragons, and phoenixes.[7]

Types[]

There are various types of Chinese hairpins:

Buyao[]

The buyao was an elaborate and exquisite form of hairpin which denoted noble status.[3] 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).[3][12] It looked similar to a zan,[11] but one of its main characteristics is its dangling features, which gave it its name 'buyao' (lit. "shake as you go" or "that sway with each step" or "step shake").[3][8][15][11] The buyao became popular in the Western Han dynasty.[12]

Chai[]

The chai is a type of hairpin with double or multiple pins.[9][8] 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.[11]

  • Jin dynasty (Western & Eastern) Silver Hairpin

  • Tang dynasty chai.

  • Ming dynasty gold hairpin

  • Yuan dynasty chai.

  • peony gold hairpin

  • Tang dynasty,silver,gilt - Royal Ontario Museum

  • Tang Gilded Silver Hairpins

  • Ming Gold Hairpin

  • Silver hairpin of Tang Dynasty

  • Liao dynasty Gold Hairpin

  • Tang Gilded Silver Hairpin

  • Ming dynasty gold chai

Diancui hairpin[]

The diancui hairpin, also known as "kingfisher feather hairpin",[16] were made using the traditional Chinese art of diancui.[15]

  • Kingfisher feather hairpin.

  • Kingfisher feather hairpin

  • Tian-tsui cricket-shaped hairpin

Flower-hairpin headdresses[]

The Flower-hairpin headdresses is a generic term which was used to refer to the jewellery and headdresses worn by the Song dynasty Empresses and imperial concubines.[17] The Flower-hairpin headdresses were decorated with flower hairpins.[17] Different numbers of flowers were used depending on the imperial consorts' ranks and specific imperial rules were issued on their usage.[17]

Jin chan yu yue[]

Known as the "gold cicada on a jade leaf" hairpin, or "jin zhi yu ye" (a homonym for the Chinese idiom "one of noble birth"),[18] a type of 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.[8][18]

Phoenix hairpin[]

Phoenix 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. The fengguan then continued to evolve further in the Ming and Qing dynasties, and in the modern republic.[19] 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.[19]

Tiaoxin[]

The tiaoxin is a 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.[10] The Chinese character shou (寿, "longevity") could also be used to decorate the hairpin.[10]

Zan[]

The zan is a type of hairpin with a single pin.[9][8] The zan could also come in different styles such as:[9]

  • Ji-style: A style of zan hairpin which likely refers to the hairpin used to secure the hair in a bun.[9]
  • Ruyi-style: A style of zan hairpin in the shape of a ruyi scepter.[9]
  • Tiger-head style[9]
  • Round-dragon style[9]

  • Shang dynasty bone hairpin

  • Shang bronze hairpin

  • Shang dynasty jade hairpin

  • Spring & Autumn Bronze Hairpin

  • Warring States period bronze hairpin

  • Coral hairpin, Song dynasty.

  • Hairpin from Southern Song.

  • Ming jade hairpin decorated with flowers.

  • Ming gold hairpins

  • Tomb of Prince Chuang of Liang-gold hairpins

  • Qing dynasty gold phoenix zan hairpin.

  • Tang dynasty jade hairpin.

  • Ming dynasty Jade Hairpins & Ornaments

  • Ming dynasty Hairpins & Gold Earrings

  • Hairpin from China, Qing dynasty, nephrite,

  • Ming Gold Hairpins

  • Shang Bone Ji

  • Ming Gold Hairpin and gourd earrings

  • Ming Gold Earrings and Hairpin

  • Ming-Qing Gold Earrings & phoenix Hairpin

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m "Hairpins in Society and Art". Hairpin Museum 百鍊鋼化作繞髮柔 髮簪博物館. Retrieved 2021-05-05.
  2. ^ Wu, Shu-Ling (2019). Mastering advanced modern Chinese through the classics. Haiwang Yuan. Abingdon, Oxon: Taylor & Francis. pp. 125, 233. ISBN 978-1-315-20897-8. OCLC 1053623258.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "Historical hair ornaments and their social connotations". usa.chinadaily.com.cn. Retrieved 2021-05-05.
  4. ^ a b c d e Hidden dimensions of education : rhetoric, rituals and anthropology. Werler, Tobias. Wulf, Christoph. Waxmann. 2006. pp. 165–168. ISBN 3-8309-1739-2. OCLC 470776855.CS1 maint: others (link)
  5. ^ a b c d "Chinese cloisonne hairpin". collection.maas.museum. Retrieved 2021-05-06.
  6. ^ a b "Material & Technology". Hairpin Museum 百鍊鋼化作繞髮柔 髮簪博物館. Retrieved 2021-05-06.
  7. ^ a b c Sherrow, Victoria (2006). Encyclopedia of hair : a cultural history. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press. p. 179. ISBN 0-313-33145-6. OCLC 61169697.
  8. ^ a b c d e Yuan, Xiaowei (2017). "Traditional Chinese Jewelry Art: Loss, Rediscovery and Reconstruction Take Headwear as an Example". Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Contemporary Education, Social Sciences and Humanities (ICCESSH 2017). Atlantis Press: 550–554. doi:10.2991/iccessh-17.2017.135. ISBN 978-94-6252-351-7.
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h Living the good life : consumption in the Qing and Ottoman empires of the eighteenth century. Elif Akçetin, Suraiya Faroqhi. Leiden: Brill. 2018. p. 205. ISBN 978-90-04-35345-9. OCLC 1008768840.CS1 maint: others (link)
  10. ^ a b c "Golden Hairpin Decorated with Character "Shou" - Chengdu Museum". www.cdmuseum.com. Retrieved 2021-05-06.
  11. ^ a b c d "Tradition of China - Hair Ornament Culture | ChinaFetching". ChinaFetching.com. Retrieved 2021-05-06.
  12. ^ a b c d "Hair Accessories - MIHO MUSEUM". www.miho.jp. Retrieved 2021-05-06.
  13. ^ "Hairpin 13th–11th century B.C. China". www.metmuseum.org. Retrieved 2021-05-06.
  14. ^ a b c Lester, Katherine Morris (2004). Accessories of dress : an illustrated encyclopedia. Bess Viola Oerke, Helen Westermann. Mineola, New York. p. 118. ISBN 978-0-486-14049-0. OCLC 857715305.
  15. ^ a b Wu, Yiqian (2020). "A Study of Historical Transformation and Cultural Change in Chinese Dian-cui Jewellery [Thesis]". University of Sydney: 21, 30, 33, 43–44. hdl:2123/24005.
  16. ^ "Kingfisher feather hairpin from China". collection.maas.museum. Retrieved 2021-05-06.
  17. ^ a b c Zhu, Ruixi; 朱瑞熙 (2016). A social history of middle-period China : the Song, Liao, Western Xia and Jin dynasties. Bangwei Zhang, Fusheng Liu, Chongbang Cai, Zengyu Wang, Peter Ditmanson, Bang Qian Zhu (Updated ed.). Cambridge, United Kingdom. pp. 26–27. ISBN 978-1-107-16786-5. OCLC 953576345.
  18. ^ a b Liu, Fang (2011). "Rare collections of the Ming and Qing Dynasties". europe.chinadaily.com.cn. Retrieved 2021-05-06.
  19. ^ a b Cheng, Hui-Mei (2001). "Research on the Form and Symbolism of the Chinese Wedding Phoenix Crown". Proceedings of the Korea Society of Costume Conference: 59–61.
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