The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom promulgated and implemented a series of new systems, among which the action of "keeping hair and changing clothes" for men is one of the most representative measures.
The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement aimed at overthrowing the Qing Dynasty, despised the dress system of the Qing Dynasty in terms of clothing and accessories, and established its own dress system. The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom is the only peasant regime in China's history that implements the clothing system.
The following part of the information comes from the clothing annals of Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.
In the early days of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, there was no formal dress system, and generals and soldiers were poorly dressed. After the occupation of Wuchang, the Taiping Army became stronger and stronger, and the soldiers' costumes were differentiated.
After entering Nanjing, Hong Xiuquan sat on the throne of heaven and began to imitate the imperial system. He set up clothing manufacturing and management institutions such as "Dianpao Ya" and "Embroidery Jinya", and stipulated the types and colors of robes and the differences between hats and boots according to the level of official positions.
The choice of clothing is very cautious. For example, the gauze hat and feathers of the Qing court are not used at all, and horseshoe sleeves are not allowed to be used in clothing. The robes and jackets of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom are yellow and red respectively. Important generals from the heavenly king to the prime minister all wear yellow robes and plain yellow robes, while other generals such as military commanders and brigade commanders wear plain red robes. There are embroidery patterns on the yellow and red jackets. Embroider a group name in the center of the robe. The colors and materials of Baotou cloth are strictly graded.
186 1 year, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom promulgated the "Regulations on Imperial Orders", which stipulated: "All the hats worn by folk residents are made of ebony, and those who are well-off are satin crepe, but different colors are allowed to be used so as to be mixed with those with official titles."
In the regulations, the styles of clothes, gowns and boots of Shi Xiu, strategist, Jieshi, Dashi, Shiguo, samurai, runner-up, Tan Hua and champion are also specified according to their status.
Soldiers are only allowed to wear scarves and crowns, and only helmets and hats are allowed in combat; Don't wear red and yellow clothes, satin and gorgeous clothes. If soldiers bring their own silks and satins or other colorful clothes or red and yellow clothes, they can wear them as underwear, but they must be stamped with the seal of "China Library". Helmets and hats are mostly made of bamboo, willow and rattan and covered with silk, which is called "nothing" Hat or "victory helmet". There are all kinds of flowers and colorful clouds painted on the helmet, and the words "Taiping Heavenly Kingdom" are written in the middle.
Soldiers wear "size clothes" when marching in battle The so-called clothing size is a sleeveless collarless vest with embroidered patterns printed on the front chest and back.
In addition, there is a "waist tag" system. All soldiers in the kingdom of heaven wear a rectangular wooden sign on their belts, which bears the serial number of the army and the name of the officer, and is stamped with the seal of fire as a voucher for entering and leaving the barracks.
The dragon pattern of shooting eyes is a unique dragon pattern of Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.
Before jintian uprising, Hong Xiuquan compared dragons to "the devil", "the demon dragon" and "the old snake in the East China Sea" by the mouth of God and Jesus. He put on his robe and couldn't justify himself, so he "shot" longan, which is called "shooting eyes" That is, when drawing a dragon pattern, one eye of the dragon is enlarged and the eyeball is reduced, while the other eye has a normal proportion and different eyebrows.
He declared that all the dragon patterns photographed were "precious golden dragons".
After the capital was Tianjing, Hong Xiuquan transformed the Qing Dynasty Governor's Mansion into the Heavenly Palace and built the Golden Dragon Hall. He followed the emperor's example in dress, etiquette, benevolence and righteousness, and gradually accepted the dragon culture.
After 1853, the rule of perforation was cancelled. The Oracle of the Heavenly Father said: "In the future, the dragons carved by the kingdom of heaven and China will be precious golden dragons, so there is no need to shoot their eyes." ?
Although the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom has some regulations on women's clothing, it is not strict.
Women generally don't wear horns and cool hats, and most of them tie their foreheads with satin. At the beginning of the uprising, women wore men's clothes, and some wore miao clothing.
After Tianjing, the capital, due to the improvement of living conditions, most women do not wear men's clothes, and the patterns used vary according to their status.
Ordinary women wear robes made of various silks and satins. Because women in the kingdom of heaven want to participate in war and productive labor, so the clothing style pays attention to "fitness", mainly round neck, loose hem and knee-length clothing. In order to distinguish the right slit of Qing dynasty clothing, cardigan was changed to left slit. In order to facilitate activities, the clothes are often slit at the bottom, at both sides, in the middle of the hem, and the waist is wrinkled with red and green silk, forming the clothing characteristics of "long knife on the waist and short coat with narrow sleeves".
Lingla, an Englishman, mentioned the clothes worn by women in Taiping Rebellion in many places: "The most handsome men and women in China can only be seen in the ranks of Taiping Rebellion."
In fact, the women's costumes in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom were greatly influenced by the Hakka culture in Guangxi. The early activities of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom were in Zijingshan, Guiping, Guangxi, and Jintian Village, Guangxi, both of which were places where Hakka people lived in Guangxi. In the early days of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the East King, the South King, the West King, the North King, the Wing King and the Taiping Army soldiers were mostly Hakkas from Guangdong and Guangxi, all of whom had a strong Central Plains complex. Hakka people advocate freedom, so women in Taiping Heavenly Kingdom have looser clothes. In addition, Hakka women wear pants and don't like to wear skirts.
(Excerpted from Wang Ming's A Brief History of China Clothing)