Hi everyone, I’m Ally
Ancient Chinese people considered thick black hair to be a beauty standard on both men and women
My hair is thin, so to recreate an ancient Chinese hairstyle, I have to use a lot of hair inserts and hair pieces to pump up the volume
This was also a common practice in ancient China
In this video, let’s take a look at a brief history of hair pieces throughout the dynasties
The earliest written records of the use of hair pieces in China is from the “Classic of Poetry”
which is the oldest existing collection of Chinese poetry
There was a poem about the wife of Duke Xuan of Wei from the Spring and Autumn Period
One sentence praised how beautiful her hair was
[Her] hair is black and thick like clouds, there’s no need for false hair
So according to this poem, people had been using false hair inserts as early as 2,500 years ago
There were a handful of hair piece artifacts unearthed from tombs during the Warring States Period and the Han dynasty
The most famous discovery being Xin Zhui’s tomb from the Western Han Dynasty
Xin Zhui was discovered wearing a hair piece half weaved into her own hair
She also had a spare one stored in the tomb, which had a beautiful storage box of its own
By the Tang dynasty, the demand for false hairs increased dramatically
due to the popularity of big, tall, and fancy hairstyles, like the one I’m wearing today
It’s impossible to create these hairstyles entirely with real hair alone
so it’s common for people to use wood pieces and false hairs as supporting materials
These are some of the artifacts found in Tang dynasty tombs, made of wood and animal hairs
During the Yuan dynasty, women prefered to wrap their hair with cloth
This tradition eventually evolved into a type of cone-shaped hair piece called Diji by the Ming dynasty
Diji can be made from gold, silver, copper, and iron wires, as well as paper, fabrics, and human or animal hairs
It was worn by married women and decorated with a complete set of hair pins
In the Qing dynasty, Manchurian ladies wore their hair very differently from the Han ladies
They usually wrapped their hair around a wooden, metal, or ivory fillet that extends out on both sides
As time passed, the style got bigger and bigger in size
By the end of the Qing dynasty, they would simply use a board and attach it to the hair
The use of hair pieces was a common practice throughout Chinese history, so how did they make them?
As I mentioned before, the Tang dynasty used wooden pieces as the base or carved them directly into the shape they desired
But the most common way was to use animal hair, such as pig or horse hair, dye them black and then weave them into the needed shape
Human hair on the other hand was very rare and precious, because ancient Chinese people treasured their hair greatly
A woman would not sell her hair unless she was extremely poor and it was the last resort
And here’s a famous story about a woman who did this for the sake of her son
During the Jin Dynasty, young Tao Kan had great talent and ambition but didn’t have the chance to shine
Tao and his mother Zhan were very poor
Another man Fan Kui from the same county as them was appointed to Xiaolian (an official rank in ancient China)
Once, Fan wanted to stay overnight at Tao’s home. It was a bitter winter and there was nothing left in the house
Fan had brought with him many servants and horses that needed to be fed as well
Tao's mother Zhan said, "Go ahead and keep the guest. I will figure out a way."
Zhan had beautiful hair that reached the floor. She cut her hair and made it into two hair pieces. She traded them for food
And then she chopped the pillars in her house in half and used it for firewood. Zhan also crushed their straw mattresses to feed the horses
She managed to prepare gourmet food for the guest as well as his servants
When Fan heard about this, he sighed and said, "Without a mother like this, there would be no outstanding son like Tao Kan."
Indeed, Tao later became a well known general
And Tao’s mother Zhan was recognized as one of the four greatest mothers in Chinese history
Another great source of hair pieces came from the neighboring countries
In “Samguk Sagi”, a historical record of the Three Kingdoms of Korea, the country Silla provided hair pieces as tribute to the Tang Dynasty four times
possibly because non-Han people didn’t have the same restrictions on cutting hair as Han Chinese
Today we have all sorts of materials for making wigs and hair pieces, from plastic nets, sponges, to different types of synthetic hair
I have done two videos before reviewing the common types of hair inserts on the market for creating ancient Chinese hairstyles, check them out in my channel
And if you are curious about this piece of jewelry on my forehead, it’s called Wei Ji in Chinese. It’s quite versatile because you can also wear it as a necklace
This one is from an online shop called Flyin Jewelry. I’ll link it in the description below
I’ll be making more videos about traditional Chinese culture and values so don’t forget to subscribe if you want to learn more
I’ll see you next time!