Traditional crafts that are passed on till today were typically embraced and treasured by people, but there is one particular craft that is highly controversial and that is the Kingfisher feather inlay craft, also known as the Dian Cui （点翠） craft.
Most of the pictures on the internet make the jewelry and feathers look extra big, for the purpose of allowing us to see the details of it, but if you have seen an actual Dian Cui piece in person, you would realise that it is actually surprisingly small. This is due to the fact that the Kingfishers are tiny in stature, and their feathers are even tinier, so to inlay them into filigree-based jewelries, you would require quite a lot of the feathers so traditionally they wouldn’t be too big.
Whenever I think of feathers and accessories, I always think of the Native Americans and their sacred headdresses and feather dance. And just like the Native Americans, the Chinese also had a long history of using feathers to accessorise ourselves and for ceremonial dances. There were records of dances that existed some 3,000 years back where they used feathers as props and also for wearing by the dancers.
The use of feathers for shamanistic rituals would have been common in the ancient worlds, and in a particular ancient Chinese culture called the Chu culture (modern day Hunan and Hubei—central China area), there were records of people decorating their wooden jewelry boxes with kingfisher feathers (and flowers, pearls, and jade) about 2,200 years back.
Gradually, about 2,000 years ago, imperial women started to have kingfisher feathers to decorate their walls (yes, what a luxury!), and a few hundred years later, a crown prince used it to decorate his crown. So it was not confined to just jewelry, and it was not just for women.
The earliest visual documentation that I can find, of kingfisher feather being used for accessories by the Chinese, would be the Song dynasty (circa 12th century) Empress in their formal ceremonial wear with their crowns decorated by kingfisher feathers, pearls and other gemstones.
A Chinese period drama in recent years replicated the ceremonial wear for the Song empress, and you can see a more tangible representation of it here:
Of course you could say that you can’t tell much from just a painting, and it could very well be embroidered or silk threads since we have not found any physical proof of it yet. That is definitely a possibility except that the Kingfisher feather industry was a thriving one that was widely documented, and that imperial women were often spotted wearing dresses of kingfisher feathers, or accessories with them to the chagrin of the emperors. Several times during the 12th century, the emperors tried to ban the use of kingfisher feathers precisely for the reason that they found it an unnecessary extravagance that harms the ecosystem, to no avail.
The iridescence and brilliance of the kingfisher feather is seen as unparalleled by any other bird, so there was no way of replacing it with other alternatives.
By the Qing dynasty, the kingfisher feather was everywhere in the accessories of the imperial family. From hairpins to hats, they were lavishly decorated with kingfisher feathers of different shades of blues.
The high demand for kingfisher feathers also meant that more kingfishers have to be killed for it, and eventually it became unsustainable. By the turn of the 20th century, the Chinese were already very familiar with the Cloisonné craft brought in from the west or the Islamic world, and for the commoners, they would use blue and green cloisonné craft on their silver or copper jewelries to create a semblance of kingfisher feather inlay decorated ones.
The last kingfisher factory in China closed in 1933 due to political instability within China and other socio-economic factors.
The Kingfisher feather craft has a bad reputation in recent years because of the rumour that the feathers had to be plucked from birds that were alive, and it was a torturous and slow death for the kingfishers. However, that is a myth. Historically, there were indeed records of plucking the feathers from kingfishers while they were alive, but it was taken out of context. The record mentioned that a few feathers were plucked form the kingfishers and then, the birds were released into the wild. So it implied that the birds were not killed in the process. However, I’m sure that as demands surge, it would be much faster for people to just catch and kill those birds for their feathers, and much more profitable that way.
As part of Yaji Masterclass, we are also going to have an introductory workshop on this traditional jewelry decorating craft using peacock feathers in place of kingfisher so no bird would be harmed in the process. The peacock feather has a really beautiful iridescence to it that changes with light. Since butterflies also have that kind of feathers, I thought it’d be apt to get everyone attending the masterclass to make a pair of butterfly earrings with this technique!
I will also be sharing more about the technical details of this craft, and stories of how famous traditional Chinese Opera singers would own an entire headdress of kingfisher feathers of the finest quality, and one that would cost you a fortune.
If you’re interested to learn this craft with us on the 24 Sep 2022 (Sat), you can get a ticket HERE. Your ticket comes with all that you need for this craft, and you can bring the tools home to make more of your own accessories with feather inlays!
-Some Song dynasty (10th-13th century) literati/ courtesan who adapted Kelis’ Milkshake lyrics
You know, this is actually a believable line in ancient Song dynasty (10th to 13th century) when it comes to tea, shaken (not stirred). And there is a 50-50 chance of it being sung by a Song courtesan, or narrated by a Song literati.
You’re probably thinking, why would anyone want to shake a cuppa tea? And why would it be sung or talked about by a Courtesan or Literati? Isn’t it just, tea?
So I would have to bring you to about a thousand years ago.. and introduce you to the wonderful world of Tea Battles where one’s brilliance is not measured by how big your muscles were, but swiftly they can help you move. In particular, your wrist. I will talk about that more soon.
THE TEASHAKE THAT BRINGS ALL THE BOYS TO THE YARD
But first, here’s the entire process of tea preparation from breaking it down to smaller tea leave bits, to whisking it (that’s where the wrist part comes in, and is also one of the highlights):
You see, people of that period were drinking powdered tea, pretty much like the Japanese matcha that you are familiar with. The Japanese matcha was a continuation of that Chinese tradition, in fact, while the Chinese have long lost it although efforts have been made in recent decades to revive it with reasonable success.
An iconic Intangible Cultural Heritage tea practitioner of China who has been reviving this art for over 40 years said they looked to Japanese whisked tea practice and cross referenced with historical Chinese texts to understand and deduce how it might have been done in the past. How the Japanese have retained so much of ancient/medieval Chinese cultural practices is fascinating, and almost like how Chinese diasporas so faithfully tried to preserve their heritage after they have left China. Of course that being said, the Japanese definitely injected their own life and philosophies into whatever they brought over from China, and it became part of their very own, unique identity.
Kenny whisking up a storm in a teacup
A good cup of tea, to the Chinese of Song dynasty, would be leaves from Fujian Jian’an region, plucked in the earliest part of Spring sometime in March (today, we generally thought of tea leaves from the middle of Spring in April as the best). Of course, there were specificities by the Song Imperial family on how exactly the tea leaf should look like—an eagle’s claw (lol, good luck figuring that out!)—and with a tiny bit of pale green (not green yet).
And this is the part where the tea gets shaken…really badly until it froths up like that hard peak when you beat your egg white for baking really fluffy cakes. Except that you use machine, and the Song people used their bare hands and a bamboo brush, sometimes with just a silver spoon (this is torture I tell you…).
Kenny still whisking away.
And this is also the part where the flexibility and tenacity of your wrist muscle comes in…
If you can whisk some bubbles up, you have failed.
If you can whisk some foam up, you have barely passed.
If you can whisk thick foam up but it has some large bubbles, you probably can get a C grade.
If you can whisk thick foam with extremely smooth texture (like no visible bubbles), you can probably get a B grade.
The ideal state would be like the consistency of wax… so the most modern connection I can make would be whipping the egg whites till it has a hard peak for baking. Yes, those of us who bake knows how long it takes for a machine to do that, try doing with your hands….
If you can whisk thick foam that’s like the texture of wax and can last like 20 minutes without dissipating into the bowl of tea and can retain its thickness and texture when poured out well enough that you can even paint stuff on it with water or powder (phew that’s a super long sentence), then you can get an A.
But wait, as Asians, an A is hardly enough. You need Full Marks. So that means you need to ensure that your water temperature is right, and that in the entire process, you add 7 times water (no more, no less, you can’t shortcut this) with a specific type of water pitcher into a specific type of black glazed Chinese ceramic teabowl (click on link to see the Met Museum collection). This is observed and theorised in a book by the Song emperor Hui Zong, one of the most artistically acclaimed emperors in Chinese history with an exquisite taste and eye for great details.
THE DIFFERENT BOYS WHO ARE BROUGHT TO THE YARD
The middle class commoners
Song Dynasty was a period of great commercialisation and capitalism and the general middle class population were relatively more educated with a great appreciation for the finer quality of life. They were generally quite wealthy, and definitely enjoyed good shopping and parties. They started the first Night Market in Chinese history which operated till about 1am, and they take a break for 2 hours and reopens at around 3am. Even our nightclubs today doesn’t have that kind of vitality! So yes, the boys (and girls) were often out in their yard partying and getting high on tea (amongst other things, like booze but that’s a different topic for a different day).
Based on paintings from that period, it was also a period that greatly celebrated the middle class commoners and their lifestyles. Whereas periods before were much more of aristocratic-focused society.
Market competition in a Tea Garden by top Song dynasty painter Liu Song Nian 刘松年《茗园赌市图》
The Literati, the Emperor and all his men
Song emperor Hui Zong was one of the most highly acclaimed artist-emperor of all times. He was a tea aficionado and as mentioned earlier, wrote his own theory about tea with great detail in a book called Treatise on Tea.
During the Song dynasty, literati and poets were often at the core of its political realm, philosophising and discussing state politics with the emperor thus further blurring the lines between arts and politics.
Detail of a painting by the famously tasteful Song emperor Song Hui Zong on a social gathering with tea served 宋徽宗《文会图》
Monks
Definitely Zen Buddhist monks were one of the pioneers in pure tea drinking culture as it helped them with focus and meditation. It started earlier than Song in the Tang monasteries and there was a famous monk who could whisk tea so beautifully that for each bowl of tea he whisked, he could write a stanza of poem on the froths and together they formed a poem.
Full marks might be the gold standard for Asian moms, but this is like an A+ student who also got top achievement in the arts. Bragging rights for sure.
Drinking Ground Tea by Liu Song Nian of Song dynasty 刘松年《撵茶图》
Later on, the Japanese buddhist monks who went to China to study Zen Buddhism arrived at Mount Tian Mu in Zhejiang and also tea. They brought back the black Jian Ware ceramic teabowl to Japan thinking that it came from the Tian Mu mountains in Zhejiang, and gave it the name Tenmoku. This type of tea bowl became so highly regarded and ceremonial that you required to take courses on it and become certified before you can serve people in this teabowl. But that is another way that the Japanese government and system protects its traditional craftsmanship and ensure continuous patronage and a healthy ecosystem of funding for its arts, cos in Chinese, even I can own one and serve you tea though I know next to nothing about preparing them.
Coffee, Tea and Art
I mentioned earlier the monk who could write poems on tea froths. You probably are thinking about the similarity of that and Latte Art that was in vogue a while back?
So this is similar except with tea, and done 1,000 years before.
I asked Kenny and he said there were two ways of doing it, either with clear water like this:
So the water would dilute the coloured froths and lightening it. So you either pour, drip or paint with plain water to reveal the artwork you’ve painted.
so now you ask, I thought the best froths were supposed to be white and thick like wax, so how does white show on white? Can it get any whiter? I’m sorry this sounds racist but I assure you this is just about tea art and froth.
So there is apparently another method that Kenny shared—it was using tea powder, and sometimes you mix with some water to form a paste-like ‘tea paint’ to be painted over the white froth.
Some said that the Green Matcha is more Japanese and the White one is more Chinese. But Kenny clarified that both types existed in the Song dynasty and they gave them very poetic names—Jade Froth for the white one, and Emerald/Kingfisher Froth for the green one. Yes, Jade were often associated with white nephrite jade for the ancient Chinese (though there were red, green and other coloured jade as well but white was deemed desirable for gentlemen). The Green Jadeite that we often associate with ‘traditional Chinese jade’ is actually relatively much modern, in the last 100-200 years or so, and it is not Chinese but Burmese in origin.
So… Here’s the part that is the whole point of my article..
So if you don’t already know, we’re running a Yaji event which historically would be a social gathering of literati friends who engage in a range of artforms and with knowledge exchanges and discussions. The inaugural edition, we’re basing it on the Song dynasty and the Autumn theme.
One of the highlight workshop is a Song dynasty reconstruction tea workshop by Kenny Leong, a private tea practitioner who mainly hosted corporate guests like banks and luxury brands (you can read more in his bio). So I’ve known Kenny for a while now, and I’m always rather wary of extremely commercialised practitioners of traditional craft because I feel that if most of the times, traditions were just a fancy costume party while money making is the real deal for them. So I was relieved to know that Kenny is not one of those unscrupulous jade sellers or fengshui masters in Chinatown (you know that type..), and like me, we have a full time job so that our passion can be as pure and not tainted by commercial interests.
As part of this workshop, you can also opt to get your own Song dynasty tea kit set as in the photo below (completed with grounded tea powder) and whisk in your own leisure time at home:
The tea towel is based on an actual painting of auspicious cranes by the Song emperor Hui Zong whom I’ve mentioned several times in this article on his love for tea.
Because I themed it to be Autumn/Fall, I’ve also added some finer touches to the Song tea set to include a touch of season—A polished shell cut and engraved into the shape of a gingko leaf.
The whisk in the set is a Japanese chanoyu style of tea whisk, while the original one from Song would most likely be closer to an Okinawaian Bukubuku Tea
You probably would associate the gingko leaf with the Japanese culture more, but the gingko is actually native to China although the Chinese term we use today were based on Japanese and Korean words for it when Gingko was introduced to these two places from China.
There are still Gingko trees of 1500 years old in China, believed to be planted by Buddhist monks in their monasteries as it was believed to be a holy tree.
The most viral one has to be this 1,400 year old one in Zhongnan Mountain in a Buddhist temple. Like the article said, it is definitely a perfect celebration of Autumn:
In case you would like to celebrate Autumn in Song style with us, we have a whole afternoon of activities lined up for you on 24 September, Saturday at the Stamford Arts Centre.
Traditionally, the elegant gathering would’ve been by invitation only amongst a close group of friends who shared similar taste in the arts or worldview. We are adapting the idea of it into a more public affair to open up to those whom we might not know personally, but would like to be part of this interpretive experience on ancient culture and arts.
This is our invitation to you, and you can get your tickets HERE or click on the image to access the ticketing site:
We are selling early bird tickets now until 24 August, and it is definitely a very worthy deal to purchase your tickets now!
So Mid Autumn festival’s around the corner there’s much more to Autumn and Chinese social gatherings than mooncake and lanterns. In fact, what we do at Hanfugirls Collective has always been to challenge those stereotypes and what better time to do that than this Autumn!
We’re relooking at Autumn celebrations and social gatherings this Yaji series, and yes we’ll have the tea, we’ll have the dessert/cakes, and we’ll have the social gathering, but we will not do the Mid-Autumn, Winter Solstice, Spring Festival and Dragon Boat Festival clichés since you really don’t need us to help you celebrate those, do you?
While people are busy with revenge travel, Yaji: Seasons will be the ultimate historically-based cultural experience for those who are dying for some solid historical content delivered as immersive as you can possibly hope for.
You will get to experience a world of ancient Chinese culture (without all the fluffy mysticisms) that you never knew existed, in one afternoon.
It is the first in a series of Elegant Gatherings paying homage to gatherings where ancient literati would enjoy great poetry and exchange thoughts through the finest sensorial experiences. Like the ancients who curated their lives around nature’s offerings, we commence our quarterly Yaji series, themed around the blooms and glooms of seasons – much akin to the rise and fall of ancient Chinese dynasties.The entire series is made up of 4 quarterly events pegged to each season and each event is themed according to an ancient dynasty and their culture, customs and arts.
The concept of Yaji (loosely translated to Elegant Gatherings) is similar to the French Salon, except more chilled/laid-back and bourgeois in form.
I know, the image looks so understated and probably doesn’t quite fit what you have in mind. But that’s the whole point of this entire afternoon—To let you experience the understated luxury valued by ancient Chinese literati. In fact, during the lecture (that’s right at the start) of the afternoon’s programme, I’m going to share about how to appreciate the understated Song aesthetics and how it was a departure from previous periods in fashion and socio-political norms.
We are starting off with the Song dynasty because its aesthetics and life philosophies are still very much in vogue today, as seen in the rise of Minimalism and the pursuit in the fine quality of life. You’d be surprised to know that the highest auction price for Chinese ceramics in the world today actually came from the Song dynasty, yes, with all these very very simple and plain looking wares. And you’ll hear more on why and the stories behind them.
Yaji: Seasons | An Autumn’s Song
A dynasty of oxymorons, the Song dynasty pioneered Chinese capitalism and consumerism while remaining devoted to the practice of Minimalism in its artistic expressions. While the modern Japanese whisked tea ceremony known as chanoyu traces its roots to the whisked tea customs of the Song, and the former’s wagashi from similar periods, the two remain distinctly different in essence. Come into the realm of the Song literati and discover an ancient Chinese world that blends high art with popular culture, kitsch with minimalism, and the understated luxury of the Chinese that you’ve never seen.
If you’ve been watching The Story of Minglan and A Dream of Splendour, you might want to sign up for the introductory lecture that explains the Song society and fashion through A Dream of Splendour.
Yaji, the Elegant Gatherings of ancient literati
The Palace Museum in Taipei did a Special exhibition on Yaji just before COVID (Yes, a little bit of cosmic irony there), naturally nobody get to experience it for the last 2 years at least. The highlight in these by-invitation only events were the poetry and arts experiences and we see how Crazy Rich Asian’s Tanhua viewing scene might be an homage to that cultural tradition (although definitely very diaspora perspective since there’s no poetry, cultural or literary exchanges!).
But one thing that Crazy Rich Asian got right was how seasonal such gatherings were, or rather how the Chinese had such reverence for nature and seasonal changes such that everything revolves around that.
Which is why I thought of having the first series based on seasons and you do see in the feature images that I had Chrysanthemum, Gingko, and Maple leaves. All of which are generally not associated with the Chinese but with the Dead, Japan, and Canada but actually quite quintessentially Chinese.
The entire collection of Yaji: Seasons consists of:
Yaji: A Song dynasty Autumn Dream (24 September 2022)
Yaji: The Qing dynasty’s Ode to Winter (Q4 2022/Q1 2023)
Yaji: Spring blooms in Ming (Q2 2023)
Yaji: The Cooling Summers of Tang (Q3 2023)
Song dynasty Tea Reconstruction & Customs
One of the highlight of the entire afternoon, in my opinion is the special historical reconstruction of Song Tea custom masterclass by Kenny Leong. I’ve known Kenny for the longest time and he is a professional Tea practitioner who has a profound understanding and appreciation for Tea and its role in Chinese societies, philosophies and aesthetics in history. He has been invited by luxury brands and corporates to conduct workshops related to Tea so it’s really as a favour that he’s come on board to conduct a special Masterclass for our Yaji series.
Yaji: An Autumn Experience
I’m working with @HerHeartefact and Kenny for this experience which allow participants to actually get a taste (pun intended) of the actual Song period with snacks and tea recreated from historical sources and recipes. This session follows the introductory lecture of the period, and allows more interactive and experiential type of engagement. You will even get to see replica Song period paintings and have a chat (if you’re into casual engagement) or long discussions (if you are passionate about arts and culture) on the various artforms.
The concept of Yaji might seem daunting and unfamiliar to us at first sight, but it’s really meant to be a fun gathering packed with intellectual and cultural exchanges and engagements!
Get Dressed For the Occasion
There is no formal dresscode for the afternoon, but you are encouraged to turn up dressed in Natural fibre or Autumn’s colours. I am also collaborating with Dressed Up Dreams Photo Studio to offer dress up and styling service to 4 lady-guests. I will be working with the guests for the best look, and the studio will help you get ready in that look with a professional make-up artist and some collector’s item Song era inspired dresses and accessories of mine.
You can opt to have a modern twist to your look, or go all the way authentically Song.
WARNING
I have to give you a warning before you click on the event ticketing link. It’s not cheap because, well, you can never get this anywhere else and the kind of people and experience we can bring to the table, if you’ve been following me long enough, you would know. Also, these sessions are extremely exclusive due to the high interactivity and requirement for tutelage.
The purpose of this is to ensure sustainability in high quality content experiences in the long run. So, I guess I’ll see you there soon?
If you’re interested, here’s the Programme list and QR code to the main listing page! I’ve got all the events in one listing, and also individual events, whichever is more convenient for you to find and register!
While the biggest event in Fashion x History has just concluded, judging from the turnout at the Met Gala, one can conclude that dressing to the theme isn’t quite a forte of A-listers. In the name of greater good, this series will demonstrate how one can be fashionably historically-inspired, while still adhering to certain themes.
AUSPICIOUS BIRDS AND US
Birds have had a long history of being seen as auspicious creatures and totems in Chinese culture. The Sun, for example, was represented by a three-legged bird. And of course, we are all very familiar with the phoenix, which at some point became synonymous with the bird in question I’m discussing today.
It has been known by many names in the Eastern part of the world, Zhu Que by the Chinese, Suzaku by the Japanese, Jujak by the Korean and Chu Tước by the Vietnamese. It symbolised the southern constellations of the night sky, and the element Fire.
Because of its association with fire, the vermillion bird is often thought to be the phoenixes by the West. And yes, plural because the Chinese Phoenixes fenghuang had gender (Feng was the male, and Huang was the female, and they combined into a singular identity somewhere down the road later on), while the Vermillion Bird did not.
The phoenix was believed to have the colours of the rainbow while the Vermillion Bird took its colour from the fire. Was that a phoenix or a vermillion bird that we spotted in Mulan? hmmm…..
Mulan (2020) live action movie featured a ‘phoenix’ which actually looks more like the Vermillion Bird of the South. Disney probably got confused between the Chinese and the Western phoenix.
Although some sources said that the ancient Chinese thought the stars in the southern night sky resembled the vermillion bird, thus the assignment of this symbol, it is unlikely so as the Vermillion Bird of the South as well as the Black Warrior of the North did not come into existence in the constellation assignment until much later (about 2,000 years ago) while the ancient Chinese were already very familiar with the constellations for far longer and had assigned the Dragon and Tiger to them first.
THE STYLING
Since Tang and Qing dynasty has the most fun and daring make-up trends ands styles, our styles were mainly based on these two periods, jazzed it up for modern taste.
The vermillion bird wears vintage Thierry Mugler jacket, with big exaggerated shoulders but sleek silhouette to emphasize it being an animal of the skies. A single red feather nose piece is the only thing to hint at it being a bird.
This styling was designed in collaboration with Aaron Han (@aharw) assisted by gabby @ga.bae.be Makeup assisted by Danny @chenlingx0 and Silas @operatang Photo by Aaron and I
The styling was done in a manner to represent the animals but also not in a literal sense. The traits that are used are symbolic, just like the animal themselves are symbolic.
The Vermillion Bird obscures half of its face with a Bian Mian fan which is a half-oval type of fan with a history of over 2,000 years. Originally made of bamboo, it evolved to other materials overtime and the one in the shoot was made with an emerald green silk gauze with weaved patterns. Very understated, and quintessentially Chinese. Its subtletly is juxtaposed with the red feather nose piece of The House of Malakai styled by Aaron (@aharw) to suggest its avian nature. Of course, the collar design and the Tang style (circa 8th century) wing-like eyebrows are also suggestive of that.
Section of the reference brow from Tang. This is a painting on silk screen uncovered from the Astana tombs.
Underneath the nose piece, were rouge blushers across the cheeks which some might recall seeing on famous 90s Chinese singer Faye Wong, or more recently, singer Rainie Yang. Except that it’s a lot more intense, as it would’ve been how the Tang people of the 10th century were copying the Tibetans during that time in this style of make-up.
Who wore it better? Left Faye Wong, Middle a Tibetan lady, Right Rainie Yang.
Obviously celebrities typically don’t do much research when they try on different make-up styles, pretty sure the socialites of Tang didn’t either, it was probably just cool or fun for them to experiment with a different styles because this style of blusher was deemed barbaric by the early Tang rulers, and had requested for the Tibetans to stop this practice. Who’d knew that a few hundred years later, it would become vogue at the end of Tang!
And just in case you thought the hair looks non-Chinese (like the typical long hair at the back in Chinese period dramas), I’d like to point you towards the Dunhuang murals from the Tang dynasty (same period), and look at the blushers and the hairstyle and accessories, it’s really quite Over The Top:
Section of Dunhuang Mural in Mogao Cave no. 61 with a noble lady of late Tang accessoried with many large and elaborate hair pins, haircombs, and the Tibetan style brick-red rouge on her cheeks.
The lip was also historically based on the last dynasty of China—Qing dynasty. Similar to the Tang rulers, the Qing were not of the Han ethnic group although they have adopted a great deal of the Han practices after ruling over this Han-majority land for centuries. The Qing lip would typically be just a red dot on the bottom lip, but there were instances where the top lip was also painted fully.
Picture of Imperial Consort Pearl (Zhen Fei), who was rumoured to have been drowned in a well in the Forbidden City by the Empress Dowager Cixi. She has the Qing style lip with a dot an her bottom lipi in this picture.
The Modern Vermillion Bird wears vintage Thierry Mugler jacket, with big exaggerated shoulders but sleek silhouette to emphasize it being an animal of the skies.
The fringe skirt by Raf Simon for Calvin Klein is a reference to its long tail feathers.
Unlike the Phoenix, the Red Bird is just red, while phoenixes were said to be of rainbow colours.
The vermillion bird wears vintage Thierry Mugler jacket, with big exaggerated shoulders but sleek silhouette to emphasize it being an animal of the skies. A single red feather nose piece is the only thing to hint at it being a bird with its front skirt is a reference to its long tail feathers.
The broad shoulder look was never really a Chinese thing, as sloping shoulder would look better in the traditional Chinese garment that has no shoulder seams. But that changed in the 40s with women adding shoulder-pads to their Cheongsams to accentuate the shoulder. This look is exemplified by the Japanese Singer in China Yoshiko Yamaguchi, most famously known by her Chinese stage name Li Xiang Lan 李香兰:
Left: Famous American-Chinese writer Eileen Chang Right: Yshiko Yamaguchi/Li Xiang Lan in broad shoulder Cheongsam
QUINTESSENTIALLY CHINESE CRAFT, ACCESSORIES AND AESTHETICS
The Western fashion is very big on silhouettes of the dress, while the Chinese has always been about the hair, the craftsmanship, and the understated luxury where one needs to be close enough and in the ‘right circle of knowledge’ to appreciate the weave, the texture, the material, the motif etc. There’s a lot of secrecy behind many of the crafts, and that made them exclusive, therefore a sign of prestige for those who recognise them. Yet, in Chinese culture (quite unlike the Japanese), the craftsmen are anonymous, and undervalued in the grander scheme of things because the Chinese aesthetics has always been literati-led and the craftsmen were more of the ‘technicians’ to the literati’s ‘artistic vision’. Not unlike the many craftsmen working anonymously behind designer brands that bore the mark of the big name designers who most likely did not make those items themselves.
Another style with hair full of Chineseness. Velvet silk flower of bird motif, Chinese-Hakka style wound silk flowers, and purple jade flower. Bodysuit by Richard Quinn, Nose piece by Ricardo Tisci for Givenchy, styled by Aaron han (@aharw) Hair and accessories by me, make-up by Silas and I.
And just to transition into the more purely Chinese look, we did another look with more Chinese accessories, and also a Tang style hair and make-up with Qing lips. You probably think that it is a copycat of Frida Kahlo, honestly we didn’t realise it until it’s been done, and I immediately recalled a stranger getting in touch to borrow from me my silk flowers for her dressed-up costume party (she stopped responding the moment I told her the price of the flowers. I know, the value of these things aren’t very apparent to those who are not familiar with them).
I use a lot of lacquer and silk flowers because they are so, so, archetypically Chinese but most people just think of Chinese = gold. When in actuality, Chinese didn’t really use much gold in the ancient past. Or Green Jade (Jadeite) for that matter.
I love the emerald green silk scarve that has the auspicious clouds motif done in silver and gold couching technique.
Notice the green bangle? That is a vintage carved lacquer bangle (very rare to come by as typically it would be in red/cinnabar). Carved lacquer came about sometime during the Tang dynasty as well (circa 8th century or so) and became quite a thing later on so even though lacquer was used in many Asian cultures, carve lacquer can be said to be quintessentially Chinese. It is an extremely tedious process, as you would require hundreds of layers of paint, painted and dried, and painted and dried, before you can reach just a few centimetres of thickness for carving.
The Met (HAH!) had an exhibition on lacquer/cinnabar in 2009, you can read the synopsis HERE.
For the Traditional Chinese Vermillion Bird, I’ve decided to go with a wedding look because we often think of phoenixes for Chinese weddings, yet the colour that brides often wear for that occasion would be Red which is actually the colour of the Vermilion Bird. And since the Vermillion bird is often confused with the Phoenix, and more often than not used interchangeably with it, might as well throw the two into the same mix. If you can’t beat them, join them!
Styled, shot, accessories by me.
And you don’t say, Silas certainly looks a bit like Gemma Chan here don’t you think?
For this time round, she’s wearing cinnabar carved lacquer bangles. One is red-on-red, one is red-on-black. Both are vintage pieces.
Now, I shall introduce you to the real Chinese filigree and cloisonné craft for hair accessories. Not the fashion jewelry type worn on the red carpet at the Met by Chef Melissa King for her nail protector. Apparently it was supposed to be inspired by Empress Dowager Cixi (who is, by the way, NOT the last empress of China, contrary to what the Chef wrote on her insta).
The thing about traditional craftsmanship that came from a lineage of thousands of years, is that they get finer and finer, and they are often consumed by the imperial family so the demand for finesse is extremely high. Also, they are all about understated luxury. If it’s that big a bling, it’s probably too crass for them.
Filigree nailguard with ruby, pearl and kingfisher feather inlay. Collection of the Palace Museum in Beijing.Close-up details of the nailguard
The Palace Museum collection has quite a number of nail guards made from the Imperial Chinese filigree craft, completed with gems, pearls and kingfisher feathers on many occasions. You can zoom in to see the fine details of these nailguards, and they are extremely intricate —as fine as the kingfisher feathers.
In order to give you a bit more context on the scale of these intricacies, I shall zoom in a little bit on the filigree and cloisonné of the phoenix hairpiece in my photo which has similar craftsmanship as the palace museum nail guard above.
It is made with tiny grains of freshwater pearls and ruby (I think, I can’t remember the stones cos I have too many of these accessories.. lol). Her earrings are also filigree and cloisonné phoenix. SUPER AUSPICIOUS I KNOW!
I did an apprenticeship a couple of years back on filigree, cloisonné and kingfisher feather craft in Beijing, and it was through this process that I came to fully appreciate just how intricate this craft is. It’s not the type that you can see on photos or videos, that’s why celebrities wouldn’t really wear them because they don’t show up on screen that well cos they’re too tiny.
Extremely close up view of the phoenix filigree and cloisonné hairpin.
If you zoom in close enough, you can see that the edges of the wings is made up of tiny dots of gold. It’s actually very very fine silver threads gilded in gold, twisted into like a braid-like structure and welded onto the base. When I did my apprenticeship, the first thing to do was to learn how to pull the thick silver threads into fine strands, finger than human hair. And how to twist them in shape without breaking them. Sorry about the resolution, it’s just too fine for my camera. I will do better next time.
Our vermillion bird bride with a hair full of intangible cultural heritage craft—silk flowers based on Palace Museum collection, and a fan of another type of intangible cultural heritage craft—Kesi, also based on Palace Museum collection.
Since this set is all about intangible cultural heritage and fine Chinese crafts, I threw in the Kesi (literally translated to carved silk) fan. This is a replica of the Qing dynasty fan in the collection of the Palace Museum in Beijing.
The side profile you can see butterfly hair pieces made of dyed silk using the wound silk flowers craft, and also dyed goose feather accessories to replace the kingfisher craft. This hairpiece is based on the Qing dynasty item in the collection of the National Palace Museum in Taipei.
The topic on Kingfisher feather is contentious, and there are many modern attempts to replicate the effect of kingfisher feather without the cruelty of it. Even the Qing dynasty rulers implemented a ban on using kingfisher feathers for accessories (with limited success obviously).
The cloisonné was one of the historical ways during the Qing period which middle class women could get a pseudo kingfisher feather colour accessory while the aristocrats continued with theirs.
These days, wound silk accessories, dyed goose feather, or peacock feathers are all reasonable substitutes. If you’re wondering (as I did), goose and peacock shed feathers quite readily and their feathers are abundant so it’s not like the case of the kingfisher where you need to kill many to get a tiny bit (disclaimer: goose and peacocks are not harmed since you just gather their shed feathers).
I’m actually making a series of accessories with these type of feathers and vintage lacquer pieces, and will be sharing them later half of the year! So stay tuned!
Meanwhile, if you’re planning to have a Chinese wedding shoot, please don’t go red + gold. It’s so cliché and nouveau riche. At least try to add some finesse like turquoise, blue, green, cyan, pearl, aquamarine, lapis lazuli, lacquer… They are going to add a lot more texture and colours to your otherwise crass look. We do, after all, have at least 5000 years of material culture and history to tap on, don’t behave like we only have 50.
Oh no, I was totally not referring to the billionaire daughter’s wedding (which one? so many huh.. :P).
POP CULTURE REFERENCE
The four guardians were first brought to my attention when I was a young latchkey child watching Japanese anime on my couch after school with my sister. Fushigi Yuugi was the name of the anime, and it started with the chapter of the Vermillion Bird of the South—Suzaku (in Japanese). It had all the characters with special abilities, each representing one of the 7 constellations of the southern nightsky under the charge of the Vermilion Bird.
So it is fitting that we start off this series with the Vermillion Bird.
DRAG IN CHINESE CONTEXT & AFTERTHOUGHTS
In the anime, the king of the southern kingdom Hotohori was a man who was as beautiful as a woman, probably very ahead of its time in the 90s.
And in this series, I have worked with Silas (@operatang) to portray this beautiful feminine side of a man. Drag is not new to Chinese traditional culture, except that it was not politicised like the West. The archetypical Chinese Opera look was a result of men trying to hide their masculine facial features in order to look more feminine. And beautiful men were a thing and even recorded in historical texts for thousands of years.
Hotohori in Fushigi Yuugi
When I approached Silas for this project, I also intended to try to re-interpret drag as we know it today in a traditional Chinese manner—from the perspective of someone who wants to look as much like a woman in representation according to a male perspective. This is historically related to the oppression of women in public for about 500 years where images and representation of women were manifested through male bodies in public performances, through their ideas of what a woman is like, how we walk, how we talk, or by male painters.
So as a result, as it is today, men could be more ‘feminine’ than we are (small sample size, but the 2 women involved this shoot can attest to that!). Maybe femininity has often been depicted through the male gaze, so what we see is often a man’s ideal woman image (not how we actually behave, but how they fantasize us to be). So a man could possibly represent very well this ‘ideal femininity’ if they are in touch with their feminine side. Silas showed me some Asian drag queens who are absolutely gorgeous and live up to the ideal female archetype upheld by society (we’re all fellow subjects of the male gaze in this instance!).
I also wondered about the concept of ‘womanface‘ in western drag practices, where features of what it meant to be a woman were used as content for jokes, as part of the overall ‘ridiculous’ look. I’m not sure if I prefer that, or the over-romanticisation of female body during our oppression (as in the Chinese context). Two extremes of the male take on femininity.
Food for thought I guess!
AND because you lasted till the end of this article, you are rewarded with a Vermillion Bird Instagram/facebook selfie make-up filter! Click on the hyperlinked text to claim them:
Entertainers, prostitutes, muse—these are a few of the terms widely used by academics and general public alike to describe female performers in ancient China. The Chinese term for performing artists evolved from a unisex word (伎jì) referring to male and female performers, into a word dedicated to female entertainers (妓jì) in the Tang dynasty (around 7-9th century) likely due to the wild popularity and prestige of being a female performer (also Courtesan) during that period. Thereafter, due to changing value and political systems, the nature of the profession evolved and these women of spiritual pleasure were objectified into women of carnal pleasures.
It’s interesting to note that in the ancient worlds across the world, there are Courtesans of similar natures. They were usually one of the most educated and artistically accomplished women in society, and they produced and inspired great artistic legacies. We see it in the Mesopotamian culture (West Asia i.e. Iran, Iraq, Syria), the Ancient Greek culture, Indian culture as well as Japanese, Korean and Chinese culture. There’s a wonderful book that I highly recommend everyone to read if you are interested in this topic—“Freewomen, Patriarchal Authority, and the Accusation of Prostitution” by Stephanie Lynn Budin.
Scene extracted from Yanzilou: Forgotten Tales (2021)
For the purpose of this article, I shall touch on the extravagant lifestyles that top courtesans enjoyed, and their role in leading the fashion of their times.
Now in case you think that all these women are sex slaves, you couldn’t be more wrong. They were slaves, yes, but not for sex.
There were courtesans, and there were Courtesans.
While Entertainment Houses weren’t exactly the epitome of female liberty and empowerment, they certainly offered these talented women a break from life as a traditional good wife.
FASHION TREND SETTERS
Gold and Silk
Scene extracted from Yanzilou: Forgotten Tales (2021)
Good wives had to adhere to strict rules on dressing—they have to dress in according to the rule book based on their husbands’ title and social status, courtesans were exempted from any rules. In fact, even though gold and silk were only accessible and permitted to be worn by the elites, Courtesans were decked in them in the comfort their entertainment houses because the realm of the Entertainment House was theirs.
And so, they were at the forefront of fashion styles. This continues to hold true until now, where public performers and celebrities were leaders of sartorial styles because they were bold enough to embody it. In fact, their very existence and popularity kind of depends on it. And you can try to spot the many different styles of Tang Dynasty dresses which you probably would never realised was iconic of the period if you just watched period dramas—most period dramas aren’t very period accurate.
Disclaimer: We actually incorporated Tang dresses worn by women across different periods of the dynasty, spanning 300-400 years so you could see the diversity in sartorial choices. Be it of Hu/western influence, or Han Chinese influence. So it was not specific to one particular time period in Tang.
Purple Brows
How Murex Snail looks like although mostly it could also be normal shell colour based on what I saw instead of purple.
Naturally, make-up was a large part of the fashion trends. Starting from the brow, the Tang period women were known for having extremely bold make-up (think Mulan except more tastefully done). There was mention of a compilation of 10 different brow styles of the period, but unfortunately the actual record was missing. The Courtesans, were the main drivers of this change and they were given a special title— the Ambassador of Brows!
If you actually do catch Yanzilou: Forgotten Tales, do look out for Mamapan and her brows in the early stage and you might just spot a tinge of purple. This was an actual pigment that would’ve been used during ancient China to showcase your wealth and connections.
Purple as we all know, is a colour of royalty in the West, and it was actually frowned upon by Confucius as an inferior colour since he saw it as an ‘impure’ colour unlike red, white, black, yellow and green/blue (yes he’s an CYMK fan). But during the Tang Dynasty, purple became extremely popular that the highest level of honour was to be wearing a purple gown in the imperial court, and to be bestowed one by the emperor. Purple brow pigment was also extremely precious. They came from a Mediterranean Sea snail—the Murex snail and the intense and deep purple produced was called the Tyrian purple. Of course, due to different oxidisation process, it might turn blue as well.
Screencap of the “Tyrian purple brow kit” in the Legend of Zhenhuan. Such a far cry from the actual image above right? And the box they used, was a fake carved lacquerware, it’s made of resin and costs 1/10th the price of a real one. I can just see through its fairness despite the low resolution! The real carved lacquer made by craftsmen, we have in a couple in Yanzilou and you would get to see it in the film experience too. We will make sure you see it because carved lacquerware started in Tang!
The last I checked, Tyrian purple in today’s market would’ve cost you 300USD/gram from a private seller (before shipping). I don’t think it is commercially available on a large scale since the production is extremely limited. But just imagine in those days, with shipping, it would’ve cost you a bomb. That’s why Tyrian purple brow make-up kit appeared in the Legend of Zhenhuan—it was a tribute item from “Persia”. Only the emperor’s favourite concubine would have access to it.
Don’t ask us how Yanzilou got hold of it. It’s a secret we’ll never tell. 😉
On a side note, I heard from a weaver that there are some places in Southeast Asia that produces similar style of purple dye with some sea snail or creatures. That’s quite an interesting thing to explore further!
Scene extracted from Yanzilou: Forgotten Tales (2021)
ARTS CRITIQUE
Arbiter of Taste & Sophistry
When it comes to the arts, we have to admit that taste is subjective and there’s technically no absolute judgement of good and bad art unless you are an ancient Chinese, of course. In which case, it is always literati-lead. So you see a rejection of life-like painting style in Chinese arts, because the literati found it too literal and lacking in imagination and spirit.
And guess who has got them wrapped around their fingers?
*takes a bow*
We often assume that the Chinese Imperial Exam System was probably one of the most meritocratic inventions of the ancient Chinese and that it had been meritocratic from the start. But back in the Tang Dynasty, it wasn’t so exactly. For one, only the rich could afford to study since cost of paper was extremely high. For two, Tang Dynasty exam submissions were not anonymous. So if you have some kind of reputation, or connections, the examiners could very well choose you over someone unknown.
That’s the plight of many scholars and the only way out, was to have their poems and writings known by the influential officials in the capital.
And the most effective way, is not to cold call. But to go through the Courtesans who would have access to the most powerful men in the country since all state banquets and important events would require their attendance. They in fact, would be invited to the private events as well, to host the sessions.
Scene extracted from Yanzilou: Forgotten Tales (2021)
So there were the courtesans, and there were the Courtesans, and there were the Duzhis who were the most highly regarded Courtesans (like Head Courtesans). The Duzhi’s talents were so highly regarded that they would host drinking and poetry sessions with these influential and highly educated patrons, and be the judge of the merits of the poetry. If you were of a lower level official, I suppose Courtesans would be good enough as well!
So just imagine, these Duzhi or Courtesans started praising a random scholar’s poem, or compose a song and used the scholar’s poems as lyrics… It would’ve been the most effective advertisement/product placement!
Most literature and history text books wouldn’t point this out, but it is precisely because of the courtesan culture, of them singing poems as lyrics, that in the dynasty after Tang (the Song Dynasty), the Song Lyrics became an important for of literary arts.
So how did we get from there, to prostitutes?
It’s the same old story in every civilisation, every culture. Like witches being hunted for their knowledge and associated power. I mean, there’s definitely nothing more badass and threatening than women with a great deal of knowledge, free from the traditional rules of a ‘good woman’, and knows all the secrets of influential men.
Just in case you are not on Facebook or Instagram, and have missed out on the announcement of the upcoming virtual interactive film experience, here’s a sneak peek of it! I realised that not many people can imagine what the experience would be like, and at this point, I can only say that you can choose who you meet in Yanzilou, the premium Entertainment House of the 8th century Tang China, and we have as many as 6,464 possible paths so different people would definitely experience Yanzilou very differently. Just like how it would’ve been in real life.
I will leave the trailer below, and if you’re interested to get a ticket, Early Birds/Black Friday sale is on until end of the month! It’s 25% off the regular ticket ($24) and 40% off the Late Bloomer tickets ($30).
It’s only running from 16 Dec to 31 Dec online, and you will receive informations in due course about how to experience this wherever you are, at your own time, with a cup of good wine/tea in a dark room with a pair of kicks earphones/speakers!
So join us on this time travelling experience this Christmas!
The Chinese has an almost pathological obsession with beautiful feathers.
The Tang dynasty emperor from the 8th Century fell in love with a piece of Indian music called the Brahmin Tune and decided to adapt it into his Chinese court to be played and danced to. He renamed the dance and music Raiment of rainbows and feathers. Instead of kingfisher feather as what most sources said, I think the dancer (Lady Yang) probably wore an outer coat made of different coloured feathers such as peacock, pheasant, and perhaps even parrot (I will talk about parrots in the 8th century in detail the next time)!Nevertheless, the craft of kingfisher feather accessories remains a highly mysterious and valued craft unique to China.
Tang dynasty China was one of the earliest periods with documented proof that feathers were used widely for decorations. It was such a ‘fashion statement’ that even the Japanese adopted this technique in their art from the same period.
I thought of doing one entry related to feathers in particular. And the wonderful brilliance of colours adored by the ancient Chinese (men and women alike, mind you~!).
Example of an antique Kingfisher accessory and you could see the slight change in colour because of the different angle of light that is reflected from the feather. It varies a little when you tilt it.
The oldest use of feathers in Chinese textiles (and accessories) was said to date to as far back as 2,000 years ago during the Han dynasty where the use of the word 翡翠(feicui) which refers to Jadeite today, was originally used to refer to the Kingfisher feathers. Jadeite, actually has a very short history in Chinese culture, as it was from Myanmar and was not very valued by the Chinese until mid to late Qing dynasty (last 300 yrs or so). Nephrite was the kind of jade highly valued by the ancient Chinese.
Anyway, while there were brief mentions of such in poems from about 2,000 years ago, and an excavation discovery from the period belonging to the Xiongnu nomadic tribes revealed textiles made of silk and kingfisher feather–definitely a Chinese influence:
Although it’s not a physical dress made of kingfisher feather that we could get hold of from China itself, or any accessory during that period, but we could definitely see hints of it on paintings or from certain use of feathers in artefacts. Nobody ever confirmed it, but it definitely looks probable that the blue tinge on the crown of the courtesans from Tang was from the kingfisher feathers.
There is no surviving physical kingfisher feather from that period in China, but we could still find remnants of feather decoration on the screens of Shosoin (Collection of the Japanese emperor in the 8th century) below:
It’s interesting to note that the women depicted on the screens look very much like Tang dynasty women, but it was an item made in Japan in a Tang style. How do we know? The feathers of course! Scientists have managed to examine whatever feather was left from the 8th century on the screen, and concluded that they were taken from a bird native to Japan! So it is likely that the Japanese got inspired by the crafts and practices in Tang dynasty China (since they were really quite big on Chinese culture then), that they decided to do a local interpretation of it!
Back to the Chinese imperial use of kingfisher feathers, the Song dynasty emperor was known to award his court officials with robes made from a wide range of materials including one which was made of kingfisher feathers. The practice of making fabric from kingfisher feather dates to about Tang dynasty (some 1,300 yrs ago) as mentioned in famous poet Wang Wei’s poem from that period.
During the Qing dynasty, we could find emperor’s robes made from peacock feather threads. Yes, that’s the peacock feather threads mentioned in the Yanxi Palace drama show as well, except that the one they used in the show looked nothing like the actual one:
One thing about beautiful things such as the shine and colours of silk threads and feathers, is that cameras have problem capturing them in their full glory. The texture is just really hard to captured in a 2D image since the colours of feathers tend to change with the varying angles of light. So the actual imperial robe with the peacock feather looks rather underwhelming in an image:
But if you look unclose, you could probably imagine how exquisite it would’ve been if you see it in person up close and personal:
Just now I mentioned the Chinese opera-like kingfisher feather crown in the Tang dynasty painting. Perhaps it is pure coincidence, but traditional Chinese Opera singers would break their back to get their hands on an entire full hair decoration made of kingfisher feathers.
It was said that the most famous opera singer in the early 20th century, Mei Lan Fang, owned a kingfisher feather full set of headdress made from ‘soft’ kingfisher feathers. Kingfisher feather accessories are divided into ‘hard’ feathers which are coarser and ‘soft’ feathers which are finer. There are altogether 4 types of kingfisher feathers often used in Chinese traditional accessories (mainly for the imperial family or aristocrats in the distant past, and whoever could afford it in the recent hundred of years).
As you can see above, the hard feathers are a lot larger than the soft ones, but even that is not too large at only about 7cm long. The small one’s about 2-3 cm long. Out of which, 60% of them can’t be used due to the existence of black or grey parts or other ‘less pure’ colours.
That is why it was highly controversial lately for Chinese opera singers to admit to owning real kingfisher feather crowns.
In case you think only the Chinese is capable of thinking up such a way of decorating themselves, hold my baijiu while I whip out the dark history of the West’s use of birds as accessories (includes kingfisher too). It went as far as using an entire bird (completely indiscreet I know, hurts my Asian aesthetics *hairtoss moment*).
Towards late Qing dynasty (the last 200 years), there was a switch to use cloisonne in place of kingfisher feather accessories–cheaper and less fragile. But the kingfisher feathers still has its fan. The last kingfisher factory in China closed in 1933 due to poor economic performance (not so much of the ban).
Like the West, there are laws against capturing kingfishers as they are considered endangered species or protected species. But it was not enforced by the government.
Dyed goose feather (dyed is not dead, no goose is harmed in the process)
Silk or synthetic coloured threads
Well, at the end of the day, it’s really a personal choice. If you wish to YOLO or you wish to do your part in preserving this endangered species of bird.
I am working with a silk-threads craftsperson to recreate certain antique kingfisher pieces, and you can order them from my online shop from November onwards. Yes, will be working on a few items for the shop to raise fund for the performance I’m putting up next year. So stay tuned~!
Meanwhile, here’s a visual feast of the many paintings and artefact of ancient empress and palace women in their beautiful kingfisher feather accessories. Also, beyond accessories, they even made fans, screens and decorated cups with the feathers!
If you’re interested in knowing more about this craft, I have also done up a few “Fact or Fiction” clarification at the end of the article because I do realise that people like to sensationalise things they don’t know much about, or they villainfy things they don’t agree with. Both of which are not useful in understanding this craft.
even the cup is decorated with kingfisher feather
crown made of kingfisher
kingfisher feather fan
Statement: Practitioners pluck the feathers out from birds while they were alive to ensure that the colours of the feather remain brightly coloured.
Verdict: Fiction. People of different agenda tend to sensationalise this trade or craft. The businessmen trying to make it seem like it’s a mysterious colour that has to go through certain “ritual” that’s somewhat mystical to get the colour. Animal rights people trying to make it seem like it is a really cruel trade. The truth is somewhere in the middle especially if you are meat-eater. Since ancient times dead birds have been given as tribute from southern cities or southeast asian region to China and feathers were taken from these corpses.
Statement: The newer kingfisher feather accessories used leftover feathers from the Qing dynasty, leftover feathers from opera troupes or feathers from people who got them before the last kingfisher factory closed in 1933. So it was not killing new birds.
Verdict: Fiction. They are just statements to make you feel better about buying these items. Unlikely to have such abundance of feathers to support so many accessories with such large surface area. Also, it is much more economical to kill new birds than to buy from antique dealers. So if you buy any kingfisher feather accessories that are made in recent years, or antique kingfisher feather accessories that are newly repaired, do know that they’re probably newly killed birds. Although, there are also officially sourced (so not illegal) kingfisher feathers which the Chinese government would get for purposes such as repair of artefacts, or making special items as dignitary gifts etc.
Statement: The vibrant colours on the kingfisher feather does not fade with passing time.
Verdict: Fact. Provided you keep it in pristine condition away from dust and other physical touch etc. Never touch the surfaces with your hands. It is tempting, but resist you must. Dyed goose feather and dyed silk would fade over time (but it’s probably over a long time) especially with constant exposure to sunlight. Cos we all know how fragile silk can be. Feathers, on the other hand, are used to such exposures.
Statement: Kingfisher feather accessories demand is as bad as ivory.
Verdict: Tricky question. Fact if you look at it from the angle of unnecessary killing of a life for one’s vanity. Fiction if you are looking at this being the main cause of bird extinction. Lost of habitat is often the larger concern for the survival of this beautiful bird. The average lifespan of a common kingfisher (there are over 120 species of them) is 5-7 years, although a rare few could live up to 16 years. The reproduction/replacement rate of the bird is also a lot faster than elephants. Plus, the demand for kingfisher feather really isn’t very high as there are many substitutes that are 1/10th the price around. The resale value of kingfisher feather is also not as high as ivory (since actually there are also a lot of kingfisher birds around so there’s no limited supply at this point) so there is not much incentive for people to stock up and sell at higher value.
Disclaimer: Except for the cover image, rights of all the other images and gif files are properties of Lijing or other sites which interviewed him.
It was a cool, gloomy morning when I arrived in Suzhou to visit the legendary Lijing. I knew about him even before Lin Chiling hosted a feature episode about him, because of how popular he has already been in the Hanfu circle. Naturally, I was filled with curiosity and anticipation especially because our common friend Mengmeng who knew him for almost a decade told me so many other stories of him.
For those who are not familiar with who I’m talking about, Lijing is THE most famous Chinese kesi/k’ossu fan maker in whole of China. Fan has been an important accessory in Chinese culture for over 3,000 years, and kesi/k’o-ssu is a special weaving technique that is so exquisite and intricate that only the imperial families had access to them. There was a famous saying that says “an inch of kesi/k’o-ssu is as valuable as an inch of gold”, because it was extremely labour-intensive, and it takes a long time to produce just an inch of the weaved fabric. And the best part is, because of this special weaving technique, both sides of the weave are identical (so there’s no “wrong” side).
Kesi/k’o-ssu (缂丝) is also known as pictorial silk tapestry (literally translating to ‘carved silk’), and was the first batch of crafts to be listed under China’s intangible cultural heritage items in 2006 (when they just started taking stock of these), and subsequently in 2009 was mentioned along with other silk crafts as part of UNESCO’s intangible cultural heritage of humanity’s Sericulture and silk craftsmanship of China. The UNESCO video was quite a good summary if you’re interested.
This extremely valuable intangible cultural heritage of China, unfortunately, faced its decline as with many traditional crafts. Lijing and his team, however, managed to bring greater awareness and created a financially sustainable market for greater consumption through great design, acute business sense, as well as brilliantly strategic collaborations with celebrities and brands.
Lijing, like Warhol, was under no illusion that the commercial world is the only way to go if one wishes to be financially sustainable. And what better ways than to be associated with celebrities and the fashion world! The only difference is, I think that instead of booze, he drank lots of tea instead!
Hold my teacup while I name drop the who’s whos.
First up, we have Liu Wen, the first Chinese Victoria’s Secret model posing with his fan in an English castle, for the Chinese Bazaar fashion magazine.
Then we have Fan Bing Bing, previously the most hailed Chinese actress (before her tax evasion scandal)
And there’s also Chen Kun, one of the top male celebrities of China as well
His fans… are so impeccably beautiful and he’s a great repurposer (he would take antiques and do a fresh spin on them on his fans). Yeap, he actually started out as an antique collector.
His items are quite reasonably priced despite his fame because like Warhol, he is the creative director and personality of his brand, and the physical making of items (unless the bespoke pieces) were all done by his staff. This sets him apart from the other traditional craftsmen (like Warhol from other traditional artists of his time) in that he doesn’t actually does the kesi/k’ossu but that he gets the old craftsmen to create works based on his design.
This is a contentious point amongst other craftsmen who called him a “mere merchant” but hey, we are still celebrating Warhol’s work decades on right! It definitely brings a totally different paradigm of understanding in what constitutes an artist’s mark, or in Lijing’s case, a traditional craftsperson’s mark of authorship.
A part of me also wondered if he might be offended by this comparison to Warhol…
I prepared a bunch of questions, and it’s enlightening to see how he responded to them. Definitely got up close and personal to understanding him as a person, beyond all his fanfares (pun intended). I’ve consolidated and loosely translated them into English for all to access below, and will be adding some observations and remarks at the end.
WARNING: This is for hardcore heritage and culture fans and can get quite long, but I definitely got the scoops for you! 😛
Have you always been interested in design? What brought you to what you are doing today?
I did Business Administration in my bachelors’ and then went on to do a Masters in Arts and Design. My basic education did not have much to do with what I’m doing now, I did my Masters because the opportunity presented itself. I didn’t really want to start working after my bachelors, so I decided to do a masters. I figured I have some background in painting and drawing, I’m alright with memorising content and rote learning, and no problem with theoretical content, etc. It wasn’t such a conscious decision to go into this line of work. Things just happened.
I read from other interviews that you love Chinese opera, so when did this interest come about?
I first saw it on TV when I was in high school, and got curious. Growing up, we’ve always been taught that Chinese Opera is the essence of Chinese culture, but it’s only through the TV that I first got interested in it. And for me to do what I am doing today, fans and all, Chinese opera was the main reason that brought me to where I am today. There are so many different types of embroideries, crafts, and aesthetics that are manifested in Chinese opera costumes, props, and performances, and when you get into it, you really saw a whole world of Chinese culture, so although fans are not a major prop in Chinese operas, it opened doors to understanding different traditional Chinese crafts.
Fans made from repurposed antique fabric
So what got you interested in fans, in particular?
It’s just another coincidence as well. I collect many antiques, so initially, I collected many foldable fans, and then came those round fans. Some of them would have certain wear and tear, in which case I would need to find craftsmen to repair them, but couldn’t find anyone to do that. So I just tried to repair them myself. Bit by bit, it became a part of me. As I work more on it, I uncovered more details and nuances about fan making, and it’s not a repetitive task because you always make something new and different as there are so many variables and you have to exercise a lot of creativity in the process.
How are the youths or younger people taking to these traditional crafts? You mentioned in your other interviews that you wish for these to be more accessible, and how has that been working out for you?
In the last few years, there has been a lot of media exposure and public awareness of our traditional crafts, so the situation has really improved. What we have been doing is to have a wide price range for the fans that we make. We have simple fans ranging from a couple of thousand bucks onwards, so it’s not too out of reach for people. And we wanted to make people relook at Chinese aesthetics, not as an outdated, passe and kitschy kind of aesthetics.
Have you thought of making your items overseas?
Not at this point! The Chinese market is already big enough, and it is much easier to explain and educate the Chinese about our own culture and aesthetics because we grew up with it, than to educate the foreigners to appreciate and understand the Chinese aesthetics. As such, it’s harder to convince them to spend on these items at this cost.
People have always looked up to Japanese craftsmanship as the ultimate gold standard, but not so much awareness of the Chinese ones, why do you think that’s the case?
I actually disagree with this observation. There is quite a lot of interest and high regard for Chinese craftsmanship as well amongst many, especially the seasoned Chinese collectors in the inner circle. And although I myself really like Japanese craftsmanship and items as well, it’s fundamentally quite different from the Chinese psyche and aesthetics. A couple of decades ago, the Japanese craftsmen were really of very high quality (not so sure about the situation now), and extremely precise and its quality is something that visually you can identify as being high quality (i.e. you can see that the surface is smooth and flawless, the mother of pearl is very orderly laid out, so regardless of cultural background people would find beauty in its regularity and details). And the Japanese government and society have also been reviving their traditional crafts for far longer than the Chinese. It’s only in the recent few decades that the Chinese started to revive our traditional crafts.
When it comes to Chinese crafts’ aesthetics, it comes from the literati and imperial’s point of appreciation which isn’t that apparent to the eye, or not that universal. It actually requires a huge amount of cultural capital/understanding and sophistication before one can appreciate certain essence of that piece of craft/art. Both cultures have their strengths and areas for improvement.
In Japanese culture, craftsmen were highly regarded, whereas, in Chinese culture, craftwork has a lesser connotation of being something of a lower hierarchy. The Chinese aesthetics is mainly still driven not by craftsmanship but by cultural depth and literati or imperial direction. As a result, the Japanese craft market has a much more matured ecosystem of production, mass production, and distribution.
In terms of consumer market currently, I believe that the Chinese market is actually doing better than the Japanese one. Currently not as many Japanese youths are purchasing Japanese traditional crafts anymore whereas the Chinese market is still expanding and just starting to purchase our own traditional craftworks. So it’s really just a matter of time that people appreciate the Chinese traditional crafts.
You mentioned the Chinese aesthetics is driven by literatis, could you explain a bit more about that?
The Chinese literati pursues this natural state of being, where the heaven/nature and the person are in a balanced relationship, and they are one (天人合一). So they do not actually pursue in isolation a lot of these details of crafts, and it is more of an extension of this great desire to be joint harmoniously with nature and to embrace nature in its full form. So a lot of the artworks and their aesthetics is driven towards this elusive concept of nature and self. As a result, the details become distractions to this effort of being completely overwhelmed and immersed in nature and natural state of being and pursuit. Perhaps because innately many literati longed to be hermits, and they couldn’t, so that desire is manifested in their tastes and aesthetics.
Think about the Chinese’s gardens–it’s not to make it like a palace. If you visit a Suzhou garden, it’s full of deliberate plannings which seemed natural. When you look at a tree, you can see it differently in all angles, and one could possibly spend decades to plan and build a Chinese garden. It’s not to pursue this sense of opulence and glamour, but an expression of their pursuit for purity and nature. Nature is the key concept in Chinese aesthetics, not how we manipulate nature to our taste.
Currently, perhaps as an influence by Japanese culture, many Chinese today would think that being intricate and details are the ultimate definition of high quality. A few years ago I was with some grand collector of antiques that have items which are of same quality or possibly even the same type of items as what the Palace Museum has, and they met up with some of the embroidery masters who commented that the antique embroidery pieces they had were not as intricate or “better” than these modern day craftsmen’s work. But that is a misconception because we’re not competing for who has better embroidery work here, because if that’s the case, the machine would win hands down in precision. The beauty of these works is more in the design, in the colour pairing, the composition, and all these taste have been lost to us. Many craftsmen are not able to create good original designs.
The ancient people were not show-offs of skills. Things they created had to serve functional purposes, of course, they were also limited by their equipment in those days, so they weren’t really “art for art’s sake” in that they wanted to have embroideries as fine as hair, or porcelain pieces as thin as possible. They wanted to have a beautiful bowl that serves the function of a bowl and is sufficiently beautiful to bring joy to me at the same time–not just a bowl to be admired and not functional, or for investment purposes. Many today see art and craftworks as an investment–it’s about whether it’s of value, or if it has appreciation potential that’s why they buy it, instead of whether they really like it or not. Of course, the two aren’t mutually exclusive, but what I want to do is to make people feel that the item is beautiful and it brings joy to them by owning them.
So the sense of aesthetics and taste is something that probably is very much formed in a person’s formative years, so how has your childhood influenced your taste as it is today?
Actually, I did not grow up with all these antiques and artworks, but slowly as I got into it I became more interested and that influenced my taste today. Many people I know got into traditional art or culture when they are of a certain age, like yourself, Mengmeng, etc and became really good in them. So your taste and appreciation can be cultivated. In fact, if you were born into it, it might not be as good because your intention might not be pure as you rely on it for survival and are influenced by other considerations.
How do you engage young people to work on your craftwork and items since youths are always on the phone these days?
Having phones actually makes it really convenient for us to work today. Phones are just a tool, there’s nothing special about working in the craft industry because people are not on their phone all the time anyway when they do work in other professions. There is no worry about youths learning and making a living out of such traditional crafts as long as there is a demand, it’s just a matter of cost–it’ll just more expensive since young people charge higher than the seniors.
Kesi/K’o-ssu is actually quite safe in its continuity because it could be made into a piece of painting and serve a decorative purpose like an artwork, whereas other crafts like Luo (silk weaving that looks like lace as in the fabric used in the two fans below), it couldn’t exist on itself as a decorative piece of work, and people would not be willing to pay for them, so that is a more endangered craft. Also, a machine could recreate that whereas Kesi/K’o-ssu currently couldn’t so all these are factors.
People generally would still rather pay a few thousand or tens of thousands on mass-produced branded items, such as bags or shoes to say a traditional craft, so what do you think about that?
Ultimately it boils down to what people think is of value. There are people who buy really cheap hanfus but that’s alright, because they need time to get familiarised with this type of art form, and over time, they might want to level up to get the better quality ones. Nobody will come into a new consumers’ item spending tens of thousands right away. So what I think is important is to create beautiful things, and hopefully, over time as more people get to know them, there is a small percentage who would find it meaningful and worthwhile to buy them. Also, the idea of what items do you associate with as representative of your identity and personal value. Some think that a branded bag would be a better projection of their social standing and importance, while others would think that a fan would be able to speak more about their cultural depth, so these are all different identities which one associates with oneself, and it ultimately boils down to which one prevails at the end of the day.
Yes, we went on to talk about other things, and I find that Lijing is able to succeed because of his great clarity in his target market, their consumption habit, and no illusions about the reality of consumption which many craftsmen or artists might fall into. He is as much an artist as he is a businessman. I love his depth–it’s hard to find businessmen who can engage in such meaningful conversations about craft and history without sounding like they’re trying too hard.
CONTROVERSY
Of course, juicy things always come last–it’s to reward those who read thoroughly. Last year, Lijing was embroiled in a controversy with another kesi/k’o-ssu fan maker who was credited for the fans in Yanxi Palace. Naturally, the show was the talk of the town, and Lijing put out a public claim that they stole his design.
The controversy erupted because many of his designs were based on artefacts, so anyone could technically copy those antique designs. But I also understand that for certain designs, he would combine the shape of the fan, the composition of the ancient painting and lay them out on the fan which would result in an original design (or not?).
Now, I’m not an expert on intellectual property rights, but I do know that based on existing China IP laws, such claims are hardly recognised due to it being too generic. So it is unlikely that he has the legal claim to such.
What is intriguing, however, was that he was exactly like Warhol in this instance. According to some discussions I found, the copyright of design of the shape of many fans that he sells belongs to this fan making company, while some of the kesi/k’o-ssu artworks were based on antiques/ancient paintings, and the weaves were done by the kesi/k’o-ssu craftsmen. However, just like Warhol, the concept and the marketing and the brand belongs to him, thereby changing the concept of an artist’s mark in Warhol’s case, and in his, the artisan’s mark.
Artists or designers do not necessarily create things from scratch, photographers especially portrait ones also do not because it is highly dependant on the model, make-up, dresses, artistic direction and post-production. So in this world, these lines of trademarks and copyright are becoming extremely grey.
It’s an interesting thing to observe in the Chinese market, as the Chinese become more aware of IP claims and rights, and we realise that we have stepped back into the Pop Art era in the US!
And as they always say, you are nobody until people start talking about you (for better or worse) right!
And in many ways, perhaps this is truly reflective of the ancient perception of gentleman art and consumption. One that is not based on craft but on taste and reputation.
Tomorrow’s the western Valentine’s day, and in a few days more we’ll be celebrating the Chinese valentine’s day, thus this article.
A while ago we had a lecture by Jonathan Tan, founder and owner of Blanc Studios, on Chinese gardens. Jon learnt Ikebana from young and is extremely knowledgeable in Chinese architecture and gardens and uses a lot of East Asian aesthetics in his floral design and creations. We were all pleasantly surprised by what we learnt about the Chinese philosophy of a garden and how it was a paradigm shift from the West. The Japanese garden, though inspired by the Chinese garden concept took on its own form and trajectory of development as well!
In an ideal Chinese garden, as I’ve learnt from Jonathan, there’re meandering paths which offer you a different perspective of the garden layout every turn you take. The entire point is not to get from point A to B, but to enjoy the entire walk through it and be surprised by the unexpected sights along the way. In certain more elaborate designs, there would be a pavilion which opens up to 4 directions, each offering you a view of a different season. This reminds me of the ancient palaces which were built to mirror the seasons and the emperor would stay in different side of the palace during the changing seasons in alignment with the 5 elements. You can watch an episode on Chinese and Japanese garden HERE, hosted by Monty Don, a British celebrity gardener (of course, the Brits love their gardens too! of a completely different aesthetic philosophy!).
This is the Chinese lantern that most are familiar with, at night we’ll see a totally different style of lantern which was popularised in the Ming dynasty (14th century) around Souther China.
There were also a lot of odd-shape rocks which reminded the Chinese of the peaks and valleys of actual mountains like Huangshan (yellow mountain) and likes. If you have seen a Chinese landscape on a foggy day (or early morning on a cooling day), you would realise just how realistic the Chinese paintings are (contrary to what western art historians like to say about Chinese paintings being abstract).
And it is interesting how everything were in shades of greys. I had the pleasure of travelling to this ancient town in central China a while ago, and the entire town was covered in thick fog in the early morning and late night. You could sit by the wooden stilt balconies by the river at night, and see the fog move past you. In the morning, if you get up early enough, you can catch the ethnic Miao ladies in their traditional wear and baskets around the backcrossing the bridge. One of my most memorable and recouperative experiences.
I did not know anything about the Dahlia flower until this shoot, because it’s non-native to China. But I fell in love with the dinnerplate Dahlia that can grow to as big as one’s face! I wonder if the Tang dynasty women would fall in love with Dahlia as much as they love the Peony!
But I would imagine the imperial court getting ready for the largest lantern/light festival of the year in the day by hanging lanterns. and there would be long walkways built with fancy lanterns and large lantern displays in other more open spaces.
That’s day time at the imperial garden of Qing dynasty (1644-1911). Maybe. 😛
When night fell, I slipped into a Ming dynasty style (1368-1644) for the three reasons below:
The Forbidden City, although mostly associated with the Qing dynasty, was actually built in the Ming dynasty and continued to be constructed and resided by the Manchurian rulers of Qing dynasty after conquering and taking over China from the Ming dynasty Han Chinese rulers.
Although Manchurian rulers mandated for all Han Chinese to adopt the Manchurian ways of dressing, Han women were exempted from this and women could still wear Ming dynasty dresses.
Throughout history, the nomadic tribes have always looked up to Han Chinese culture as a “high culture” and as a result, emperors and concubines would also occasionally “cosplay” by wearing Han Chinese dresses. There were even portraits of emperors and concubines in Han Chinese wear that survived till today. Of course, they wore mainly the late Ming dresses while I was wearing the early Ming one.
NIGHT FALLS
This is a very much fusion design of a Chinese pavilion due to its abundance of colours that filled up most of the spaces. Ancient Han Chinese literatis put a lot of emphasis on the negative spaces, because they believed that the negative space leaves a lot more to viewers’ imagination. An extremely advanced and empowering concept.
The ancient Chinese believed that the sky is round and the earth is square/flat, and so their pavilions were also built with that in mind. Most of the pavilions would have a circular top, and a squarish/angular bottom. Of course, traditional Chinese pavilions are not as decorative and fancy as Chinese aesthetics emphasises the negative space a lot. So having nothing means so much more to the ancient Chinese than having something there–leaves a lot more room for possibilities and projection of ideas from the viewers’ perspective.
The top blouse got longer and longer from Early to Late Ming dynasty, opposite from the development of Korean Hanbok which started similar to the early Ming dynasty style and its blouse got shorter and shorter over time.
If you are familiar with my work, you would realise that I RARELY have women with their hair down. This is because technically, women are supposed to comb their loose hair back after coming of age (15 yrs old) and it would be seen as inappropriate to have loose hair around. That being said, there were also other proofs that occasionally women did let down their hair in history (see what I did there? :P) and in this case, I would also like to allude to the courtesans residing in the Green Mansions (subtle subtext) who were like the geishas and were admired for their artistic and literary talents in the late Ming and early Qing period. The most famous few were the 8 beauties along the Qinhuai River (southern China around Nanjing).
The term Green Mansion was originally used to refer to the grand buildings where kings and nobles lived. Over time, it became a term used to describe the grand places of dwelling of the best courtesans before eventually being loosely used to refer to brothels. It must note that the practice of Geisha was heavily influenced by the courtesans of Tang dynasty China where women were valued for their talents and not so much their looks. Their presence was appreciated by extremely learned or influential men they were brilliant hosts of parties and gatherings. Top scholars in Tang dynasty would be parading around accompanied by the courtesans as part of their celebratory parade. Even the Song dynasty emperor had to beg for the love of the top courtesan, who unfortunately preferred someone else to him.
Of course, there’s nothing more fitting than to pair the Qinhuai lantern (which also started in Ming dynasty) with a Qinhuai courtesan! This entire lantern is handmade from many small pieces of paper folded into shape. Extremely delicate and one of the most beautiful lanterns I’ve ever laid my eyes on! My Chinese friend gifted it to me as she knows how much I love intangible cultural heritage crafts!
There are a few Chinese Valentine’s Day, and the upcoming one which on the 15th day of the first month of the lunar new year (this year it’s on 19 Feb 2019). Traditionally, women were allowed to get out of their house on this date, with lanterns and all, and by Tang dynasty China (about 7th century), people could roam the streets freely to see the majestic lantern displays at night for 3 nights in a row (Yes, there’s a state-imposed curfew otherwise).
More mid-autumn festival than mid-autumn festival. If you know what I mean.
The night comes alive with all the celebrations, performances, firecrackers, and of course, boy meets girls.
Traditional love stories of boy meets girl in ancient China usually happens during this period/on this date. However, in reality, the modern understanding of love rarely existed between married couples and were more prevalent between the courtesans and their patrons. This is an area of great interest because in recent years, Chinese courtesans have been orientalised and eroticised by bad TV shows and it does present a very different perspective of gender equality in ancient Chinese societies.
I am still gearing up for a very intimate, immersive performance which brings to life Tang dynasty courtesan lives and their parties next year (fingers crossed). But so far, the research has been nothing short of fascinating. I’ll reveal more in time to come but it definitely challenges many of our current assumptions of women and courtesans of ancient China. They were like the original geishas.
And since we’re approaching the 15th day of the 1st month of the Lunisolar Chinese calendar AKA The Lantern Festival, thought of just giving you a big moon with some nice reflections to ponder and have some fun playing a Hanfu edition of “Where’s Wally”. I’ve hidden two peonies (one orangy-red and one red) and a butterfly in the picture.
The piece below I’ve decided to call it Mirage of full bloom (镜花水月 jing hua shui yue). The Chinese title is an expression that is often used to refer to things that are beautiful yet unattainable, but its beauty remained in the deepest of our imagination. It literally translates to The flowers’ reflection in a mirror, the moon’s reflection in water.
Have fun!
All original images were taken at the Gardens by the Bay Dahlia Dreams floral showcase by Dressed Up Dreams Photo Studio (aka my good friend Sharon). We edited the images ourselves separately because we have different editing styles. So you can have a look at her edits for variety as well! 🙂
“Those who dance are considered insane by those who can’t hear the music”
In ancient times, yue 樂 referred to both dance and music, although the word is only reserved for music now. Back then, there wasn’t the concept of dance without music (but music performances without dance existed). Legends about the origins of dance can be found in ancient Chinese literature such as the Lüshi Chunqiu (Annals of Lü Buwei), Zhongxiaji (Mid-summer Records), and Guyue (Ancient Music).
With the popularisation of opera in the last 1000 years, ancient Chinese dance as an artform had been on a decline. This was further exacerbated by the widespread adoption of bound feet that greatly limited women’s mobility, rendering them unable to dance. In their places, were male dancers who brought a different aesthetics and Chinese dance was thus performed and passed down through the male body.
It is thus extremely apt that for our upcoming performance, we will be focusing on the 4 ancient beauties who lived in periods before the onset of decline in ancient Chinese Dance and the adoption of bound feet. With the exception of Wang Zhaojun who was not officially known for any particular dance (But she’s known for playing the pipa), all 3 beauties were said to have exceptional dance talents which helped them charm million and above all, the rulers of their times.
Guess who?
When Elizabeth and I first started working on this project, we were quite sure that it will not be a total re-enactment of the dances because it’s not possible. We could only reimagine them based on the artefacts and whatever was written about them. Also, the kind of music that went along with those ancient dances were all lost too, and we have limited resources and time. So getting new compositions was out of the question.
So I picked a few songs which I felt was representative of my feeling of the periods, the beauties and the stories of those dances they were famous for and worked with Elizabeth on fine-tuning the selection.
Being a nerd, I thought it’s only fair that I share a bit more background information about the dance choreography that Elizabeth has done such a great job in, so her effort and all those ancient knowledge are not gone to waste! Cos personally I find physical theatre and dance the hardest to understand. If you don’t want any spoilers, you can always skip this article and come back after the show to find out more!
Elizabeth:During the Western Zhou dynasty, the category of Yayue (雅樂), or ‘elegant music’ was established. In it consisted of the Six Major Dances and Six Minor Dances. Yayue was mostly used for official rituals and to reinforce notions of proper decorum. Jiyue (伎樂), or ‘women music’, was more often seen in informal banquets and were often performed by professional dancers of the time. These music and dance pieces took more inspiration from folk music and dance forms and were more entertaining. As such, by the beginning of the Han dynasty, Jiyue gradually became more popular while Yayue declined.
Notice the foot in this (ok we didnt have the shoes on), it was not pointed downwards unlike in ballet or modern Chinese dance. This is a very traditional Chinese footwork, and you see such upturned feet in dance sculptures of the ancient past too!
Xishi’s dance was inspired by a modern interpretation《楚腰》(the Chu Waist), choreographed by Chinese choreographer Sun Ying (孙颖老师).
Dance forms in the ancient past were performed with women with ‘natural feet’ (unbound feet). For example, in the Dunhuang Mogao grottoes paintings, we can see that many of the dancers had feet that were sickled in or half pointed, rather than the fully pointed feet common in Chinese dance today.
The fully pointed foot became one of the aesthetic ideals in Chinese dance today due to the influence of ballet line and technique during the institutionalisation of Chinese dance as an official discipline in the 1940s and 50s.
Hanfugirl:The story of the Chu waist came from a book by an ancient political-philosopher–Han Fei. As with many things in Chinese literature, a spade is never called a spade. The story talks about how the ruler of the Kingdom of Chu loved to see his court officials with tiny waists. So all of them start starving themselves to strive to have the tiniest waist possible, in order to gain his favour. Over time, they all became really frail and could barely stand up straight, let alone provide sound advice to him. Han Fei used this story to caution leaders against favouring policies or people based on his own private and personal preferences, as this would cause the entire political climate to slant towards currying flavouring instead of doing what’s best for the country.
While it was a story, the mention of the tiny waist is likely to be reflective of the existing aesthetics during the period, otherwise the reference would have been lost on the readers. During that period, the wooden clogs were already invented and worn by people like Confucius as well. I had a special request that Xishi wore clogs to dance because she was known for her clog dance. It was said that the king even built a hollow hallway just for her to dance her bell and clog dance. As such, the moves of the dancer would have to be adapted to work around the constraint of the clogs.
Elizabeth:During the Han dynasty, there was a type of performance called “Variety Shows” (百戏) which existed both in the courts and in folk villages. These performances included wrestling performances, acrobatics, wushu, magic shows, comic performances, as well as music and dance performances. There were many different kinds of dances performed, including silk dance, sleeve dance, drum dance, as well as dances of animals and social dances.
For Zhaojun, I used the sleeve dance, sometimes called the 翘袖折腰 style, which includes making curvy or bendy shapes with the body and the extra-long sleeves.
In the Han dynasty, besides sleeve dances, there were also many plate and drum dances, dances with silk and with the duster (拂尘) and the bell dance.
Hanfugirl:Personally, this is my favourite dance because of how close it is to the artefact and my idea of Han dynasty dance*squeal*. hahahahahah IRONICALLY, Zhaojun is the only one who didn’t have a dancer identity. But I do think that since she’s said to be a concubine of the emperor, she must have known some dance to some extent.
What I also love about this is that her dress is made based on the Western Han tomb in Hunan, and the dancer herself is also from there. Zhaojun in history was from Hubei, which is north to Hunan. In ancient China, this entire region (both Hunan and Hubei) were known to be the kingdom of Chu. So in my wildest imagination, she could be playing/dancing like her ancient relative or some sorts!
Zhaojun’s dance is a more sorrowful, departure dance. She was bidding farewell to her home to a kingdom far far away. Yes, in a cartoon sense of the word, she was marrying a Shrek of her time. But the Shrek proved to be quite a good catch eventually. Still, at this point in the story, she was supposed to be sad and sorrowful.
Elizabeth:The period from the three Kingdoms through Wei, Jins, to the Southern and Northern Dynasties, was a time torn by wars, a time of the changing of the dynasties, and a time of shifting nationalities. The main feature of this period was the migration and intermingling of the different peoples’ dances. The dancing system of the Tang dynasty which followed was rooted in this period.
Well-known dance pieces include 《白纻舞》(Dance of white ramie) and 《春江花月夜》(Moonlit night on spring river)which came from the 清商乐 (Qing Shang Yue, a type of music popular amongst the literati of that period). Diaochan’s dance was inspired by 《白紵舞》which was originally a folk dance from the lower-Yangtze area, and took its name from the costumes which were made from white ramie.
The dance is gentle and light with a stress on dancing with the sleeves. Among the five to six hundred years from the Jin to the Tang dynasty, this dance became a staple repertoire of banquet arts and was one of the dances praised by different poets across dynasties.
Hanfugirl:The music chosen for this piece is more of a risque, femme fatale feel one because of the story of Diaochan. I wanted to show the seductiveness of Diaochan, and at the same time, the danger that comes with such a two-faced woman. I wonder how the men she was seducing was feeling while watching her dance, and if they would be as captivated as I was when I was taking these pictures.
This is Elizabeth, our choreographer for the show. Now you know why this entry uses her picture as the key visual. It’s important to support local talents and people who are passionate about the art.
Elizabeth: The Sui dynasty which preceded the Tang was a period of unity, and the rulers amassed the traditional songs and dances of the Han ethnic people, as well as those of minority nationalities and those which had been introduced from abroad.
The well-known court banquet music, the “Seven Books of Music” and later, the “Nine Books of Music” were founded there. For the first time in Chinese history, the music and dances of different nationalities and of different areas were listed in an equal state as part of court rituals.
Thus, there were many styles of dances in the Tang dynasty: “Nine Books of Music”, “Ten Books of Music”, Zuobu Arts”, “Libu Arts”, Jian and Ruan Dancers, the Folk Song and Dance dramas, the Grand Song and Dance Compositions as well as religious dances.
Yang Yu Huan, or Yang Guifei’s dance was inspired by the Hu style, which was a name given to folk dances from Central Asia or Western regions of China. They have sharp rhythms, with rapid changes to the movements and rich expressions. She was also known for being well-versed in the Dervish Dance from Samarkand.
Today, Hu style influences can be seen in the folk dances of Mongolia and Xinjiang.
Hanfugirl:I didn’t have the right lighting and space to capture more images which I’m satisfied with but I’m pretty happy with this image because of that Hu (central asian/nomadic tribe) type of shoulder movement and posture. I have ALWAYS been fascinated with the Tang dynasty for its cultural diversity and cosmopolitan society. The well-known Yang Guifei was also said to be one of the most brilliant dancers of her time. There were two dances in particular that were closely associated with her–the Swirling Hu dance （胡旋舞）, and the Rainbowed-skirt, feathered-dress dance （霓裳羽衣舞）.
The first dance was just a generic type of dance that many Tang dynasty party goers (men and women) would learn and dance (a bit like the clubbing dance of our time).
The second one was a music piece specially recorded and composed by the emperor of that time (also the husband of Guifei). He was inspired by the foreign Hu music composition from India. The music was hailed as one of the gems of Tang dynasty music, and Guifei was said to have danced to it while the emperor played it. After the An Lushan rebellion and death of Guifei, it was never played again.
That particular music doesn’t quite suit the mood and duration of my show, so I found another piece that has a bit more foreign music element for the purpose of performance. And our dancer Serene is an authority in ethnic Chinese dance, so Elizabeth gave her free reign in the parts where ethnic dance influence is to be showcased. So this piece combines both the swirling Hu dance and the Rainbowed-skirt, feathered-dress dance.
This article is jointly written by Hanfugirl and Elizabeth Chan (Dance choreographer).
If you’re interested to watch the performance, which is part of Moonfest 2018, details are as follows:
There’re tonnes of other programmes at Moonfest, you may visit the official Esplanade website HERE.
Hanfugirl: The story of the Chu waist came from a book by an ancient political-philosopher–Han Fei. As with many things in Chinese literature, a spade is never called a spade. The story talks about how the ruler of the Kingdom of Chu loved to see his court officials with tiny waists. So all of them start starving themselves to strive to have the tiniest waist possible, in order to gain his favour. Over time, they all became really frail and could barely stand up straight, let alone provide sound advice to him. Han Fei used this story to caution leaders against favouring policies or people based on his own private and personal preferences, as this would cause the entire political climate to slant towards currying flavouring instead of doing what’s best for the country.
While it was a story, the mention of the tiny waist is likely to be reflective of the existing aesthetics during the period, otherwise the reference would have been lost on the readers. During that period, the wooden clogs were already invented and worn by people like Confucius as well. I had a special request that Xishi wore clogs to dance because she was known for her clog dance. It was said that the king even built a hollow hallway just for her to dance her bell and clog dance. As such, the moves of the dancer would have to be adapted to work around the constraint of the clogs.
Elizabeth: 
Elizabeth: 
#Hanfugirl 