-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!
Because of Fashion’s close associations with consumption, it has often been dismissed as frivolous in modern context. However, fashion, in its fundamental form, has all along been a highly politicised matter. A woman’s body is never her own, and how she dresses, the shape of her body parts, and her fashion choices were more than just superficial indulgences. Fashion has often been, especially in the context of ancient Chinese societies, a highly controversial political and moral signifier.
But you would be mistaken to think that Chinese women were way more repressed than their western counterparts. For one, if you’ve heard of the ‘bra-burning feminist‘ term (which didn’t really happen btw), you might be surprised to know that while this call for liberation from the constraints of bras happened in the late 60s America, Chinese women have been calling for liberation of their boobs in the name of female empowerment way back in the early 1910s! That’s 50 years before!
The next time you see an old photo of Chinese women, or an antique Chinese dress/Cheongsam, notice the chest area. It should be rather flat.
Most people are familiar with the done-to-death use of the bound feet as a mark of female oppression in ancient Chinese societies. But it was believed to be an influence from the West. In their initial stages, it wasn’t even all that small. Rather, it was more of a narrow feet aesthetic. Subsequently, as with everything, it lots its original sense and became festishcised into the form that we recognise today.
Early 1910s was the onset of a huge wave of Western influence in Chinese society. With the fall of the Qing empire, and return of many western-educated Chinese, the concept of “Westernisation” was exceptionally attractive to the Chinese literati. The flapper style in the 20s also caught on its run in China.
While we all know about foot-binding, very few know of the equally long-standing chest-binding practice which coincidentally fitted the flapper fashion in the early 20th century in the West. The irony is that while the women of the West embraced flapper fashion with flattened chest as a symbol of liberation from their corsets, at the same time, the women of China had flat chests as a result of the same constraints that the corsets imposed on their Western counterparts. So even though the more progressive Chinese literatis (men and women) of that time called for a liberation of their ‘natural breasts’ but it was not until 1927 that it was officially launched by the government. So Chinese women still maintained a very narrow and flat side body profile before that.
A more traditional Chinese woman in the early 20s would have her hair long and neatly combed up, and in two-piece dress as that was the traditional way of dressing for thousands of years. The one-piece robe was not a Han Chinese practice after the Han dynasty. Which is ironic but this little detail became relevant in the debate on the origin of Cheongsam.
And the East and the West met in the middle. The western flapper fashion was a natural fit to the Chinese women’s new feminist consciousness and their (newly-liberated)bound-chest silhouette. Think about it this way, if there is a mom-bod trend in fashion now, I would definitely be the biggest avocate and buy a million of the “mom-bod fashion” dresses. #justsaying. That’s probably what went on in China in those days, with women finding this ‘western’, and ‘modern’ fashionable look easy to transit into with their existing body.
Women who just came out of the Qing dynasty period would still have relatively flat chest, and the practice of chest binding and preference for small chest continued in the consciousness of many as a mark of elegance. I know, even my mom who’s born in the 50s still subscribes to that. This coincides with the aesthetics of the Flapper style in the 20s, which adds to the attractiveness and ease of adoption of the western fashion during that period.
The traditional Chinese dress, which is generically referred to as the Hanfu is done with a flat cutting (Kimono has a similar structure). To put it simply, you can put it on a flat surface, and fold it easily without having a lot of uneven parts such as the seams around the boobs and the butts popping out. It is technically not totally flat but that’s a topic for another day.
For the purpose of the shoot, we had all the models binding their chests (if they are well-endowed) so that the fabric of the dresses would drape nicely down instead of having a bulge at the chest level that’s too vulgar for the cutting of the dress. If you think that having feminine curves is what defines a Cheongsam, then you’re probably referring to the less traditional (relatively so) Cheongsams that were influenced by the Western cutting. Early cheongsams were very comfortable, loose fitting and less sexualised. My personal favourite style to go with my mom bod.
Most people probably have tried on a Yukata or Kimono (probably more likely than a piece of Hanfu). And you would have noticed that the general aesthetic is to have a flat chest waist and butt line, essentially having a special bra that presses your chest down is one of the important accessories. Traditional Hanfu, due to its flatness, has similar aesthetics. The explanation which I found through my own experience, is that you would look bloated if you have big boobs as the excess fabric would drape down your body like you are pregnant since it is not fitted to your body shape.
So an ideal Chinese beauty in the last few hundred years, would have no boobs (and shoulders) essentially.
Because fashion is an important way for women to project their ideological stands, you could tell who were the ‘liberated’ new age women and the traditionalists.
There were two camps of women at the turn of the century:
The traditionalists who kept their hair long, with bound chests, bound feet and loose-fitting Qing dynasty two-piece top and bottom. They would mostly be home-bound.
The revolutionists who cut their hair short, campaigned for the liberation of natural boobs as a sign of their intellectuality, and a slightly less baggy dress. It could be a mix of western dresses, early form of cheongsam (one-piece and two-piece). And they loved a good party.
The socialites and women from the big families who were educated overseas started cutting and perming their hair, and they design their dresses by merging traditional Chinese elements with the Western styles, and many of them were inspired by the Art Deco style which worked perfectly in an Asian setting as it was very much influenced by the East with its designs peppered with Chinoiserie amongst its other influences.
I wrote ‘liberated’ because you’d have thought that they would’ve been less more moderate in their approach to women’s dressing identity, as the more ‘woke’ group. However, fashion, as always, is bound to be politicised regardless. Haircutting became a political statement, and more educated women saw it as a physical manifestation of their revolution against the patriarch and it was the true spirit of that time.
Before Cheongsam, there were many different types of dress-robe-vest-top styles resembling the eventual form of Cheongsam. They were influenced by both the Han and Manchurian women fashion of that time and evolved organically into the eventual form we know today. Besides the revolution in dressing, there was also the revolution in hairstyles and the cessation of foot binding and chest binding. It was more of a fashion trend as well as a political move towards a perceived liberation of women of that period.
The ‘liberated women’ saw it as a mission to ensure that all the ‘oppressed’ women who still conformed to tradition have their hair cut and started going about forcing everyone to do so. Little did they realise that hair meant so much to the traditional Chinese, not only as a symbol of filial piety, but also as a symbol of one’s very identity, one that is equally important as their ideal of a liberated female identity. So one of the village woman who had her hair forcefully cut, commited suicide. And in an even more extreme case published in a female magazine, it was said that villagers saw women dressed in military wear going around cutting women’s hair, and a group of over 30 women escaped into the middle of a lake on a tiny boat which eventually capsized (presumably drowning everyone on board).
This was so unnecessary on hindsight because top-down approach never works in meaningful conversion. Eventually, women naturally started cutting their hair as they saw more celebrities, socialites/courtesans and famous people doing so. It became so popular that Beijing even started a female hairdressing school in 1928 with a minimum qualification requirement even.
The importance of soft power.
When you look at the old Chinese posters of the republican era, you’d always find women who permed their already very short hair. And even hair perming, went through a politicised process of being first banned by the government to eventually embraced by everyone. What’s interesting is that the first Chinese woman to have been recorded with a permed hair was in 1926, and she went all the way to the Philippines to do so. The price was about the monthly salary of a professor in China’s top university. So those who could afford it naturally were the celebrities, women from rich families and likes, and that became a highly sought after fashion by the masses before being banned in the mid-30s in the name of prudence and simplicity as a highly valued quality of women (with limited success of course).
So, fast forward 100 years or so, women and how we dress/look are still subject of public interest and debates related to morality and value. And we think that we have come a long way? I guess not really!
Public Service Announcement:
This series of photos were taken in partnership with the Sun Yat Sen Nanyang Memorial Hall to create more visual educational content online. They are currently running a Republica era women’s fashion exhibition (a small scale one–managing expectations here) Modern Women of the Republic: Fashion and Change in China and Singapore from now until 12.12.2021.
Meanwhile, I’m still working on the #Yanzilou immersive online film project, hoping to start sharing more with you in mid September, so stay tuned!
We also appreciate contributions to Hanfugirl to allow us to produce and share more topics which are rarely written in English, and even less represented in images. I have a few projects (besides Yanzilou) that I’m dying to make such as the four guardian mythological creatures of the constellations, Chinese Weddings reinterpreted, Chinese gods and fantastic beasts… We’ll get there some day. Slowly, but surely.
Special thanks to Lin Tong for her knowledge, amazing retro vintage hairstyling, hairpin, and the velvet blue dress. Sharon (Dressed up dreams) for light and the Hanfugirls for modelling!
There are always 2 sides to a coin. Even for Mulan. While the production team’s taste is questionnable, they didn’t squander their 3 week study trip to China entirely either. There are several easter eggs in the show where I could tell exactly which artefact they might have been inspired by, and it’s quite fun to spot them! So let’s have a look and learn a bit more about these otherwise neglected gems!
1. The Army & their Armour
Personally, when it comes to Tang dynasty costumes for a show, you have to watch the Longest Day in Chang’An (2019 Chinese Drama). That, is probably the gold standard. They had plenty of armours made for the show, just like Mulan, and I thought it’s fun to also compare the 2 shows as well as the artefacts that they are based on.
The one in “Longest Day in Chang’an” featured armours that used around 6,000 individuals pieces to make so as to be as functionally similar to the original as possible. The one in Mulan, I guess due to time constraint (even though they have a huge budget), could not be done that way, so they opted for a more decorative/flat kind of texture, look and feel. And I suppose borrowing from the Longest Day in Chang’an wasn’t an option cos they were filming around the same time (also another reason why the Chinese drama had to build its own set, which worked out pretty well for them actually).
That being said, a lot of effort has definitely gone into replicating the look of a Tang army in Mulan and you can read about the details of the armours HERE. A few visual comparisons below:
(left) The recruitment officer in Mulan; (right) An artefact of a figurine of early Tang officialNote the tassel on the helmet in Mulan vs the feathers in Longest Day in Chang’an, and the artefact. Attention to detail is important. Not everything Chinese has to have tassels.
Since I’m not an military fashion expert, I’ll say it gets an overall score of 8/10 from me.
2. Emperor’s not-so-new clothes
Since ancient dynasties in China, what the emperors wore for the various occasions have been codified to 6 different types and most of the periods thereafter followed what was dictated in the Rites of Zhou (circa 8th century BCE). In Tang dynasty, such categories further expanded to 12 different types of dressing for variousi functions and occasions.
I am kind of impressed that they got his formal wear almost right, especially the hat:
There are 12 beads each column of the crown, just as what it should have been since over 3000 years ago, except that during Tang dynasty, all beads were supposed to be white just like in the Rites of Zhou.
Almost, because the devil’s in the detail. The formal wear is supposed to be like what’s depicted in the painting on the right, but I can understand that the stereotype of Chinese emperors would be someone who looks like the Chinese Jade Emperor, and that yellow is the ultimate colour for emperor:
stereotypical look for the Jade Emperor, a mythological figure, because, nobody wears that IRL since the formal mian hat is never paired with a yellow robe.
I believe it was a genuine mistake by the production team, because Tang dynasty was the beginning of the practice where yellow (note: but only a the orange/reddish yellow not all shades of yellow) was reserved for the emperor. It’s a myth that yellow has always been reserved for the imperial family, because before that anyone could wear it and even in Tang dynasty, many could still continue to do so, in fact yellow was stated alongside with white as colours for civilians. The ceremonial dresses however, were not subject to this yellow criteria, since they followed the Rites of Zhou and during that period, Black and Red were far more superior colours.
They might have taken inspiration from this portrait of the Tang emperor except that this painting wasn’t done in Tang dynasty but much later (I would say Ming/Qing dynasty) and you can just look at the evolution of the dragon motif to tell:
This painting of a Tang emperor (Tang Taizong) is not from the Tang dynasty but painted hundreds of years later in memory of him. You can tell from the way his dresses and motifs are painted. Definitely by someone from much later period.
The hat, I suppose was based on a Ming dynasty artefact belonging to the son of the emperor, and the only surviving artefact of this type of crown:
Because the owner of this Mian crown wasn’t the emperor, the artefact only has 9 beads per strand. The emperor would have 12. But it was in Ming dynasty that they had 5 coloured beads whereas in Tang and before, it was all white beads according to the Rites of Zhou.
So it’s actually somewhat impressive that they got the number of beads in the crown right and its varying colours! I mean, many Chinese shows would’ve just have random number of beads in white or whatever colour that look nice. I’d give this a 8/10 for its attention to such an obscure but impressive detail.
3. Phoenix emblem
Left: Mulan’s family heirloom phoenix emblem; Right: Western Han dynasty Zhuque (Red bird/fire bird; Note: NOT phoenix)
I know I know, could phoenix be a variation of the zhu que red bird? It certainly seemed so except that in ancient Chinese texts they were two markedly different species. The Phoenix is supposed to have 5 colours, while the red bird is, as its name suggests, red. The Zhu que/Red bird is one of the 4 guardians in Chinese culture, but it was usually used on the roof tiles instead of as what the movie suggested, at the two sides of the front entrance.
The round surface with a motif is the roof tile that imperial families in ancient China over 2,000 years ago would use to symbolise their power and to seek protection from the heavenly forces.
The ancient Chinese divided the world into 4 quarters of the world and assigned a guardian creature to each of them to balance and control the evil forces of the world. One of my favourite childhood Japanese anime was based on this concept–Fushigi Yuugi. And yes, the 4 gods were made up of a total of 28 constellations thus the anime had different constellations assigned to the respective guardian gods.
The most iconic motifs of the 4 guardians/gods are none other than the Western Han dynasty roof tiles:
1. Blue dragon of the East (The leader of the 4 gods) 2. Red bird of the South 3. White tiger of the West 4. Black Turtle-Snake of the North
The element that is associated with the Red Bird is fire, but overtime people confused the phoenix and the red bird, and today most people thought of them as the same creature.
Maybe one day I should do a series on the 4 guardian gods and their respective constellations.
Whether or not intentional, it reveals an effort by the Mulan team to base their design on an iconic Chinese motif and artefact, and for this, they get 9/10 from me!
4. Madame Matchmaker’s hair woes
I know, I know, the matchmaker looks like a clown in Mulan, but upon close scrutiny, it was just an unfortunate combination of many artefacts into one. In a way it is not unlike the ancient Chinese mythological beings which were made up by combining several creatures into one. Taste, is a different matter altogether.
Her hairpins really stick out like a sore thumb
There are many ways to skin a cat, and somehow the Chinese show’s way is more aesthetically pleasing to me:
The accessories could be equally inaccurate as in Mulan’s case, but it feels less weird and more balanced (ironically, since it’s not symmetrical).
This design doesn’t get a pass from me due to its poor attention to detail and poor sense of aesthetics. Villains don’t need to look like lunatics.
5. Advisor’s fancy wardrobe
The advisor’s wardrobe has some serious attempt at Tang design like the one on the robe he wore when he was possessed. It was actually a very quintessentially Tang dynasty flower medallion.
The top is a Tang dynasty rug made of wool, currently in the Textile collection of Shosoin in Nara, Japan. The bottom is a piece of Tang dynasty fabric in the Met Museum collection.
The advisor has another top that has a pseudo Tang-inspired motif, the roundel design. Although, I have to say that it is quite poorly painted/designed, looking like a child’s scribble than the more stylised and less convoluted style which it is probably based on:
Bottom 2 designs are small roundels (about 3cm in diameter) found on Tang dynasty textiles. Those roundel designs that are around the size of what the advisor wore were a lot more intricately designed with animals.
Such roundel designs and the flower medallion designs were quite unique to the Tang dynasty textiles. Although it was a continuation from the Northern dynasty hundreds of years prior, it was very popular during the Tang dynasty thus making it very iconic of the period.
There are so many fine examples of such roundel motifs:
And the flower medallion designs from the Tang dynasty (super gorgeous I know):
Because they bothered to dig up some of the really iconic motifs of Tang, and even though it is poorly executed, it was not as awful as the matchmaker’s hair, so this is probably a 5/10.
One of the most iconic aspect of Tang dynasty is, as the designer/filmmaker mentioned, its use of colours. As you can see from the artefacts, they have such complex designs made up of very strong and contrasting colours, yet they look really balanced together.
The film, however, lacked that sense of harmony despite its attempt at having really strong colours. It’s something I can’t quite explain, perhaps it’s the synthetic colourings used, or maybe the designer really didn’t have a good understanding of the ancient Chinese aesthetics, or maybe it was just different taste from mine.
It is also a lost opportunity for the Mulan PR team to talk about the artefacts they were based on, and make it educational and meaningful instead of just a brief mention of the Tang aesthetics being colourful and nice.
Mulan (2020) reveals a West that is still not ready to see Chinese culture beyond Orientalism and tokenism. It’s fun to watch Mulan uncritically, but it is even funner to see how the West sees Chinese cultural representations and uncover things we never knew about Mulan through a serious, detailed, reading of the film’s aesthetics/sartorial choices.
Despite claims of research into the culture and consultations with Chinese academics, the entire visual and vibe is very much early 20th Century Hollywood style (mainly Qing dynasty stereotypes) combined with B-grade Hong Kong TVB drama. Because of the huge mix in sartorial style, Mulan (2020) turned into some timetravelling fashion show for me.
Some B-grade TVB show based on Tang dynasty…
I will split my article into 2 parts–The fun easter eggs part: A brutal one on the major things that went wrong, and the genuine easter eggs part: All the details that showed research attempts by people completely clueless about the culture and history.
As a typical Asian, we usually are better with criticism than praises, so brutal before kind first.
1. Emperor Jet Li Fu Manchu is part Japanese, part Chinese, part Manchurian but fully Oriental
First of all, there’s nothing that screams Japanese than 100000 layers of thick collar. Looks like some emperor decided to have an excessive adoption of the kimono/ Junihitoe multi-collar style. The silhouette of the Chinese emperor and how he sat on the throne also kinda reminded me of the placement of the Japanese dolls in their junihitoe:
Clearly Disney thinks that all East Asians look the same, as do their cultures and clothes.
Perhaps the emperor was inspired by an ancient record of how some ancient person dressed in 10000 layers of fine silk that was so translucent that a visitor from the foreign land could see the mole on his chest despite it being under those layers. Except that this time, he added his own interpretation–the Japanese way. But hey, he’s the emperor, so no questioning!
The emperor, besides having really amazing qi and kungfu skills, apparently could timetravel as well. His shiny golden throne is so similar to the Qing dynasty throne some 1000 years later and the way he sat on the throne resembles how the Manchurian emperors would look on it that I was SURE he travelled to the Qing dynasty, made a mental picture of it all, and got back to tell his craftsmen to do something similar to that effect. He also got inspired by the way they sat down on the throne. Probably took him some getting used to, but hey, it looks good, so whatever.
Bottom left: Golden throne from Qing dynasty with its elaborate deocrations Bottom right: Emperor Qianlong in his ceremonial wear, seated on the throne in a position very much like the one assumed by Jet Li.
You see, the Chinese used to kneel for daily affairs in place of sitting down because of constraints in their dressings, and their furniture were usually low. During the Tang dynasty, higher seats were imported from the West, but the Chinese still didn’t sit like how we do today, with two feet facing downwards. Even the emperor, when he meets foreign ambassadors did not sit the way Jet Li did. Mostly it was cross legged, and their furniture were really low with their “chair” seats being really spacious so you could cross your legs comfortably on it. You would put your feet down if you were sitting on one of their stools (no backings), which was also a Western import.
Painting (partial) supposedly by famous Tang painter Yan Liben, of Tang emperor Taizong seated with crossed legs on a sedan carried by palace maidens.
And I really don’t get the hat. I don’t think I can find anything like that unless you’re talking about the Qing dynasty court hat.
Yes, the Tang emperor had around 12 different sets of dresses for different occasions, but none would have this kind of hat and attire. Although I’ve yet to find any Tang drawing with this kind of downturned moustache that has its middle cut off (most of the moustaches are upturned), at least he has some beard at the bottom of the chin which is really a saving grace. You see, there was a rule instituted by the Manchurian rulers during the Qing dynasty some 300 years ago, that all men should pluck off their moustaches on the bottom of their chin and in the middle of their top lips, leaving two separate rows of moustache above the top lip. So that is a uniquely Qing dynasty Chinese look as examplified by Fu Manchu below.
Who cares if the Emperor is Chinese, Japanese, from 1300 years ago or 300 years ago. They’re Asian and all Asians look the same anyway. I mean Aladdin was supposedly Chinese in Manchu wear (possibly looking like Fu Manchu) in the original story (yes I’m not kidding, you can google that).
So besides being crazy about Japanese culture like many of us today, the emperor must also be crazy about Qing dynasty culture, like many of us today. Thanks to anime and TVB drama and most recently, Yanxi Palace.
2. Mulan came from a village of bold fashionistas
One thing about Chinese culture that most people are not aware of is that the strict sense of hierarchy in ancient Chinese culture extends to even the way you dress. Since ancient dynasties, the kind of fabric and colours that one could wear was dictated by one’s social hierarchy and it is especially so for men (sorry dudes, this is the price you pay for having ‘qi’). Women often had a lot of leeway to dress in many different colours cos we have been the driving force behind fashion since time immemorial!
So why was anyone surprised that Mulan was a rebel? Her fellow villagers had all the nerve to dress above their hierarchy anyway! Every villager probably also had their hairtoss moments like Mulan.
Audaciously colourful villagers
In the Tang dynasty, plebeians like us could only wear yellow or white colour and especially men were not allowed to wear colours such as purple, green and red because they were reserved for various ranks of officials. At one point it was so strict that even your inner wear ought to conform to the rule. Overtime, the court relaxed the rules, partly because they couldn’t possibly enforce it. I mean, just look at Mulan’s village! Audacious fashionistas all! And so, colours like black which was supposed to be just for the soldiers became one of the plebeians’ dressing colours as well.
Look at how the men in the village looked… uncanny. Disney’s trying to do some product placement for Snow White live movie coming soon maybe?
One of the more pragmatic way of looking at it is, it was an extremely laborious and expensive thing to dye clothes using natural dyes. The more vibrant and darker the colour of the fabric, the more number of times you have to put your fabric in the dye and dry and dye and dry. In ancient China, it was also deemed immoral to be vain and excessive in your dressing since the state promotes agricultural practices more than commercial practices（重农轻商）. They did not want people to indulge in profiteering, but instead to just work hard to earn their keep and to know their place. Of course these restrictions only applied to plebeians like us, while aristocrats and the well-connected were often found with excessively decorative and expensive accessories and gowns.
3. Mulan wasn’t the only female who could yield “qi” in her village
I also spotted two fashionistas who time travelled forward in time and back to the Tang dynasty. Likely they were the other hidden timetravellers in the Mulan universe yielding their hidden talent “qi”. Perhaps we could expect a Mulan II featuring these characters and how they managed to yield their “qi” to bend time.
Look! One wore a kimono-inspired jacket/top, and another, a late Qing dynasty inspired top.
And these brave fashionista village women really matched anything and everything with their cropped short sleeve outer coat (banbi). These women basically piled on every single style of Tang dynasty undergarment to show they are wearing undergarments before their mainouter dress. GIVE ME MY TANG CLEAVAGES!!
It’s like wearing a veil on top of a mask…
Ok, fine, I get it. The designer is trying to show that they are country bumpkins trying to look graceful and elegant like the Tang aristocrats. So their garishly paired dresses and overtly conserative necklines make sense in that context.
What Mulan wore was also nothing like anyone in her time-period. Perhaps her mom is me in my past life, obsessed with historical dress-ups and kept/acquired an ancient gown or perhaps her mom inherited it from her ancestors because she brought honour to her family. Oh wait, she couldn’t have cos she didn’t give birth to any male heir unlike in the original Ballad where Mulan at least had a brother! Hmm..
Anway, back to Mulan’s matchmaking dress. It’s called a Quju and was worn a few hundred years before the Tang dynasty which majority of the film’s aesthetics was supposedly based on. I did a quick summary of history of Chinese fashion in the chart below and where her dress fit in.
The one-piece wraparound robe-dress was unique to the 3rd century and before, after which, this style of dressing slowly faded into obscurity with most Han Chinese women adopting a two-piece top-bottom dressing style. So that piece that Mulan wore has gotta be an antique piece, possibly more valuable than any of our branded gowns today.
Also in the ancient dynasties, to have embroideries and decorations on the collars and sleeves, one have to be the ruling elites, thus the Chinese term “ling xiu”领袖 today still refers to the leader of a group. So to have her gown being so decorative at the sleeves and collar from that period, one wonders if Mulan’s mom was a distant descendant of some royalties.
BUT WAIT! Her ancient royal ancestor could time travel like the emperor too! Maybe the imperial ‘qi’ helped them to do so… and Mulan inherited it from her mom despite her muggle Dad. Coincidentally, they also time-travelled to the Qing dynasty!
Look at these details… and the colours.. so bright and saturated and artificial that it could only be produced after mid 1800s when the artificial dyes were invented. Also, the motifs and style in which the machine-embroidered pieces looked very Qing dynasty. Yes, with a budget of 200 million USD, I’d expect more hand made artisan intricate and fine things…
Of course butterflies have exited for a long time and were used as motifs in ancient Chinese for a long time too, but they looked like these in the Tang dynasty:
leftmost: the butterfly motifs from Tang dynasty middle: a container with butterfly surrounding the flora pattern in the middle rightmost: a detailed butterfly motif
And the butterflies became fancier, livelier and and sexier later on.
left: Ming dynasty butterfly motifs right: Qing dynasty butterfly motifsA Qing dynasty robe with butterfly motif embroidered
So yes, the piece that Mulan wore for matchmaking was what the art and fashion world would call a “fusion” piece (probably sells better than antique pieces). Blending the western invention of synthetic dyes in mid 1800s with the Eastern Han dynasty style robe of the 2nd century or so, peppered with some Qing oriental manchu butterfly motif for their dynamism.
5. Mulan’s mom is actually a time-travelling historical dress-up fan albeit a little noob
Besides the heirloom-time-travelling-fusion-matchmaking dress that Mulan’s mom owned, she also did Mulan’s make-up. That’s something I really would want to discuss cos it’s the funnest part! For this part, I especially consulted a researcher specialising in ancient Chinese make-up re-creation–Kasia Gromek so we could understand the raw material a bit better.
BROWS There were many different things that were used for brow powder and this greenish/blue pigment (Chinese didn’t really differentiate blue and green in writing in the past, as did Japanese, yes we’re all the same) would be sold as an exotic brow colouring make-up from “Persia”. As with today, “Made in Persia” definitely sounded better than “Made in China” to the Tang populace who were obsessed with the foreign imports and culture. Such an item would command a super huge premium. Although according to Kasia, the actual item is probably “Made in India” and from a mixture of indigo (blue pigment) and henna.
In another account I read (not sure of it’s authenticity), there was also a mention that it was a greenish/turquoise pigment from copper after it oxidises and produced something like verdigris which is toxic to the body, and the Chinese called it Copper brow pigment. But Kasia said such pigments were used for paintings or glazes, not for make-up. But yes, I would say good on Mulan’s mom for nailing this! And her mom’s probably very rich… cos it’s not cheap at all. Usually it’s what the emperor would give to his concubines and apparently by Ming dynasty, a homegrown Chinese indigo would sometimes be sold as the original by some profiteering merchants (see that’s why the Chinese traditionally has always detested the merchant class). In the Ming dynasty, if you were caught doing it, the penalty is death. But it is a hugely profitable business so… there’ll always be takers.
There could also be mixtures made from lapis lazuli and malachite for the brows as re-created by Kasia below:
Fancy huh! A pity Mulan’s mom didn’t follow @hanfugirl otherwise she could accomplish real authentic looking Tang dynasty make-up with all these resources she owns.
FOREHEAD Forehead yellow powder is a make-up style that was more popular during the northern and southern dynasties, a hundred years or more before the Tang dynasty. It was said to be inspired by the Buddhist golden sculptures and their golden glow, and it is either the dried extract of yellow dye from safflower (super organic) which looks brownish actually, or a mineral like yellow-orange orpiment (the OG mineral make-up). However, because Mulan’s mom probably didn’t practise doing make-up for a while, so she kind of overdid the yellow. I would imagine that it would look more like this image that I did based on the kinda look from a few centuries before the film’s time period, when the yellow forehead style was at its peak in terms of popularity : In the original Ballad of Mulan it was mentioned that she pasted a yellow decoration on her forehead, so it could also be that she used a yellow or golden looking insect wing/paper/decorative thing to paste onto her forehead.
FOUNDATION Again, Mulan’s mom, like the emperor, is an anime and fan of Japan clearly. The base make-up in such thick white paste looks more like the type that Geishas use instead of how we think the ancient Chinese would. The ancient Chinese would use a mixture of lead white with starch which has a light shine to it, kinda like the look when you apply some shimmer base. So the look would probably be more like the image above than the geisha or mulan’s look in the film. Kasia re-created the actual base (no. 1) in her spare time, with a few alternatives that’s safe for application in modern days cos no one wants to die or let their face rot from lead poisoning. Mulan’s face looks more like no. 4 (except even thicker) which is also made from a traditional recipe but much later in the 15th century.
LIPS & ROUGE I think Mulan’s mom would do well to invest in a proper make-up class or even a painting class on blending. Perhaps she hasn’t left her village in a long tie, and lost touch with the latest trends and finesse of the Tang make-up in the capital city.
The rouge powder would’ve been made from safflower, while the lipstick (yea, they actually have tube-like lipsticks like what we have today way back in the Tang dynasty!) would’ve been made from the toxic vermillion. It’s a pity that Mulan’s mom hadn’t left the village in a while, otherwise we would be able to catch a glimpse of the Tang lipstick and realise just how advanced and sophisticated they had been! Nobody paints their lips this full in the past… Mulan’s mom was ahead of her time by 1,300 years.
I have taken the liberty to re-edit Mulan’s look to be more historically accurate. Trying hard to ignore the very out-of-place time-travelling china vases in the background and her dress.
Mulan’s mom really need to get out of her village more. She’s single handedly sabotaging Mulan’s chances at getting a match even if Mulan nailed it herself.
How Mulan’s mom would’ve done her make-up if she has been following @hanfugirl
5. The Matchmaker is the Red Queen in disguise
Up to this point, I’m inclined to think that the Mulan Universe is full of mutants whose “qi” could help them travel across time and space. And the women in particular didn’t bother hiding them, in fact, they have been flaunting them IN YOUR FACE through fashion. Also, they have an obsession with the Qing dynasty and occasionally, the Japanese. Mulan really should’ve studied fashion history better so she could stop them and form some kind of girl power alliance.
I think the matchmaker couldn’t rid herself of her red queen vibe however hard she tries.
The Matchmaker is definitely the Red Queen in a Chinese woman’s skin. Her sartorial style betrays her real identity except for the fact that had she retained her tiny lips, she might look more convincing as a Tang woman.
The Red Queen definitely is a fan of the Qing dynasty, and takes an almost Japanese Oiran approach to the accessorising herself with Qing dynasty hairpins.
Cloud shoulder is in a very Qing style with high collars no less! The hairpin looks like what’s literally known as “ear-digging-spoon” hairpin.
The concept of cloud shoulder has been around in Chinese fashion for thousands of years, before the Tang dynasty, but it was only worn by the Empress as her ceremonial dress. Thus further proving my hypothesis that the Matchmaker is the Red Queen in disguise, because otherwise, How Dare She?!?!
Tang dynasty painting supposedly credited to the famous Tang painter Wu Daozi with the empress at the rightmost of the painting in her ceremonial dress which featured a cloud shoulder.
cloud shoulders worn by Ming and Qing women in Han Chinese dressing style
The cloud shoulder was more commonly used amongst civilians/plebeians in the Ming and Qing dynasty, unlike what the costume designer of Alice in Wonderland II claimed.
The sequel picks up when Alice has returned from a trip to Asia, and she wears a colorful look procured on her journey for most of the film. Atwood said it was “loosely based on the imperial costumes in China,” and it features a decorative purple tunic embroidered with little hats and rabbits, surrounded by a flower border based on traditional embroidery.
-Colleen Atwood
Atwood might be disappointed to know that the cloud shoulders, top-bottom dress combination and stripped skirts are nowhere near what the imperial Manchurians would wear. Rather, it’s the civilian/plebeian Han women’s attire. Not everything about China needs to add an “imperial” to make it sound fancy. Note how similar the butterfly embroidery on Alice is to the one in Mulan.
I find it hilarious that designers (both Chinese *cough* Guopei *cough* and the West) love to refer to the Chinese ‘imperial’ family as their design inspiration while getting their inspirations mainly from the commoners actually. Yes, I get it, it’s marketing fluff talk. The Manchurian imperial family’s dresses are extremely boring actually because of all the rules they had to adhere to, better luck with the free-and-easy commoners!
The hairpins from Qing dynasty were also worn in a much more delicate and subtle manner by women of the past:
Compared to how the Japanese Oiran would wear theirs:
Perhaps the Red Queen’s too obsessed with the Japanese aesthetics and infused it in her Tang-Qing-fusion dressing as well.
Since we’re on the topic of ear-digging hairpins, please indulge me in a quick perusal of the beautifully and intricately crafted pins (the show really don’t do them justice):
JUST IMAGINE…
Overall, I’m actually disappointed in the production value of the costumes and make-up in the show. There’re a lot of lost opportunities to showcase the Tang culture and fashion which featured really brightly coloured dresses (which the show has) that are tastefully matched and not kitschy (which they are in the film).
The Tang dynasty has so many dramatic make-up styles for the crew to choose from, such as eyebrows, forehead decoration and lips as these:
However dramatic the brow or forehead decoration, the lips are always small!
But no, instead, we get Paul Frank lookalikes.
If I have it my way, the characters could look like these (based on my courtesan series):
MULAN AND SISTER IN NORMAL SETTING
Mulan needs to hide their time travelling “qi” better by not sporting such modern hairstyle. She could, with her sister, consider a more Tang dynasty teenager/youth hairstyle such as the above. And to have proper banbi instead of what looks like an apron.
MULAN DURING MATCHMAKING
Mulan could wear this set for her matchmaking session. I’m pretty sure she could reuse this set for her grand audience with the emperor at the end too. Or, Ming Na Wen could consider this instead.
THE CONNIVING WITCH
Why fight force with force. Chinese women are often likened to being like water, and a villain need not be all brute force to seem strong like maleficent. She could be strong in yielding others’ strength and power for her own, like the ways of taichi.
THE BADASS MATCHMAKER WITH SIDEKICK
Since matchmakers need to be in the forefront of fashion, they could wear the super elaborate big hairdo and another with low neckline. Instead of modern looking teacups which would be too small for the Tang appetite, they could be super badass and be playing drinking games over a game of backgammon. They remain super colourful, properly colour-coordinated, and be period accurate.
Taking a step back, if I’m someone completely ignorant of the Chinese culture, I’d love Mulan’s colourful stereotypes because they conform to my expectation of how Chinese should look. Cheap, kitschy, exotic.
Like these shoes which have been done in collaboration with Disney by a supposedly famous UK brand (supposedly because I didn’t know them before, so I guess not famous enough!), it shows that there is a real market out there who expects such visuals presented in Mulan:
Nevermind that Lotus/Waterlily has nothing to do with Mulan… as long as it looks like it’s remotely Chinese-y, we’ll just stick it onto the shoes and call it “Warrior Heart”, whatever that means.
It’s ok that a lotus shoes has the same symbolic meaning as the kinda shoes for the dead. Because Warrior Heart is like Brave Heart, you need to die before you can prove your courage for real.
Lots more to rant, but I decide to be positive and will get started on the parts where it showed attempts at being historically accurate in the next post.
#Hanfugirl 