Zhang Ruying’s Notes: From《中国妆束：大唐女儿行》Accessories (Late Tang Dynasty, Chang’an Women 长安女子)
Table of Contents
- Introduction
- About《中国妆束：大唐女儿行》
- Late Tang Dynasty: Remnants Dreams of Dunhuang
- Chang’an Women (长安女子)
- Restoration Basis of the Image
Introduction
Hello,
I’m 张儒英 Zhang Ruying, and I have a deep passion for traditional Chinese fashion.
Recently, I had the opportunity to read a book about traditional Chinese attire, especially for the Tang dynasty (618-907), written in Chinese, titled《中国妆束：大唐女儿行》by 左丘萌 and 末春. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book, and to better understand parts of it, I translated sections that I found challenging. I also made notes (written in English) along the way to help deepen my understanding.
Now, I’m thrilled to share these notes with you! I aim to help us all gain a deeper appreciation for the elegance and historical significance of traditional Chinese attire, which is so rich in history and beauty.
All the information in these notes comes from the book 《中国妆束：大唐女儿行》.
About《中国妆束：大唐女儿行》
《中国妆束：大唐女儿行》(Zhōng Guó Zhuāng Shù: Dà Táng Nǚ’ér Xíng) by 左丘萌 (Zuǒ Qiūméng) and 末春 (Mò Chūn) attempts to reinterpret the true fashion of women’s makeup and attire during the Tang dynasty, based on archaeological findings of Tang artifacts.
It contrasts these findings with historical records and unearthed documents to reframe how the Tang people themselves might have viewed fashion in their time.
The book covers from the Sui dynasty to the Five Dynasties, and is divided into four sections: Qi Luo 绮罗 (clothing), Lin Lang 琳琅 (accessories), Fen Dai 粉黛 (makeup), and Ji Huan 髻鬟 (hairstyles).
Each section carefully examines and details the names, styles, and combinations of different makeup and attire from that period.
The book selects well-known historical figures, such as Yang Guifei, Wu Zetian, Shangguan Wan’er, Nie Yinniang, Princess Tongchang, and others, based on existing archaeological findings, makes informed speculations to restore the possible makeup and attire of these figures. The book reconstructs their clothing, accessories, hairstyles, makeup, and scenes, all supported by historical sources.
晚唐：敦煌残梦
Late Tang Dynasty: Remnants Dreams of Dunhuang
Chang’an Women (长安女子 ; cháng’ān nǚ zǐ)
From 2002 to 2004, the Chang’an Archaeological Team from the Shaanxi Provincial Institute of Archaeology conducted excavations on a group of tombs dating to the late Tang dynasty in the southern outskirts of Xi’an City. Among these tombs, two yielded a set of gold and silver plated hair ornaments arranged in a complete and intact order of use.
Based on scientific analysis of the information from the tombs, archaeologists estimated that the tomb owners were most likely young noblewomen from within the city of Chang’an who died at an early age. However, this is where doubts arise—although they possessed luxurious jewelry, the other burial items in the tombs were very simple and seemed makeshift, even hastily arranged.
The families who buried them left no epitaphs, making it difficult for others to learn the true stories of their lives.
However, clues were found in Dunhuang, thousands of li away. In a late Tang dynasty mural in Cave 9 of the Mogao Caves in Dunhuang, there are portraits of noblewomen making incense offerings and worshiping the Buddha. The head ornaments they wear are almost identical to the actual artifacts unearthed from the two tombs in Xi’an.
Through this comparison, the period in which the tomb owners lived can be confirmed.
In the collection of handwritten Tang manuscripts discovered in the Dunhuang Library Cave, there is also a long poem that was frequently copied by people of the Tang era but has long since been forgotten by later generations. The poem records the story of a woman from that time:
中和癸卯春三月，洛阳城外花如雪。
东西南北路人绝，绿杨悄悄香尘灭。
路旁忽见如花人，独向绿杨阴下歇。
凤侧鸾欹鬓脚斜，红攒翠敛眉心折。
借问女郎何处来，含噸欲语声先咽。
回头敛袂谢行人，丧乱漂沦何堪说……………………
The third month of spring in the year Gui Mao during the Zhonghe era,
Outside the city of Luoyang, the blossoms bloomed like snow.
The roads to the east, west, south, and north were empty of passersby,
Green willow trees stood in silence, and the fragrant dust had faded.
Suddenly, a woman as beautiful as a flower appeared by the roadside,
Standing alone, resting beneath the shade of green willows.
Her hairpin askew like a phoenix or luan bird tilted to one side,
Green-painted brows lowered, red lips closed, sorrow marked her brow.
I gently asked, “Where do you come from, young lady?”
She tried to answer, but her voice was choked with sobs.
Turning, she adjusted her sleeves and saluted the traveler,
Then said, “The suffering from war and exile… I cannot bear to speak of it…”
In the spring of the third year of the Zhonghe era (883), the poet encountered a woman named Qin Fu (秦妇 ; qín fù) who had fled from the city of Chang’an to the outskirts of Luoyang and listened to her story————She had once been a noblewoman of Chang’an, living a peaceful and joyful life. However, one day in the first year of Guangming (880), Huang Chao led his troops in a violent assault on Chang’an. Emperor Tang Xizong, like his ancestor Emperor Tang Xuanzong, abandoned the city and fled to Sichuan. The townspeople scattered in all directions; wealthy families left behind their palace dancers and singers, while poor families didn’t even have time to care for their young children.
The female neighbors and friends of Qin Fu met tragic fates—some were killed resisting oppression, some threw themselves into wells to die, others were burned to death, and those who survived were kidnapped or looted.
To survive, she was forced to wear a fake smile and follow the invading army. After losing her family, witnessing the deaths of her relatives, and suffering through exile and displacement, she and her companions could only hope in their hearts that the Tang forces would someday reclaim Chang’an. When the Tang army finally besieged the city, half the people inside had already starved to death. The imperial warehouses once filled with jewelry and silk had turned to ashes, and the once-proud nobles and officials now lay lifeless in the streets, unattended.
She took advantage of the chaos to escape, but along the roads taken by government troops, she saw nothing but destruction—fires, killings, and looting. She had no choice but to keep fleeing southward, toward the still-safe region of Jiangnan————and there, the poem breaks off.
This is《秦妇吟》(qín fù yín), written by the late Tang poet Wei Zhuang (韦庄 ; Wéi Zhuāng). He faithfully recorded the blood and tears of women like Qin Fu during that great catastrophe. The people were deeply moved, and the poem spread widely by word of mouth; many rushed to embroider its lines onto curtains or carve them into room dividers. Wei Zhuang became known by the nickname “The Scholar of the Qin Fu Yin” (秦妇吟秀才 ; qín fù yín xiù cái).
Though the rebellion of Huang Chao eventually ended in failure and the Tang dynasty briefly recovered, in the hearts of the people, memories of the once-glorious and golden Chang’an had become a distant, unreachable dream—leaving behind only ruins and scenes of sorrow.
The women who shared Qin Fu’s fate never found peace either. In the seventh month of the fourth year of Zhonghe (884), a group of women were paraded as captives by the Tang army to be presented before Emperor Tang Xizong.
They all came from old noble families of Chang’an but had once been abducted by Huang Chao and made into his concubines. Tang Xizong asked in a reproachful tone, “You are daughters of high officials and families who served the court. Why did you submit and follow the rebels?”
The woman leading the group replied firmly, “A state with hundreds of thousands of troops could not stop a brutal rebellion, to the point that the capital fell and the court had to flee to Bashu. Now Your Majesty blames a woman for being unable to resist the enemy—then where were the great ministers and generals?”
Tang Xizong was left speechless and did not continue questioning. He ordered that they all be executed.
The people felt compassion and rushed to offer wine to send them off. But the leading woman neither drank nor wept; her face remained calm and solemn before her execution.
The poem《秦妇吟》(qín fù yín) touched the deepest wounds of the court, so afterward Wei Zhuang avoided disaster by never mentioning the poem again. In time, the work faded from history. Only a thousand years later, when the Manuscript Cave in the Dunhuang Caves was opened and a large number of Tang-era manuscripts were discovered, was the full text of《秦妇吟》(qín fù yín) once again revealed to the world.
The two women of Chang’an mentioned at the beginning, with their ornate head ornaments, lived during such a time—and very likely were victims of the great calamity that struck Chang’an—“By morning, bearing treasures that none would care for; By evening, walking alone with a golden hairpin in her hair.”
The grace and sorrow flowing from the phoenix and luan-shaped hairpins upon their heads ultimately left behind the burning battlefields of the Central Plains in those days, carrying a sliver of peace from the twilight of the Tang dynasty. They walked into Dunhuang, worshiping the Buddha in tranquility—and their memory still echoes through eternity, leaving behind traces on the painted walls of the caves.
Restoration Basis of the Image
The head ornaments in the image were reconstructed based on the most complete and well-preserved set discovered from archaeological excavations (tomb number M412). The hair, combed upward into a bun, was first secured with a pair of plain silver hairpins featuring floral motifs. Then, a pair of gold-plated silver hairpins with sparrow and floral knot designs were symmetrically inserted on the left and right sides of the bun.
A small mountain-shaped ornament with a phoenix motif, affixed with a hairpin base at the back, was worn precisely at the top center of the head.
The makeup and overall attire were modeled after the female donors depicted in the wall paintings of Cave 9 at the Mogao Caves in Dunhuang.
Introduction to Jewelry: Hua Chai (花钗, Floral Hairpin)
The term Hua Chai (花钗 huā chāi, floral hairpin) here refers to a different item from the previously mentioned Tang dynasty “flower tree hairpin (花树; huā shù)”. Hua Chai is a type of head ornament that began to appear in the late Tang dynasty.
The oldest Hua Chai set discovered to date comes from a tomb in Huijia Village, Xi’an, dated to the second year of Dazhong (848). That period was one of great turmoil, with regional warlords declaring independence, warfare rampant across the land, and the Tang imperial authority effectively no longer in control.
The popularity of Hua Chai likely emerged from such a context. With the inability to provide lavish official crowns like the gem-studded, multi-tiered “flower tree hairpins”, women of official and noble families turned to Hua Chai—a simpler substitute head ornament that still conveyed similar symbolism and form.
How Hua Chai Was Made
Hua Chai was crafted using a piece of silver, hammered into a long form to create the pin shaft, with a thin, paper-like head. The overall shape of the hairpin head was generally uniform, resembling the outline of a “Y”. However, the engraved patterns within each piece displayed distinctive craftsmanship and artistry—typically depicting a central flower surrounded by petals and interwoven foliage, with one branch sprouting further into intricate motifs such as windblown blossoms or ribbons, paired phoenixes, doves, cranes, or moths fluttering toward flowers. Once completed, these hairpins were gilded with gold, giving them the appearance of gold hairpins.
As Hua Chai grew in popularity, they gradually broke free from the constraints of formal etiquette and became more widely used in daily life. Their forms also evolved into various styles. In a Tang dynasty manuscript found in the Dunhuang Manuscript Cave,《时用杂集要字》(shí yòng zá jí yào zì), there is a specific section titled “Hua Chai Division (花钗部 ; huā chāi bù)” that categorizes Hua Chai into several types, including:
- Long Tou Hua (拢头花 ; lǒng tóu huā)
- Xuan Feng Hua (旋风花 ; xuàn fēng huā)
- Liang Zhi Hua (两支花 ; liǎng zhī huā)
Each of these categories corresponds to existing archaeological finds.
Long Tou Hua refers to Hua Chai used to secure the bun. Xuan Feng Hua and Liang Zhi Hua denote more elaborate designs—hairpins with two or more branches, one of which might be twisted or braided.
The hairpin head, transformed from one into two, is considered “Liang Zhi Hua”, such as the gilt silver hairpin with bird and flower patterns unearthed from the western suburbs of Xi’an.
The flower stems of the two hairpin heads are further twisted and wound together, which is referred to as the “Xuan Feng Hua”, like the gilt silver hairpin with butterfly and floral vine patterns, housed in the Shaanxi History Museum.
So, here we are—
I hope these notes have been insightful and encourage you to dive deeper into the world of traditional Chinese fashion, particularly from the Tang dynasty. If you come across any incorrect word / translation, or you have suggestions for improvement, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me via email.
Thank you so much for your time, and I’ll do my best to keep these updated for the next part.
See you in the next notes #ZhangRuying’sNotes
And thank you 谢谢!
张儒英 Zhang Ruying