{"id":1760,"date":"2025-10-18T01:11:40","date_gmt":"2025-10-17T17:11:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.zhangruying.com\/en\/?p=1760"},"modified":"2025-10-17T21:21:30","modified_gmt":"2025-10-17T13:21:30","slug":"3-song-dynasty-womens-headdress-styles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.zhangruying.com\/en\/1760","title":{"rendered":"3 Song Dynasty Women\u2019s Headdresses (\u9996\u670d) Styles"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Zhang<\/a><\/p>\n

After exploring the Song dynasty’s women headdresses (\u53d1\u51a0 ; f\u0101 gu\u0101n)<\/a>, let\u2019s take a closer look at other fascinating forms of Song dynasty women\u2019s headdresses (\u9996\u670d ; sh\u01d2u f\u00fa) \u4e00 Weimao, Gaitou, and Toujin.<\/p>\n

1. Weimao (\u5e37\u5e3d ; w\u00e9i m\u00e0o)<\/h4>\n

The Weimao<\/a> of the Song dynasty inherited its style from the Tang dynasty. Along the edge of this woven hat, which had a high crown and wide brim, a thin and transparent veil was attached all around. This hat was worn by women when going out, on one side to cover their faces and also protect them from wind and dust.<\/p>\n

In the painting Qing Ming Shang He Tu (\u6e05\u660e\u4e0a\u6cb3\u56fe ; q\u012bng m\u00edng sh\u00e0ng h\u00e9 t\u00fa), we can see women wearing Weimao while riding donkeys.<\/p>\n

\"Zhang<\/a>
\u5b8b\u300a\u6e05\u660e\u4e0a\u6cb3\u56fe\u300b<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

2. Gaitou (\u76d6\u5934 ; g\u00e0i tou)<\/h4>\n

If Weimao was a veil of journey, Gaitou was the fabric of daily life. It came in two forms, one was made from a long piece of cloth sewn into the shape of a wind hood with a back part hanging down like a skirt, similar to men\u2019s hoods. It was worn on top of the head to cover the temples or placed behind the ears, then tied with a string, exposing the face while the cloth draped over the shoulders and back.<\/p>\n

In Qingbo Zazhi (\u6e05\u6ce2\u6742\u5fd7 ; q\u012bng b\u014d z\u00e1 zh\u00ec) by Zhou Hui (\u5468\u8f89 ; Zh\u014du Hu\u012b), it is recorded: \u201cScholars wear light garments while riding horses, while women walking on the main streets wear square pieces of purple cloth covering half of the body. This is called \u2018Gaitou.\u2019\u201d<\/em> From this record, it can be seen that women often wore Gaitou when going out. Made from square-shaped cloth, it could cover the upper body. In Qing Ming Shang He Tu (\u6e05\u660e\u4e0a\u6cb3\u56fe), there are also women wearing this type of Gaitou.<\/p>\n

Another type was called Mianyi (\u9762\u8863 ; mi\u00e0n y\u012b). Gao Cheng (\u9ad8\u627f ; G\u0101o Ch\u00e9ng) of the Song dynasty wrote in Shiwu Jiyuan (\u4e8b\u7269\u7eaa\u539f ; sh\u00ec w\u00f9 j\u00ec yu\u00e1n): \u201cMianyi was made entirely of purple silk, hanging down in the front and back, decorated with four ribbons of different colors hanging on the back. It was used by women when traveling long distances or riding horses.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Zhang<\/a>
Detail of\u300a\u5e02\u62c5\u5a74\u620f\u56fe\u300bby Li Song \u674e\u5d69, Song dynasty<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Mianyi had a simple shape \u2014 just a rectangular piece of cloth used to cover the face from the front and back, draped over the shoulders and back. The record in Shiwu Jiyuan mentioned that Mianyi had four differently colored ribbons, while on the female figurine unearthed from the tomb of the couple Hong Zicheng (\u6d2a\u5b50\u6210 ; H\u00f3ng Z\u01d0ch\u00e9ng) in Poyang, Jiangxi, the Mianyi worn did not have ribbons, indicating that the decoration could be made with or without additional ribbons.<\/p>\n

The Gaitou in the Song period could be used to block wind, dust, or cold. In addition, red Gaitou or red Gaitou decorated with gold was one of the betrothal gifts in Song folk weddings. During marriage, brides wore red Gaitou to cover their faces as a symbol of modesty.<\/p>\n

In a poem by Mao Hu (\u6bdb\u745a) of the Song dynasty, Wumen Tianjia Shiyong \u00b7 VIII (\u5434\u95e8\u7530\u5bb6\u5341\u548f\u00b7\u5176\u516b ; w\u00fa m\u00e9n ti\u00e1n ji\u0101 sh\u00ed y\u01d2ng \u00b7 q\u00ed b\u0101), there is a verse: \u201cThe farmer\u2019s wife is the most charming, wearing a white horn crown and a black Gaitou.\u201d From this, it can be seen that Gaitou could be worn together with hair crowns.<\/p>\n

3. Toujin (\u5934\u5dfe ; t\u00f3u j\u012bn)<\/h4>\n

Then there was the Toujin; ways of wearing Toujin among Song dynasty women varied. Some wrapped around the hair bun, resembling layers of clouds; this style can be seen in the painted sculptures of the Shengmu Hall, Jinci Temple, Taiyuan, Shanxi, depicting maids with headscarves wrapping their hair buns.<\/p>\n

Another way was to tie the Toujin at the front and back to secure the bun, a method commonly used by working-class women. This can be seen in the Song dynasty stone carvings at Dazu, Chongqing, in the statue \u201cChicken-Raising Woman (\u517b\u9e21\u5973 ; y\u01ceng j\u012b n\u01da),\u201d where the woman\u2019s headscarf is tied in this way.<\/p>\n

\"Zhang<\/a>
Bao Ji Bu (\u5305\u9afb\u5e03 ; b\u0101o j\u00ec b\u00f9), detail from painted sculptures at Shengmu Hall, Jinci Temple, Taiyuan, Shanxi\u00a0\u4e00 \u9646\u857e . \u6211\u5728\u5b8b\u671d\u7a7f\u4ec0\u4e48 . \u6c5f\u82cf\u4eba\u6c11\u51fa\u7248\u793e\uff0c2023\uff1a74<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In addition to the types of headwear mentioned above, palace dancers and maids often wore Futou (\u5e5e\u5934 ; f\u00fa t\u00f3u) and Mo E (\u62b9\u989d ; m\u01d2 \u00e9), while actresses in dramas wore Hunguo (\u8be8\u88f9 ; h\u00f9n gu\u01d2). All these headwear styles also served as special identity markers for them.<\/p>\n

Source: \u300a\u6211\u5728\u5b8b\u671d\u7a7f\u4ec0\u4e48\u300b by \u9646\u857e<\/pre>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
After exploring the Song dynasty’s women headdresses (\u53d1\u51a0 ; f\u0101 gu\u0101n), let\u2019s take a closer look at other fascinating forms...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":38,"featured_media":1761,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[25,49,1146,28,121,682,1079,180,1147,123,1149,124,1148],"class_list":["post-1760","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hanfu-accessories","tag-chinese-headdress","tag-chinese-headwear","tag-gaitou","tag-headdress","tag-headwear","tag-song-dynasty","tag-song-dynasty-headdress","tag-song-dynasty-headwear","tag-toujin","tag-weimao","tag-1149","tag-124","tag-1148"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zhangruying.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1760","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zhangruying.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zhangruying.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zhangruying.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/38"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zhangruying.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1760"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.zhangruying.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1760\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zhangruying.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1761"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zhangruying.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1760"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zhangruying.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1760"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zhangruying.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1760"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}