{"id":1918,"date":"2026-03-07T09:00:20","date_gmt":"2026-03-07T01:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.zhangruying.com\/en\/?p=1918"},"modified":"2026-03-07T09:10:45","modified_gmt":"2026-03-07T01:10:45","slug":"song-dynasty-food-delivery-and-service-workers-clothing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.zhangruying.com\/en\/1918","title":{"rendered":"Song Dynasty Food Delivery and Service Workers\u2019 Clothing"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.zhangruying.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/zhangruying-Song-Dynasty-Food-Delivery-and-Service-Workers-Clothing-1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1919\" src=\"https:\/\/www.zhangruying.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/zhangruying-Song-Dynasty-Food-Delivery-and-Service-Workers-Clothing-1.jpg\" alt=\"Zhang Ruying - Song Dynasty Food Delivery and Service Workers\u2019 Clothing - 1\" width=\"1536\" height=\"2048\" title=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.zhangruying.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/zhangruying-Song-Dynasty-Food-Delivery-and-Service-Workers-Clothing-1.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.zhangruying.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/zhangruying-Song-Dynasty-Food-Delivery-and-Service-Workers-Clothing-1-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/www.zhangruying.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/zhangruying-Song-Dynasty-Food-Delivery-and-Service-Workers-Clothing-1-768x1024.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.zhangruying.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/zhangruying-Song-Dynasty-Food-Delivery-and-Service-Workers-Clothing-1-1152x1536.jpg 1152w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1536px) 100vw, 1536px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<h4>Song Dynasty Food Delivery Workers\u2019 Clothing<\/h4>\n<figure id=\"attachment_1920\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1920\" style=\"width: 2560px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.zhangruying.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/zhangruying-Song-Dynasty-Food-Delivery-and-Service-Workers-Clothing-2-scaled.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1920\" src=\"https:\/\/www.zhangruying.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/zhangruying-Song-Dynasty-Food-Delivery-and-Service-Workers-Clothing-2-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"Zhang Ruying - Song Dynasty Food Delivery and Service Workers\u2019 Clothing - 2\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1040\" title=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.zhangruying.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/zhangruying-Song-Dynasty-Food-Delivery-and-Service-Workers-Clothing-2-scaled.jpg 2560w, https:\/\/www.zhangruying.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/zhangruying-Song-Dynasty-Food-Delivery-and-Service-Workers-Clothing-2-300x122.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.zhangruying.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/zhangruying-Song-Dynasty-Food-Delivery-and-Service-Workers-Clothing-2-1024x416.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.zhangruying.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/zhangruying-Song-Dynasty-Food-Delivery-and-Service-Workers-Clothing-2-768x312.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.zhangruying.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/zhangruying-Song-Dynasty-Food-Delivery-and-Service-Workers-Clothing-2-1536x624.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.zhangruying.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/zhangruying-Song-Dynasty-Food-Delivery-and-Service-Workers-Clothing-2-2048x832.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-1920\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Food delivery worker figure, Song dynasty, painted by Zhang Zeduan in\u300a\u6e05\u660e\u4e0a\u6cb3\u56fe\u300b, detail \u4e00 \u9646\u857e . \u6211\u5728\u5b8b\u671d\u7a7f\u4ec0\u4e48 . \u6c5f\u82cf\u4eba\u6c11\u51fa\u7248\u793e\uff0c2023\uff1a198<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The \u201cfood delivery worker\u201d in\u300a\u6e05\u660e\u4e0a\u6cb3\u56fe\u300b(q\u012bng m\u00edng sh\u00e0ng h\u00e9 t\u00fa) during the Song dynasty was often called \u201cXian Han \u95f2\u6c49 (xi\u00e1n h\u00e0n)\u201d, who specifically helped others run errands and fetch items. He tied his hair into a bun on top of his head, wore a white Beidang, tied a pocket-style apron around his waist, and wore white trousers and white shoes.<\/p>\n<p>The Beidang in the Song period was originally an undergarment, but physical laborers, for the sake of convenience, coolness, and comfort while working, generally wore it directly as outerwear; young children often did the same. Carrying food on the head, holding a portable \u201cdining table\u201d in the hand, and wearing an apron around the waist were typical characteristics of food delivery workers in the Song period, which can also be verified from other food delivery figures in\u300a\u6e05\u660e\u4e0a\u6cb3\u56fe\u300b.<\/p>\n<h4>Characteristics of Food Service Workers\u2019 Clothing in the Song Dynasty<\/h4>\n<figure id=\"attachment_1921\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1921\" style=\"width: 2560px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.zhangruying.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/zhangruying-Song-Dynasty-Food-Delivery-and-Service-Workers-Clothing-3-scaled.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1921\" src=\"https:\/\/www.zhangruying.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/zhangruying-Song-Dynasty-Food-Delivery-and-Service-Workers-Clothing-3-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"Zhang Ruying - Song Dynasty Food Delivery and Service Workers\u2019 Clothing - 3\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1103\" title=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.zhangruying.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/zhangruying-Song-Dynasty-Food-Delivery-and-Service-Workers-Clothing-3-scaled.jpg 2560w, https:\/\/www.zhangruying.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/zhangruying-Song-Dynasty-Food-Delivery-and-Service-Workers-Clothing-3-300x129.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.zhangruying.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/zhangruying-Song-Dynasty-Food-Delivery-and-Service-Workers-Clothing-3-1024x441.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.zhangruying.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/zhangruying-Song-Dynasty-Food-Delivery-and-Service-Workers-Clothing-3-768x331.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.zhangruying.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/zhangruying-Song-Dynasty-Food-Delivery-and-Service-Workers-Clothing-3-1536x662.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.zhangruying.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/zhangruying-Song-Dynasty-Food-Delivery-and-Service-Workers-Clothing-3-2048x883.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-1921\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Food service personnel figure, Song dynasty, painted by Zhang Zeduan in\u300a\u6e05\u660e\u4e0a\u6cb3\u56fe\u300b, detail \u4e00 \u9646\u857e . \u6211\u5728\u5b8b\u671d\u7a7f\u4ec0\u4e48 . \u6c5f\u82cf\u4eba\u6c11\u51fa\u7248\u793e\uff0c2023\uff1a198<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>From the attire of other food service workers in\u300a\u6e05\u660e\u4e0a\u6cb3\u56fe\u300b, there are several common characteristics as follows:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>First, the head is wrapped with a cloth, mostly black, some white;<\/li>\n<li>Second, wearing short garments and a Beidang, both the upper and lower garments are relatively short, the length of the top is above the knees, the trousers reveal the ankles, and it is also common to see a white Beidang worn with a belt at the waist;<\/li>\n<li>Third, wearing an apron at the waist is a marker accessory for those working in the culinary field;<\/li>\n<li>Fourth, most wear flat cloth shoes or straw sandals.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4>Other Various Professions Figures in\u300a\u6e05\u660e\u4e0a\u6cb3\u56fe\u300b<\/h4>\n<p>The famous painting handed down by the Song painter Zhang Zeduan (\u5f20\u62e9\u7aef ; Zh\u0101ng Z\u00e9du\u0101n), namely\u300a\u6e05\u660e\u4e0a\u6cb3\u56fe\u300b(q\u012bng m\u00edng sh\u00e0ng h\u00e9 t\u00fa), depicts various aspects of social life during the Song period.<\/p>\n<p>The form and attire of each figure have their own characteristics: scholars, farmers, workers, merchants, monks, Taoist priests, coachmen, boat workers, clerks, pole handlers, rope pullers, and many others, each wearing clothing according to their profession.<\/p>\n<p>Unrolling this painting from a thousand years ago, the vivid professional figures, one by one, clearly give the viewer a feeling of being directly present in that atmosphere.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_1922\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1922\" style=\"width: 2560px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.zhangruying.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/zhangruying-Song-Dynasty-Food-Delivery-and-Service-Workers-Clothing-4-scaled.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1922\" src=\"https:\/\/www.zhangruying.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/zhangruying-Song-Dynasty-Food-Delivery-and-Service-Workers-Clothing-4-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"Zhang Ruying - Song Dynasty Food Delivery and Service Workers\u2019 Clothing - 4\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1341\" title=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.zhangruying.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/zhangruying-Song-Dynasty-Food-Delivery-and-Service-Workers-Clothing-4-scaled.jpg 2560w, https:\/\/www.zhangruying.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/zhangruying-Song-Dynasty-Food-Delivery-and-Service-Workers-Clothing-4-300x157.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.zhangruying.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/zhangruying-Song-Dynasty-Food-Delivery-and-Service-Workers-Clothing-4-1024x536.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.zhangruying.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/zhangruying-Song-Dynasty-Food-Delivery-and-Service-Workers-Clothing-4-768x402.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.zhangruying.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/zhangruying-Song-Dynasty-Food-Delivery-and-Service-Workers-Clothing-4-1536x804.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.zhangruying.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/zhangruying-Song-Dynasty-Food-Delivery-and-Service-Workers-Clothing-4-2048x1072.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-1922\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Porter, sedan chair carrier, cart repair craftsman, fortune teller, physician, clerk ; All come from details of\u300a\u6e05\u660e\u4e0a\u6cb3\u56fe\u300b, painted by Zhang Zeduan during the Song dynasty \u4e00 \u9646\u857e . \u6211\u5728\u5b8b\u671d\u7a7f\u4ec0\u4e48 . \u6c5f\u82cf\u4eba\u6c11\u51fa\u7248\u793e\uff0c2023\uff1a199<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<pre>Source: \u300a\u6211\u5728\u5b8b\u671d\u7a7f\u4ec0\u4e48\u300b by \u9646\u857e<\/pre>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Song Dynasty Food Delivery Workers\u2019 Clothing The \u201cfood delivery worker\u201d in\u300a\u6e05\u660e\u4e0a\u6cb3\u56fe\u300b(q\u012bng m\u00edng sh\u00e0ng h\u00e9 t\u00fa) during the Song dynasty was&#46;&#46;&#46;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":38,"featured_media":1919,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[40,1243,43,44,45,1244,682,99,1059],"class_list":["post-1918","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hanfu-guide","tag-chinese-clothing","tag-food-delivery","tag-hanfu","tag-hanzhuang","tag-huafu","tag-service-worker","tag-song-dynasty","tag-song-dynasty-hanfu","tag-traditional-chinese-clothing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zhangruying.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1918","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=1918"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.zhangruying.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1918\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zhangruying.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1919"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zhangruying.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1918"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zhangruying.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1918"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zhangruying.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1918"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}