By Katie Simon

 

I couldn’t find clothing that is specified particularly for Confucianism, but it seems that traditional Chinese clothing came from Confucian ideas, “Clothing traditions also have roots in Confucian ideals, as Confucius taught the importance of how people present themselves both for the individual and society” (HowStuffWorks).

Hanfu was the traditional Chinese dress during the Han Dynasty, which was the time when Confucianism was up-and-coming and popular. It consists of multiple garment items arranged in specific, sometimes meaningful ways.

Hanfu consists of:

• Yi (衣): Any open cross-collar garment, and worn by both sexes
• Pao (袍): Any closed full-body garment, worn only by men in Hanfu
• Ru (襦): Open cross-collar shirt
• Shan (衫): Open cross-collar shirt or jacket that is worn over the yi
• Qun (裙) or chang (裳): Skirt for women and men
• Ku (褲): Trousers or pants

(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanfu)

Something specifically influenced by Confucius’ teaching was the way people wore and cut their hair. “Confucius’ teaching “身體髮膚，受諸父母，不敢毀傷，孝之始也” – which can be roughly translated as ‘My body, hair and skin are given by my father and mother, I dare not damage any of them, as this is the least I can do to honor my parents'” (Wikipedia). Influenced by this teaching, males and females would stop cutting their hair once they reached adulthood in order to symbolize and show their coming of age ceremony, usually between age 15 to 20. They grew their hair out, including facial hair, until they died, since it was also considered a crime to cut your hair. There was a legal punishment, ‘髡’, to humiliate criminals who did so. This hair tradition was in place throughout the Han Dynasty up until the end of the Mind Dynasty in 1644 CE.

Tattoos were treated the same and were under the same guidelines of the Confucius teaching;regular people wouldn’t have tattoos for the same reasons and would be punished if they got one.

Works Cited

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanfu. “Hanfu.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 21 Nov. 2016.

http://www.howstuffworks.com/about-author.htm. “How Chinese Traditions Work.” HowStuffWorks. N.p., 2011. Web. 21 Nov. 2016