Hairpins are an important symbol in Chinese culture,[1] and are associated with many Chinese cultural traditions and customs.[6] They were also used as every day hair ornaments in ancient China;[3] all Chinese women would wear a hairpin, regardless of their social rank.[7] The materials, elaborateness of the hairpin's ornaments, and the design used to make the hairpins were markers of the wearer's social status.[1][6] Hairpins could be made out of various materials, such as jade, gold, silver, ivory, bronze, bamboo, carved wood, tortoiseshell and bone, as well as others.[3][8][1][9]
Prior to the establishment of the Qing dynasty, both men and women coiled their hair into a bun using a ji.[3] There were many varieties of hairpin, many having their own names to denote specific styles, such as zan, ji, chai, buyao and tiaoxin.[10][3][11]
Cultural
Burials
During the Chinese funeral period, women in mourning were not allowed to wear hairpins.[1]
Ji played an important role in the coming-of age of Han Chinese women.[1][4] Before the age of 15 years old, women did not use hairpins, and always kept their hair in braids.[1] When a woman turned 15, she stopped wearing braids, and a hairpin ceremony called "Ji Li" (笄礼), or "hairpin initiation", would be held to mark the rite of passage.[3][1][6][4] During the ceremony, their hair would be coiled into a bun with a ji hairpin.[1][4] After the ceremony, the woman would be eligible for marriage.[3][6][4]
Hairpins as a love token
Betrothal and wedding customs
When engaged to be married, Chinese women would take the hairpin from their hair and give it to their male fiancé.[1] After the wedding, the husband would then return the hairpin to his newly-wed wife by placing it back in her hair.[1]
Separation and reunion love token
The chai hairpin[12] also used to be a form of love token; when lovers were forced to break apart, they would often break a hairpin in half, and each would keep half of the hairpin until they were reunited.[3]
Similarly, when married couples were separated for a long period of time, they would break a hairpin in two and each keep one part.[1] If they were to meet again in the future, they would then put the hairpin together again, as a proof of their identity and as a symbol of their reunion.[1]
Initially, Chinese people liked hairpins which were made out of bone and jade.[13] Hairpins which were made out of carved jade appeared in China as early as the Neolithic Period (c. 3000–1500 BC), along with jade carving technology.[7] Some ancient Chinese hairpins dating from the Shang dynasty can still be found in some museums.[14]
By the Bronze Age, hairpins which were made out of gold had been introduced into China by people living on the country's Northern borders.[13] Some ancient Chinese hairpins dating back to 300 BC were made from bone, horn, wood, and metal.[8]
The art of engraving wood first appeared in the Tang dynasty, and this new form of art was then applied to large wooden Chinese hairpins.[15] Many of these wooden hairpins were then coated with silver.[15]
In the Ming dynasty, the hairpins became more elaborate, and the carvings were made on silver, ivory, and jade, with pearl being used often as a setting.[15]
Decorations
Hairpins could also be decorated with gemstones, as well as designs of flowers, dragons, and phoenixes.[8]
Types
There are various types of Chinese hairpins:
Zan
The Zan is a type of hairpin with a single pin.[10][9] The Zan could also come in different styles such as:[10]
Ji-style: A style of zan hairpin which likely refers to the hairpin used to secure the hair in a bun.[10]
Ruyi-style: A style of zan hairpin in the shape of a ruyi scepter.[10]
Phoenix (Fenghuang) hairpin originated in Qin dynasty and had an upper part made of gold and silver while the feet was made of tortoise shell; it later evolved into the fengguan during the Song dynasty. The fengguan then continued to evolve further in the Ming and Qing dynasties, and in the modern republic.[16] In the Han dynasty, an imperial edict decreed that the hairpin with fenghuang decorations had to become the formal headpiece for the empress dowager and the imperial grandmother.[16] The Fenghuang is an auspicious bird in Chinese tradition and is believed to represent the empress or the bride in a wedding.[17] Phoenix hairpins were also made and used by Peranakan women after settling in the Straits as part of their wedding headdresses.[17]
Phoenix (Fenghuang) hairpin
A pair of fire-gilded silver phoenix hairpins of the Southern Song dynasty.
Ming-Qing Gold Earrings & phoenix Hairpin
Golden phoenix hairpins from the tomb of Prince Chuang of Liang, Ming dynasty, 15th century
Chai
The chai is a type of hairpin with double or multiple pins.[10][9] The double-pin chai evolved from the zan; it was frequently found in Chinese poetry and literature as it played an important symbol and as a love token.[12]
The buyao was an elaborate and exquisite form of hairpin which denoted noble status.[3] It was generally made of gold and was often decorated with jewels (such as pearls and jade) and carved designs (such as in the shape of dragons or phoenix).[3][13] It looked similar to a zan,[12] but one of its main characteristics is its dangling features, which gave it its name 'buyao' (lit. "shake as you go" or "that sway with each step" or "step shake").[3][9][18][12] The buyao became popular in the Western Han dynasty.[13]
The Flower-hairpin headdresses is a generic term which was used to refer to the jewelry and headdresses worn by the Song dynasty Empresses and imperial concubines.[20] The Flower-hairpin headdresses were decorated with flower hairpins.[20] Different numbers of flowers were used depending on the imperial consorts' ranks and specific imperial rules were issued on their usage.[20]
Jin chan yu yue
Jin Chan yu yue (Chinese: 金蟬玉葉); pinyin: Jīn chán yù yè) Known as the "gold cicada on a jade leaf" hairpin, or "jin zhi yu ye""Jin zhi yu yue" (Chinese: 金枝玉葉); pinyin: Jīnzhīyùyè) (lit. golden branches and jade leaves) a homonym for the Chinese idiom "one of noble birth",[21] a type of Ming dynasty hairpin in the shape of a cicada made of gold sitting on a piece of jade carved in the shape of a leaf.[9][21]
Tiaoxin
The Tiaoxin (Chinese: 挑心); pinyin: Tiāo xīn) is a Chinese hairpin worn by women in the Ming dynasty in their hair bun; the upper part of the hairpin was usually in the shape of a Buddhist statue, an immortal, a Sanskrit word, or a phoenix.[11] The Chinese character shou (寿, "longevity") could also be used to decorate the hairpin.[11][22]
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