Research on Women's Underwear and Aesthetic in Song Dynasty of China

Abstract

The underwear system had existed long before the Qin and Han dynasties, but the form of underwear in this period was not complete and did not form a formal system. It began to be systematized until the Qin and Han dynasties. In the Han Dynasty, underwear was roughly divided into Hanyi and Liangdang (names of ancient Chinese underwear), etc.; Sui and Tang dynasties were the period of national integration, which absorbed Hu people's apparel characteristics and culture. The fashionable underwear style was mainly focused on light, thin, and transparent and so on.  In the Song Dynasty, although influenced by Neo-Confucianism, its aesthetic concept of apparel and the form of underwear were not eclipsed, but showed its unique charm. This paper mainly introduces the type, shape and pattern decoration of the Song Dynasty underwear, compares it with the outerwear, analyzing the aesthetic of the apparel separated from the inside and outside and the reasons for its formation, and probing into the inner monologue of women in the Song Dynasty society with the ideological imprisonment.