Therefore, the black hat worn by ancient officials naturally symbolizes their unique identity and status.
In order to strengthen feudal autocracy and monarchical autocracy, rulers of past dynasties always like to divide the ruling class and the ruled class with costumes since the summer opening. By allowing the ruling class to use certain clothes and prohibiting the ruled class from using certain clothes, the obedience mentality of the ruled class is strengthened. For example, in the Western Zhou Dynasty, the court did not allow people to wear crowns, so-called "scholar crowns, Shu Ren towels"; In the Western Han Dynasty, the imperial court did not allow businessmen to wear silk clothes, nor did it allow people to wear colorful clothes (in the late Western Han Dynasty, people were allowed to wear turquoise clothes); In the Tang Dynasty, the court did not allow people to wear yellow and purple clothes.
The same is true of their work. In the Ming dynasty, only bureaucrats could wear official clothes. "Ming History" said: "Hongwu decided in three years that all officials should be on the class, including official positions, league leaders and belts." Since the third year of Hongwu, their rice bowls have been patented by bureaucrats. Ordinary people are not allowed to wear rice bowls, but can only wear four-way nipples (Ming history said: From then on, at the end, if you see someone wearing rice bowls, it is a bureaucrat.
Of course, the reason why it is said to be in the Ming Dynasty, not in ancient times, is because the "black hat" is not an official costume except in the Ming Dynasty, but a hat that can be worn by the emperor and the people.
Their Jobs, the so-called "Jobs Hat", as the name implies, is a hat made of black gauze. It first appeared in the documents of the reign of the Eastern Jin Emperor. At that time, servants working in the Eastern Jin Palace always wore a translucent hat made of black gauze, which was called "Jobs hat". However, this "black hat" is not a black hat, it is not the kind of black hat that we are familiar with in later generations.
We are familiar with their work, which was created by Liu Xiuren, the king of Jian 'an in the Liu and Song Dynasties in the Southern Dynasties. Volume 30 years: "Xiuren, Situ Jian 'an Wang, unified soldiers, made their jobs and pulled out their hats and skirts." When Liu Xiuren, the king of Jian 'an, took the lead in Zhejiang 'an (now Fanchang West, Anhui Province), he was probably bored. One day, on a whim, he pulled up a piece of black gauze and made it. Later, because this kind of hat is cheap, simple to make and very handsome, it soon became popular among the people. At this time, people from dignitaries to Li like to wear this style of hat.
In the Sui Dynasty, their work gradually became the standard of people's daily life. According to "General Code", "Emperor Wendi of Sui Dynasty first tasted his duties, from below to expensive, and entered the court." In the first few years of the emperor's reign, Manchu officials began to like their official clothes because Emperor Wen of Sui loved to wear them. After that, with the upper ruling class, they became popular. Of course, because all the officials and ordinary people in the Emperor of Heaven are wearing official positions, there is no distinction between upper and lower positions, and Emperor Wendi of Sui did not want to prohibit the people from using official positions.
Therefore, in order to avoid losing the prestige of the imperial court, Emperor Wendi of Sui Dynasty made a rule that the number of jade ornaments on black and white hats was used to indicate the size of official positions: nine jade pieces could be used for one product, eight jade pieces for two products, seven jade pieces for three products, six jade pieces for four products, five jade pieces for five products, and the black and white hats of people under six products could not be decorated with jade pieces.
In the Tang Dynasty and the early Tang Dynasty, their work was temporarily restricted by Tang Gaozu, and was only allowed to be used by emperors and crown princes. However, in November of the ninth year of Wude (626), with the imperial edict issued by Li Shimin, Emperor Taizong: "From now on, all emperors will wear official posts, and all officials and scholars will take them with them." Their official posts were no longer restricted, but the people were still allowed to wear official posts. Tang Juyi wrote in his poem Feeling Old Job: "Yesterday, your job was given to me". At the same time, at this time, no matter what kind of person he or she likes, he or she can wear their jobs, even prostitutes. For example, Bai Juyi wrote in the poem "Riding a prostitute in the snow with all the guests" that a "silver scorpion is stable and flowers are suitable for riding a pony", wearing the rice bowl of a geisha.
Of course, in order to distinguish the ranks of officials, Emperor Taizong still divided their work into various styles. Among them, officials with more than five items in important institutions such as Shangshu Province, Zhongshu Province and Menxia Province can "re-wear" when they travel, that is, they can wear a gauze hat on their hats, which can also be divided into banquet hats and gauze cutting hats. The top-grade banquet hats are Shang Shu's servants, civil history and bronze bells. Other lower-ranking officials can wear cutting hats, that is, hats with long tulle hanging on the first half of the brim.
In the Song Dynasty, the style of the black-and-white hats used by civil and military officials changed greatly, and there were strict regulations on their use. First of all, in the Taizu period, in order to prevent courtiers from whispering in the early dynasty, Zhao Kuangyin and Song Taizu reformed his black hat. "History of Song Dynasty" contains: "Give two feet flat and take iron as it". On the basis of the original black hat, he added long warping on both sides. This kind of long warp is a skeleton made of thin iron sheets or bamboo sticks more than a foot long.
Secondly, the original court only stipulated that officials can take up their posts, but did not force officials to take up their posts as long as they were willing, and they could not take up their posts if they were unwilling. However, during the Chunhua period, there was an imperial edict from Song Taizong: "All officials were ordered to obey (cut their hats)." From then on, in the Song Dynasty, he had to wear their jobs whether he wanted to or not. Song Taizu forced officials to wear work clothes to show sympathy for them. At that time, the capital of song dynasty in Tokyo was full of wind and sand all the year round, and people living here sometimes could not show their faces without hiding their faces. Therefore, in order to sympathize with the courtiers and make them work for the court with more peace of mind, Emperor Taizong forced officials to wear official positions, that is, before the Tang Dynasty, the brim worn by officials at lower levels above the fifth grade was cut with long gauze.
In the Yuan Dynasty, because the rulers of the Yuan Dynasty were northern minorities, they did not pay attention to the etiquette of the Han nationality. At this time, the Yuan court did not prohibit the people from using their "jobs", but let nature take its course and wear them as long as they wanted.
In the Ming Dynasty, as the Han people regained power, Zhu Yuanzhang was keen to restore the Han people's "crown" system and strengthen the monarchy, so the "black hat" was naturally designated by Zhu Yuanzhang as the exclusive hat of officials. In the third year of Hongwu, Zhu Yuanzhang decided: "Anyone who always takes care of things should take his post, take his post, lead the regiment and take it as the official uniform." Since then, their work has officially become the standard of officials.
Of course, their work in the Ming Dynasty was completely different from that in the Tang and Song Dynasties. First of all, its style is standardized: "woven with rattan or hemp and coated with black yarn", made of rattan or hemp and coated with pigment. After the paint hardens, fix the hat and wrap it with black gauze. At the same time, its shape is similar to the black gauze hat in the Tang and Song Dynasties, with a semi-circular top in front, a raised hill in the back of the head and horns on both sides.
Regarding the classification of black-and-white hats, Ming History states: "For every official, Wen Qi, Lingluo and colored embroidery are used for the first and second products, and jade is used for the crown and beading; For the third to fifth products, variegated Wen Qi and Lingluo are used, and the hat top is made of gold, and the hat beads are used as needed except jade; Black-and-white silk, silk, silver, agate, crystal and fragrant wood are used for the top of the hat. The top and beading of the black and white hats of first-and second-class officials in Ming Dynasty can be decorated with jade. The hat tops of third-to fifth-class officials are decorated with gold, and the hat beads can be used except jade; Grade 6-9, the hat top can only be decorated with silver, and the hat beads can only be decorated with agate, crystal or fragrant wood.
In addition, it should be noted that the official hat of the Ming Dynasty is not only a black hat, but also an official hat that Ming officials often wear to work. In addition, there are official hats such as Guan Liang and Shantou. Among them, Guan Liang is an official hat worn by civil and military officials in major national sacrificial ceremonies, as well as major festivals such as the first day of the first month, the New Year, the winter solstice, the emperor's birthday, the opening of imperial edicts, and the presentation of watches. Civil and military officials wear steamed buns at important court parties, performances and thanksgiving.