Headwear Culture of Ancient China
In traditional Han Chinese culture, people believed that since one’s whole body was a gift from one’s parents, it was important to avoid anything that might injure it, a principle that exemplified filial piety. Based on this ideology, males were required to let their hair grow long, and wearing hats became a rule of social etiquette in ancient times.
Since ancient Chinese society was divided into various social classes, people in each class wore different styles of attire, but only the nobility were permitted to wear formal hats for adornment. People of lower classes could only wrap their head with a piece of cloth. Anyone under the age of 20 was also not allowed to wear for- mal hats and could only wear one after the performance of an official capping ceremony to mark their reaching of adulthood. As a result, various types of formal hats in ancient times, in addition to having value as a piece of personal adornment and social etiquette, also revealed the social classes of people and strict social divisions that existed between the nobility and common people.
In ancient times, people attached much importance to the kind of hat they wore. An old saying says, “A man of noble character would rather die than take off his hat.” The saying was based on the story of one of Confucius’s favorite students, Zi Lu, a man who was a brave warrior. Once while fighting in close hand-to- hand combat, his enemy opponent knocked off his hat. When he realized that his hat had been knocked off, Zi Lu placed down his weapon and said to the enemy soldier, “A nobleman can die, but he cannot lose his hat,” in other words, “I can die, but my attire must be kept orderly.” But the moment he stooped down to pick up his hat, the enemy soldier seized the opportunity and killed him. According to Zi Lu, his proper appearance, which included his hat, represented his dignity, and he would rather die than abandon his dignity.
The formal hat culture of the Han Chinese continued up until the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). Later after the Manchurians entered the Central Plains, common people in society began to wear hats. When Western culture was introduced into China during the late Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), wearing hats be- came very popular from the bureaucrats representing the top social class to the poor cart drivers at the bottom. Different materials and styles of hats marked the social class of the people who wore them and so realized its practical value.
Peking Opera Headpieces
The important role which hats demonstrate on the performance stage is a mirror reflection of people’s daily life. The different style and pattern of Peking Opera headpieces, or Kuitou, worn by the characters on stage not only reveal the role of a certain character, but also the historical setting and cultural customs of the era in which they live.
The types of headpieces can be divided into the following four categories according to the division of specific roles in Peking Opera: Guan, Kui, Mao, and Jin.
Guan or crown is a formal headpiece that is worn during formal occasions, and persons without a certain position or rank are not allowed to wear it. For example, the formal headpiece worn by the emperor when he goes to court is called the “emperor’s coronet,” and the young princes and young generals wear purple and golden headpieces. In addition to this, the queen, imperial consort, and other female nobility wear a “phoenix coronet.” In total, there are about seven or eight types of coronets or crowns worn by people of different status in Peking Opera.
Kui refers to the headpieces worn by military officers to distinguish them from the civilians. In operas generals wore what they called “the commander-in-chief ’s headpiece,” which is mainly deco- rated with bobbles and beads. If the commander-in- chief doesn’t wear the formal headpiece, they would partially cover their head with black cloth, leaving their hair uncovered. This represents that they have been defeated in battle, or are captured by the enemy. The headpieces worn by soldiers are called “fighting headpieces,” and have a similar but simpler design than the “commander-in-chief ’s headpiece,” having a brim in the front but no bobbles on the top. Some of the commander- in-chief ’s headpieces had two long pheasant feathers worn at the back of headpiece. This kind of headpiece was usually worn by the hand- some and fierce young generals or highly skilled female generals. The movement of the feathers on the back of the hat throughout the performance demonstrates the mood and demeanor of the character.
Jin is a kind of hat worn in everyday life with casual clothes, and it is usually made from soft materials. The design expresses a more casual state of living and so Jin is worn by the more free and unrestrained scholar or young men of higher classes in Peking Opera plays.
As for Mao or hat, they have many designs, many of which are quite complex, to represent a different role in Peking Opera. For example, government officials wear a certain kind of black gauze hat, poor people wear felt hat, foot soldiers wear uniform hats, and so on. Even slight variances on the same kind of hat can represent a character of drastically different social status or moral character. For example, the same style of headpiece worn by civil official, when worn by an upright official, has two ribbon strips sticking out of each side of the hat that are square shaped, whereas those of a corrupt official are pointed.
The reason why the props used in Peking Opera are rather simple is to give the actors more space to exhibit their talent in acting, singing, and fighting. The audience, on the other hand, through observing the attire and headpieces worn by the actors, can recognize the scenario and characters of different people.
Passing on the Craft
In 1967, Yang Donghai was born into a family that made Peking Opera headpieces. His grandfather, Zhang Liancheng, was a master in the headwear industry during the period of the Republic of China (1912-1949). He made headpieces for many famous Peking Opera artists, including Mei Lanfang, Jin Shaoshan, and Ma Lianliang. Yang’s parents later followed in his grandfather’s footsteps making Peking Opera headpieces. As a child, Yang not only helped his father make the headpieces, but also developed a strong interest in making them himself.
Yang told China Today that the Peking Opera headpieces are categorized according to the techniques and materials by which they are made, and can be divided into soft headdresses and hard headdresses. Soft headdresses generally include the cloth type, are usually made with silk, embroidery, and felt raw materials, and can be folded. Hard headdresses like the Guan, Kui, and Mao, on the other hand, are usually made from harder materials. The frame is usually made with cardboard supported by an iron mesh and lead wire, and is then painted. In the end, they are decorated with lacquer, filigree, bird feathers, and other specially prepared decorations. The refined and detailed techniques of making these headpieces are usually exhibited in the making of the hard type of headdress.
Because there are many types of hard headdresses, the specific production techniques are all different. The main process however includes the following series of steps: drawing a pattern of the headpiece on a special kind of paper; cutting patterns and designs with special knives; sticking gauze screens on the al- ready carved hard material that is laid out flat; then inlaying lead wires along the outline of the pattern and bonding them together. After adding yarn to the outside and adding the filigree, each part of the pat- tern becomes three-dimensional, and then they are spliced together to form the type of hard headdress. Color can be added to the outside, sticking golden parts to make all sorts of adornments according to the needed pattern. The completion of one headdress requires about a dozen separate procedures.
“A complex Peking Opera headpiece usually takes about several weeks to complete,” Yang told China Today. “Take for example the beads on the phoenix crown,” he said, “each bead needs a small spring underneath it to hold it up so that the bead will slightly shake while the actor is performing. There are about 100 beads on the phoenix crown, and the springs under each of them are all twisted by hand.” The colorful phoenix crown made by Yang radiates with the glow of fine craftsmanship.
In addition to inheriting the ancient skill of making Peking Opera headpieces, Yang has active- ly taken part in promoting this intangible cultural heritage in schools for many years. Each week he travels to various schools to teach children how to make Peking Opera headpieces. However, the complicated process of making the headpieces has posed a challenge for him in teaching primary school students in the classroom. As a result, in order to help more children learn about Peking Opera and increase their interest in making Peking Opera headpieces, Yang has tried ways to adapt the process to a classroom environment by simplifying it and reducing the difficulty of production.
At first, Yang tried to make headpieces out of soft clay, but because the craft uses many small orna- ments as decorations, it did not reduce the effort and thus was soon discarded. Later, after more exploration, he began to use an advanced printing technology to print color patterns on a type of cardboard paper. In this way, he reduced a series of procedures such as drawing the pattern, adding yarn and cut- ting cloth, creating the paper material of many layers, pressing, coloring, and sticking on the golden decorations. Students can now cut and paste directly and then add ornaments to make a miniature headpiece. This simplified process of making Peking Opera head- pieces has enabled more children to enjoy learning about Peking Opera through making their own miniature version of headwear.
Yang Donghai’s son, under the influence of his family, decided to start learning the family art about five years ago, and already has made some innovative contributions to the art himself. In 2018, he opened his own WeChat public account for spreading the knowledge of folk art. Today the grandfather, father, and son all teach Peking Opera art classes in schools. According to Yang Donghai, the art of Peking Opera has become the quintessence of Chinese culture. He hopes more young people will develop a fondness for this art. As for his aspirations for the future of Peking Opera headpieces, he hopes one day he can publish a textbook which can enable more people to learn about this craft.
