8 Ancient Chinese Traditions That Show All the Glamor of the Time

Chinese series enchant us with beautiful costumes and subtly elf-like actors that captivate and draw into their magical world. Certainly, some viewers would like to go back to that time, even for a minute, and take a tour of the imperial palace. But some traditions of ancient China convince us that it’s better to watch this life on screen anyway.

we, from awesome.club, We reveal to our readers some customs of the court and the daily life of ancient China that influenced the life of the common people as well as the emperor.

According to ancient Chinese beauty standards, the longer and thinner the fingers, the more beautiful the woman, and visually the nails elongate the fingers. During the Qing dynasty, long fingernails became a symbol of status and nobility, indicating that a person did not need to perform manual work, and they could reach 15 centimeters in length.

To preserve them, they used special accessories called huzhi (护指), which means “finger protection”. Generally, huzhi were made of metals and decorated with precious stones. Currently, Asian manufacturers offer fashionistas nail rings.

In ancient China there was bureaucracy even in the emperor’s harem, and concubines were divided into groups, which made the hierarchy clear. During the Zhou dynasty, the emperor had:

one Empress (huáng hòu)two spouses (fei)three wives (fū rén)nine imperial concubines (pín)27 hereditary consorts (shì fù)81 imperial wives (yù qī)

A total of 121 women, still a very modest number by ancient Chinese standards.

Despite the impressive number of women, there are examples of deep relationships between emperors and concubines. Such as the story of Emperor Xuanzong and his concubine Yang Guifei, which gave rise to an expression used in China to this day to define true love between spouses: “flying like two birds with a single pair of wings” or “being two branches intertwined” of a single tree”.

During the Ming Dynasty, all unmarried young women, regardless of their social status, went through a selection process to replenish the harem. The only exceptions were married women or women with physical disabilities. Rich families most often did not want their daughters to be part of the harem and instead brought the female slaves for selection.

Although eunuchs lost the ability to have children, they remained male in their gender identity and social role. Seeking to lead a normal life, some eunuchs married and adopted children.

Marrying a powerful eunuch had many benefits, so his wives were often the daughters of court officials. In some cases, after being widowed, eunuchs did not remarry, remaining faithful to their previous love.

It is surprising that a person can have two or more names. However, in ancient China, a person was given a name at birth. (personal name)a new name when going to school (child’s name)and a third in adulthood (adult name)🇧🇷 Only family members and the emperor could call him by his personal name. By the way, it was forbidden to pronounce the personal name of the emperor.

We have an example of this in the TV series The Indomitables, in which one of the characters is called Lan Zhan, and his adult name is Lan Wangji. People also call him Second Young Master Lan because he is the second son of the family or because of his title, HanGuang-Jun.

In the movie The King we can see the hairstyle used by men in 14th century Europe. Robert Pattinson’s character is very similar to the Dauphin Louis, who he played, and the makeup artists in the film were certainly inspired by the Dauphin’s portrayal.

Already in ancient China, men wore their hair really long. They believed that hair was inherited from parents as a part of the body, and cutting it off would be disrespectful to ancestors. Therefore, in Chinese historical series, actors such as Wang Yibo wear wigs.

During the Han dynasty, both nobles and commoners tied their hair up in a bun. Later, men and even the emperor began to wear braids, and this type of hairstyle was mandatory, so there is the stereotype of Chinese people with braids. In fact, it all depends on the season.

In ancient China there were many formal greetings, among them a gesture with the palm of the hand covering the fist. In historical series, characters often fold their hands over each other. Although today the Chinese prefer to shake hands in greeting, this gesture is still used. Important: for men, the left hand is on top, and for women, the right hand.

In China, age is counted from the moment of conception, not from the moment of birth. That is, at birth, the baby is almost one year old. Also, age is not calculated on the day of the birthday, but with the start of the new year.

What surprised you about Chinese culture? Tell us in the comments!