Hi hi! I have a question!
What would people have worn during winter in the tang dynasty?
After all we know that in the north it Is quite cold and they didn't have the same ways to heat themselves up as we do.
I am honestly really curious.
As Always you don't have to answer this but i Will be happy if you do. Have a nice day!
Hi :D
I had a response all typed out and then Tumblr ate it T___T Going to try to remember everything I wrote.
First, let's look at the map and population distribution of the Tang Dynasty:
Top map shows the geographic borders of the dynasty. The pink part is Tang, the others bordering it were what's called "Tribute states". So, unlike how we think of nation states today (countries), back then, these smaller kingdoms would pay tribute to the Tang Dynasty emperor (money, jewels, food, etc.) and in exchange the Tang Dynasty would offer protection for them against invasions. But these kingdoms had their own governing system, own laws, own ability to govern.
The second map is population distribution. Each dot is 10k people. So we can see they're centred around Hebei province up north, Zhejiang in the east (along the coast), and Sichuan in the west (Xi'an is there, the capital city at the time). Now, party of this population is going to be ethnic minorities, not Han, especially up around the northern areas.
So, let's look at Hebei as it's the most north and would have the coldest winters. According to Baidu and Google (yes, I checked both, lol), today's Hebei sees temperatures between 0C to -13C (34F to 8.6F), with it dropping as low as -22C (-7.6F) up north and in the mountains.
According to scientists (check papers here and here), the Tang Dynasty experienced a period of warmer climate, especially at the beginning. Near the end of the dynasty temperatures dropped (there's actually theories on climate changes throughout history having an effect on the rise and fall of dynasties). So according to these speculations, temperatures were about 3C to 5C (37.4F to 41F) warmer than today.
As a Canadian, winter temperatures around -10C (14F) isn't THAT bad if you're used to it xDD
But obviously you'd still need to bundle up, so let's look at Hanfu.
Hanfu can be deceptively warm because...LAYERS :D You can wear Hanfu in -20C (-4F) temperatures and walk around outside for an hour (guess who's tried it xD).
So, let me show you what I would wear in the winter. This is a Ming Dynasty outfit, at the time I hadn't ordered any winter Tang Dynasty Hanfu:
Warmth-protecting undergarments: fleeced with added thickness
Fleeced 中衣/Zhongyi: which is the inner garment usually warn with all Hanfu (think of it like our bras and panties today, you put it on with all clothing). This can be a two piece (top shirt, bottom pants) or one long robe. For -20C I would wear the two piece. Note that there's ALWAYS an inner robe or pants under a Hanfu skirt, nowadays we don't always wear it for convenience, but historically you can't go bare-legged.
Ma mian skirt, long robe (white), outer robe (purple)
This large, thick red robe. It was HEAVY, but very gorgeous.
This thick, fleeced, extra thick purple robe. Again, HEAVY, but incredibly warm.
Add a hand warmer (it's really an incense burner, but they sell small pieces of charcoal you can put inside, it'll burn for a good 4 hrs or so. Because the burner is usually made form bronze historically, it heats up really hot, so we put this baggie around it. I have 2, they're actually really useful even today xD).
If that's still not enough through on a fur-lined fleeced cape (no faux-fur back then, but you can get faux-fur ones today).
So, essentially, before layer 3 you can throw on whatever you want. I know some people will toss on a sweater and jeans because...who's going to know, lolllll.
Looking at some Tang Dynasty styles:
Not all historically accurate, but to give you an idea of how then can add layers or thicken the clothing they have. The only really garment you can add a lot of heavy fleece to is the dress, because it would be too heavy and start dragging downwards. You can add a thin layer of fur, but not too much. But under than skirt they can certainly through on thicker 中衣/Zhongyi pants historically.
And remember, people adjust their daily life to climate. Today, we work 9-5, we have heated cars, heated shopping centres and grocery stores, so essentially our daily lives don't change that much between the four seasons. But historically they would adjust. Farmers wouldn't have fields to tend to, so they can stay home and eat stored food (when my mom was younger she said they used to dry all sorts of vegetables during the summer and fall, then store it away for winter use). People's travel distance weren't as great back then, so they can buy whatever they need within smaller distances around their house. Wealthy women stayed home anyway for most of the year, and men can hide similar layers under their round-collared robes.
Inside the homes, they would burn these charcoal burners:
In the rural countries in southern China today, they still use these. My Guqin teacher's place doesn't have central heating, so he'll bring out his charcoal burner in the winter and it'll keep a room fairly warm (I mean, don't wear a t-shirt but it's warm enough with a sweater on). They can also put this wire netting on top (pic 3) and boil drinks or roast some oranges (which is SURPRISINGLY good...I did not know oranges can be roasted before coming here).
In northern China they had (have, some people still use this in rural houses) this thing called a 炕/kang, it was a bed that doubled as a sitting space, and they would start a fire under it which would keep it warm. My mom's old house in Shandong (next to Hebei province) had this, she used it when she was a kid :D
There's evidence this existed back during the Tang Dynasty as well (diagrams found in tombs):
I know, talk about fire hazard right? xD But people adapted to their environment in a lot of creative ways before modern technology :D
I hope that helps a bit with your question! My current Guqin workshop doesn't have the central heating I'm used to having grown up in Canada, so I'm finding creative ways to keep warm in the winter too xD
