Women of the past (III): an open, confident and prosperous era
Ladies with Head-pinned Flowers
Tang Dynasty
Zhang Yanyuan (张彦远) once pointed out the concept that "painting should educate people and help build ethics" in Famous Paintings of Previous Dynasties, the first work with an artistic significance in Chinese history. As a matter of fact, Chinese women in Tang Dynasty were arguably the most elegant and poised in Chinese history, whose social status had be unprecedentedly upgraded. It is amazing for people in today to understand how open the society was at that time. According to historic records and existing tomb murals, women could wear men's clothes and go outdoors to do sports and attend recreational events like men. Even a second marriage was common in society. In Tang Dynasty, not only there appeared the one and only female emperor in Chinese history, there were many outstanding female figures as well such as Shangguan Waner (上官婉儿), Princess Taiping, Princess Yongtai, Princess Anle and Queen Wei. In one sense, Tang Dynasty did not only reach climax in various aspects such as culture and economy, but also gave women extreme liberty in terms of personality. Women's social values were realized and recognized in an unprecedented way. For the first time rape was recognized as a crime in Tang Dynasty. In this way women's rights were protected while their personality was liberated. They did not have to use black veil to cover their bodies and were free to go outings with friends in groups. It was difficult for people in later times to imagine the happiness women in Tang Dynasty enjoyed. However, one can feel it through the ample shapes of the three-colored glazed female figurines.
The three-colored female standing figurine unearthed in Zhongbao village, Xi'an, Shanxi is 45 cm tall. Her hair is put down with two buns and she is wearing a collarless shirt with a shawl, a long dress and shoes with upward front. The figurine has an ample face and elegant posture. The figurine was delicately crafted and can be regarded as a representative of the elegant and confident Tang women. The Dancing Beauty Screen from the Zhang Lichen tomb in Astana, Xinjiang reflects some features of the look of women in early Tang Dynasty. Women in the painting are tall and genteel, dressed under the influence of the Western Areas style. The costume is low-cut with half-transparent sleeves. Such look indicates that an open trend in Tang Dynasty. The Maids Picture from Pricess Yongtai's tomb in Xi'an demonstrates the scene of maids playing and resting in the garden. Characters in the painting are interacting with each other and their clothes and hairstyles are vividly depicted. The painting is quite a realistic portrait of the royal scene in early Tang Dynasty.
The most famous two female artists specializing in painting of beautiful woman—Zhang Xuan (张萱) and Zhou Fang (周昉)—preserved some of the most exquisite looks of women of Tang Dynasty at its peak.
Zhang Xuan's Madame Guo Going Sightseeing in Spring depicts the scene of Yang Guifei going sightseeing with her sisters on March 3rd. The painting shows the dressing features and popular recreational activities of the upper class aristocracy in the society. A peaceful and leisurely life scene of the prosperous Tang Dynasty is thus presented to later generations. However, Zhang Xuan's Practicing and Working Picture depicts women laboring in different scenes. Obviously aristocratic women were not able to do laborious work, but they would like to take on different roles in society for recreation and let the painters record the experience. Zhou Fang's famous work Ladies with Head-pinned Flowers is another classic work of beautiful women in Tang Dynasty. There are five noble women and one maid in the painting. All of the five madams have an ample body and are luxuriously dressed. They are wearing buns on both sides of the face and flowers in head. Their eyebrows are decorated with a point in between. They are dressed in thinly and softly textured outfits with top sleeves, breast-binding corsets inside and long dresses. And there are transparent silk shawls around their shoulders. They stand in various postures with vivid facial expressions. The painting truthfully depicts how aristocratic women look in daily life in Tang Dynasty. Female images of Tang Dynasty in the facsimiles of Song Dynasty bear extreme resemblance to the image of female providers in the Tang mural Guiding Buddha in the Scripture Cave in Dunhuang. Therefore it is the exquisite techniques of Zhang Xuan and Zhou Fang that help preserve the spectacular scene of women in a prosperous dynasty. Despite the fact that the female images were presented through the perspective of men, it is still reasonable to believe it was an open and confident era. The ample shape of the women is a small reflection of the prosperity of Tang Dynasty.
Guiding Buddha
The decoration and adornment of women in Tang Dynasty were the most complicated and varied. This is reflected in the murals and three-colored figurines unearthed in Zhanghuai prince tomb and Princess Yongtai's tomb and Dunhuang murals. Female figures in these artworks have various styles in the way they do their eyebrows and hair.
Lushena Buddha
Some think that the Lushena Buddha in the Fengxian Temple of Longmen Grottoes in Luoyang was sculpted according to the face of Wuzetian. There had been precedents for emperors becoming the incarnation of the Buddha in reality. This giant Buddha statue may help people have their own imagination of a magnificent Tang Dynasty that cannot be exceeded by any previous and later dynasty.
The great Tang Dynasty later gradually became disintegrated and was ultimately overthrown during Huangchao uprising and local revolts. There has not been a time when the country is as open, confident and strong as in Tang Dynasty with leading achievements in different areas. Neither have Chinese women been as elegant and noble since than. The great Tang Dynasty is indeed a dream that people look forward to.
The Five Dynasties period
Han Zaixi Evening Banquet
The Five Dynasties was a quite chaotic period. In Gu Hongzhong's (顾闳中) Han Xizai Evening Banquet, women's image of this period is shown. Gu Hongzhong was an official at the Painting House of the Southern Tang Dynasty and Han Xizai Evening Banquet was his only work that was passed to later generations. The painting is about the scene of an evening banquet that the official Han Xizai (韩熙载) is holding. In it a role that constantly appeares in different classes of aristocracy, literati and commoners is depicted—prostitute. The prostitute in the painting is different from a prostitute in the modern sense. The term covered a wide range of different kinds of prostitutes at that time, including temple prostitute, bureaucratic prostitute, household prostitute and private prostitute. Most of the prostitutes were good at instruments, writing poetry, painting, and especially socializing. Thus people of different social statuses from royal members and aristocrats to commoners all enjoyed the company of prostitutes. For example, female poet Xue Tao (薛涛) of Tang Dynasty was once an bureaucratic prostitute. Some of the renowned poets once wrote poetry about prostitutes they knew as well, such as Du Mu (杜牧), Bai Juyi (白居易) and Liu Yong (柳永). Prostitutes in ancient society belonged to a special social class. Their talents were only used to entertain men in a patriarchal society. Scenes of women playing traditional instruments on the banquet held by Han Xizai show how prostitutes entertained aristocrats in the past.
After men's power got strengthened in society, women's social function, women took on a new social function—to entertain. Meanwhile, women's virtues required by the society were barely seen in women in the role of entertainer.
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