A bit out west wouldn't be entirely wrong for the terracotta army. After all, her contemporaries regarded the Qin as a semi-barbarous state from the Western peripheries. Maybe not _that_ far out west, but I still wouldn't expect Qin dress to be the "standard" form of dress in the more central areas of Warring States China before Qin's final victory.
________________________________ Message: 1 Date: Mon, 3 Dec 2012 19:52:09 -0800 From: Heather Rose Jones <heather.jo...@earthlink.net> To: Historical Costume <h-cost...@indra.com> Subject: Re: [h-cost] Chinese peasant costumes... help? Message-ID: <efb6e818-628c-4196-9220-d467b84be...@earthlink.net> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii > At 08:18 PM 12/1/2012, you wrote: >> ...or Tales of a Band Mom. >> >> This year's winter percussion piece is "Terra Cotta Warriors" and first order of business... peasant costumes for kids in the pit (stationary instruments like xylophones, chimes, etc.) >> >> What the heck did Chinese peasants wear in 3rd century BC? Our band director is proposing simple wrap-style tunics (like short kimonos) and scrub pants torn below the knee -- both dyed in earthy colors. Semi-accurate? Horrible? Are conical hats appropriate? --although I can see them getting knocked off. I'm clueless, and can find neither image nor description. >> >> Part II will be terracotta soldier costumes to be worn by very active teenagers with drums, but I need to deal with the peasants first. >> >> Help? > I missed this question before due to zipping through a lot of e-mail. For whatever use it might be, the exhibition "Secrets of the Silk Road" included a handful of garments from the period you're interested in from a territory that is now part of China (though not in "central China"). It might give you some inspiration. I don't know how easy it would be to get your hands on the exhibition catalog, but I took a lot of notes and sketches of the clothing that was part of the exhibit and have them posted on my website here: http://www.heatherrosejones.com/silkroad/index.html (My index to the notes is arranged chronologically, which should help you focus in on the relevant items.) To re-emphasize: this items come from a region that is on the very western edge of modern China and probably does not represent "core" Chinese culture of the time. But in combination with artistic evidence, it may give you a place to start. Heather ________________________________ _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list h-costume@mail.indra.com http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
