Zhou Dynasty Wedding Dress Not Red But Black

China has its distinctive wedding dress. In general, Chinese wedding dresses are themed on luck and happiness.

The colors dragon, phoenix, red, and gold are considered to bring good luck and happiness, therefore they are indispensable elements in Chinese wedding attire and decorations. In addition, other Chinese wedding attire also has strong Chinese characteristics.

However, the Zhou dynasty’s wedding dress was not red, but black?

China may be the first place where grooms and brides are expected to wear certain colors.

Zhou dynasty

Since the Zhou dynasty, China has had complete wedding etiquette.

At that time, weddings were held at dusk. The ancients believed that men represent Yang, and women represent Yin.

Believed that, dusk is when Yang leaves and Yin comes.

So, at that time, the wedding was called a dusk ceremony.

Wedding = 婚礼 hūn lǐ
Dusk ceremony = 昏礼 hūn lǐ

The wedding dress at that time, regardless of male and female, was mainly black and followed the Xuanxun (Chinese: 玄纁 ; pinyin: xuán xūn) system.

The ancients believed that the sky is black (Xuan) and the earth is scarlet/light red (Xun).

Wearing heaven and earth on the body is the greatest respect. Even the horse the groom was riding was black.

For a long time, marriage was considered a serious ceremony.

Weddings in the Zhou dynasty did not play music or celebrate with great fanfare. The wedding emphasis is placed on the etiquette and feelings between the bride and groom.

According to today’s wedding customs, beating gongs and drums, and releasing firecrackers, is contrary to the etiquette of that era.

Qin dynasty

The Qin dynasty wedding continued the rituals of the Zhou dynasty and held the ceremony at dusk.

In the Qin dynasty, the first Chinese emperor Qin Shihuang promoted the theory of the Five Elements. He believed that the Qin dynasty belonged to the water element, which corresponded to the black color, so the Qin dynasty’s flag and official dress were black. This also contributes to the high status of black.

Han dynasty

The style of the wedding dress in the Han dynasty was quju or shenyi, which could be worn by both men and women.

Women’s clothing is tight and narrow, the hem is generally trumpet-shaped, without exposing legs, fully showing women’s poise and grace.

In the Han dynasty, it was fashionable to wear a “triple suit”, that is, several layers of collars were exposed when wearing several pieces of clothing.

During the Han dynasty, although the basic color of the wedding dress was still black, due to the development of embroidery skills, the wedding dress gradually changed. They were not only pure black but also reddish or yellowish, covered with beautiful embroidery.