National Treasure And Cultural Relics: How To "Refine" A 49 Gram Plain Yarn Single Garment

Recently, the "Beauty -- Exhibition of Women's Cultural Relics in the Han and Roman Dynasties" was opened in Hunan Museum, and the national treasure level cultural relics, such as authentic pieces of song, train, plain yarn and single clothes, were exhibited for the first time. Pure yarn single garment is known as the peak of textile technology in the Western Han Dynasty, and it is also the earliest, thinnest and lightest garment at present. How did the ancients 2000 years ago make such a "best in clothes"?

　　 The exact name of this dress should be "plain yarn clothes"

The Han Tomb at Mawangdui in Changsha excavated in 1972-1974 is the tomb of three members of the Prime Minister of Changsha State and the Dai Hou Licang family in the Western Han Dynasty. More than 3000 precious cultural relics have been unearthed, which is one of the most important archaeological discoveries in the world in the 20th century. Xin Zhui, Li Cang's wife, died at about 50 years old. In the tomb of Tomb 1, there are four side boxes between the outer outer outer outer outer outer outer outer outer outer outer outer outer outer outer outer outer outer outer outer outer outer outer outer outer outer outer outer outer outer outer outer outer outer outer outer outer outer outer outer outer outer outer outer outer outer outer outer outer outer outer outer outer outer outer outer outer outer outer outer outer outer outer outer outer outer outer outer outer outer outer outer outer outer outer outer outer outer outer outer outer outer outer outer outer outer outer outer outer. A total of 14 pieces of clothing, including plain yarn single clothes, cotton gowns, skirts, socks, etc., were unearthed in a bamboo box in the west.

Does the word "single" in plain yarn single clothes mean that it is thin? In fact, the exact name of this dress should be "plain yarn clothes". Shuowen: "The clothes are not heavy." Shi Ming: "The clothes are not heavy. The words are not inside. The sleeves should be shaped like ditches." The clothes in Tomb 3 are seriously decayed, but the dispatch policy (the list of burial objects recorded by the ancients in the funeral activities) is more detailed, and there are many contents about the "clothes", involving silk, thread, Qi and other materials Frost, blue, cyanosis and many other colors, it can be seen that "襌誠誠誠誠誠誠誠誠誠誠誠. Since the word "襌" is not simplified and is not a commonly used word, people usually write "single clothes" nowadays.

According to reports, there are two plain yarn singlets unearthed from Mawangdui, one is straight train, the other is curved train, both of which are right lapels. Among them, the straight train is 49g, with a length of 128cm; The train is 48g long and 160cm long. The plain yarn single dress with winding train is relatively superior in technology, because it is longer and wider, but it is also 1g lighter. The straight train plain yarn single dress has been on display for many years in the basic display of Mawangdui Han Tomb in the museum. In this exhibition, the organizer specially arranged for this authentic song train plain yarn single dress that has never been on display.

So, what's the difference between straight train and curve train? Train refers to the large skirt of a garment. Straight train, that is, Shuowen Jiezi, is a kind of Chinese clothing system. The straight train hem is cut vertically, and the train is at the side or rear of the body. There is no tie sewn on the clothes, and it is fixed by a belt made of cloth or leather. The curve train is characterized by the curve of the lapel from the collar to the armpit. This design allows the wearer to walk or move without spreading the skirt, which is more close to the body.

In the Han Dynasty, both men and women could wear straight train, but it could not be used as a formal dress, because ancient trousers had no crotch and were tied with only one belt. Therefore, you should have a coat to cover your pants, otherwise it would be rude. Therefore, you should wear a deep and winding dress. At first, both men and women can wear the curve train. The lower hem of men's curve train is more convenient for walking, while the lower hem of women's curve train is slightly tight and narrow. The women of the Han Dynasty have deep skirts and long clothes that can be pulled to the ground. The lower hem is in the shape of a bell flower (refer to the unearthed murals and figurines of the Warring States Period and the Han Dynasty). The sleeves are wide and narrow, and the cuffs are mostly rimmed. The collar part is very distinctive, usually with a hand in collar, and the collar is very low, so as to expose the lining. If you wear several clothes, the collar of each layer must be exposed, and the maximum number is more than three layers, which is called "triple coat". However, in the later continuous development, the men's musical train gradually disappeared, while the women's musical train continued until the Eastern Han Dynasty and the Wei and Jin Dynasties. The later women's deep clothes are weak, and Ru skirts are prosperous.

　　 The manufacturing process of a plain yarn single garment

The mysterious legend of plain yarn single clothes has been circulating in the Jianghu. It is as thin as cicada wings, as light as smoke, and weighs less than one or two. The plain yarn single garment is not only light, but also has a light transmittance of 75%. It can still see the words and pictures on it when it is stacked ten times on the newspaper, which is mainly due to its material. It is identified by scientific testing that it belongs to the silkworm (Bombyx mori) silk fiber. The projection width of a single fiber is 6.15-9.25 microns, and the cross sectional area of a single fiber is 77.46-120 square microns, Such fine fiber is naturally the result of the accumulated experience of long-term silkworm feeding methods in the pre Qin, Qin and Han dynasties.

In the Han Dynasty, the governments of all dynasties advocated the breeding of domesticated silkworms and prohibited the breeding of "raw silkworms". Because the mulberry leaves raised by the original silkworm belong to summer and autumn, the quality of the mulberry leaves is poor. Even if they are raised hard, the quality of the silk they spit out is not high. At that time, the highly respected silkworm variety was probably the "sleeping silkworm" raised. At that time, the top yarn came from the three - sleeper silkworm cultivated in the Han Dynasty. Compared with modern silkworms, the spun silk is thinner, and only 10.2 to 11.3 deniers (the smaller the number of deniers, the thinner the silk) are measured in silk size units.

Because the silk fiber reeled out is very fine, the woven clothes look like light fog, so this kind of yarn is also called "fog hu" in the Han Dynasty literature. For example, Yan Shigu in the Book of Han · History of Rites and Music notes that "fog hu is as light as clouds and fog." Sima Xiangru's "Zi Xu Fu" describes Zheng Nu as "hanging fog hu". Guo Pu said: "The words are as thin as fog." In "Baopuzi", it said: "The rest of the strength of the crossbow cannot penetrate the fog." These vividly describe the fineness of this kind of yarn. Such fine size is very close to the finest silk reeled in modern times.

This fully shows that at least in the early Western Han Dynasty, the working people of our country have mastered quite perfect silk reeling technology, can use different sizes of silk fibers in each cocoon layer of silk to match cocoons, conduct more scientific cocoon cooking, thread adding and silk reeling, and can evenly control the silk piece, reeling out the raw silk size required for silk fabric varieties.

The woven silk also belongs to raw silk and needs to be boiled. Its technology was mastered as early as the Shang and Zhou Dynasties. Roughly, it is boiled in hot water to make silk degummed, which will become soft after being pounded or pounded. The Tanglian Painting of the Tang Dynasty provides us with image materials to understand this process.

Before tailoring, the rammed silk needs to be ironed. Put the burnt charcoal in the bucket and iron the fabric with the heat at the bottom to ensure the smoothness of the later sewn clothes.

The plain yarn after ironing can be used to cut and make clothes. Some fabrics need painting, dyeing, calendering and other processes according to different needs before being cut into clothes.

The two plain yarn single clothes unearthed from the Han Tomb at Mawangdui are basically intact and beautifully made, which not only shows that they are well preserved, but also reflects the maturity of ironing, cutting and sewing techniques at that time.

The plain yarn belongs to the high-grade clothing material, which was mostly used as the lining of the upper class aristocratic gowns in the Zhou Dynasty. For example, The Rites of the Zhou Dynasty, The First Sacrifice of the Heavenly Official Tomb: "The Six Clothes of the Empress in charge of the Inner Chief: Yi Yi, Yu Di, Que Di, Ju Yi, Zhan Yi, Yuan Yi, and plain gauze." The Book of Rites, Justice, Miscellaneous Notes, Part 20: "Plain sand is like the silk of today's gauze. Six clothes are all made of robes, not only plain gauze." The Thirteenth Book of Rites, Justice, Jade Algae, Zheng Zhuyun: "Six clothes are all robes, and white binding is the inside of the system." It can be seen from this that the plain yarn single clothes unearthed from the Han Tomb at Mawangdui should have been pure white, but because they were buried underground for more than 2000 years, the organic silk has become the tea yellow color seen today.

Most scholars believe that Xin Zhui, the wife of the Prime Minister, wants to reveal gorgeous coat patterns, so he puts a layer of light and transparent single clothes on the colorful brocade robes, which makes the patterns of the brocade clothes indistinct and dim, not only enhancing the sense of hierarchy of the clothing, but also setting off the beauty and dignity of the brocade clothes.

One of the difficulties of imitation is silkworm

There has always been a rumor in the street that two original plain yarn single clothes were stolen, one of which was a plain yarn single with a curve train. In order to destroy the evidence, the suspect's mother burned the plain yarn single clothes into ashes and rushed them into the sewer. Therefore, the Hunan Museum only displayed the stolen straight train plain yarn single clothes.

This is not the case.

What was stolen in those years was actually the straight train plain yarn single clothes in the permanent exhibition hall. The suspect's mother threw a batch of cultural relics, including plain yarn single clothes, to the Martyrs' Park. After being found, they were sent back to the museum and displayed to the public after restoration. The other piece of plain yarn single with winding train has not been stolen and has been kept in the warehouse for a long time.

The plain yarn monoclothes were buried for more than 2000 years. Due to the sudden change of environment after being unearthed, the breaking of its fiber molecular chains was accelerated, and the strength of the fibers was greatly reduced. In addition, due to perennial exhibitions, natural factors such as light and oxygen also accelerated the aging of fibers. Therefore, since the 1980s, the State Administration of Cultural Heritage has had a project to copy plain yarn single clothes. At that time, Nanjing Yunjin Research Institute copied two pieces, but the weight of both pieces exceeded 50g.

One of the difficulties in copying plain yarn single clothes stems from silkworms. According to Yang Jiyuan, director of the design center of Nanjing Yunjin Research Institute, when making plain yarn single clothes, the size of silk used by Western Han people was only 10.2 to 11.3 dan, while the size of silk cultivated by modern people was 14 dan. Now the baby silkworms who spin silk are fatter after domestication, and the silk they spit out is heavier. In order to restore the fabric of plain yarn single clothes more realistically, the production team has gone through countless hardships to find a batch of thin, three sleep silkworm babies, whose silk size is only 11 denier, which is more suitable for fabric weaving as raw materials.

Until 2019, Hunan Provincial Museum, together with Nanjing Yunjin Research Institute, successfully copied a plain yarn single coat weighing about 49g for two years. This is also the first time that the plain yarn single garment has been officially authorized and authenticated by relevant experts in the museum since it was unearthed more than 40 years ago. Articles/Reporters' Presentations

(Source: Beijing Youth Daily)