Chinese earring fashion: a living legacy
Today’s Chinese earring fashion is based on the long history of a unique civilization. When we explore the history of this fashion, we find out that women are almost the same 2500 years ago as they are today. In fact, in the past, Chinese women used to be buried with their favorite earrings and other jewelry. Archaeologists have found a variety of earrings while working on China’s historical artifacts. The evidence strongly supports this very old fashion trend.
“Erdang” is a kind of ancient earring that was worn by piercing the human earlobe of women. It was also one of the most popular jewelry items displayed by Chinese women in ancient times. In Guangzhou, which is located in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong, a piece of pottery has been unearthed. It dates back to the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220 AD). It showed a woman dancing with Erdang earrings. There is an important dictionary compiled by Lui Xi, a scholar of the Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 220) which is titled “Shiming” (Terms of Interpretation). According to Shiming, Erdang earrings were first worn by ethnic women in remote border areas. Later this fashion trend spread to central China as well.
The oldest Erdang earring was discovered in the Chu state tomb. It dates back to the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476 BCE). Archaeological excavations have shown that wearing Erdang earrings became highly fashionable during the Warring States Period (475-221 BC) as well as during the Qin Dynasty (221-206 BC). These ancient earrings were usually made of certain materials. These materials included gold, jade, silver, ivory, marble, glass, and crystal.
Edrang glass earrings were in fashion mainly because of their bright colors and translucent, shiny facets from the time of the Han Dynasty to the Southern and Northern Dynasties (AD 420-581). Literate Chinese in these time periods wrote admiring poems in praise of these extra special pieces of jewelry. Over the past few decades, Chinese archaeologists have discovered thousands of glass Erdang earrings in ancient tombs such as those described above. The graves of the dead with Erdang earring artifacts are located around the vast field. This is especially the case in Henan, Hunan and Hubei provinces in central China.
In Changsha, which is the capital city of Hunan Province, dozens of Han Dynasty tombs with a plethora of Erdang glass earrings were found between 1952 and 1964. In fact, the colors of Erdang glass earrings were very diverse. . They included the colors blue, green, purple, black, and white. Also, these earrings were transparent or translucent. What impressed these experts and archaeologists the most was the fact that many of these artifacts were still glowing when they were unearthed!
During the Han dynasty, empresses, imperial concubines, and princesses wore earrings in a very different way. No earlobes pierced with earrings. Instead, these women attached the Erdang earring to a hairpin. Then the earring would hang next to her ears. According to Shiming’s text, these earrings were referred to as “zan’er” or hairpin earrings. They were a symbol of royalty rather than an ordinary piece of jewelry. The ancient scholar Lui has pointed out in his classic work that the hairpin earrings of royal courts reminded imperial women of their duty to heed wise advice. So when the emperor spoke to the royal women, they had to remove their hairpin earrings out of respect so they could give him their full attention.
In further research on ancient Chinese earrings, scholars found that many ancient women liked to wear a single earring instead of a pair. Single earrings have been found in a third of Han Dynasty tombs throughout China. What all this information points to is the undeniable fact that earrings in the fashion culture of China (as well as the rest of Asia) are a living legacy that has not diminished over time. Women have always felt “naked” without earrings. It was the same in the past as it still is today. So… savor the time you spend choosing your earrings and enjoy them for a lifetime. You won’t be the first woman to do it!