{"id":33277,"date":"2021-10-28T16:32:21","date_gmt":"2021-10-28T16:32:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.globalizationpartners.com\/?p=33277"},"modified":"2021-11-01T08:53:48","modified_gmt":"2021-11-01T08:53:48","slug":"chinese-makeup-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.globalizationpartners.com\/2021\/10\/28\/chinese-makeup-history\/","title":{"rendered":"Chinese Makeup History"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chinese women have a long history with makeup, originating from ancient times. In China, there\u2019s an old saying that the love of beauty is common to all human beings. Ancient Chinese women wanted to look for beautiful things that made them look prettier. While they obviously didn\u2019t have social media like Pinterest and YouTube, the love of cosmetics, perfumes, and garments was everywhere. We\u2019ll walk you through the history of Chinese women\u2019s love of beauty.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Chinese Makeup History in the Zhou Dynasty<\/h2>\n

\"ChineseThe Zhou Dynasty opened up a new era in Chinese makeup history. Eyebrow makeup, lip makeup, face makeup, and a series of cosmetics, such as makeup powder, facial cream, lip gloss, and fragrance became a trend during this time. Generally, the makeup style of the Zhou Dynasty was relatively simple and elegant with black and white, so this era is known as the \u201cplain makeup era.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to powder and \u201cDai\u201d( \u201c\u9edb\u201d), the cosmetics of the Zhou Dynasty also included “Zhi” (\u201c\u8102\u201d) and “Ze”(\u201c \u6cfd\u201d). Zhi is the grease from animals or the oil from plant seeds.\u00a0Lip zhi referred to lipstick, and face Zhi aimed to moisturize the face.\u00a0Ze\u00a0referred to a shampoo made of fragrance\u00a0materials.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Chinese Makeup History in the Qin and Han Dynasty<\/h2>\n

There are few records about Qin Dynasty costumes and dresses in history books, but the Han Dynasty inherited many Qin Dynasty legacies.\u00a0During the Han Dynasty, the custom of makeup was greatly developed, and women paid more attention to their makeup. Here are some of the advancements in makeup.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. In addition to rice powder, people in the Qin and Han Dynasties invented paste-like lead powder for makeup.\u00a0The lead powder was usually made of materials such as lead and tin, which were converted into powder after chemical treatment.<\/li>\n
  2. Red powder, also called\u00a0\u201cfufen\u201d\uff08\u201c\u6577\u7c89\u201d\uff09, was the first step in applying makeup.\u00a0Since the Qin Dynasty,\u00a0“red makeup”\u00a0had become popular, and women used powder and Zhu \uff08\u201d\u6731\u201d\uff0ca red material\uff09 in their makeup.\u00a0Red powder and white powder were usually used as the foundation.<\/li>\n
  3. Rouge came next after powder. The primary raw material for making rouge in ancient times was safflowers.\u00a0Rouge has a strong viscosity, so it\u2019s not easy to fade away.\u00a0Therefore, women would apply a little rouge on the cheekbones based on their light red and pink foundation.<\/li>\n
  4. Cinnabar \uff08\u201c\u6731\u201d\uff09was made of mercury sulfide with a small amount of iron oxide, clay, and other impurities.\u00a0It\u00a0was ground into powder and used for face makeup.\u00a0It\u2019s a red mineral pigment, also called \u201cDan,\u201d which is bright and gorgeous.<\/li>\n
  5. Mo Dan \uff08\u201d\u58a8\u4e39\u201d\uff09refers to the\u00a0mineral “graphite,\u201d and\u00a0women used it to draw eyebrows.\u00a0Mo Dan was ground on a special inkstone to form a powder, and then it was mixed with water and applied to the eyebrows.<\/li>\n
  6. Lip grease is made of water and cinnabar,\u00a0and it\u00a0can prevent lips from cracking and bleeding.\u00a0By\u00a0adding color to it,\u00a0lipstick\u00a0becomes an ideal cosmetic, just like with today’s lipsticks.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

     <\/p>\n

    Chinese Makeup History in the Wei, Jin, Southern, and Northern Dynasties<\/strong><\/h2>\n

    During this period,\u00a0women\u2019s makeup skills gradually matured, demonstrating diversified tendencies and bold colors. Here are some of the main changes during this time.<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. White makeup (powder) was applied to women\u2019s faces, and no rouge was applied to their cheeks, which was more common in the decoration of the court ladies.\u00a0This type of makeup showed a simple and elegant beauty.<\/li>\n
    2. Forehead yellow was a kind of ancient face decoration. It was dyed and painted on the forehead with yellow pigment.<\/li>\n
    3. Oblique red was a kind of makeup on the cheeks, including shapes like crescents and even scars.\u00a0The bright red color was arranged on both sides of the cheeks and between the temples.<\/li>\n
    4. Huadian (\u201c\u82b1\u94bf\u201d) generally refers to the makeup on the forehead between the eyebrows.\u00a0In the Six Dynasties, a plum-shaped flower, called\u00a0“plum blossom makeup,”\u00a0was especially popular.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

       <\/p>\n

      Chinese Makeup History in Sui, Tang, and Five Dynasties<\/strong><\/h2>\n

      In the Sui Dynasty, women’s makeup was relatively simple, and the people loved the beauty of simplicity. The Tang Dynasty had a prosperous economy, and exchanges with foreigners were very frequent at that time. As a result, many women’s makeup was influenced by foreign countries, and women pursued fashion and advocated novel styles of makeup.<\/p>\n

      During the Tang Dynasty, makeup technology was also developed to an unprecedented peak. We can roughly divide the order of face makeup for women in the Tang Dynasty into the following: lead powder, rouge, eyebrows, appliqu\u00e9s, dotted face and slanted red, and lipstick. Strong red makeup was the most popular face makeup at the time, and the red makeup of women in the Tang Dynasty varied in shades of color and size. Different shapes of eyebrows also came about during this time, with about fifteen popular kinds of eyebrow styles.<\/p>\n

       <\/p>\n

      Chinese Makeup History in the Song\u00a0Dynasty<\/strong><\/h2>\n

      In the Song dynasty, women’s makeup tended to be simple and natural.\u00a0Although there were many changes in facial makeup, it was not as rich and gorgeous as the Tang Dynasty.\u00a0White and red were still the basic colors of makeup, and women preferred to use ink instead of Dai to draw their eyebrows.<\/p>\n

       <\/p>\n

      Chinese Makeup History in\u00a0the Ming and Qing Dynasties<\/strong><\/h2>\n

      The red makeup of the women in the Ming and Qing Dynasties was mostly thin\u00a0and\u00a0elegant, which was quite similar to the Song and Yuan Dynasties. Ming and Qing women created many new types of makeup powder.\u00a0For example,\u00a0\u201czhenzhu\u201d powder, a kind of makeup powder extracted from the flowers of Mirabilis jasmine, was mostly used in spring and summer, and Hosta powder was mostly used in the autumn and winter.<\/p>\n

      Women in the Qing Dynasty advocated curving eyebrows, thin eyes, and\u00a0thin\u00a0lips.\u00a0At the end of the Qing Dynasty, women changed the convention of wearing heavy makeup\u00a0and\u00a0put an end to the red makeup custom that had prevailed for more than two thousand years.<\/p>\n

      By the early Republic of China,\u00a0women continued to follow the makeup aesthetic of the late Qing:\u00a0delicate and pretty face, slender eyes and eyebrows,\u00a0and thin lips.\u00a0With the influence of western cultures, women considered makeup from a new perspective and different standards, showing that they started to cast off the shackles of the feudal society.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Chinese women have a long history with makeup, originating from ancient times. In China, there\u2019s an old saying that the love of beauty is common to all human beings. Ancient Chinese women wanted to look for beautiful things that made them look prettier. While they obviously didn\u2019t have social media like Pinterest and YouTube, the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":41,"featured_media":33282,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[185,1054,997],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.globalizationpartners.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33277"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.globalizationpartners.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.globalizationpartners.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.globalizationpartners.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/41"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.globalizationpartners.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33277"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.globalizationpartners.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33277\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33296,"href":"https:\/\/www.globalizationpartners.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33277\/revisions\/33296"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.globalizationpartners.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33282"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.globalizationpartners.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33277"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.globalizationpartners.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33277"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.globalizationpartners.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33277"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}