CRYG: Mulan 人物·衣冠 木兰 (ENG/中文)

Character Reimagined Yi-Guan:
Relatively, Historically Accurate Mulan
人物·衣冠·动漫游篇 之 北魏晚期风格的花木兰形象

By Eric Chengyang 墨月无觞 / Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives

A re-imagined Mulan (花木蘭) in a relatively, historically accurate fashion from the Luoyang-era of the Northern Wei dynasty, inspired by the 1998 Disney film.

First, I’d like to introduce the term, hong-zhuang (紅妝), because many folks had mistaken Mulan’s matchmaking style as a Geisha’s attire since the release of the 1998 film. ​ "Hong-zhuang" actually originated from the Ballad of Mulan.

以北魏晚期装束风格为基础，重新想象绘制的迪士尼动画版花木兰。

一般认为，“红妆”一词出自《木兰辞》中的“阿姊闻妹来，当户理红妆”。红妆（亦作“红装”）在此处并不是指某种特定的妆容，而是泛指女子艳丽的装束，有盛装之意。更广义的红妆（红装）亦用于对美女的代称。

By Eric Chengyang 墨月无殇 / Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives

Please be advised that Mulan’s facial expression in the render is NOT a part of the makeup. Her emotion was inspired by the plot and the “Reflection” scenes from the 1998 film. 

特别说明，画中木兰的表情并非妆容的一部分，也非东汉流行的“啼妆”。木兰的愁眉实际源于动画中的《Reflection》经典桥段。

---

Brief Historical Context | 历史背景简述

Northern Wei dynasty (386-545) took place during several centuries of divisions in Chinese history. N. Wei was a multi-ethnic state founded and ruled by the Tuoba clan of the Xianbei people (拓跋鲜卑). There was also a significant Han Chinese population, especially in the south of the state, such as near the southern, third capital, Luoyang in late 5th century, aka. late Northern Wei.

​Perhaps due to the impacts of frequent cycles of disintegration-unification, as well as the lengthy division between North and South, war were common during this time. Such historic context laid the bedrock for the Ballad of Mulan, and it was implied in the poem or folk song that the decade-long war was bloody and sorrowful. In 500s AD, due to political & cultural complications, N. Wei was eventually split into Eastern Wei / Northern Qi and Western Wei / Northern Zhou.⁠
​
北魏 （公元386-545）是由拓跋鲜卑建立的朝代，前身是十六国的代囯，亦是北朝的第一个朝代。当时的中国处于长期的南北对峙与分裂状态。因北魏的地理与历史，北魏由多民族组成，其中鲜卑人与汉人的胡汉分治与融合等问题，对北魏的政策与文化有关键性的影响，比如晚期的迁都洛阳政策、孝文帝推广的的汉化改革都是实例。公元6世纪中前期（534年），受多方因素影响，北魏政权最终分裂为东魏与西魏，即之后的北齐与北周。

因为魏晋南北朝时期相对频繁的分分合合与政权更替，多方势力长期对峙，战乱亦很频繁。《木兰辞》就反映了这种乱世的大环境。与迪士尼动画版不同，原文里的战争长达十余年，而“将军百战死，壮士十年归”也反映出了战争的血腥与残酷。

---

Historical Accuracy & Mulan’s Yi-Guan (lit. clothing-headwear)
衣冠与历史形象

I can only do an approximately accurate render due to this complex historical context and related research difficulties, such as the contesting backgrounds of Mulan, and the lack of legible visual evidences from the N. Wei dynasty. 

​​Particularly, by examining the locations mentioned in the Ballad of Mulan and historical records of war, many research articles suggest that the war mentioned actually took place in the earlier years of the N. Wei dynasty. Since there was a drastic cultural-political shift in late N. Wei (late 5th century), the actual yi-guan attire from the earlier era might look different from my render of late Northern Wei fashion.

Moreover,  I was looking for a stylistic overlap of Disney's character design and actual fashion existed in N. Wei, and so, I chose this particular Late N. Wei style as the main reference due to the resemblance. To keep the render as historically accurate as possible, all historical references I used are dated to the 100 years between late 5th century - late 6 century, within the range of one century.

因上文中所提及的种种因素，《木兰辞》的创作年代与具体背景至今依旧存在争议，尚无定论。再加上北魏时期的文物大多有严重的脱色与损坏，在此我只能做一个大致接近历史的复原想象。

具体而言，有部分研究认为，如果木兰真实存在，其原始形象最有可能出自北魏前期与柔然的战争，因为此战的地理细节与《木兰辞》中所提及的地名最为吻合。然而北魏在后期经历过汉化改革，其风俗文化受到改革影响，因此北魏前期的实际衣冠风格可能会与我绘制的后期风格形象有所差别。

在这里，我的构思是将动画人设与北魏历史上真实出现过的衣冠形象相结合，因此我挑选了与动画原作设定最为接近的北魏晚期装束风格。在参考资料方面，我将文物的时间范围限定在五世纪末到六世纪末这一百年内。

左：法国吉美博物馆藏 北魏人俑 / 右：北齐徐显秀墓中的壁画

Above left & Image below: in my render, Mulan’s garment and hairstyle is based on actual Northern Wei figurines. 

Above right: since most N. Wei artworks I found online has faded colour around the facial features, Mulan’s hong-zhuang makeup was inspired by the arts of Western Wei and Northern Qi dynasties, aka. the two different continuations of the divided Northern Wei. For instance, we can see there is red pigment around the eyes of the maidens.

左上：我画中的衣服与发型是依据北魏时期的出土人俑所绘。除了法国吉美博物馆的这组藏品，类似装束的人俑亦在加拿大安大略省博物馆（Royal Ontario Museum）的众多北魏藏品中十分常见（如下图）。

​右上：因大多数北魏人俑的面部细节大多有脱色和破损现象，绘中的“红妆”参照的是北齐徐显秀墓中的壁画。此壁画中可以看到人物的眉眼两侧有明显的赤色晕染。

• 至于木兰的“花黄”， 因为同时期图像资料暂缺，这里参考的是西魏敦煌壁画里佛像眉间的圆点。此类圆点形花钿（tian2，又作dian4）亦可见于历代文物中的仕女形象。

Northern Wei figurine in ROM's Collection / 加拿大安大略省博物馆收藏的北魏人俑

---

About Yi-Guan Style | 衣冠形制简介

Re-posting permission granted by author, Zhuangshu Fuyuan: the Chinese Historical Costume Restoration Team / 装束复原小组制作的北魏晚期装束复原 （转载经原作者许可）

The yi-guan style of Mulan consists of two main parts: layers of top robes & a long skirt. This style known as yichang 衣裳 or ruqun 襦裙 (lit. tops & skirt), can be seen in the arts of several preceding dynasties, from Eastern Han dyansty to Jin dynasties.

• A reconstruction of this particular style of Late N. Wei attire is shown above, created by Zhuangshu Fuyuan. We can see the layers of the yichang attire more clearly from this photo.

从出土人俑和壁画中可以看出，此类服饰应为上下两部分，是衣裳（chang2）制的一种。此类上衣下裳形制在东汉、三国、两晋十六国时期的文物中也很常见，亦有实物出土。上图中，大陆的装束复原小组的真人复原作品更形象、具体地展现了衣服的层次与穿着方式。​

The above collage shows artworks from both Northern & Southern dynasties of the same century / 同为六世纪的南北朝晚期的人物装束对比

Since this particular variation of yichang has appeared in the arts of both Northern and Southern dynasties (above), and by considering the socio-cultural context of the time, Mulan’s N. Wei style is likely a hybrid of Xianbei culture, Han culture, and foreign (Central Asian) influences.
​
特别一提，美国大都会博物馆在2004年出版的《China: Dawn of a Golden Age》一书中也有展示类似着装风格的北魏人物形象，并标注此类敞领式衣裳是深受西胡（西域）影响而来，不过此观点存疑。因为在2016年发掘的湖南郴（chen1）州南朝墓里也发现了相似的敞领人物形象，说明这种服饰风格（不包括发型）应该在南朝、北朝都存在或流行过，而且北魏人俑的上衣下裳的穿衣习惯与大袖的元素也更接近当时汉人的风俗。不排除​此样式衣裳有可能是在古汉服的结构基础上，融入了鲜卑与西域民族的工艺、审美与装饰元素。

A textile from Northern dynasties shows Central Asian (Persian or Sogdian) influences / 具有中亚波斯元素的织物

Furthermore, there are many visual evidences (above) that clearly show Sasanian-Iranian and Sogdian influence on the material culture and arts of Northern Wei: a politically troubled yet culturally vibrant era.

其实从众多北魏文物与艺术品中，我们能够清晰看到许多来自中亚的西域文明元素，尤其是来自萨珊波斯与粟特文明的影响。如上图纹样中的对兽元素，学者一般认为是比较典型的中亚（波斯）元素，也证实了北魏人文艺术是吸收了多民族文化特征所形成的。​

---

Main References 主要参考资料

• China: Dawn of a Golden Age, 200–750 A.D. by the Metropolitan Museum, 2004
  • A free pdf copy can be attained on the Met's website (link)
• Past reconstructions of Northern & Southern dynasty fashion created by Zhuangshu Fuyuan: the Chinese Historical Costume Restoration Team 装束复原小组
  • www.zhuangshufuyuan.com (Chinese site）​

---

Thank you for reading this post. Feel free to leave a comment and share your thoughts, questions, or feedback that can help me improve this series. Please be advised the comment approval is intended for spam prevention only, and I do value constructive dialogues. Alternatively, you can leave a comment on my Tumblr blog linked below.

Please stayed tuned for the future developments of the Character Reimagined Yi-Guan series. For English reader, find me at daohanfu.tumblr.com for faster updates.

感谢您阅读全文。此图文简述仅是我对已知资料的初步整理，也希望本文能起到抛砖引玉的作用。如果您有疑问、感想、或建议，可在评论区留言。请各位感兴趣的朋友们，继续关注《CRYG 人物·衣冠》系列的后续更新。​​

​为了避免钓鱼或 spamming 行为，评论区目前设有博主审核机制，但本人欢迎且尊重各类有建设性的多元讨论。

---