Weimao

{{Short description|Wide brimmed hat with shoulder-length veil}} {{Infobox Chinese | c = 帷帽 | p = Wéimào | l = Veiled hat/curtained hat | pic = Veiled hat - Eighteen Songs of a Nomad Flute- The Story of Lady Wenji.jpg | piccap = A lady wearing weimao }}

'''Weimao''' ({{Lang-zh|c=帷帽|l=veiled hat or curtained hat}}) is a type of wide-brimmed hat with a shoulder-length veil hanging.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=China : dawn of a golden age, 200–750 AD|date=2004|publisher=Metropolitan Museum of Art|others=James C. Y. Watt, Prudence Oliver Harper|isbn=1-58839-126-4|location=New York|page=291|oclc=55846475}}</ref> The weimao was a popular form of head covering during the Tang dynasty.<ref name=":0" /> It was invented during either the Sui or the early Tang dynasty, according to Liu Zhiji and Zhang Yanyuan.<ref name=":7">{{cite journal|last=Yang|first=Shao-yun|date=2017|title=Changing Clothes in Chang'an|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/26892132|journal=China Review International|publisher=University of Hawai'i Press|volume=24|issue=4|pages=255–266|doi=10.1353/cri.2017.0064|jstor=26892132|s2cid=217042987 |url-access=subscription}}</ref>

== History ==

=== Sui and Tang dynasty === By the end of the Sui dynasty, the mili, which was previously worn, became less conservative and evolved into the weimao as it was no longer required to conceal the entire body and instead only the face had to be concealed.<ref name=":0" />

In the early and middle Tang dynasty period, it was fashionable for aristocratic women to wear weimao when they went on excursions, a practice which these women borrowed from the northwestern nomadic men.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|last=Xu|first=Man|title=Crossing the Gate : Everyday Lives of Women in Song Fujian (960–1279)|date=2016|isbn=978-1-4384-6322-3|location=Albany|pages=71–72|oclc=950004342}}</ref>

By the time of Wu Zetian's ascendancy, the weimao was in fashion while the mili had gradually disappeared.<ref name=":7" /> The fashion of wearing weimao eventually declined and disappeared in the 8th century before being revived in the 10th century in the Song dynasty.<ref name=":1" />

=== Song dynasty === In the Song dynasty, some scholar officials, such as Sima Guang, advocated that women should cover their faces when going out.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Zhu |first1=Ruixi |title=A social history of middle-period China : the Song, Liao, Western Xia and Jin dynasties |last2=朱瑞熙 |date=2016 |others=Bangwei Zhang, Fusheng Liu, Chongbang Cai, Zengyu Wang, Peter Ditmanson, Bang Qian Zhu |isbn=978-1-107-16786-5 |edition=Updated |location=Cambridge, UK |oclc=953576345}}</ref> The weimao-style hat was revived in the 10th century when women started to wear mianyi ({{Lang-zh|c=面衣|l=veil or facial covering}}), which was also known as gaitou ({{Lang-zh|c=蓋頭|l=head cover}}) by the common people.<ref name=":1" /> It is likely that the practice of wearing veiled hats, which was continued by these Song dynasty women, was due to them being unaware of its foreign and masculine origins.<ref name=":1" />

== Derivatives and influences ==

=== Humao === A variation of the weimao is a hat lacking the necessary holes to attach a veil.<ref name=":0" /> Instead of a veil, the rider would wear a black balaclava under the hat.<ref name=":0" />thumb|Gaitou hat, Song dynasty.<ref name=":1" />|193x193px

=== Song dynasty gaitou hat === The Song dynasty gaitou (蓋頭), also known as mianyi (面衣; veils or "facial clothes"), follows the style of the Tang dynasty weimao; the gaitou was worn by women when riding donkeys and horses or when they would walk on the streets.<ref name=":1" /> The gaitou was a veil hat where a whole piece of purple gauze would hang from the hat from the front to the back sides with 4 ribbons of different colours hanging down the shoulders.<ref name=":1" />

== Similar items ==

*Liangmao *Damao (hat) *Humao *Mili *Honggaitou

== References == {{Reflist}}

Category:Chinese traditional clothing Category:Chinese headgear Category:Veils