Food, Dress and Markets in Tang China: Everyday Consumption and Social Distinctions

Between 618 and 907 CE, food and clothing in Tang China were shaped by regional resources, household means, social rank and connections beyond the empire. The period included the Wu Zhou interruption under Wu Zetian, and the empire’s territorial setting and trade connections changed over time. Practices in the northern farming regions, the southern river and coastal zones, and the capital were not identical, nor did the experience of an official household match that of an ordinary family.

Chang’an, the Tang capital, brings several of these themes together. Its planned wards and separately enclosed markets linked the city to supplies from its hinterland and to goods arriving overland and by sea. But the capital was one setting within a much larger empire. Food, dress and shopping also depended on local production and on what people could afford.

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Food supply and regional differences

Tang diets relied on crops such as rice, wheat, millet, barley and soybeans, along with vegetables, fruit and other plant foods. Their relative importance varied by region. Rice was more readily associated with southern diets, while northern households made greater use of wheat and other grains. In the north, lamb was especially valued; along the southern coast, fish and other seafood were readily available and formed an important part of local eating.

Meat choices also depended on resources and custom. Pork and chicken were among the meats eaten, while fish and shellfish were important in some southern areas. Cattle had a practical value as draft animals, which helped limit the use of beef. From 831 to 833, Emperor Wenzong prohibited the slaughter of cattle, citing his Buddhist convictions. This court order illustrates how religious principles and the needs of agriculture could both affect food practices.

Trade brought particular foods from beyond China’s farming regions. Tang accounts describe golden peaches from Samarkand; dates, pistachios and figs from Persia; pine seeds and ginseng from Korea; and mangoes from Southeast Asia. Sugar was in demand, and exchange with India brought refining knowledge. Cotton cloth also arrived through trade; cotton was cultivated in some frontier regions, while its wider spread as a major Chinese textile fibre came later.

Markets and shopping in Chang’an

Chang’an’s East and West Markets were walled and gated commercial districts. Government offices in each monitored trade. The markets operated on a set schedule: drums announced their opening around noon, and a gong signalled their closing before dusk. After the official markets shut, smaller night markets in residential areas attracted customers, although authorities tried to suppress this activity.

The two markets offered varied goods and services. The West Market included vendors of drinks, cooked cereals, pastries and gruel, as well as wine shops and taverns. It also had a Persian-style bazaar catering to tastes and fashions associated with Iran. The East Market had its own shops and specialist streets, including a lane associated with metal goods, and sellers of foreign musical instruments. These districts connected shoppers with food and everyday services as well as imported wares.

Trade in the capital depended in part on supplies from the surrounding region. Canals carried goods, including grain, into the city, where granaries stored food. The city’s markets therefore formed one link in a broader chain: local production and transport supplied urban consumers, while merchants and commercial districts brought in goods from farther away.

Cooking, meals and drinking in Tang China

Food had to be stored as well as grown and cooked. Common preservation methods included salting, brining and keeping provisions in deep pits or trenches. Ice offered another form of storage, but access was unequal. The emperor had large ice pits in and around Chang’an, while wealthy households could maintain smaller ones. Ice made it possible to keep some foods chilled in summer, including melon.

Tea connected agriculture, processing and social practice. Lu Yu’s Classic of Tea , written in the eighth century, treated tea as a subject requiring knowledge of cultivation, harvesting, tools, processing, water and preparation. It describes making compressed tea cakes from processed leaves. In the method Lu Yu recommended, the cake was ground, the resulting tea added to boiling water and simmered briefly, then the drink was portioned into bowls.

Tea drinking had spread beyond its southern heartlands. Buddhist monks and scholars helped circulate the practice, and tea also became part of urban commerce. Accounts describe Uyghur visitors going to tea shops when they came into town. Tea was thus both a drink prepared in households and a product encountered in public settings, though the quality of tea and the equipment used could reflect differences in means.

Tang clothing, grooming and hygiene

Clothing communicated status through fabric, colour and form. Court rules reserved yellow for the emperor and assigned different robe colours to officials according to rank. Men’s clothing commonly included robes with trousers, a belt and a head covering known as a futou . Round-collared robes were worn by men and women.

Garments crossed over the torso and were secured by ties or a belt. An upper garment could be paired with a skirt or trousers, while a short-sleeved banbi jacket added another layer. Shorter, closer-fitting clothes left more freedom for physical work than a wide-sleeved formal robe.

Women’s outfits could combine an upper garment, a long skirt and a long silk scarf, called a pibo , draped over the shoulders or arms. The position of the skirt’s waistline varied, changing the silhouette. Headwear, belts and jewellery added further ways to present rank and taste. Hair and head coverings were part of this visible presentation, as well as practical parts of dress.

Fashion also reflected cultural contact and changed over time. Central Asian and Persian styles influenced Tang dress, including tight-sleeved, round-collared robes; women at court and beyond could adopt styles of clothing associated with men. During the Kaiyuan and Tianbao periods, women wearing male clothing in public became fashionable. After the An Lushan Rebellion, the influence of foreign styles waned and women’s clothing increasingly favoured broad, loose forms. Tang dress was therefore not a single unchanging style, but a changing set of choices shaped by status, fashion and cultural exchange.

For the wider setting, see Daily Life in Tang China: Households, Work and Belief.