Tang Clothing, Grooming and Hygiene in the Tang Empire, 618–907 CE

Tang clothing combined practical needs with visible rank and changing fashion. From 618 to 907, including Wu Zetian’s Wu Zhou dynasty of 690–705, wearers used layered garments, belts and head coverings suited to their activities. Preserved objects and historical texts also describe tools for arranging hair, cleaning the body and maintaining the mouth.

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Layers, fastenings and fabrics

Many women’s outfits used separate upper and lower garments. A ru was a short upper garment, while a qun was a skirt; together they formed a ruqun. The skirt could be tied high on the torso, sometimes at or above the chest, with a short blouse above it. Collars and necklines varied, and some depicted Tang women wore upper garments cut low at the front. These fashions were not a single fixed uniform: waistlines, sleeve widths and the relative looseness of garments shifted across the dynasty.

A banbi, or short-sleeved jacket, could be worn over a blouse or beneath another garment. Tang examples included front-opening styles secured with ties, as well as garments pulled over the head. The short jacket might sit outside the skirt or be tucked beneath it. It could also form a layer under a man’s round-collared robe. This made the banbi adaptable to different outfits rather than a garment with only one prescribed use.

Silk appears prominently in descriptions of women’s skirts and accessories, while brocade and patterned fabrics were among the richer materials used for dress. A pibo, a long, light silk scarf, could be draped over the shoulders and arms. Paintings and figures show it as part of women’s dress, but its arrangement varied. These costly fabrics appear particularly in depictions of court women, attendants and other people in well-resourced households.

Men’s robes and clothing for work and office

Men commonly wore a robe with a belt, trousers and headwear. The round-collared robe, known as a yuanlingpao, was worn by men and women. Officials also wore round-collared, narrow-sleeved robes in ordinary settings, while important ceremonies called for formal dress. A futou, a wrapped or structured head covering, was a characteristic part of men’s appearance. Belts helped secure garments at the waist and were also part of official dress.

Clothing communicated rank in the administration. Tang rules assigned robe colours to officials at different levels: purple was associated with princes and the highest-ranking officials, followed by red, green and cyan for lower ranks. Yellow was reserved for the emperor.

Foreign styles and changing fashions

The term hufu was a broad label for clothing associated with peoples beyond the central Chinese heartland, including communities from Central Asia. It covered varied styles rather than one ethnic costume. Along trade and diplomatic routes, Tang people encountered garments linked to Turkic, Uyghur, Sogdian and Persian traditions. Tang wearers adopted and combined elements of these fashions, while Central Asian women also wore or adapted Chinese-style clothing.

Some early Tang outfits associated with hufu paired open-front, close-fitting jackets with narrow sleeves, tapered or striped trousers and boots. Women at court also wore men’s styles, and images of female attendants in such dress show that clothing could cross gender conventions in particular settings. At the same time, a round-collared robe was not automatically foreign: the local yuanlingpao was also an established Tang garment. Collar shape alone therefore cannot explain the origins or identity of every robe.

Fashion changed after the An Lushan Rebellion of 755–763. Uyghur-style dress, including voluminous robes with turned-down lapels and close-fitting sleeves, became fashionable among noble women. After the Uyghur empire collapsed in 840, Uyghur refugees moved into areas near the Tang frontier; in 843, Uyghurs living in China were ordered to wear Chinese-style clothing. More broadly, Central Asian influences became less prominent after the High Tang period, as clothing increasingly favoured wider and looser silhouettes.

Headwear and the dressed appearance

Headwear, like clothing, changed with period and circumstance. Men’s futou accompanied robes and served as a visible part of public dress. Women’s head coverings shifted over time: veils and hats were worn in earlier phases, followed by veiled hats and then hats without veils. By the middle of the eighth century, women were increasingly depicted riding without hats, while women’s adoption of men’s garments had become fashionable. These changes point to shifting expectations around women’s public appearance, rather than a single rule that applied throughout Tang society.

Tang combs could combine functional teeth with decorated tops of gold, silver, jade or mother-of-pearl. The teeth separated and ordered strands, while the decorated upper part added ornament when displayed in an arrangement of hair. A polished bronze mirror let its user inspect hair and dress, joining a practical reflecting surface with decoration on the reverse.

Washing and care of the mouth

Sun Simiao, a seventh-century physician, recommended rinsing the mouth after meals and using salt in dental care. His writings also included preparations for cleansing the body and concerns such as greying or thinning hair. These prescriptions placed appearance and cleanliness among the tasks of bodily care.

Late-Tang painting in Mogao Cave 196 shows a monk cleaning his teeth with a twig after shaving. Chewing or working the end of tooth wood produced a cleaning surface. Yijing, the Tang monk who travelled to India, also described dental and washing practices in monastic life, recording differences between the communities he knew.

Tang medical writing discussed zao dou, or bath beans, cleansing preparations that could incorporate fragrant ingredients. Washing required bringing water to the body, rubbing or applying a cleansing material, rinsing and drying. The materials and labour used for care therefore stood alongside the work of making and maintaining garments.

For the wider setting, see Food, Dress and Markets in Tang China: Everyday Consumption and Social Distinctions.