What is Hezi Qun – Origins and Types

Hezi Qun (诃子裙), a kind of Moxiong long skirt with a big-sleeved shirt, has suddenly become a popular hanfu style for summer. Perhaps your initial impression of it is that it is one of the Tang Dynasty hanfu styles. But it’s much more than that, and today we’re going to introduce you to the origin and types of the Hezi Qun in more detail.

Let’s get started.

1. What is Hezi

Let’s first understand what Hezi is.

Hezi(诃子) is one of the ancient Chinese women’s undergarments, also known as “Waxiong (袜胸)”, “Moxiong (抹胸)”, “Lanqun (襕裙)”, “Hehuan Lanqun (合欢襕裙)”, and so on. It was popular in the Tang, Song, and Ming dynasties. From the back to the front of the bundle, the following line, can also be tied around the waist of the skirt, also known as the Dudou (肚兜) in the Qing Dynasty.

Originally, Hezi had little to do with hanfu. In most of the ancient literature, Hezi is a kind of traditional Chinese medicine.

The earliest documentary record about Hezi and hanfu is found in the Song Dynasty. Song dynasty Zeng Zao in his book “Lei Shuo (类说)” has recorded: one day, Yang Guifei and An Lushan had a private date. In the middle of the date, An Lushan accidentally scratched Yang Guifei, and the wound was on her chest. She cried and said, “I was afraid that the emperor would see the scratch, so I used gold in the shape of Hezi to cover the wound.” Later, the women of the palace followed the example of Yang Guifei.

The word “Hezi” here means Hezi-shaped ornaments, but the essence is still Chinese medicine.

After that, Ming Dynasty scholar Tian Yiheng also mentioned “Hezi” in his “Liu Qing Ri Zha (留青日札)”: “Waxiong, that is, Tang ‘Hezi’ and so on …… from the back and surrounded by forward, so also named Hehuan Lanqun.”

It is only here that it is clearly pointed out that the “Hezi” is a kind of underwear that is popular in the Tang Dynasty, which is enclosed from the back to the front.

In fact, there were Hanfu merchants who made Hezi many years ago, and the popular Hezi was mainly used as an accessory, relying on small side ties to fasten and wear on top of the skirt head of a Qixiong Shanqun, shaped like a square piece of cloth that resembles a Moxiong. However, because of the lack of traditional forms and cultural heritage support, the Hezi was no longer produced.

2. The origin of Hezi Qun

Because of the lack of examples of excavated artifacts, it is difficult to determine whether the upper and lower parts of Hezi Qun are connected.

Zhou Fang’s Court Ladies Adorning Their Hair with Flowers is the main reference for recovering the Hezi Qun, in which the noblewoman is draped in yarn, and underneath the yarn is the familiar Hezi Qun.

Furthermore, there is no documentary or physical evidence to prove that the dress in the painting is a Hezi, and even if the Hezi was indeed a popular dress form in the Tang dynasty, there is still no trace of it in the Tang literature.

Therefore, it can be concluded that the Hezi Qun that are currently popular were mainly restored with reference to the image of Zhou Fang’s paintings, and that there is a great deal of speculation about their internal structure.