#formosa

馬王堆漢墓 / 马王堆汉墓 / Ma3 Wang2 Dui1 Han4 Mu4 / Mawangdui Han Dynasty Tomb

Hunan Provincial Museum exhibition banner. The artifacts from Mawangdui are regarded as national treasures. They have been on permanent exhibition since 2017.

I did a (questionable in accuracy.........) Newhanfu article on the Mawangdui burial site when I was still active there. It’s one of my favorite Hanfu relic dig sites: I learned about it in my early stages of hanfu research, and it was one of the first archaeological sites that I felt sort of a visceral connection to. People often ask why I like hanfu, and I usually answer with a little anecdote—combing through the records of Hunan Provincial Museum, sifting through page after page of data on decaying silk and wooden carvings, it struck me that those figurines looked oddly familiar—their faces looked just like me.

Anyway, it’s a very famous dig site; most Chinese people have at least heard of it even if they aren’t into hanfu. It’s an eerily remarkable feat of preservation that the contents of the tomb were so complete. I’ll do a separate rewrite of that article later, but for now all you need to know is that the tomb belonged to a ~50-year-old Xinzhui Furen / 辛追夫人 (aka Lady Dai) during the beginning of the Eastern Han Dynasty（西漢 / 西汉 / xi1 han4) in the Changsha Kingdom (長沙國 / 长沙国 / chang2 sha1 guo2), who died of a heart attack in 168-169 BCE, and the clothes she was buried with form the basis of our understanding of Han Dynasty clothing as a whole. A number of very well-preserved straight- and curved- hem robes were excavated with her.

褐色菱紋羅地「信期繡」絲綿袍 / 褐色菱纹罗地“信期绣”丝绵袍 / he4 se4 wen2 luo2 di4 xin4 qi2 xiu4 si1 mian2 pao2 / brown lozenge gauze base Xinqi embroidery silk down robe, excavated from the Mawangdui tomb. One of the most well-preserved curved-hem robes from the burial. Length 150cm, wingspan 250cm, sleeve width 28cm, waist 60cm across. The main material is brown silk gauze (luo) woven in a diamond pattern, embroidered all over in the Xinqi embroidery pattern, padded with silk floss. The trim is brocade and the lining is juan silk. The bottom section is bias-cut but not the top section. Src: Hunan Provincial Museum.

The robes excavated fall into two categories: straight-hem and curved-hem robes. All of them were long and cross-collared. Straight-hem robes are your classic floor-length robes, whose hems sweep the floor evenly. Curved-hem robes, or 曲裾袍 / qv1 jv1 pao2, have a hem that spirals up the lower body from the floor, resulting in a 'curved' hem. The resulting structure is an extra triangular piece extending out from the wearer's side that gets wrapped around the waist area and secured with a belt.

Of the eight curved-hem robes excavated, only two have a double-trim border decoration. The most well-known and the usual standard for recreations is the 褐色菱紋羅地「信期繡」絲綿袍 / brown lozenge gauze base Xinqi embroidery silk down robe. The other is the 絳綛紫色「長壽繡」絲綿袍 / dark purple Changshou embroidery silk down robe, but it's less well-preserved so there's less information out there about it; nevertheless it looks to be constructed very similarly. Both of these robes are padded with silk floss and have an embroidered body, with two different colors of taping along the sleeve cuff, collar, and hem: a darker color comprising of the wide taping directly adjacent to the main body and a lighter color comprising of the narrow taping distal to the main body. 

絳綛紫色「長壽繡」絲綿袍 / 绛紫色“长寿绣”丝绵袍 / jiang4 zi3 se4 chang2 shou4 xiu4 si1 mian2 pao2 / dark purple Changshou embroidery silk down robe, excavated from Mawangdui tomb, length 130cm wingspan 232cm. Very similar to the other robe except with a different embroidery pattern on the surface and slightly less well-preserved at the edges. Src: Hunan Provincial Museum.

The curved-hem robe is a type of shenyi robe. Shenyi are defined as long robes whose torso and bottom sections are separately cut & sewn together, rather than just being a shirt/top that happens to be very long. The top half usually follows the same construction as any Hanfu top, whereas the bottom half is usually made up of 4-12 quadrilaterals pieced together to wrap around the waist and legs. Most shenyi will also have decorative trims along the hem and collar.

Structural line drawing of the curved-hem robe. Reposted by 春梅狐狸 (well-known online hanfu author, wrote 华夏衣橱), originally from 长沙马王堆一号汉墓 (official report). Confirmed—corroborated with multiple sources.

Both of the curved-hem robes have a similar shenyi construction, in that we can look at the top and bottom sections separately. The collar is a classic cross-collar (but with a characteristically wide collar piece), cut out in a curved shape. The sleeves are chuihuxiu, ‘drooping’ sleeves, in that they project straight out from the root and then curve upwards at the ends to meet the slightly narrower sleeve cuffs.

The bias grain on a grid representing the fibers that would be woven together to form a piece of fabric. Src: Designer Stitch.

The bottom ‘skirt’ section is made of four bias-cut panels sewn together. 'Bias-cut' refers to the orientation that the pieces are cut out from the full bolt of fabric, in relation to the grain: these panels were positioned so that the fabric grain ran across them diagonally, rather than straight up and down, allowing a non-elastic fabric to soften and stretch (think of a parallelogram being pulled from opposite corners).

This method is a very important feature of the curved-hem robe, because it allows for the bottom section to wrap around the hips and legs much more tightly, resulting in the pronounced, flattering silhouette we see in Han dynasty murals and figurines.

The rearrangement of parallelogram pieces cut out from a pain piece of fabric to extend the length with zero waste. Image reposted by 華服志; I'm not sure where it came from initially but have corroborated with multiple sources that it is accurate.

The trims are also bias-cut, with a no-waste method of extending the length of a strip of fabric by cutting and rearranging parallelogram pieces. I'm sure this has a name, I just don't know what it is. The other robes, gloves, virtually anything that required a long 'strip' of fabric from the tomb employ this same method, simultaneously lengthening and softening the fabric.

Modern recreations will typically follow the same cut & bias as the original pattern while substituting other fabrics. For this set, because of the nature of the trim fabrics and the placement of the design, some parts (especially the narrow trim) were cut traditionally while other parts were bias-cut. The solid body of the skirt section was bias-cut.

彩繪木俑 (Colored Wooden Figurines), Mawangdui #1 Han Tomb, Early Western Han Dynasty ~202BCE—9CE, Src: Hunan Provincial Museum

Additionally, we can also deduce from the depiction of curved-hem robes on figurines that they were floor-length, likely almost dragging on the front. We know that Lady Dai's corpse was about 154cm tall, while her robes were approximately 130-150cm long. Accounting for some shrinkage that likely occurred over time due to water loss, this measurement corroborates the suspected proportions. Both men and women have been depicted wearing curved-hem robes, though later on the majority seem to be women.

Inspiration 1: The Hundred-Pacer & Surrounding Legends

Src: Liu Rui Wei, iNaturalist, Photo 345941307, August 2023, observed near 三星鄉

Looping back around to where the initial idea for this set even came from: When we first started brainstorming for the Year of the Snake collection, one of the first things we decided was that each set would be based on a different species of snake. Yulan, being the ultra biology nerd here, put together a list of visually/culturally interesting snakes for us to start off on. One of those snakes was the Chinese Moccasin or Hundred-Pacer, Deinagkistrodon. I didn't know about its existence before she introduced it to me.

The Hundred-Pacer snake is one of the six great venomous snakes of Taiwan. It's called the Hundred-Pacer because there's a legend that once you've been bitten by one, you'll be dead within a hundred paces. Obviously that's an exaggeration, but the hemotoxin it produces can indeed be fatal. On the flip side, its venom has also ironically been used to make antivenins for a long time.

Src: Shao Qi, iNaturalist, Photo 406124328, July 2024, observed near 新竹

In appearance the hundred-pacer is very striking—the main distinguishing features are its triangular head, sharp pointy snout, and triangular body pattern (diamond-like from above). Lower down, next to the belly, they have a row of small black splotches visible from the side. They're most famous in Taiwan but can be found in many mountainous regions in Southeast Asia and southern China.

Most notably, hundred-pacers are considered sacred to several indigenous groups in southern Taiwan, such as the Paiwan (Paiwan: Kacalisian), Bunun, and Rukai (Rukai: Drekay) people (I was able to find more information on the Paiwan people so most of my research pertains to them). Many of their creation myths have to do with hundred-pacer snakes, and there are several folktales related to hundred-pacer gods. Some consider themselves descendants of hundred-pacers, others say they are protected by them—the Paiwan people call themselves the 'People of the Hundred-Pacer.'

Examples of the hundred-pacer depicted on various items belonging to the Paiwan people. Src: 順益台灣原住民博物館 Shung Ye Museum of Formosan Aborigines, top: scabbard (M015800), bottom left: gunpowder tube (M016100), bottom right: carved figurine (M070000).

In any case, the image of the hundred-pacer appears everywhere—in sculptures, architecture, nobility's clothing (for the Paiwan people, only the noble were permitted to wear the hundred-pacer on their clothing), and infinitely many decorations. It's one of their most prevalent symbols.

From a cultural perspective, this was specifically interesting to me and relevant to the Year of the Snake collection's intent, because it was a counterexample to the theory that snakes are universally considered bad because they are dangerous. Not only do these indigenous groups have an extremely positive view on the snakes, the snakes in question are undeniably very dangerous. To me, this proves that it's possible to have respect for an animal's beauty, not in spite of, but because of its powerful ability to cause damage.

This is already true of a lot of mammalian predators—tigers and lions can certainly be very dangerous, but they're still seen as symbols of strength and power, not met with the same disgust that snakes and similar creepy-crawlies tend to evoke.

Inspiration 2: Taipei Fashion Week

Runway photos from Taipei Fashion Week SS23. The model in the center has hundred-pacers on her arms. Src: The Daily Front Row, "Taipei Fashion Week Returned With A Thought-provoking Theme," 17 October 2022.

Taipei Fashion Week SS23 opened with a show titled “CrossLab: Dialogue Between Indigenous Art and Fashion.” The basic idea was to pair up 5 designers with 5 traditional indigenous craft artisans from various indigenous tribes throughout Taiwan, mixing modern fashion with traditional techniques that are in danger of dying out.

The artisans in question are incredibly well-respected masters of their craft, recognized by the Ministry of Culture as keepers of intangible cultural heritage. Many of them inherited their skills from their families and are now some of the only individuals in the world who still know how to use them. You can read about each designer, artisan, and collaboration in the archives of Taipei Fashion Week's websites. The looks are absolutely GORGEOUS, from the clothing itself to the styling & makeup—like peak couture. I've been obsessed ever since I found out about it.

I unfortunately do not have the truckload of sponsors and connections necessary to make a collaboration of this scale happen on my own (yet!!!!!!!!), but learning about this event did make me more aware that as cultural artists we have an opportunity to create, explore, and share beyond our comfort zones.

Quick Disclaimer on Culture

While some Taiwanese Han people including myself do have some detectable traces of austronesian blood, for many it’s a percentage so small that it’s virtually negligible. Studies claiming significant overarching genetic difference in the Taiwanese Han population due to indigenous blood have been largely debunked already. While I do claim descent from Taiwanese austronesian ancestors, I am NOT able to claim indigenous culture as my own, as I have not gone through the lived experiences and context required to earn it.

To be clear, my intention is not to claim these cultural aspects, but to share their existence with the world. If this post sparks interest in anyone, I want to acknowledge that my knowledge basically ends here. If you want to learn more I would encourage looking elsewhere (I will put some links at the end) for a more authentic source of information.

Though I did my best to research accurately and respectfully, information on indigenous peoples is often either not available, of dubious accuracy, or hard to access, especially with a language barrier. Also, historical categorization of Taiwanese aborigines has always been really iffy, so there’s some disagreement about terms and descriptions that complicates things. Colonization happened & continued to happen for a very long time and there are still a lot of issues within Taiwan related to the treatment and status of indigenous people. I only hope that I can continue to pay homage to those less-often recognized cultures that played a role, however large or small, in shaping the world that we live in today, and the identities we wear on our bodies.

I hesitated on this set and this post for a very long time because I didn’t want to offend or overstep, but ultimately I went ahead with it because I think that if people always refuse to interact with or learn about something for fear of doing it wrong, then no efforts will ever be made to spread awareness and understanding about new things. To me, my objective to share these cultural concepts is worth the risk of imperfection. I tried my very best and will continue to revise things as I learn, but if I say something inaccurate, misleading or otherwise offensive, please understand that it’s never my intention, and point me in the right direction (nicely please :<).

The Design

As mentioned before, the cut follows the same construction as the Mawangdui curved-hem robes with some modifications—some parts of the trim were not bias-cut because of the positioning and orientation of the printed pattern. However, most of the other parts of the robe follow the original structure.

The fabric making up the body of the robe is velvet chiffon, an ultra-light and soft fabric with the tiniest hint of a pile. It drapes like a dream and the pile gives it the tiniest bit of that sophisticated velvety sheen on the surface—but only a little; it’s closer to chiffon than velvet. To the best of my knowledge, the fibers are polyester. The color chosen is a deep plum purple shade, taken from the second mentioned robe in the Mawangdui section.

An earlier prototype had the robe lined with a cotton fabric, but there were some issues with it: the cotton lining was noticeably thicker than the chiffon surface material, which affected the drape of the robe as a whole. This might’ve been less of a problem if, like the lined robed found in Mawangdui, they were padded with some kind of cotton or silk floss in between, but we didn’t have that, so the separation between the inner and outer layers looked odd. In the end I elected to remove the lining completely—the wrong face of the velvet chiffon was perfectly smooth and comfortable anyway, and this would allow for some flexibility in climate, since the lined version was very hot.

Src: Photo by 齊玉 (@chiyu1024 on ig), modeled by Tangtang—shot January 2025 at Yangmingshan National Park

The trims on the robe feature two printed designs that I drew, both based off of the hundred-pacer’s diamond /triangle pattern. I wanted the wide trim to resemble the actual color scheme and visual texture of the snake’s scales a little more closely, so I used similar grey-brown colors and a scale brush to create mottled, alternating diamond scales. 

One of the features that makes the hundred-pacer’s coloring so noticeable is that the delineation between the light and dark parts isn’t just a single switch of colors—on the dark triangles, the color gradually deepens as you get closer to the line; on the light diamonds, the color lightens close to the border. This emphasizes the shade contrast between them and also gives the illusion that the lighter diamond part is ‘floating’ above the triangles, since the super dark parts of the triangles appear like shadows.

Src: Liu Rui Wei, iNaturalist, Photo 315860941, August 2023, observed near 三星鄉

If you’ve ever painted you’ll be very familiar with what I’m talking about; to strengthen the appearance of an edge you increase the contrast on either side of it to ‘lift’ the brighter side and ‘push’ the darker side down. It’s nature’s very convincing imitation of leaves that have fallen on the ground—as obvious as it seems to us, it works extremely well as camouflage when the ground is littered with brown leaves.

The narrow border’s print has slightly different colors: the background is cream, like the snake’s underbelly, and the pattern itself alternates between dark red and purple. It’s more on the geometric side. One side has wide triangles, as the hundred-pacer’s pattern appears from the side, and the other has half-ovals, meant to imitate the round black splotches lining the edge of its belly. There are circles in between them representing the errant black scales that I’ve seen appear on their necks and bellies, and also to even out the overall appearance a little. 

Originally I wanted to narrow border to only have the belly splotch pattern, but when the sample was made it looked a bit strange—the splotches ended up being too big in relation to the diamond pattern, and their unevenness was really pronounced, which I didn’t like. I re-designed the pattern to have smaller shapes scattered throughout, which I think was a lot more visually balanced.

That about wraps it up I think! I'm supposed to get edited photos back from my January photoshoot in Yangmingshan National Park by like... next week or so, I'll do a separate post about it with pretty pictures (this post is already long enough >.<)

hey look it me

Addendum—Sources, Resources, and Ways to Support Formosan Indigenous People

Keep in mind that a lot of these sources are gonna be written in traditional Chinese. Some of them have English translation options on their websites though, you just have to look for it/accept that there's probably gonna be some mistranslations.

順益台灣原住民博物館 / Shung Ye Museum of Formosan Aborigines: Located in Shilin District in Taipei, close to the National Palace Museum, museum dedicated to indigenous peoples of Taiwan. If you ever visit Taipei and have the National Palace Museum on your list I’d recommend carving out some time to come here too! Entry is $5 USD with a bunch of discounts for students/elderly/indigenous/disabled/etc. There are four floors (including basement) to explore and tons of permanent/rotating exhibits. 

WilDesign Wildman Workshop: One of the indigenous-owned workshops I like. They’re not super duper active but they make just... really cool stuff. I got a necklace from them.

LiMA: A distribution platform dedicated to indigenous people’s handiwork. They have a physical location in Taipei on Yongkang Street that I visited (I was very shy and chickened out of chatting with the staff but it was VERY cool, it's where I found the Wildman necklace I bought). They’re endorsed by the Council of Indigenous Peoples. They have everything from jewelry to makeup to snacks.

DI NI Handmade Workshop: Another indigenous peoples’ workshop. I haven’t been to this one in person but have heard good things. It’s apparently run by a bunch of retired elementary school teachers, and they’ve got a lot of very cute jewelry, purses, pillowcases etc. 

Council of Indigenous People: Council of Indigenous people’s webpage on Paiwan people. They have regular news and info coming out. For some reason the link breaks sometimes, idk why, but if it’s not working you can probably google your way there.

Explore the Sun Qadaw : Another organization, also associated with LiMA. They share stuff about crafts, travel, events, food, etc. I think they have an instagram but idk if they're very active there 

I found this random article, I can't figure out where it's from but the info seems to check out with all the other sources????? So I guess I'll put this here too?????

National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts:  This is a past event listing but it contains some information in it about the hundred-pacer and its depictions. 

Academia Sinica Center for Digital Cultures: Some more depictions of the snake on carvings.