Chinese Earring Fashion: A Living Legacy

Today’s Chinese earring fashion is based on the long history of a unique civilization. When we explore the history of this fashion, we discover that women are almost the same 2500 years ago as they are today. In fact, in the past, Chinese women used to be buried wearing their favorite earrings and other jewelry. Archaeologists have found a variety of earrings while working on China’s historical artifacts. The evidence strongly supports this very old fashion trend.

“Erdang” is a kind of ancient earring that was worn by piercing the human earlobe of women. It was also one of the most popular jewelry items displayed by Chinese women in ancient times. In Guangzhou, which is in the Guangdong province of southern China, a piece of pottery was unearthed. It dates back to the Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD). It showed a woman dancing with Erdang earrings. There is an important dictionary compiled by Lui Xi, a scholar from the Han dynasty (206 BC-220 AD) which is titled “Shiming” (Terms of Interpretation). According to Shiming, Erdang earrings were first worn by ethnic women in remote frontier areas. Later, this fashion trend also spread to central China.

The oldest Erdang earring was discovered in the Chu state tomb. It dates back to the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476 BC). Archaeological excavations have shown that wearing Erdang earrings became highly fashionable during the Warring States Period (475-221 BC), as well as during the Qin Dynasty (221-206 BC). These ancient earrings were usually made from certain materials. These materials included gold, jade, silver, ivory, marble, glass, and crystal.

Edrang glass earrings were in fashion mainly due to their brilliant colors and shiny, translucent facets from the time of the Han dynasty to the Southern and Northern dynasties (420-581 AD). Literate Chinese in these time periods wrote admiration poems in praise of these extra special pieces of jewelry. Over the past few decades, Chinese archaeologists have discovered thousands of glass Erdang earrings in ancient tombs like the ones described above. Graves of the dead with Erdang earring artifacts are found around the vast countryside. This is especially the case in the provinces of Henan, Hunan and Hubei in central China.

In Changsha, which is the capital city of Hunan province, dozens of Han Dynasty tombs with a plethora of Erdang glass earrings were found between 1952 and 1964. In fact, the colors of Erdang glass earrings were very diverse. . They included the colors blue, green, purple, black and white. Also, these earrings were transparent or translucent. What most impressed these experts and archaeologists was the fact that many of these artifacts were still glowing when they were unearthed!

During the Han dynasty, empresses, imperial concubines, and princesses wore earrings in a very different way. No earlobes pierced with earrings. Instead, these women placed the Erdang earring on a hairpin. Then the earring would hang next to her ears. According to Shiming’s text, these earrings were called “zan’er” or hairpin earrings. They were a symbol of royalty rather than an ordinary piece of jewelry. The ancient scholar Lui has pointed out in his classic work that the hairpin earrings of royal courts reminded imperial women of their duty to heed wise counsel. So when the emperor spoke to the royal women, they had to remove their hairpin earrings out of respect so they could give him their full attention.

In further research on ancient Chinese earrings, scholars found that many ancient women liked to wear a single earring rather than a pair. Individual earrings have been found in a third of Han dynasty tombs throughout China. What all this information points to is the undeniable fact that earrings in Chinese fashion culture (as well as in the rest of Asia) are a living legacy that has not diminished with the passage of time. Women have always felt “naked” without earrings. It was the same in the past as it still is today. So… savor the time you spend choosing your earrings and enjoy them for a lifetime. You won’t be the first woman to do it!