A FASHIONABLE CENTURY
A
FASHIONABLE
CENTURY
TEXTILE ARTISTRY AND COMMERCE
IN THE LATE QING
RACHEL SILBERSTEIN
A WILLIAM SANGKI AND NANHEE MIN HAHN BOOK
UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON PRESS
SEATTLE
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A Fashionable Century was made possible by a collaborative grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. |
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Publication of this book has been aided by a grant from the Millard Meiss Publication Fund of the College Art Association. |
A Fashionable Century was also supported by a generous grant from the William Sangki and Nanhee Min Hahn Fund for Books on East Asia.
Additional support was provided by the Association for Asian Studies First Book Subvention
Program, the Pasold Research Fund, and the Scouloudi Foundation in association with the
Institute of Historical Research.
Copyright © 2020 by the University of Washington Press
Design by Laura Shaw Design
Composed in Warnock Pro, typeface designed by Robert Slimbach, and
Ideal Sans, typeface designed by Hoefler & Co.
Maps by Bill Nelson
24 23 22 21 205 4 3 2 1
Printed and bound in Korea
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form
or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information
storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON PRESS
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA
Names: Silberstein, Rachel, 1977– author.
Title: A fashionable century : textile artistry and commerce in the late Qing / Rachel Silberstein.
Description: Seattle : University of Washington Press, [2020] | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2019041152 (print) | LCCN 2019041153 (ebook) | ISBN 9780295747187 (hardcover) | ISBN 9780295747194 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Textile design—China—History—19th century. | Textile industry—China— History—19th century. | Fashion—Social aspects—China—History—19th century. | Women textile workers—China—History—19th century. | Women artisans—China—History—19th century.
Classification: LCC NK8883.A1 S55 2020 (print) | LCC NK8883.A1 (ebook) | DDC 746.0951—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019041152
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019041153
The paper used in this publication is acid free and meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48–1984.∞
For my husband Lev and our sons—Jascha, Emil, and Natan
If all the clothing handed down for generations had never been sold to dealers in secondhand goods, their annual sunning in June would have been a brilliant and lively affair. You would move down the path between bamboo poles, flanked by walls of silk and satin—an excavated corridor within an ancient underground palace buried deep under the ground. You would press your forehead against brocades shot through with gold thread. When the sun was still here, this thread was warmed by the light, but now it is cold.
Zhang Ailing, “A Chronicle of Changing Clothes” (Geng yi ji), 1943
The chief problem presented by the sheer phenomenon of aesthetic force, in whatever form and in result of whatever skill it may come, is how to place it within the other modes of social activity, how to incorporate it into the texture of a particular pattern of life.
Clifford Geertz, “Art as a Cultural System,” 1976
The luxuries of the people are also the livelihoods of the people.
Gu Gongxie, “Excerpts from Leisurely Writings to Pass the Summer”
(Xiaoxia xianji zhaichao), 1785
CONTENTS
TERMS, ABBREVIATIONS, AND CHRONOLOGY
INTRODUCTION: Fashion and Chinese History
CREATING FASHION THROUGH THE DYNASTY
IMAGERY, DISCOURSE, PRODUCTION
