In this period, people were divided into nine classes by their ranks in court or their property. A clear-cut line was drawn to separate these classes, who may never marry each other. Not only the rich used every opportunity of weddings and funerals to show off their wealth, but the commoners also followed suit. There was an story in Shi shuo Hsin yu (A New Account ofTales of the World) that a scholar Ruan Ji (210-263) and his niece Ruan Xian, lived south of the road while some better-off Ruans lived north of the road. Every year on July the 7th of the lunar calendar, the northern Ruans took out their clothing to be aired under the sun, showing off their silks and brocades. In response to this Ruan Ji took out his shoddy underwear made of coarse homespun cloth and stained it on a bamboo pole. This behavior itself was sarcasm against the showing off and the Confucian formalities with clothes.
The "Seven Gentlemen of the Bamboo Forest" refers to tile seven gentlemen of the We/and lin Period, including Ruan Ji and Ruan Xian. Today we can still see on wall paintings how they once dressed - the front of the garment dragging to the floor, exposIng the chest, arms, shins and feet. This is a rare scene among the literati of the Chinese feudal society, because only the lower class exposed their arms and legs. Moreover, their characters were no less defiant than their clothes. In paintings, Liu Ling, Ji Kong and Wang Rong of the "seven gentlemen" had their hair done in children's buns, cynical of all the tradition and customs of the world.
As far as Chinese folk garments are concerned, the taste of the literati significantly expanded the aesthetics of ancient China. The Chinese classical sense of beauty started out as something quite simple: soft hands and supple skin, sweet smile and beautiful eyes formed the ideal beauty of the
Spring and Autumn Period, praising the unpretentious and natural beauty. By the Wei and Jin Period, descriptions of female beauty moved on to include the hairstyle, the dresses and the ornaments. The more sophisticated aesthetics of the Wei and Jin Peried brought about great progress in dress and ornaments.In the Wet and Jhi Period, especially during the Eastern Jin Period (317-420), the aristocratic women went after an uninhibited life style along with the collapse of the Eastern Han feudal ethical code. These women looked dorm upon the role society imposed on them, and immersed themselves in socializing, sightseeing, and studies of art, literature and metaphysics, completely defying the feudalistic "virtues" of women. This carefree life style brought about the development
of women's garments in the direction of extravagant and ornate beauty. Wide sleeves and long robes, flying ribbons and floating skirts, elegant and majestic hair ornaments - all these became the trend of Wei and Jin garments.
