先秦时期服饰色彩观念探析

Study of the Concepts on the Colors of Clothes in the Pre-Qin Period

服饰色彩是自然色彩融入人们生活,表现人为思想意识而产生的。随着人类社会阶级的分化,在颜色的认知使用过程中,逐渐衍生出政治功能。夏商时期,统治者开始把纯正的颜色据为己用,确定了黑、白、赤、黄四色的尊贵地位。西周春秋时期,黑、白、赤、青、黄五色完备,为贵族服饰常用,其他颜色也很流行,紫色成为尊贵之色。战国时期,五色和五行及五德结合,从此五色成为德的表现,称为正色,其他色彩为间色,正、间色尊卑地位开始分明;同时由于礼制的加强,为色彩注入了等级内涵,统治者为了彰显自己的特权,以色彩"明贵贱,辨等列",先秦服饰色彩等级开始形成。

The colors of clothes as a reflection of human ideology was generated owing to the penetration of natural colors into human life. In the wake of class polarization in human society, the political function of colors was gradually evolved in the course of people＇ s cognizance and use of colors. In the Xia-Shang period, the rulers began to take forcible possession of pure colors and established the respectable position of four colors, i.e. black, white, red and yellow. In the Western Zhou and Spring-and-Autumn periods, black, white, red, blue and yellow were commonly used to aristocratic clothes ; other colors were also in prevalence ; and purple became a re- spectable color. In the Warring States Period, the five colors, five elements and five virtues were combined with each other. From then on the five colors were taken as the representations of virtue and were called proper colors while the other colors, mixed colors. Thus the two kinds of colors began to represent distinctively the respectable and mean statuses respectively. Meanwhile, as ritual was strengthened, the colors were added with the connotation of social ranks. To show their privilege, the rulers used colors ＂to exhibit the noble and mean; to distinguish the observance of order and ranks;＂ and the ranks of Pre-Qin Period clothes colors began to be formed.