We are pleased to announce two lectures by Prof. Ren Huaisheng 任怀晟 (Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology 北京服装学院): “The Xuanlan and Xuan-Style Clothing” and “The Mourning Garments of the Xixia Envoys Bearers of Condolences.” The lectures will be in Chinese with bilingual PPT slides.
Date: September 15, 2026
Schedule:
14:00-16:00: Lectures with discussion
16:00-17:00: Informal gathering
Location:
Ghent University
Blandijnberg 2
Room 5.50
Lecture Abstracts
1, 旋襕与旋类服装
The Xuanlan and Xuan-Style Clothing
“旋”类服装是宋明间的常见外衣，鉴于旋类服装都具有“旋”的特征，我们将其进行归类研究。通过各种旋类服装的记载，可以发现“旋”是一种置于后裾的叠门结构，由此使得后裾用料多于无“旋”的袍、衫、下裙和开胯袍衫。在“旋”的结构基础上，通过加“襕”，成为旋襕。“旋”类服装虽初源难定，但具有圆领、窄袖、后叠门的服装必出自胡服。虽然宋明之间各个政权对他族服饰时颁科禁，但对于民间喜用、士人认可的“旋”类服装，中原和胡族政权都跨越了服饰族属的界限，在某种程度上默认了族群间服饰文化的融合。
‘Xuan’-style garments were common outer garments during the Song and Ming dynasties. Given that all such garments share the characteristic of the ‘xuan’, we undertakes a categorised study of them. Through historical records of various ‘xuan’-style garments, it can be observed that the ‘xuan’ is a pleated structure positioned at the rear hem, resulting in the rear hem requiring more fabric than robes, shirts, lower skirts and open-crotch robes and shirts that lack this feature. Building upon the ‘xuan’ structure, the addition of a ‘lan’ (overlap) results in the ‘xuan-lan’; Although the exact origins of ‘xuan’-style garments are difficult to determine, garments featuring a round collar, narrow sleeves and a pleated back panel must have derived from clothing of ethnic groups. Although various regimes between the Song and Ming dynasties occasionally issued edicts prohibiting the attire of other ethnic groups, both the Han and the Hu regimes transcended the boundaries of ethnic affiliation regarding ‘xuan’-style garments, thereby tacitly acknowledging, to a certain extent, the fusion of clothing cultures across all ethnic groups.
2, 西夏告哀使丧服
The Mourning Garments of the Xixia Envoys Bearers of Condolences
西夏丧服形制鲜有从服装形制方面进行的探讨。从“素色三袩，黑鞓蹀躞，亦听服紫縿”的记载入手，发现“三袩”即三褶，是中原丧服的重要特征，并由此推知西夏丧服的基本款式与中原丧服相同，只是束腰不用腰绖而用黑鞓蹀躞。另外通过梳理宋辽西夏幞头、袍衫形式的丧服样式和色彩，可见三朝这种丧服的款式异同和源流关系。
There have been few studies examining the design of Xixia mourning garments from the perspective of clothing styles. Drawing on the records stating ‘plain-coloured three-pleats, black sash, and the wearing of a purple headband is also permitted’ to establish that ‘three pleats’—a key feature of Central Plains mourning attire—indicates that the basic style of Xixia mourning garments was identical to that of the Central Plains, differing only in the use of a black sash rather than a waistband to cinch the waist. Furthermore, by analysing the styles and colours of mourning garments—specifically headdresses and robes—from the Song, Liao and Xixia dynasties, the similarities, differences and genealogical relationships between the mourning attire of these three regimes can be determined.
About the Speaker
Ren Huaisheng, a Professor and PhD supervisor at the Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology since 2020. He holds a PhD in Art Theory from Soochow University and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in Western Xia ethnic history at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. He is a scholar specialized in Western Xia studies, a visiting scholar in SOAS, university of London in 2016, and a member of the Chinese Society for Ethnic History.
His research focuses on the history of customs and art during the Song, Liao, Western Xia, and Jin dynasties, with a focus on Western Xia costume. He is the author of the first monograph on Western Xia costume. He has served as principal investigator for three national-level research projects: a sub-project of the Special Commissioned Project of the National Social Science Fund (2011), a General Project under the Arts Special Programme of the National Social Science Fund (2020), and an Annual Key Project of the National Social Science Fund (2025). His publications have also received support from two major funding schemes: the National Social Science Fund Publication Grant Programme (2018) and the “13th Five-Year Plan” National Key Book Programme (2018).
任怀晟，北京服装学院教授兼博士生导师。苏州大学艺术理论博士、中国社会科学院民族所西夏民族史方向博士后、中国民族史学会会员。曾于2016年作为访问学者赴伦敦大学亚非学院进修。主要从事宋、辽、西夏、金风俗与艺术史研究，尤其擅长西夏服饰领域，是国际上首部及第三部西夏服饰研究专著的作者。在科研项目方面，先后主持3项国家级课题，包括国家社科基金特别委托项目子项目（2011）、国家社科基金艺术学专项一般项目（2020）和国家社科基金重点年度项目（2025）。其研究成果获得国家社科基金出版资助项目（2018年）与“十三五”国家重点图书规划项目资助（2018年）2项支持。
Recent Research
- “西夏告哀使丧服考——也谈三袩、三襜和三穿” [A Study of the Mourning Garments of the Western Xia Envoys of Condolence: With a Discussion of the Sanpeng, Sanchan, and Sanchuan], Xixia xue, 2025, no. 1, pp. 259–273.
- “宋代裁缝令狐昇墓志考释” [A Study of the Epitaph of Linghu Sheng, a Tailor of the Song Dynasty], Xixia yanjiu, 2023, no. 4, pp. 103–110.
