A Study of Dress Prohibitions

채단에 대한 금제

One of the characteristics of feudal society is the control of the dress and ornamentation which stand for various social classes and personal relationships. Throughout the Yi-Dynasty, certain forms of dress and ornamentation were controlled or prohibited by the government. For instance, there was a Ban on the use of gold and silver for ornaments and silks or satins for dresses, and the violator was subject to severe punishment according to the penal laws. This seems to have been done more for symbolism and the dignity of the various social ranks and powers than as an economic measure against foreign products. The use of yellow cloth, for instance, was once banned out of blind submission to the traditional practices in China, then the most powerful nation in Asia. The working classes were prohibited to use any silks of foreign production. This was done to discourage a spirit of wasteful luxury and the tendency to prefer the often higher quality foreign product. The government regulated the class of the traditional wedding ceremony, again as a means of both encouraging economy and reestablishing the distinctions between the classes. In spite of these attempts at control by the government a large trade in smuggled goods was still carried out. This had the effect of impeding the development of the clothing industry in the country.