Tracing The Rich History Behind The Rise Of The Yellow Turban As A Fashion Item

By Sue Carpenter


One of the most enduring pieces of oriental inspire fashion garb has to be the distinctive yellow turban. Many wearers of the piece of headgear however do not have the knowledge of its history and therefore they cannot appreciate the deep historical significance of the turbans. It is for this reason that the following guide to the events that lead to the ubiquity of the turban in ancient China has been put together.

The yellow turban goes way back to a rebellion that rose against the Ling dynasty in the dying years of the second century AD. There was great dissatisfaction in the Northern Chinese provinces with the empire advancing unpopular agrarian policies in areas where famine was rampant. The rebellion marked a crucial point in the evolution of the Taoism school of thought.

The revolution was lead by the legendary three Zhang brothers in the Shandong province. They taught their followers a new brand of Taoism where people were encouraged to concept and take to faith for healing and confess their sins. The most inspiring of the three was Jiao who was given the reverent title 'General from Heaven'.

Under the leadership of Jiao, the peasants were transformed into fearsome warriors, bound by his inspirational belief of a better era ahead after their certain victory. The peasants were especially taken in by his descriptions of a better era when they had razed the Han dynasty to the ground. He would tell them that a new era would be heralded by a whole year when the entire sky would turn and remain yellow. This was the inspiration for the distinctive headwear.

The rebellion against the empire was centered around three distinct areas, mainly in the Northern Chinese provinces. The area under the Zhang brothers influence was to the north of the Yangtze river where their home and base was. The other two areas the rebels were concentrated included the area that includes the modern day Beijing city as well as regions in the Yinchuan and Nanyang regions.

In a matter of a few years, the rebellion had gathered so much steam as to cause great concern in the empire. After a series of victories, the 360,000 rebels looked set to topple the emperor. They were however confronted by a new reality check when a new general, Liu Yan, rose up the ranks and drafted over 100,000 new conscripts from the relatively quiet Southern provinces of the empire. With this army, Yan soon started inflicting losses on the rebels.

Under the leadership of Liu Yan, the momentum was firmly on the side of the empire and the rebellion was squashed with vengeance. It did not take long for the inspirational Zhang brothers to be captured and they were speedily beheaded. The rebellion continued to boil on for about ten years after the deaths but by 205 AD, the yellow turbans had been squashed for good.

It is amazing that western fashion has so readily embraced oriental designs with such alacrity. While there are many ways in which this is manifested, very few can approach the spectacular way in which the distinctive yellow turban has left a mark. Take a time to read the history of this versatile headgear and you will never see it in the same sort of light ever.




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