Fitness methods: work and dance.

On behalf of beauty: Mrs. Zhuang Jiangwei and Mrs. Zhuang Gong.

Comments: "It's amazing, and it's all clothes."

As far as the northern central plains are concerned, in the pre-Qin period, "Shuo" or "Qi" was highly praised. In folk parlance, it is "height" and "length" that is beauty. The representative figure of tall and beautiful women in the pre-Qin period was Wei Zhuanggong's wife Zhuang Jiang. Zhuang Jiang is a princess of Qi. When she got married, the wedding scene was big and beautiful. The poem Shuo Ren in The Book of Songs Feng Wei describes Zhuang Jiang's wedding scene. Zhuang Jiang's figure is mentioned twice in the poem: "Amazing" and "Proud". Shuoren is a tall man, and "qi" and "pride" further emphasize the beauty of Zhuang Jiangmiao's figure. Moreover, Zhuang Jiang is not only slim, but also has beautiful hands, neck, skin, mouth, teeth and eyes: soft hands, skin like jelly, collar like salamander, teeth like rhinoceros, a cicada's head like a moth's eyebrow and so on.

The poem "The Book of Songs tang style Jiao Chat" also mentions a tall woman: "the son of the other side is huge" and "the son of the other side is loyal". Judging from the words "helpless" and "faithful", this pepper picker is not only tall, but also very healthy and plump.

Who is Peter's son in pepper chat? The literary world has always been controversial. Some people think that this poem "I'm glad a woman is suitable for having children" is a praise to a woman with a big and plump figure, good health and many children; Some people think that "the son of the other party is not a woman, but a man." In fact, in the Spring and Autumn Period, whether women or men, only tall and healthy people were eligible to participate in the selection of beautiful and handsome men. From Zheng He and Wei, in today's Henan Province, to Qi and Tang in today's Shandong Province, such aesthetics are popular.

The poem "Jane" in "The Book of Songs, National Style and High Style" describes a woman's feelings towards the lead dancer when watching the grand "Wan Dance" performance: "The dancer is tall and powerful".

In fact, the beauty of height can be traced back to the Yin and Shang Dynasties. For example, Zhou Wang, the last monarch of Shang Dynasty, was recognized as a handsome man at that time, because he was tall, which is what Xunzi Feixiang said: "The ancients were beautiful and ranked first in the world."

How to make your body bigger and thinner? The ancients advocated more exercise and more labor. For example, the "other son" in pepper chat is going to take part in pepper picking. In addition, dance is also a bodybuilding sport favored by the ancients. The reason why the dancer in Jane Xi has a good figure is inseparable from his dance exercise. "Jane Xi, you can always dance."

In the pre-Qin period, southern women took "thin waist" as beauty.

Fitness methods: diet and belt.

On behalf of beauty: Princess of Chu

Comments: "King Chu Ling has a thin waist, but there are many hungry people in the country."

In the pre-Qin period, in the eyes of southerners represented by Chu people, tall people no longer seemed to be favored, but "slim waist" was the beauty. "Thin waist" is also called "slim waist", "small waist" and "willow waist". According to Han Feizi's Second in Command, when discussing the influence of the king's personal likes and dislikes on the behavior of governing the country, Han Feizi quoted such an example: "King Chu Ling has a thin waist, but there are many hungry people in the country." It means that the king of Chu appreciates people with thin waists, and as a result, most people around him go on a diet to lose weight in order to please him.

King Chu Ling was a famous king in the Spring and Autumn Period. Before his death, he was extravagant and extravagant, and his aesthetic consciousness was different. In Mozi's "Emil", the consequences of his habit of "thin waist" are recorded in more detail: "In the past, Chu was a gentleman with a thin waist, so all the ministers took rice as a festival and threatened to take a rest and get up again. Compared with the previous year, the color of North Korea has darkened. " Once upon a time, King Chu Ling liked people with thin waists, so the servants of King Ling ate a meal, went on a diet, took a deep breath, tied their belts and held the wall before they stood up. A year later, the court officials turned yellow and black with hunger.

From Mozi's point of view, the thin waist of the king of Chu is aimed at men, but it is the women of Chu who are most affected. They worked hard on their waists one after another, so Yan, a poet in the Northern Song Dynasty, said in his poem Partridge Sky: "Chu women have waists and gills." When the King of Chu came out, the "thin waist" was the beauty of Chu, so the thin waist was also called the "Chu waist" in addition to the King of Chu Ling, and it was said that Chu Zhuangwang was also a "thin waist" in the past. This aesthetic has a great influence on later generations.

How to shape a slim waist? Judging from the records in Mozi, the ancients had two ways: one was to go on a diet to lose weight, so Chu was "hungry"; The second is band control, "threaten first and then bring", which is the case. The popular diet now is also this diet slimming method.

During the Han and Wei Dynasties, women took "lightness" as beauty.

Fitness method: dancing

On behalf of beauty: Zhao, the queen of Emperor Hancheng.

Comments: "The waist is slender and easy to walk. When a person holds a flower branch, he will tremble. "

After the Qin and Han Dynasties, the standard of a woman's good figure changed again. Although "long body" and "thin waist" are still appreciated, the aristocratic class prefers tenderness and delicacy-taking "intellectual man fit" as beauty.

According to historical records, the concubines favored in the harem of the Han Dynasty were all light-skinned. For example, Mrs. Qi, the favorite concubine of Emperor Gaozu Liu Bang, has a charming figure and a sense of rhythm. Mrs. Qi can't do this if she is overweight. The woman with the best figure should be Zhao, the queen of Emperor Han Cheng, who is as light as a swallow. The idiom "Yan Guo is thin and fat" refers to Zhao Yanfei. How light is your body? Song Qinchun's Zhao Chuan said: "Zhao has a thin waist and is good at walking. If a person shivers with a flower branch, others can't learn. "

Most of the beauties in this period are light-weight beauties whose beauty is "lightness". For example, Wang Zhaojun, one of the "four beauties" in ancient China, was lithe and bent down. Wang Zhaojun was originally the imperial concubine of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, and later married Uhaanyehe, a Hun. This is the origin of the story "Zhaojun entered the fortress".

The fashion of "putting beauty first" also influenced women's choice of sculpture in the Northern and Southern Dynasties, and the standard of "learning from foreigners" in the pre-Qin period was completely abandoned by women. According to "Southern History", Zhang Jingwan, a famous geisha in the Southern Liang Dynasty, had a waist of only one foot six inches and could dance on the palm of a person's hand. This dance is called "palm dance" and is said to be Zhao's original dance work.

Why did the Han Dynasty take "lightness" as beauty? It may have a lot to do with the advocacy of Ban Zhao, a female historian in the Eastern Han Dynasty. In "Women's Commandment: Caution", she put forward such a view: "Yin and Yang are different, and men and women are different. Yang takes rigidity as virtue, Yin takes softness as utility, men look at gravity, and women value weakness as beauty. " The phrase "women take weakness as beauty" led to the worship of "calm, gentle and generous" throughout the Wei, Jin and Six Dynasties.

How to make your body light? The most effective and important way is dancing. Mrs. Qi, Zhao, Wang Zhaojun and Zhang Jingwan mentioned above are all bad dancers, which is probably the reason.

In the Tang Dynasty, "plump" figure was beautiful.

Fitness: Take part in sports activities.

On behalf of beauty: Yang Yuhuan, the favorite of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang Dynasty.

Comments: "Its customs are rich and colorful, although fat does not hurt meat."

Before the Tang Dynasty, the "thin waist" and "light body" were changed. Women are "plump", but their waists are not taken seriously. The beautiful women in the Tang Dynasty are all rich. For example, in Yan's Travel Map, none of the ladies around Emperor Taizong was thin. The later the time goes, the more plump the ladies in the Tang Dynasty are in painting. The female images in the murals of the prosperous Tang Dynasty discovered by modern archaeology also confirm this point, all of them are plump, and none of them are thin.

The appearance of this standard of good figure in the Tang Dynasty was also related to the preferences of the upper class. Judging from the words recorded in the Book of the Whole Tang Dynasty, firstly, the Han and Wei emperors directly denied the "thin waist", and the "two-step dance and dry feather fu" written by the Tang people said: "My king is a wonderful flower in the court, with a thin waist in his palm."

After denying the beauty of thin waist, the Tang Dynasty gave birth to a brand-new concept of "bodybuilding"-people should be strong and healthy, and even the court at that time emphasized bodybuilding. "Selected Records of the New Tang Dynasty" records that "there are four kinds of candidates: one is handsome and magnificent ..."

It should be noted that plump beauties in the Tang Dynasty do not represent fat beauties. In the existing figure paintings of the Tang Dynasty, men have "beer bellies" and women have no "pregnant bellies", and their figure proportions are very reasonable, which has a natural and healthy beauty. Yang Yuhuan was the favorite concubine of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, and she was a very respected beauty representative in the Tang Dynasty. "Biography of Yang Guifei in the Old Tang Dynasty" commented on her beauty: "It's really beautiful, good at singing and dancing, smooth in melody and brilliant."

"Too real" is Yang Yuhuan's name. For her figure, the literati in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties gave incisive comments on the study. He said in the poem "Untitled": "Its customs are rich and colorful, although fat does not hurt meat."

How to make a full figure, "fat does not hurt meat"? The way for women in the Tang Dynasty was to take part in more sports activities. Judging from the murals in the Tang Dynasty, women in the Tang Dynasty liked to ride horses for outings and participate in large-scale cultural and sports activities. According to Song Gaocheng's Chronicles, on the 15th day of the first month of the second year of Tang Ruizong's birth, a lantern-burning activity was held in Beijing. "There are more than 1000 young women in Chang 'an, singing under lanterns ..." As for the aesthetics of women's figure after the Tang Dynasty, they also have corresponding characteristics, showing diversity, but basically they are slim and very close to modern times.