It is said that as early as the end of the Spring and Autumn Period, Lu Ban, a famous carpenter in ancient China, often worked in the fields. If it rains, he is often wet. It is recorded in ancient books that "Yun's bamboo was chopped into strips covered with animal skins, which means that Lu's wife Yun wanted to make something that can shelter from the rain, so she chopped the bamboo into thin strips covered with animal skins, which looked like a" pavilion ",folded like a stick and opened like a lid. In fact, this is the later umbrella. This story shows that the founder of Umbrella is Lu Ban's wife Yun, and it also shows that Umbrella has been in China for thousands of years.
In BC 1 1 century, there were umbrellas made of silk, but only the best people could use them. Yellow parasols, which show the majesty of rulers, first appeared in Qin Mugong during the Warring States Period and continued until the Qing Dynasty.
After Cai Lun invented paper in the Eastern Han Dynasty, there appeared an oil-paper umbrella coated with tung oil, but the umbrella at that time was mainly made of yellow paper, which shows that the history of oil-paper umbrella in China was about 2,000 years ago.
In the Tang Dynasty, oil-paper umbrellas were widely used among the people. During this period, due to the emergence of special Xuan paper for painting and calligraphy, there appeared an oil-paper umbrella for painting and calligraphy with Xuan paper as the umbrella surface and painters writing and painting on the umbrella surface. It was also during this period that oil-paper umbrellas spread to Japan, South Korea, Taiwan Province Province, Nanyang and other places.
"Green oil umbrella" was widely used in Song Dynasty, and the color was mainly green. In the famous Riverside Scene at Qingming Festival, people use this kind of "green oil umbrella" in the busy market.
In the Yuan Dynasty, due to the invention of cotton cloth, an oilcloth umbrella with oil on cotton cloth appeared. It is said that the Italian Kyle Polo brought an oilcloth umbrella from China when he returned home. After improvement, Europeans developed it into a modern folding umbrella. Since the Yuan Dynasty, oil-paper umbrellas and oil-cloth umbrellas have been the main rain gear tools in China.
During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, oil-paper umbrellas were widely used among the people, and painters in this period also liked to create on umbrellas. In March 2005, at an auction in the United States, an oil-paper umbrella for landscape painting created by Wen Zhiming fetched $980,000. Unfortunately, there are very few oil-paper umbrellas created by famous artists from ancient times to the present.
From the Qing Dynasty to the 1970s, the oil-paper umbrella was always the main rain gear for people. Oil-paper umbrella is not only a daily necessities for sun protection and rain protection, but also an indispensable item in traditional wedding etiquette. In traditional Chinese weddings, when the bride gets off the sedan chair, she will cover her with a red oil-paper umbrella to ward off evil spirits. After the China oil-paper umbrella was introduced to Japan, it was improved and developed into a "harmonious umbrella" that the Japanese still use today. The biggest difference between the Harmony Umbrella and the traditional oil-paper umbrella in China is the long handle, which is mainly red, white and purple. At a traditional Japanese wedding, the bride will also be covered by a red oiled paper umbrella.
Look, old people like purple umbrellas symbolizing longevity, and they should use white umbrellas when they are buried. Traditional Japanese dances will also use oil-paper umbrellas as props, and tea ceremony performances will use "fan umbrellas".
In 1970s, due to the popularity of steel umbrellas, the rain gear function of oil-paper umbrellas was replaced by steel umbrellas and folding umbrellas, and oil-paper umbrellas gradually withdrew from the market.
In 1980s and 1990s, with the development of tourism in China and the change of people's aesthetic concept, oil-paper umbrella, as a representative of nostalgic culture, was loved by more and more people. Their functions are no longer rain gear, but mainly souvenirs, gifts, decorations and collections. In order to adapt to this function, a large number of craft umbrellas made of silk and imitation silk have appeared.