In the history after the Three Kingdoms, Guan Yu was constantly respected by the people and rulers of all dynasties because of his special personal charm and his position as the first general in the Three Kingdoms. Guan Yu gradually became a mythical figure and eventually became a martial artist in the history of China, ranking alongside Confucius in Wen Sheng as a civil and military sage. He is very famous in the history of China, and everyone knows Guan Yu.
Guan Yu
Since he is the first general in the Three Kingdoms and a martial artist in history, we have to pay attention to what image Guan Yu is. There is no description of Guan Yu's appearance and clothes in the history books. Ordinary people's historical image of Guan Yu mostly comes from film and television works and the novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Guan Yu's image is clearly described in The Romance of the Three Kingdoms:
He is nine feet long, his beard is two feet long, his face is like a jujube, his lips are coated with fat, his eyes are like a phoenix, his eyes are full of eyebrows, and he looks handsome and dignified.
From the perspective of modern people, this image is a standard handsome guy, and it is also the kind of tall and handsome. The unit of the Three Kingdoms is nine feet, which is 207.9 centimeters, and Guan Yu is nearly 2.08 meters tall. A suitable basketball player is 46.2 cm long and has a beard alone. Guan Yu's face is like a heavy jujube, that is, crimson, commonly known as big red face, red lips, and a pair of phoenix eyes.
Guanyu movie and television image
But this description doesn't say what clothes Guan Yu wears or what hat he wears. After Cao Cao captured Guan Yu in the romance of the Three Kingdoms, he was very kind to Guan Yu. He once gave Guan Yu a brocade robe and Guan Yu accepted it. This is one of the few gifts that Guan Yu accepted, which can prove that Guan Yu's brocade robe is really green:
One day, Cao Cao saw that Guan Gong's green brocade shirt was old, so he measured it and gave it to him as a gift.
It only says that Guan Yu's clothes are green, not that Guan Yu wears a green hat. Wearing green clothes is very different from wearing a green hat. So where did Guan Yu's cuckold husband come from?
Guanyu movie and television image
The answer comes from film and television works. Guan Yu's image in most TV dramas about the Romance of the Three Kingdoms is wearing a green hat and green clothes. For example, in the old TV series Romance of the Three Kingdoms and the new version of The Three Kingdoms, Guan Yu's image is wearing a green hat and green clothes. Then the question is coming. Why did Guan Yu dress like this? Especially wearing a green hat?
First of all, we can't look at ancient people's clothes and hats with modern eyes, which have different meanings. Modern people know the meaning of cuckoldry, but it didn't mean it in ancient times. People in ancient times had to wear hats, and they could only wear hats when they were over 20 years old. This is a kind of etiquette. Wearing a hat has become a part of the body, so it is normal for Guan Yu to wear a hat. If not, Guan Yu's contemporaries basically wear hats.
If you want to wear a hat, why do you want to wear a green hat for Guan Yu?
Guan Yu and Zhang Fei
In ancient times, color was very particular. People of different identities wear different colors of clothes and hats. What was the ancient green like? Humble? What color does it say here? Humble? Just a humble position, black is the noblest color in the Qin Dynasty, so Qin Shihuang's robes are black, and Han inherited the Qin system. In the early years of the Western Han Dynasty, emperors and court ministers also attached great importance to black, wearing black clothes and Liu's crown. By the middle of the Western Han Dynasty, color was gradually valued by yellow, because the Western Han Dynasty advocated earth virtue, and after Wang Mang usurped the throne, he advocated fire virtue, and red became popular. The Eastern Han Dynasty continued the red color of Wang Mang's period, which is the most important.
Also distinguish the color of clothes from the color of hats. Although green is a low color, it is also worn by nobles if it is worn on the body. For example, in the Eastern Han Dynasty, princesses, nobles and concubines all wore green clothes when they got married. According to the book of the Later Han Dynasty? It is recorded in Jade Fu Zhi that when people of princess, noble, concubine and other identities get married, they all wear twelve-color heavy green robes, embroidered with brocade and renewed front. The Eastern Han Dynasty is not far from where Guan Yu lived, so it is no problem to wear green clothes.
Guan Yu's image
The problem is to wear a green hat. Wearing a green hat is a sign of inferiority in any dynasty. The color of hat and the color of clothes have different meanings. Green clothes are worn by nobles, and green hats are only worn by people with low status, such as slaves and civilians. For example, during the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, Princess Guantao had a face called Dong Yan, who was regarded as a slave because of her cuckold.
Looking back at the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, the Romance of the Three Kingdoms only said that Guan Yu wore a green shirt, but did not say that Guan Yu wore a green hat. Luo Guanzhong, the author of Romance of the Three Kingdoms, naturally knows what it means to wear green clothes, so Luo Guanzhong only asked Guan Yu to wear green clothes, not to wear a green hat. There is another reason. Luo Guanzhong asked Guan Yu to wear green.
Because the Romance of the Three Kingdoms respects Liu and suppresses Cao, Guan Yu's description of Liu Bei Group is mostly positive, and Guan Yu's loyalty has also been described in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. For example, Guan Yu's three reasons for surrendering to Cao showed Guan Yu's loyalty. First, he would not surrender to Cao. Second, he would be kind to Liu Bei's two wives. Third, he would leave immediately if Liu Bei fell. So Luo Guanzhong also regarded Guan Yu as the embodiment of loyalty. Besides, Guan Yu's face was very red, so he was given green clothes. Red and green are not only beautiful, but also have special significance.
Guan Yu
Because red and green have the meaning of pure heart, red is blood, green is green, and together they are green blood, and pure heart is loyalty. Luo Guanzhong is really well-intentioned, not only describing Guan Yu's loyalty in action, but also setting off Guan Yu's loyalty in appearance, so Guan Yu's indiscriminate image has been handed down from the Ming Dynasty.
Spread to modern times, in order to shape the image of Guan Yu in film and television works, I don't know who first added a green hat to Guan Yu. The reason for this should be to match the film and television clothes. Green clothes don't go well with hats. No matter whether they are red, black or Huang Dou, white clothes don't go well with them, so they can only go with a green hat, which just goes well with Guan Yu's green shirt. So a green hat has become the standard image of Guan Yu in film and television works.