“Kuitou” is the collective term for the various headdresses used in Peking Opera. The style and material of the headdress varies and depends on the character´s gender, age, identity and status. Diadems and helmets are “hard” and hats and head cloth are “soft”.
The diadem is the headdress worn by emperors and nobles, such as the nine-dragon diadem and the phoenix diadem;
The helmet is the protective head gear worn by the military personnel during battle, such as the general's helmet (“fuzikui”);
Hats, there are many types of hats and can be hard or soft, such as the muslin hat (“shamao”);
Head cloth is the informal headwear for everyday life, the most common ones are the square scarf and the squire´s scarf.
The imperial hat (huangmao), also called the nine-dragon diadem or referred to as the “king´s hat”(wangmao) or “hall hat”(tangmao), is the ceremonial headdress exclusively used by the emperor. It has a slightly rounded shape, the front is lower than the back, golden colored, decorated with golden dragons and yellow velvet pom-poms and a pair of wings with upward pointing tips, with long yellow tassels hanging from each wing. The imperial hat is the formal headdress of the emperor worn on ceremonial occasions such as ascending to the throne, holding official audience, praying to ancestors and festivities.
The phoenix diadem (fengguan) is generally worn by the emperor´s wives. Its phoenix-shaped decoration is made with gold and jade. Regal, exquisite and full of auspiciousness, this headdress is also worn by noblewomen and the wives of senior court officials on official occasions and by the bride at her wedding ceremony.
For court officials, the muslin hat worn by high-ranking officials is entirely black, the front is lower than the back, with a rectangular wing on each side: middle-ranking officials wear round-shaped muslin hat paired with round-tipped wings; low-ranking officials’ muslin hat is pointed and paired with pointed or round-tipped wings. Rounded or pointed wing tips can also has a derogatory meaning, generally worn by treacherous officials or clownish characters played by “chou” (comic actors).
Muslin hat is a type of hat worn by ancient court officials. A pair of flat and rigid flaps stretches out from the back, one at each side, they are officially called “spreads” but are commonly referred as hat wings.
“Xiangsha” is the muslin hat worn by prime ministers, each wing measures about a foot long and one inch wide, with the tip pointing upward, they are really just two flat boards painted in black.
The square-shaped muslin hat is worn by righteous officials, whether the character is young or old. The wings are rectangular and slightly oval.
Peaked wing muslin hat, with peach-shaped wing tips is also known as the “treacherous muslin hat”(in Chinese, the characters for “pointed” and “treacherous” are homophonic), worn by officials that are greedy, treacherous or cruel.
Round wing muslin hat is round in shape and paired with round wings. It is worn by foolish and corrupt officials and characters known to be treacherous or scheming. A small number of minor officials played by “chou” for comic relief also wear this type of hat.
“Fumatao” is the hat worn by the emperor´s son-in-law or the groom, it is characterized by special decorations around the muslin hat, including gold-leaved twin dragons playing with a pearl on the back and red pom-poms and tassels. Gold flowers are added when the character is the newest the scholar who achieved the highest score on highest level of the Chinese imperial examinations (zhuangyuan).
The muslin hat has three different styles of wings: pointing upward, straight and pointing downward. The first one is called “sky pointing wings” and is worn by rulers and senior court officials. The second one is worn by regular civil servants and the third one is for non-officials. In Peking Opera, the audience can tell a lot about the character and what he represents simply from the type of muslin and shape of the hat wings that he is wearing.
