The Celestial Bureaucracy

Table of Contents Sorted By Arc:
Time of the Ancients:
Chapter 1: The First Guarantee
Chapter 2: Divine Sparks
Chapter 3: Tension
Chapter 4: Unification
Chapter 5: Foundation
Chapter 6: Chaoxian
Chapter 7: The First Step
Chapter 8: Keeping You Out
Chapter 9: The Second Guarantee
Chapter 10: Throes of Passion
Infiltrator:
Chapter 11: Microcosm
Chapter 12: Breakdown
Chapter 13: Second Sight
Chapter 14: Revelations
Developments:
Chapter 15: Great Undertakings
Chapter 16: Xia & Manchus
Savior:
Chapter 17: Deliverance
Chapter 18: Encounters in Littorn
Chapter 19: A Varangian Nudge
Chapter 20: Exposed
Chapter 21: We Shall Triumph
Developments, Part Two:
Chapter 22: The Vigil
Chapter 23: Caste System
Chapter 24: Terra Incognitae
Soldier:
Chapter 25: The Proving
Chapter 26: First Taste
Chapter 27: Method
Chapter 28: Surface
Chapter 29: Intermissions
Chapter 30: Conspiracy
Chapter 31: Striking Fear
Chapter 32: Oral Dosage
Chapter 33: Grains Of Salt
Chapter 34: Elohim
Chapter 35: Beyond The Horizon
Chapter 36: Convergence
Chapter 37: They All Fall Down
Chapter 38: Homecoming
Chapter 39: Cicada
Chapter 40: Brave New World
Seeker:
Chapter 41: Warm Water
Chapter 42: Meizhou
Chapter 43: Garou
Neonate:
Chapter 44: Dharma & Abraham
Chapter 45: Flight
Chapter 46: Matron
Chapter 47: Sheer Terror
Chapter 48: Night Society
Chapter 49: Showdown
Chapter 50: The Masquerade
Chapter 51: Irritable
Chapter 52: Enigmas
Chapter 53: Trepidation
Chapter 54: Paradigm Shift
Chapter 55: When The Angels Cry
Chapter 56: There Isn't Any Way Out For Me
Anathema:
Chapter 57: Hunger Lust
Chapter 58: Descent
Chapter 59: Well Oiled Machine
Chapter 60: No Hope
Strange Tales of Liaozhai:
Chapter 61: The Dokkaebi
Chapter 62: The Yokai
Chapter 63: The Kesha
Chapter 64: The Aswang
Chapter 65: The Lurkers
Revolutionary:
Chapter 66: Below The Bottom
Chapter 67: Roused
Chapter 68: Machinations *NEWEST*

Culture In The Empire:
Culture In The Empire #1 On Clothing
Culture In The Empire #2 On Religion
Culture In The Empire #3 The Peranakan Chinese
Culture In The Empire #4 The Feizhou Hapas
Culture In The Empire #5 Clothing In The 1500s *NEWEST*

Character Sketches:
Kohaku the Infiltrator
Adeline of Saxony
Vermillion Waters *NEWEST*

Crossovers:
Hammer & Steel Crossover: Shadows and the Darkness; Watchers at the Edge
Hammer & Steel Crossover Pt. 2: There Springs an Entity
Hammer & Steel Crossover Pt. 3
Hammer & Steel Crossover Conclusion
Blood & Iron: Conquests of the Chancellor Crossover: Chancellor's Dream Part 1
Blood & Iron: Conquests of the Chancellor Crossover: Chancellor's Dream Part 2
Blood & Iron: Conquests of the Chancellor Crossover: Chancellor's Dream Part 3

Links to Stories that have Crossed Over:
Hammer & Steel
Blood & Iron: Conquests of the Chancellor

Hello, CivFanatics. Long time lurker here.

Since joining CivFanatics, I've read numerous wonderful stories contributed by other users that have really urged me to write one of my own.

I should mention that I have this story already being hosted on another forum with several updates already written. However, that community is not predominately Civ-playing so I mostly use it to practice my writing as I upload each segment. And obviously, Civ-specific stuff will get across better here so enjoy.

I hope I'll be able to maintain steady updates. I understand people dislike waiting too long for updates (if the story happens to be good anyway) so I'll try to be punctual with them although the other forum will have precedence if only to demo my writing on. And school/obligations obviously will take precedence as well.

Finally, this game is still in progress. Although I started this game last year, I only play this save roughly every Thursday and the progress made in turns slows to a crawl as of late, giving me ample time to catch up.

Here are the game settings:

Expansion: Beyond the Sword
Mod: GiantEarthMap Mod
Map: GiantEarthMap; GiantEarthMap AncientResource
Difficulty: Noble
Civilization: China ( Unique Unit: Cho-Ko-Nu / Unique Building: Pavillion )
Leader: Qin Shi Huang ( Protective / Industrious )





Let's begin.



4000 BC. The Han people break away from the nomadic lifestyle of their ancestors and settle the city of Louyang atop a hill. The land is rich. Bountiful wheat & rice accompanied by herds of wild pigs and cows ripe for domestication are in abundance around the settlement. The tribal elders were wise to choose this location.





Han warriors were cast out into the wild in order to explore the world around them by the tribal elders. They encountered friendly locals in the south and in the southwest. Riches were brought to Louyang upon their return and the warrior unit that had departed had returned hardened from the vigorous ordeals of their travels.

The elders found out however, that aside from the small villages dotted around them that there were bigger fish in the sea as well.

Update 2.



Bronze tools and weaponry were being created by 2880 BC in the heart of Louyang. By this time, the fledgling empire had a hereditary line of rulers, with the state power being concentrated in the hands of the emperors. This line would be known as the Xia Dynasty. The ruling emperor ordered a search for bronze in order to begin the armament of soldiers with axes and bladed weapons in order to bolster the defense of the state. A source of metals was discovered in the immediate vicinity of the city so the workers were immediately put to work in the procurement of copper of other metals.





An incident occurred in the capital when the Emperor's brothers were caught attempting to break into the Imperial Concubines' quarters. Enraged, he was about to execute them when a more level-headed minister suggested that they should be exiled to build settlements to expand his power. The cities of Cheng'an and Linzi were settled to the south and the northeast respectively by the exiled princes.



Apart from the refinement of metals, another significant advancement was the development of the wheel, which allowed for the building of roads between the capital city and the new outposts formed by the princes-in-exile.

I play standard BTS - I have never seen resources even half as thick on the ground as that map...

Yeah, it's Genghis Kai's Giant Earth Map (abbreviated GEM).

I believe it has it's own subforum in the mods section so check it out. All the other civs on this map get like crazy amounts of resources all around so wars tend to get incredibly massive and such and such.

RFC Rand has resources just a little under that density, also. It's common (for me, at least) to get 5-6 resources in a city's BFC.

The growth of the fledgling empire necessitated the adoption of slavery in order to quell the rising discontent of the growing population.



In subsequent years, the settlement of Ying was built in the west, in compliance of the Empire's policy of expansion. The city site, although unbeknownst to the city founders at the time, would serve as a valuable border city in the future.



1680 BC saw the development of one of the most important technologies that set apart the Chinese civilization from their immediate neighbors. Writing. A crude system of pictographic communication using old animal bones known as the oracle script was established. This would serve as the foundation for the modern written Chinese characters also known as Hanzi.



It was evident though, that despite the boom of peaceful development in the early period, that conflict would soon emerge.

Tomorrow's Dawn sounds like something a stone- er, I mean, a wise man's name.

Such astute powers of observation that you possess, Mosher.

Also, if anyone has any thoughts on the story so far, speak up, haha.
Writers thrive on feedback.



The Baiyue were not a cohesive entity like the Han Chinese were. They were a loose confederation of city-states just only transitioning out of the Stone Age. The confederation itself was built out of hundreds of disparate tribes that each had their own languages and tribal customs. What linked them all together was a closely related culture. And ethnically, they were not too dissimilar to the Han Chinese in the northwest.

The Sino-Baiyue Conflict was initiated by the Xia Emperor, who had visions of uniting the mainland under his rule. It also fulfilled the double-duty of pacifying the increasingly discontent citizenry. Alongside the imperial Axemen guards, the citizenry was levied into the army as well. The new Axemen units were mobilized to the borders to begin the assault.



The city of Dailiang fell to the blades of the bronze axes. The militia there were only largely equipped with wood and stone bludgeons that were woefully ineffective against the Han Axemen clad in sturdy bronze armor and weaponry.





The city of Xuzhou would suffer the same fate as well for their technological inadequacy. Two major city-states had already been taken in the early years of the war and now the city of Huiji stood alone against the encroaching Han forces.



Outside of the theater of war, a significant event happened in a distant land that would be crucial to diplomacy in the coming eons. The Judaic faith was formed in 1480 BC.

That's an easy capture right there. Unless you offended the RNG gods

Refugees from the fallen city-states flooded into Ying with the Han Axe regiments hot on their tail. The united militias braced themselves for the last stand against their foes while the axemen moved into position to surround the city.

Their efforts were in vain however. The Axemen showed remarkably strong discipline by attacking in small units and rotating the companies so that expended soldiers could rest while fresh ones took their place. Superior equipment also guaranteed their victory even fighting across disadvantageous terrain.



Huiji fell and the Baiyue Confederation was no more. Over the next couple of decades, the Baiyue would be integrated into Han society and the old city-states would become part of the core of the Chinese Empire.



The Xia Emperor commanded the largest army in the world at 113,000 soldiers and led in various other fields of demographics.



The conquest of the Baiyue did not sate the Empire's thirst for war however. The Coreans of antiquity were next in line on the chopping block. Replenished armies were mobilized to the northeast towards the Corean peninsula and within a few years, another conflict burst into action. Historians have noted that the primary cause for the war however, was not the acquisition of new lands but the seizure of gold that was badly needed in the Emperor's coffers after accruing hefty maintenance costs in support of the new conquered territories.

Taking the war to Corea was easy as troops were already massed along the border before the war had even begun. The primary issue though was the mobilization of reinforcements to Corea in case of any dire military setback. An aspiring young civil servant named Shu Wen proposed the idea of sending a work crew along with the reserve army that was about to be shipped out to guard the supply lines. The idea was to build a road as they advanced northeast and take advantage of the protection offered by the shuttling troops concurrently.

The Kingdom of Corea was more prepared than the Baiyue Confederation was. Five units of warriors were already garrisoned in the fortress of Tonggou ready to beat back the Imperial Han Army.



The Imperial Han Army at this point boasted vast repertoires of hardened soldiers and cut through the undisciplined defenders easily. None of the units suffered significant damage, and the victory was achieved as a full rout of the main Corean army. The Han could now march southeast unfettered by any resistance.



900BC saw the Han transform from an Ancient Age culture to a Classical culture.



An alphabetical system was developed during this time. It was developed by the reigning Xia Emperor, Xia Lin, as a means to translate foreign languages into means that could be conveyed in Chinese and vice-versa for guests of state. It would later have a prime impact in the conversion of the Chinese writing system to the Corean & Japanese languages.



As ground was gained in Corea, Emperor Xia Lin received some special reports from messengers from Xuzhou. There were Japanese colonies on the southernmost end of the mainland. Peasants had petitioned their grievances that the colonies would not open their borders to trade and made it harder to sustain their livelihoods. Xia Lin took note of this but sent them a small portion of the war spoils from Corea instead. The Army was wrapped up in Corea and there was nothing that could be done about the Japanese colonies.

For the moment at least.

Imperial Han troops swarmed into Kaesong, overwhelming the defenders. The Royal Guard in particular stymied the Han troops for a day but it was not enough to keep them from capturing the imperial Shin family or the royal palace.



After the capture of the city, the imperial Shin family was spared and the former emperor was allowed limited jurisdiction as a governor.



The conquered Corean territories were promptly formed and incorporated into a new province, the Chaoxian Province.



Rebels in the coastal city of Kyongju refused to submit to Han rule and so the Imperial Army marched further eastward and took the city by force. At this point, the Corean peninsula had been effectively consolidated with Chinese rule. The surviving nobles from Shin's reign were promptly executed as they opposed the new regime the most and a new nobility was handpicked by the Chinese commanders from the peasantry. This new generation of nobles would prove to be exceedingly loyal to the Empire for their elevation of status in society. The two bloodlines were now intertwined as well, with the marriage of Crown Prince Xia Shou to Princess Shin Hye-In.



Hunting out relict rebel factions while exploring north, a five-thousand strong unit under the command of Lieutenant-General Sima Yan chanced upon the Corean fortress-town of Puyo. However, they were not at threat to the unit itself. Puyo was under siege by hordes of the northern invaders called the Manchus. Sima Yan and his troops moved into the city and assisted the civillians in escaping the Manchu threat. As they scorched the town to deprive the Manchus of plunder and evacuated the citizens, they covered the retreat of the refugees from the barbarian Manchus as they fled south to Tonggou. The Chieftain of the Manchus, Nurhaci, bereft of his prize, swore revenge against the Han, marking the beginning of a millenia-long war of which there was no compromise.

Now that the Coreans had been subjugated, it was time to turn their attention to the Yamato Japanese. Tensions were already building up to a breaking point on the Southern frontier. A smaller detachment than utilized during the Corean campaign was launched into Yamato territory on the southernmost point of the mainland. The Yamato were in a dire predicament as reinforcements could not be shipped to the colonies and the militia standing guard was not enough to stop the Han from holding ground. Panicked sailors took to their ships and left for Kyoto, abandoning the colonials in Tokyo to the mercy of the Chinese axe.



The first currency was issued as a response to the economic hardship faced by the Southern Provinces. Gold from Corea was minted into coins and poured into public works in the South, which was dispersed throughout the peasantry as they were temporarily recalled from their farming duties to become masons. The Minister of Finance, Jie Kou, made sure not to flood the market with too many new coins however, as to prevent widespread inflation.



In the colony of Satsuma, the Imperial Han Army encountered something for the first time. Archers. Though no units were lost, there were reported casualties for the first time. Chinese military specialists realized that further technological advancement would be needed or else the Empire's neighbors would soon be able to match that of their own.



Meanwhile, in Northern China, the Manchus had become bold and attempted to take the city of Linzi. An elite force of Imperial Guard was dispatched to punish the barbarians for their presumptions and the Manchu Army was slaughtered to the man.



The capture of the Japanese colonies satisfied the Xia Emperor. The Yamato had been thoroughly punished and two valuable cities were brought under the wing of the Empire. Tokyo and Satsuma would later become the Empire's most cherished naval ports and trade centers.



Reigning Emperor Xia Long signed a peace treaty to end the war with the Miwa Emperor of Japan, soon after the seizure of Tokyo & Satsuma. The Sino-Japanese Colonial Conflict had ended with the signing.

Writer's Aside: I've played this map a few times as China before and usually, an effective way to prevent Japan from colonizing Southern China/Phillippines/Indonesia is to build a city on Ryukyu and pop the border fast while the coastal cities expand to their third tile through culture. They end up moving north into the Russian Far East instead as a result and become crippled by the low yields of that land. I didn't get to Sailing fast enough so I prompted to take it from the Japanese rather than Osaka as I wanted to levy a navy ASAP.

Last update for 2 days. Enjoy and leave questions/comments.



Even during the Sino-Japanese colonial conflict, the Emperor's envoys had been ferried into Kyushu, the westernmost island of the Japanese archipelago to solicit the western lords, who were not nominally serving the Miwa Emperor into joining the Chinese Empire. They were wary at first, but the capture of Tokyo and Satsuma had convinced them otherwise and one by one, the lords of Kyushu pledged their allegiance to the Xia Emperor. The city of Shanghai was built by presiding government officials from Louyang and a wave of Chinese settlers eager to make something of themselves. The cooperation of the Kyushu lords and their peasants hastened things along.



A detachment of the Imperial Han Army was stranded across the Ryukyu Islands after a storm but the native Ryukyuans nursed them back to health. The lost detachment would stay there for some time, mingling with the natives and educating their subsequent children in Chinese lore and customs and producing a thoroughly Sinicized community by the time they were rediscovered.



From the great Indian Empire in the west came knowledge of iron working, a far more refined technique than the bronze working techniques practiced by artisans and smiths in China. The Indian Empire in return, eagerly picked up the secrets of sailing and writing. The knowledge of iron working would trigger a revolution of sorts in the arms and capabilities of the Imperial Han Army.



In 350 BC, the first known code of laws was established in the Chinese Empire at the hand of Empress Dowager Cai Hua. After the death of her husband, there was a vacuum of power that affected the rule of law throughout the Empire. Her son, the Heavenly Prince Xia Min was not of age to rule and power-hungry ministers were vying for power. She asserted her power and punished the ministers, and subsequently put in place edicts that made clear what was expected of the subjects of the Empire. The Imperial bloodline and right to rule would be safe thanks to the efforts of the Empress Dowager.



In the same year, a philosopher in Huiji known as Meng Ci had come to an epiphany. Boundless knowledge of the cosmos, heavens and the order of things came into his mind and soon, he started to write down his teachings and disperse them throughout the Empire. Taoism was founded in this year. It would spread from China to its neighbors in the North, South & East and significantly change the spiritual customs of all of East Asia in years to come. It would also come to serve as the focal point in the clash of civilizations between those descended from the legacy of the Judaic faith and those who followed the tenets of Taoism.

Writer's Aside: Choose Religions is Enabled.

wow that bronze work really helped out

As promised, I'm posting the next segment after being away on my two-day hiatus.







Guangzhou & Nanjing were founded along the border of the Kampuchean Empire in order to keep their growth in check. Chinese settlers had planned beforehand to claim the valley by the river but the Kampucheans had cut them to the chase, founding the city of Jaydendranagari by the most fertile basin in the valley. This would prove to be problematic for Sino-Kampuchean relations in the future as both sides attempted to build projects that divert water from the river into their own territory.

The city of Xian, built around the same time as the founding of Guangzhou & Nanjing, served as a crossroads between the major Chinese cities and would grow rich in the coming years as the go-to between the core Chinese cities. This period also saw Xian fulfill a vital military role as the Imperial armies passed through it continuously when shuttling troops from North to South and vice versa.



In Shanghai, troops were being massed to defend the tentative border between Chinese Kyushu and Japanese Honshu. There was already deep resentment in Kyoto that the lords of Kyushu had thrown in their lot with the Chinese and that it was a serious encroachment on their territory. Crack troops from Louyang and the other core Chinese cities served alongside the mixed progeny of Han & Yamato locals who formed a famed mercenary band known for their fighting prowess and the shades of grey used as their standard uniform.



The security of the Empire during this period was one of great concern to civil servants and subjects of the Emperor. Too many fronts to defend and too many enemies to watch for.

The collective of Yamato lords in Kyushu in particular had the most to lose and petitioned the central government to bring more troops to defend the island. The governor-general of the Chaoxian (Corean) Province also urgently requested troops in order to beat back the Manchu barbarians. There wasn't much the Emperor could do in response to this but a sexual revolution that sparked during this time would prove to be the ultimate savior. It would start on the Corean frontiers where hostile threats demanded the presence of a large army on constant watch.

Hwang Sung-Mi was the wife of a scholar-lieutenant on the border guard. On the frontier, the constant Manchu threat demanded that every able-bodied man be devoted to military duty. Even the bureaucrats were not exempt from this. Which caused the life of the elite in the Province to be harsh and taxing. Seeing the exhausting rigors her husband faced daily, she proposed in the court that she and the other women relieve them from the burden of governing so that the men could devote their full attention to fighting the barbarians. There was much opposition to this until the Manchus made a devastating raid in the middle of a major court convention. Hwang's proposal was accepted and the new system worked well.

The upper & middle class women, feeling empowered by their advancement in society became more sexually active as a result and the population was starting to meet the needs of the realities of the frontier. Which was a boon as the Manchu armies tended to outnumber the Han-Corean forces by 4: 1 on average. Not only did this free up the former bureaucratic class to fight, but with the baby boom it brought the ratio to a more relaxed 4: 3. This would serve as a catalyst for prolonged campaigns into Manchuria in the future as well.

Core Chinese cities, including the capital of Louyang weren't about to outlaw the new social change but it never caught on with core Han women. Their lives were safe and sheltered, with all of their needs taken care of. They were essentially content. The change did hit them in another way however. Core Chinese women were sedentary and tended to grow plump as a result. Hardy Corean & Han women on the frontier would become the Imperial standard of beauty to follow because of their fit and lithe bodies which would catch the ire of Core territory women. As the reigning Emperor was not satisfied with the noble women available and considering taking a noble bride from the frontier, he did not object to the noble women of the Core territories request to undergo martial training in order to burn off the accrued weight of a worry-free lifestyle. He did this under pressure from his ministers that it would be too dangerous for him to make a tour to Chaoxian where Manchu raids were not an uncommon occurence.

In Kyushu, the practice of inducting women into the bureaucracy faced fierce opposition by the native lords of Kyushu, but the old guard refusing to allow the practice to take place slowly died out as no woman Han nor Yamato would allow themselves to be courted by anyone holding such an ideology.

This revolution would also give birth to rise of one of the most prolific, controversial and hotly debated rulers of the Chinese Empire of all time, who would emerge and ride on the wave of power and precedent set by these pioneers in just a few decades.



Ryūkyū was officially inducted into the Imperial Han Empire with the founding of the settlement of Chengdu (known as Shuri to the locals). To cement ties, the Xia Emperor's younger sister, the Heavenly Princess was married to the Chieftain of Ryūkyū, forming a link between the houses.



The Scarlet Empress was one of the Imperial Han Empire's most memorable rulers. She was born as Hong Mei, daughter to the Han governor of Kaesong & a Han noble lady born and bred in the city. She had a rich pedigree including being descended from members of the old Shin bloodline. From her childhood, she was renowned for her beauty and cunning, being Kaesong born, showed signs of remarkable intellect that far surpassed her peers. She was selected from an early age to become bride to Emperor Xia Pei by the decree of the Empress Dowager Wen Ji. However, before the decision was made, the Xia Emperor had developed a close relationship to the young Miwa Princess of Honshu. It was hoped that the current generation of rulers would form a lasting peace between the two nations. Hong Mei would be wed to the Emperor at the age of 13, her groom being two years her senior. By the time she reached age 21, she already provided Xia Pei with ten children; seven princes & three princesses.

It was found in her memoirs several centuries after her death that despite the abundance of children they had, she could not escape the fact that the affection Xia Pei had for her was purely platonic and that his heart was overseas in the possession of the Miwa Empress Himiko. It is still a heated debate today amongst historians. Some say that these memoirs were planted by her enemies in core China who suffered under her tight rule to discredit her or relict Honshu nativists seeking to destroy her reputation. Whatever the case, when Xia Pei died at the age of 26 of cholera, Hong Mei seized her chance. Others say that the woman was truly jealous as in her time, she was not rivaled by any woman that she knew of and that her ego was inflated as a result.

In either case, it does not disprove that she was a capable and cunning leader. Even during her husband's reign, she had been silently shoring up support from the war hawks in the Core and the lords of Kyushu alongside the maritime merchant class. When her husband died, she seized power and denied her first son's ascent and caused major changes in society. Ministers and bureaucrats who protested were silently taken care of by her secret police and examples were made of from the populace that dared revolt against her.

The Miwa Empress who had made a state-to-state visit to Louyang to attend the Xia Emperor's funeral made a daring trek back home to Honshu as after the funeral had proceeded, Hong Mei's assassins went straight for her throat. She was only able to escape though the help of rebel Chinese ministers and their loyal guards who escorted her with their lives to the ports in Dailiang along with her own personal guard. And even then, she narrowly missed having her ship sunk by Hong Mei's merchant marines prowling the sea for her vessel.

Empress Himiko would return to Kyoto to find the nation under siege and Chinese troops marching into Honshu. The now self-styled Scarlet Empress had already stationed a massive portion of the Imperial Han Army on Kyushu alongside the ashigaru troops of her Yamato thralls in Shanghai.

The War of the Empresses had begun.

37.... swordsmen....

I was going to post another update until I saw the news about the earthquake and after-effects in Japan. It would have been in bad taste, as the next update was supposed to detail an invasion of Japan so I'll save the update for a few days and in the meantime, answer any questions or talk about any of the things going on within the save at the moment.

My thoughts go out to the Japanese people and I hope they'll be able to get back on their feet.

And then a nuclear meltdown... good thing it isn't 2011 or else.
May the Japanese people swiftly recover.

This update will serve as a fluff update, meant to immerse you into the world of the story and there will be several more updates similar to this detailing other topics in the future.

Culture In The Empire



On Clothing From The Ancient to Medieval Period
A lecture from Professor Wu Linqian available for use in the following classes: Historic Anthropology, Chinese History, and Fashion at Dailiang University. Publication Date 1760.



An illustration from an unknown artist of a district in Linzi.
Note the depictions of the farmers, artisans and merchants in everyday Hanfu.



Hanfu was the standard article of clothing for the Han people since the beginning of Chinese civilization. The first forms of Hanfu were crude and made from hemp and reed but later evolved into the soft, silken form with the advent of silkworm cultivation. The standard colors that were worn from top to bottom, from the Emperor to the lowest peasant were black and red. Although grey, white and blue appeared to have a presence as well.



Artist's rendition of the Xia Emperor's Imperial Robes.



Hanfu for the non-nobility tended to be relatively simplistic, eschewing the elaborate and intricate designs and embroidery of noble robes for a more pragmatic and simplistic look.



Transitioning into the Classical Period, women's clothing styles began to move in a more liberal direction, exposing the nape of the neck and revealing the collarbones. An undergarment was typically worn underneath for modesty as the robe was tied lower in this stage of the style.



In men's clothing, vests had become popular to wear over the Hanfu itself but other than that, the style had remained typically unchanged.



As seen in this portrait of a noble husband and wife during the Medieval Period, the final evolution of the female Hanfu came with the shoulderless robes, which were extremely popular among the affluent.



In the Corean part of the Chinese Empire, the traditional Altaic form of dress for men had faded away over time and was replaced by Hanfu. A new feminine form of dress combining aspects of the old dress and the Hanfu was formed, known as Hanbok. This was typically characterized by the high waistline compared to the Hanfu and the large skirt that covered the majority of the body. The Hanbok would serve as a symbol for and be associated with Imperial Bureaucrats in Corea, who at this point were majority female.



In Chinese Kyushu, the Hanfu replaced the male form of dress there as well. Like the Corean Hanbok, the Yamato Kimono was developed as a distinctive form of dress that had its origins in the Hanfu. Characteristics of the Kimono included the use of a sash and ribbon, and they were typically worn with sandals instead of slip-ons which the Han people used.