Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

The grand occasion of the first day of the fashion festival was reported in newspapers that evening.

By the next morning, newspapers in the capital were full of reports.

Particular mention is made of the Empress's presence in person and of two special dispensations granted by the present Emperor with regard to wedding attire.

This made the people of the capital admire the current emperor and empress for being close to the people, while also arousing their curiosity about it.

In addition, schools, factories and other institutions that adopted the new calendar were on holiday, so they called their friends and went to the Lantern Festival to participate in the fashion festival.

Even ministers who considered themselves celebrities, such as Qian Qianyi, went to watch the Lantern Festival after the court meeting.

Thinking about how he led the officials of the Taichang Temple to offer sacrifices to the Yellow Emperor yesterday and had to attend the regular court today, Qian Qianyi said with resentment:

"Students and workers have holidays, but we officials have no time to rest."

"It's really inconvenient to use both the old and new calendars."

"Not only do we have to check whether there are holidays according to the new calendar, but we also have to check the old calendar to see if there are any court meetings."

This was the feeling shared by many officials. After being forced by the emperor to adopt the new calendar, they quickly realized the convenience of the new calendar.

However, due to the dispute over the new and full moon calendar and the correct calendar, people had to continue to follow the old calendar when attending court meetings.

The three days of Qingming Festival are holidays according to the new calendar. But today is February 26 according to the old calendar, which happens to be the 369th day of the regular court session. Officials who are eligible to attend the regular court session must go to attend the court session.

Officials complained about this and were extremely dissatisfied that they did not have as many holidays as students and workers.

Some people even began to regret, wondering if they had lost their minds and opposed the emperor's new calendar with many holidays. As a result, they now had to attend court according to the old calendar and were busy with these things during their holidays.

Qian Qianyi was one of them, and he had more complaints because yesterday was the birthday of the Yellow Emperor, and as the Minister of the Ministry of Rites, he had to preside over the sacrifice.

Including the regular court session this morning, it can be said that he actually only had one and a half days out of the three-day holiday.

If he had to compete with Zhang Pu and others in the newspaper, he really didn't want to attend this fashion festival, but would stay at home and rest.

Now that he came here to keep up with the latest trends, one can imagine how much resentment he had in his heart. He even complained in front of his disciples.

As the chief minister of Taifu Temple, Qu Shisi also felt that the new calendar was far more convenient than the old one.

This is not only because the holidays in the new calendar are easier to arrange, but also because each month in the new calendar has thirty days, making it easy to calculate the intervals.

When Taifu Temple needed to determine a date for collecting taxes, it was easy to calculate the deadline using the new calendar.

Monthly and quarterly income and expenditure are also easy to calculate.

When using the old calendar, you need to take into account long and short months and leap months, and you need to count by looking up the annual calendar.

So after hearing the teacher's words, Qu Shisi smiled and said:

“The new calendar is indeed more convenient.”

"But the term Zhengshuo is really hard to change."

"This is a matter concerning the country's foundation, and it cannot be easily changed."

Qian Qianyi shook his head upon hearing this, pointed at his disciple and said:

"You, you still don't think enough."

"What's the point of just changing the calendar?"

"Look at this fashion festival, do we need to change the color of our clothes?"

"The current emperor wants to revise the rituals and music, and these two are inevitable. It just depends on how to change them!"

Qu Shisi had not thought of this before, but now after hearing the teacher's suggestion, he immediately understood:
When the emperor displayed his crown and clothes yesterday, didn’t he change some of the clothing?

If they change a little bit every year like this, it is estimated that in ten years, the crowns and clothes of the court will be very different from before, which is equivalent to changing the color of clothes.

This was accomplished together with the change to the new calendar, which achieved the goal of "changing the calendar and the clothing color."

The current emperor's reform of rituals and music is indeed a great undertaking no less than the beginning of a new dynasty. Qu Shisi was somewhat apprehensive and also somewhat expectant about this.

Because he wanted to make a contribution in this changing situation and have his name recorded in history books.

And the chances were great, as his teacher Qian Qianyi was one of the emperor's favorites.

As long as the teacher can enter the cabinet in the future, it will not be difficult for him to become a governor. He may even have a chance to become a minister of assistance and one of the nine ministers with power comparable to that of a cabinet minister.
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Thinking about these things, Qu Shisi became a little absent-minded about the fashion festival.

After complaining, Qian Qianyi focused on appreciating the display on the platform.

I have given up my rest to come and watch, so of course I have to concentrate. I want to write a few good articles for Datong Daily, so as not to let Zhang Pu take the lead.

What made Qian Qianyi happy was that the clothes on display today were very much to his liking.

The costumes of previous dynasties that the emperor exhibited in the name of costumes were far from being comparable to the exaggerated costumes of the past. It should be called restoration and production of costumes of previous dynasties.

Qian Qianyi smiled and said:

"This play is really different from previous plays. There are many more costumes."

“Not only can it be worn on stage, but it can also be worn outside on weekdays.”

As a new type of drama modeled after modern drama, Zhu Youjian required that the costumes in dialogue drama must be authentic. They could not be randomly dressed like in traditional dramas without mentioning the source at all.

Moreover, since most dramas are performed indoors, they are closer to the audience and do not require such exaggerated and brightly colored costumes to attract the audience's attention.

This time, he exhibited the costumes of the Han, Tang and Song dynasties in the name of theatrical costumes. They were basically reproduced according to the drawings and are still in the restoration stage.

In the future, it may be possible to develop on this basis and produce Han-style, Tang-style, and Song-style clothing and integrate them into the popular fashion of the Ming Dynasty.

This also fits the needs of the times, because the current Ming Dynasty, with a rich material foundation, has lost the frugal atmosphere of the early years of the country.

People not only like to go beyond the rules, but also like new and strange clothes. Some wear Tang scarves, Jin scarves, and gauze hats, while some men wear women's clothes and women wear men's clothes, and they are called clothing monsters.

Qian Qianyi was accustomed to this in Jiangnan and did not think there was anything wrong with wearing Tang and Song dynasty costumes when going out.

Moreover, he felt that compared to those weirdos wearing random clothes, this kind of clothing made according to Tang and Song dynasty pictures and texts was more in line with etiquette.

When Qu Shixi heard the teacher's words, he collected his thoughts and took a look, then quietly reminded him:

"Sir, these costumes from previous generations were mostly worn by officials and nobles."

"Your Majesty, is it inappropriate to exhibit this for sale?"

Qian Qianyi paused for a moment and said:

"inappropriate?"

"What's wrong?"

"It's just that the clothing of the previous dynasty is not prohibited in this dynasty."

"If we really want to maintain the previous ban on official and noble clothing, what will ordinary people wear?"

Different dynasties have different clothing and prohibitions. If the Ming Dynasty wants to maintain the prohibitions of previous dynasties, it will be very difficult to choose the color matching of folk clothing.

What's more troublesome is that enforcing these prohibitions requires profound historical knowledge, and the existing officials of the Ming Dynasty simply cannot recognize them.

Qu Shisi was somewhat speechless and felt that it was unrealistic to maintain the ban, but he still advised the teacher:
"Sir, ordinary clothing is fine, but patterns like dragons and phoenixes, as well as clothing of previous emperors and empresses, should be banned."

"The costumes on display now are so real, far from the fancy costumes of the past."

"What if someone goes out wearing the clothes of an emperor or empress, and the ignorant people think that they are the emperor or empress of a certain dynasty reborn?"

This concern made Qian Qianyi nod his head, and he felt that regulations should indeed be formulated.

It's fine to wear it on the stage, but it would be outrageous to wear the royal robes of previous emperors in daily life.

He decided to write a memorial to express his loyalty to the emperor. (End of this chapter)