Formal robes had an oblique collar, big sleeves, and a leather waistband. As to this dressing type, colors were used to distinguish the ranks of civil officials. For example, cyan was for officials above the ninth grade; green, above the seventh grade; red, above the fifth grade; and purple, above the third grade. The use of colors changed slightly during the Yuanfeng reign of the Song Dynasty, i.e. purple was used for officials above the fourth grade; bright red, above the sixth grade; and green, above the ninth grade.

Seasonal costumes were the clothing granted to eunuchs. Most granted costumes were decorated with bird and beast patterns woven with brocades.

Su Dongpo in Hechang

Besides official costumes used at the court, daily casual costumes (referred to as private costumes too) also had distinctive characteristics. The casual costumes in the Song Dynasty included the following types:

Pao(gown) fell into two types: with broad sleeves and with narrow sleeves. The gown for an official was made of brocade, and that for a non-official was made of white cloth.

Ru(jacket) andAo(coat) were the necessary costumes for common people in their daily life.

Duanhe(coarse cloth jacket) was short clothes made of coarse cloth worn by poor people.

Lanshan(scholar's blouse) was a kind of men's long robes with a lateral ribbon attached to the lower hem.

Shan(lower garment) followed the ancient code of upper garment (jacket and blouse) and lower garment (skirt), and it was the style ofMianfu(mitral garment),Chaofu(court robe) orSijufu(private garment).

Zhiduo(straight long robe) was a long loose robe without split at the lower part (but there was central seam on the back part).

Hechang(cloak made of cranes' down) was long and loose. It was a kind of precious fur coat made of down of crane and other birds. Its lower hem reached the ground.