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Although the Da Chu Empire has entered the industrial revolution, and ships, trains and other things have appeared and been used on a large scale, the culture of the Da Chu Empire is still not much different from that of thirty or forty years ago.
This is also true when it comes to clothing. In today's Dachu Empire, the right collar is still a very important clothing feature. Even double-breasted clothes are relatively rare, and even double-breasted clothes cannot be used as formal wear to attend some formal occasions.
For contemporary Chu people, the traditional wide and elegant Hanfu is still the most important attire. You can wear other clothes in daily life, such as professional attire similar to military uniforms that have appeared in recent years. However, in formal occasions, Hanfu is still the most important attire. The only choice.
The official uniforms of officials are still Confucian clothes with a blue tone, and the official court clothes of officials are traditional Han clothes.
Even the students were dressed in traditional scholarly attire, with Confucian robes and scarves, which were the standard attire for contemporary students in the Chu Empire.
The only thing that has changed a lot is work clothes. Because work needs to be convenient, the wide and elegant Hanfu is not very suitable. From this, professional clothes gradually appeared.
Professional attire evolved from military uniforms. The military uniforms of the Chu army were based on combat needs, taking into account the convenience of combat and appearance.
However, if the needs of combat and work are not taken into consideration, people are still more inclined to wear traditional Hanfu in daily life.
Not to mention when attending formal occasions, men in the middle and upper classes are more inclined to wear formal Hanfu with silk as the main fabric.
The traditional dress that Boss Chen refers to is this kind of silk Hanfu.
Let’s not talk about other aspects of this kind of Hanfu. The important feature is just one word: expensive!
After all, it is made of silk, and silk was a luxury fabric both before and now.
Although the silk production in the Da Chu Empire is increasing day by day, the domestic demand is also growing day by day. Even if there are modern steam factories for spinning, weaving, printing and dyeing, it is difficult to follow the raw material of silkworm cocoons. increased with the progress of industrialization.
So far, silkworm cocoons in the Chu Empire still require artificial breeding, and it is difficult to carry out industrial breeding. However, after modern cultivation, the quality of silkworm cocoons is better, easier to maintain, and easier to feed. At the same time, the output is just larger.
But essentially, the source of silk production has not changed much.
This also limited the production of silk. Coupled with the rapid economic development within the Chu Empire, people's demand for high-end fabrics such as silk was increasing year by year, which further raised the price of silk.
In recent years, due to the huge domestic demand, the export volume of silk from the Chu Empire has been decreasing year by year... This has also led to a gradual increase in the price of silk in Europe and other overseas regions.
There are fewer European nobles who can afford to wear silk now... It's not that they have fewer nobles, or they have less money, it's just that the price of silk has increased.
The decrease in silk exports is also an important feature of the Chu Empire's foreign trade in the past ten years, that is, the exports of primary products such as silk and tea have been reduced year by year.
However, the total amount of export trade has not decreased, but has increased rapidly. This increased share mainly comes from a variety of industrial products, among which the growth rate of defense products is the most obvious.
The export of silk has decreased, but the domestic price is still extremely high. The price in the Americas is not cheap, and high-end silk is even more expensive.
It is not cheap for Song Erniu to get a silk Hanfu.
To be honest, when he came to a tailor shop specializing in high-end dresses in Shuanghe County and asked about the prices of dresses made of various silk fabrics, he almost left without turning around!
This price is too expensive.
And if you buy this, it’s not just one piece, but a set of many pieces.
It must have pants, a top with long hem and wide sleeves, and a middle coat underneath.
Then it must be paired with a pair of well-made, purely handmade traditional men's shoes, such as cocked-toe soap boots. In addition, you can also choose black leather shoes, which have become popular in recent years. The middle and upper classes of the Chu Empire have a strong affinity for black shiny leather shoes. In addition to daily wear, some people have begun to wear them with traditional dresses in formal occasions.
So don’t be surprised if you see a man from Chu wearing a large and elegant Hanfu and a pair of modern black leather shoes...this is normal.
Even to a certain extent, this is a fusion of tradition and the modern industrialization of the Chu Empire.
Of course, whether they are boots made with traditional craftsmanship or high-end leather shoes made with modern craftsmanship, they are not cheap!
When attending formal occasions, in addition to clothes and boots, you also need to match a hat. Nowadays, upper-class adult men in Chu State generally wear black domed hard-shell futou when attending some formal occasions, but they are not officials themselves. It's called a bowler hat.
Officials or nobles and other higher-ranking people generally wear beam crowns. This thing is part of the court uniform, and not everyone in the Chu Empire can wear it.
Because Liangguan continues the millennium old system, the details are strictly distinguished according to the grade of the wearer.
Just like the crimson court dress, it is the official dress for officials of the fourth rank and above and cannot be worn by ordinary people.
Although the Great Chu Empire has relaxed its etiquette system a lot, there are still some restrictions on some things. For example, yellow is the royal color, crimson court clothes are worn by officials of the fourth rank and above, and Liang Guan is the hat worn by officials and nobles.
Under such circumstances, ordinary middle- and upper-class people without official status had no choice but to choose other hats when attending formal occasions. Finally, under the influence of the upper class, they wore black domed hard-shell futou. There were many subsequent variations. Song Er What Niu chose was a black domed hard-shell wide-brimmed hat, which is actually one of the variations of Futou. It has only become popular in recent years, and some young people prefer it.
This thing seems common, but if it is to be matched with a dress, it is basically a top-notch hat made by a skilled master craftsman, and the materials are basically top-notch and very expensive.
In addition to the three major items of hats, clothes, and shoes, there are also other bits and pieces, such as belts... these damn things are also expensive.
Then there is the jade pendant hanging around the waist.
When men in Chu State wear traditional Hanfu, they must hang something around their waists, especially jade pendants.
The jade pendant can not only be used as decoration, but also has a practical function, that is, it can hold down the hem of the Hanfu... so that the hem will not fly up after just two steps!
The elegant feeling that Hanfu requires is that the hem of the sleeves looks smooth and elegant, but it means that the hem of the sleeves flies around or even lifts up!
In later generations' parlance, it is probably that what is needed in a girl's hairstyle is long, straight black hair that looks smooth and elegant... rather than long, messy black hair that looks like a crazy woman.
Therefore, the jade pendant hanging around the waist is very important.
Such small, visible accessories are often used by the middle and upper classes to show off their status and even financial resources.
After all, jade can be either cheap or expensive, and some varieties that look good on sale and are slightly touted by people will be sold at very high prices.
Of course, its price also depends on the popularity... After all, this thing is not gold, and the output of jade is actually a lot.
As for whether it's in good condition or not, and whether it's worth the money, that's a matter of opinion. Some people think pure white is better, some people think pure green is better, some people think white with green... In short, is this thing expensive? Look at what varieties people tout during this period and what varieties are popular.
The well-known jade mining, production and sales one-stop enterprise in the Dachu Empire: the Royal Jewelry Company under the Royal Assets Department has been advocating jadeite for the past ten years.
After ten years of speculation, jadeite that was not worth much before was suddenly stirred up, and the price soared by more than a hundred times.
You ask why we advocate jade... Because the Royal Jewelry Company obtained the jade mining rights in Yongchang Mansion, Yunnan Province twelve years ago, and then dug out a large amount of jade, which is called Yongchang Jade locally.
But this thing can’t be sold at a high price!
In order to raise the price of their Yongchang jade, they began to shamelessly promote and hype, and launched the jade brand of 'Jade', and took the high-level route to send jade to the royal family.
Well, that's right, 'Jade', it is not the name of a certain kind of jade, it is just the name of a Yongchang Jade brand under the Royal Jewelry Company, which owns various patents for the perfection of the brand.
Because jade jade took the top royal route, it gradually fell into the aristocratic group, the bureaucratic gentry group, and now although the reputation of jade jade cannot be compared with Hetian jade, its value has increased a hundred times than before.
The Royal Jewelry Company, which owns the mining rights of the entire Yongchang Jade Mining Area, is making a lot of money and has contributed a lot of profits to the Royal Assets Department year after year.
The jade pendant Song Erniu chose was a jadeite jade. Although this thing is not as good as Hetian jade, Lantian jade and other top jade categories, it can be regarded as a second-rate jade in recent years.
After getting this whole set of clothes and accessories, it cost Song Erniu more than 70 Chu Yuan.
At this price, it is actually considered low among traditional dresses. To use the words of later generations, it is an entry-level dress.
No matter how expensive it is, it's not that Song Erniu can't afford it, but he can't bear it... As a child from a poor family, if you ask him to spend more than 70 yuan to wear a traditional dress, he already feels very luxurious. For more money, he would rather not go to that party.
This is also because he has made a lot of money in the past two or three months. His canvas workwear business is doing very well. He can sell dozens of sets of clothes every day. In order to meet the market demand, he has continuously recruited more workers. , and purchased more than a dozen pedal sewing machines.
Nowadays, his clothes are in short supply and he is considering further upgrading his small workshop into a formal clothing factory.
Having made money in his hands, he also had greater ambitions to further expand the scale, so he went to attend a gathering of businessmen in Shuanghe County.
Make some connections and prepare for subsequent expansion of production or even getting involved in other industries.
Otherwise, he would still be reluctant to part with this outfit.
After preparing the dress, it didn't take long for Song Erniu to follow Boss Chen to a party.
The initiator of this party was a manager of Dongyang Trading Company's branch in Shuanghe County. Although this manager seemed to be just a part-time worker, and his net worth was not as high as the other small businessmen present, his power status was comparable to that of Song Er. Niu, boss Chen and the others are much stronger.
After all, he represents the Dongyang Trading Company, and the Dongyang Trading Company is still one of the only two armed trading companies in the Chu Empire, specializing in business in the Americas.
Although both the Eastern Trading Company and the Western Trading Company have lost their trading franchises over time, they still retain a large number of assets, including a large number of colonial real estate and mining rights. In addition, they control a large number of assets in indigenous countries. channels and assets.
Their huge size caused these two armed trading companies to occupy an extremely important position in the foreign trade of the Great Chu Empire.
This also brought huge influence.
In the small place of Shuanghe County, Dongyang Trading Company is the largest company. They own the largest gold mining area in Shuanghe County and are the only gold mining company in the area. In addition to Dongyang Trading Company's mining area, other There is no organized mining in the mining area, and some gold prospectors do it alone.
In addition to gold mining, Dongyang Trading Company owns many industries in Shuanghe County, including shops, inns and the like.
He also owns a very large farm in the area north of Shuanghe County. This farm grows a large amount of cotton, wheat and other crops, and the manpower used is not immigrants from the country, but prisoners of war from the military.
Well, in the gold mining area of Dongyang Trading Company, in addition to the technical staff and managers who are from the Chu country, the miners who are mining are actually prisoners of war.
As for the immigrants from the country, they won’t go mining for you... With this kind of time, it would be better for them to mine gold and mine on their own. Even if it is not possible, it would be better to just apply for a piece of free land nearby for farming than mining!
This is also a problem faced by Dongyang Trading Company and even other companies that do some labor-intensive business overseas, that is, there is a shortage of labor, and it is difficult to obtain immigrants from the country to serve as these cheap labor forces. The cost is too high!
Therefore, they often cooperate with the military to use prisoners of war, or simply open mines in indigenous controlled areas, and then hire local indigenous people to mine and open plantations. The method of employment is generally not direct employment, but will work with the local rulers. Cooperate with local rulers to export labor services.
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During foreign campaigns, the military always obtains a large number of prisoners of war. The military often organizes these prisoners of war into prisoner-of-war camps and then sends them to work in the construction sites or plantations of the two major armed trading companies. This can save money. Reduce the rations for the prisoners of war, and also provide some military subsidies to the military.
However, it is only limited to some newly developed territories or colonies. If the local development matures, the military will transfer these prisoners of war. For example, there were many prisoners of war working in Jinshan City in the past, but now there are no prisoners of war. Traces are gone.
Dongyang Trading Company's large farms in the area north of Shuanghe County used this method of hiring prisoners of war and produced a large amount of grain and cotton.
In Shuanghe County, Dongyang Trading Company accounts for a very large proportion of the local economy. Gold mining, food supply, and cotton supply all occupy a very large volume.
Such an Oriental trading company, just a little bit of exposure is enough to satisfy small businessmen like Boss Chen and Song Erniu.
At today's party, Song Erniu shamelessly met Manager Li from Shuanghe County Branch of Dongyang Trading Company under the introduction of Boss Chen. Manager Li heard that Song Erniu was in the canvas workwear business, and this kind of When workwear became cheap and durable, I immediately became interested.
There are a large number of employees in their Dongyang Trading Company, and the demand for this kind of cheap and wear-resistant workwear is very high.
When he saw that Manager Li was interested, Song Erniu immediately introduced him enthusiastically.
After listening to Song Erniu's words for a few minutes, the middle-aged manager Li took out a famous card and said: "It sounds pretty good. Then, tomorrow, no, I have something to do tomorrow. You can take the famous card the day after tomorrow." , come to me with a sample, and we’ll have a good chat about this canvas workwear.”
As he said that, Manager Li looked at Song Erniu with a smile on his face: "Young man, be ready when you get back!"
Song Erniu accepted the assassination and repeatedly promised that he would be there on time the day after tomorrow.
When Manager Li turned around to chat with others, Boss Chen on the side looked envious and said: "You are going to get rich. This is Toyo Company. If I give you an order, it will be at least tens of thousands of sets." ."
Song Erniu also had a smile on his face. He came to this party today at the right time. Although the dress he wore cost him dozens of yuan, not to mention anything else, he just got to know Li from Dongyang Trading Company. Manager, knowing that they are interested in purchasing, then it will be worth it.
