[3][8][9] The xuanduan is named after its shape (端, duan) which is angular[8] (i.e. it is made by using the whole width of a squared-shape fabric) and by its colour.

[5] In the Zhou dynasty, it was worn by emperor when they were not at court, on sacrificial occasions by princes, and by scholars when they would pay their respects to their parents in the morning.

[6] According to the Liji in the section Yuzao, it was also a form of ritual clothing for the emperor, who wore it to salute the appearance of the sun outside the eastern gate and when he would listen to notification on the first day of the first month outside the southern gate; and by the Princes of States who wore xuanduan when sacrificing (诸侯玄端以祭).

[7] Emperor Jiajing therefore sought the help of Grand Secretary Zhang Zong (1476–1539) to investigate the dress regulations which were governing the casual clothing in ancient time.

[7] Zhang Zong therefore consulted the Lishu and found out that the xuanduan was most widely worn in ancient times beside the formal court attire, mianfu; this led the Jiajing emperor to decree that the yanfu of both the emperor and the officials had to be modelled after the xuanduan:[7] There have never been clear regulations on the leisure dress of ranked officials, and followers of the outlandish compete in their eccentric dressing, thereby causing greater disorder.

I beg that it be modelled on the ancient xuanduan and put in a separate statue to be disseminated throughout the empire, so that noble and base are distinguished.’ The emperor then ordered the creation of the ‘Illustrations of the Loyal and Tranquil Hat and Dress’, to be promulgated by the Board of Rites, together with an imperial edict stating, ‘The Ancestors learned from antiquity and established regulations, so that the court and sacri- ficial dress of ranked officials each had distinctions.

Recently clothing styles have been outlandish, with no distinc- tion between superior and inferior, so that the people’s proclivities are without restraints.