Jade Suit Sewn with Gold Thread金缕玉衣
Ordinarily, the texture of clothes is cotton, flax or silk. However, there were suits made of gold and jade, that“Jade Suit Sewn with Gold Thread".
一般衣服的质地是棉麻或者丝绸，但是在中国古代却出现过用黄金和玉石做成的衣服——金缕玉衣。
汉代的帝王贵族十分迷信玉能够保持尸骨不朽，更把玉作为一种高贵的礼器和身份的象征, 因此他们将玉衣作为葬服。
Since jade clothing is a symbol of the wearer's level, gold thread, silver thread or copper thread was used to link pieces of four square jade. The jade clothing of the emperor and some close courtiers is knotted with gold threads, known as the "Golden Thread Jade Clothing". Other nobles use silver and copper threads to fabricate it, known as the "Silver Thread Jade Clothing" or "Copper Thread Jade Clothing".
玉衣是穿戴者身份等级的象征，用金线、银线或铜线将四角有小孔的玉片穿起来。皇帝及部分近臣的玉衣以金线缕结，称为"金缕玉衣"，其他贵族则使用银线、铜线编造，称为"银缕玉衣"、"铜缕玉衣"。
The two sets of jade suits of the Han Dynasty tomb unearthed in Mancheng of Hebei Province in 1968 revealed to the world the real features of such grave clothes. Their owners were Liu Sheng Prince Jing of Zhongshan, and his wife, Dou Wan, of the Western Han Dynasty(206 BC-25 AD).
1968年从河北满城汉墓出土的两套金缕玉衣向世界展示了古代玉衣的真面目。他们的主人是中山靖王刘胜和他的妻子窦绾。
In appearance, a jade suit follows the shape of a human body. It consists of five parts, i.e., head, mask, coat, trousers, gloves and shoes. Each part is made of pieces of jade. The size and shape of each jade piece was designed according to its position. Most jade pieces are shaped in square or rectangular form, but there are a few in trapezoid, triangle or multisided shapes. Each jade piece is perforated at its corners, through which a gold thread goes through to sew the pieces together.
从外观上看，玉衣的形状几乎与人体一模一样，共有5部分组成：头部、上衣、裤管、手套和鞋。每个部分均由玉片组成，玉片的形状、大小和是根据人体的不同部位设计的。大部分玉片是方形或者长方形，少数是梯形、三角形和多边形。制作时，先将玉片的角上穿上孔，再用金线编结起来。
Liu Sheng's jade suit is rather large, 1.88 m long and made up of 2 498 pieces. The gold thread used for this suit is about 1 100 g in weight. Dou Wan's jade suit is smaller, 1.72m long and made up of 2160 pieces. The gold thread used for this suit is about 700 g in weight.
刘胜的玉衣比较肥大，全长1.88米，由2498块玉片组成，大约用了1100g 金丝。
窦绾的玉衣稍微小一点，全长1.72米，由2160块玉片组成，大约用了700g 金丝。
In fact, of course, the rulers’ dream of preventing their corpses from decaying could never be realized. The practice of wearing jade suits was banned during the Three Kingdoms Period (220-
280).
实际上，统治者试图“永垂不朽”的愿望是不可能实现的，这种制度在三国时期被下令废止。
