Huadian

What it is

Huadian sits centred on the forehead, in the space between the eyebrows. The same ornament can also appear lower, on the cheeks and the temples, and even in the dimples, where the sources call it mianye. Small shapes are typical: blossoms, plum flowers, butterflies, coins, peaches, birds, phoenixes, other animals. Red is the usual colour, though green and gold occur too. Materials vary widely. Gold or silver foil, paper, pearls and jewels are named, along with fish scales, feathers, dragonfly wings and the blue-green kingfisher feathers known as cuidian. A huadian may be painted straight onto the skin or applied as a temporary transfer. It counts as part of Chinese clothing culture.

Origins and legends

Two stories about the beginnings of floral huadian are told. In the first, a plum blossom blew onto the forehead of a princess during an early spring walk in the palace. It would not wash off, and because it suited her, other women copied the look. In the second, she was napping when a blossom fell on her forehead and cheeks, leaving marks that stayed for three days. The striking effect started a fashion that spread widely. Legend gives the credit to Shouyang, a princess of the Liu Song court. Both versions are given as folklore. Excavated figurines from a Warring States tomb at Changsha, in Hunan, carry painted face patterns, which suggests the practice is older than the tales. The sources also state that huadian has nothing to do with the forehead mark on Buddha statues.

Through the dynasties

Customs of face decoration reach back before the Qin and Han dynasties, into the pre-Qin period. Under the Tang, huadian became common. The Youyang zazu links painted huazi to Shangguan Wan'er. A folk account says her forehead was scarred on Wu Zetian's orders, and that she covered the mark with a red plum blossom, dyeing it red. Palace women and ordinary women alike took it up, and it became known as red plum makeup. Tang makers also cut huadian from gold and silver foil, paper, fish scales and dragonfly wings, and more than ten plum variations were used. Pearls decorated the Song versions, and the fashion faded under the Yuan dynasty.

Wearing it today

Huadian is no longer part of everyday makeup for most women. What survives is the design. Contemporary wedding accessories borrow traditional huadian patterns, and the ornament appears in Chinese television dramas. Women who wear hanfu, the traditional clothing of the Han Chinese, often add a huadian to finish the look, either painted on the face or applied as a temporary tattoo. The mianye marks on the cheeks widened in earlier centuries too: at the height of the Tang and during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period they reached the sides of the nose and took the shapes of coins, peaches, birds and flowers.

How Huadian is kept

A woman prepares her face, then sets a small ornament in the middle of her forehead, between the eyebrows. The shape may be painted on with colour, or cut from foil, paper or another material and fixed in place. Modern versions can be pressed on as temporary tattoos. Some also place marks on the cheeks, temples or dimples. Designs follow blossoms, butterflies, coins, peaches, birds or phoenixes, most often in red, sometimes green or gold. Huadian is worn with hanfu when women dress in the traditional clothing of the Han Chinese, and the same patterns are used in wedding accessories. It is not everyday makeup today.

When and where

There is no fixed day. Huadian belongs to daily dressing rather than to a calendar festival. It was worn in ordinary life and at court, and the older customs are dated by archaeology and texts: pre-Qin and Warring States finds, common use in Tang and Song, a decline under the Yuan. Today it returns with hanfu and in wedding accessories.

Huadian belongs to China and to Han Chinese dress. The earliest evidence comes from a Warring States tomb at Changsha, in Hunan province. The custom is recorded at the Tang and Song courts and among ordinary women. Images of it survive in the cave paintings at Mo-kao Cave, where Buddhist donors in Tang clothing are shown with huadian on forehead, dimples, temples and cheeks.

What Huadian means

For the women who wear it, a huadian is an ornament of beauty and a marker of Chinese dress. The floral kind carries the story of a plum blossom that would not wash away, so the plum became its emblem. Worn with hanfu, it signals a deliberate return to older ways of dressing. The sources record no religious meaning: huadian is said to have no link with the forehead mark on Buddha statues, even though donors in cave paintings wear it. In the Tang it stood for fashionable court style, copied from palace women by ordinary women.

Questions people ask about Huadian

See also

DahuA cross-collar jacket worn in the Ming dynasty, blending Chinese and Mongol styles.HanfuThe dress of the Han Chinese, named for the Han dynasty and worn again todayHanbokKorea's customary dress: a short jacket, a skirt or trousers, and a bow-tied ribbonChinese clothingRobes, gowns, and suits shaped across dynasties, ranks, and daily life in China

Good reading and sources

• Huadian (make-up) on WikipediaEncyclopedia
• Wikidata recordOpen data

It may contain mistakes. Traditions differ from one family, village and community to the next, and the people who keep them know them best. If something is wrong, tell us. Last refreshed 2026-10-09.