A Study on Cho-pi

초피고

This study aims to prove that the fact that minority races in the north-eastern region contributed sable skin to the Quing Dynasty might be related to Cho-Sun of King Muryong in the Warring states period because documents are available here and there. The Chinese had been using fur clothing since ancient times but we cannot find any mention that they had used sable skin. This fact shows that sable skin was not widely used because of its rarity. Cho-pi had been used in making costume on a large scale from the period of the Han Dynasty to the end of the Quing Dynasty. Cho-pi was very rare and it was used as a measure of bartering. China met the demand of cho-pi by the Cho-pi contributions of the frontier minority races. It might bwe that the high demand of Cho-pi in the Quing Dynasty forced minority races to contribute Cho-pi The documents concerning Cho-pi in the north-eastern region are of great importance not only to the history of costume but also to the history of ancient economy and national culture.