Lingzi
Lingzi
Traditional Chinese pheasant feathers decoration on headwear
Lingzi (Chinese: 翎子), also called zhiling (Chinese: 雉翎), refers to a traditional Chinese ornament which uses long pheasant tail feather appendages to decorate some headdress in Xifu, Chinese opera costumes.[1][2]: 487 [3] In Chinese opera, the lingzi not only decorative purpose but are also used express thoughts, feelings, and the drama plot.[2]: 487 They are typically used on the helmets of warriors,[4] where a pair of pheasant feathers extensions are the indicators that the character is a warrior figure; the length of the feathers, on the other hand, is an indicator of the warrior's rank.[1] The lingzi are generally about five or six feet long.[3] Most of the time, lingzi are used to represent handsome military commanders.[2]: 487