The beginning of the wool felt hat has not been verified, but it has a long history. A pointed cap worn by the Western Jin Dynasty celadon warrior figurines in the collection of the Xiaoshan Museum, with a flip-top curling edge and a tie at the back, shaped like a wool felt hat in Shaoxing. Although there is no clear document that the warrior figurines wore wool felt hats, it can be seen from the unearthed warrior figurines that the wool felt hats had already taken shape. The Shaoxing people in the Ming Dynasty, Zhang Dai, said in "The Night Boat": "Xun Shi made a hat, Shun made a crown... Qin and Han began to make Qiang people into felt hats." From this, wool felt hats have appeared at least in Shaoxing in the Ming Dynasty. It is recorded in "Quaiyuan Daogu": Huiji Zeng Shiqing wrote "Nightingale" "Goose Yellow Silkworm Cocoon Yan Felt Hat." Yan, anciently called "Xuanwu".
This shows that wool felt hats have been popular in Shaoxing since at least the Ming Dynasty. In the late Qing Dynasty, wool felt hats developed faster. In the rural areas of Shaoxing, except for officials, business, school, and women, almost everyone wears wool felt hats. In the twenty-fifth year of Guangxu in Qing Dynasty (1899), Panwansheng felt hat shop was opened in Xiying, Shaoxing City, with an annual output of about 2,000 felt hats, each with a price of one yuan and two cents. At that time, the shopkeepers widely apprentices and taught skills. Young and powerful men who traveled for hundreds of miles went to learn from the teachers, and many villages still lived on this skill.
The wool felt hat is black inside and outside, dome, and the front side is spread into a bucket shape, with curling, which can hold small items such as cigarettes and banknotes. It can be used for sunshade and sweat absorption in summer and wind and cold in winter. It has heat insulation and sun protection. It can be used as a hat and a straw hat. You can use it as a container when shopping on the street. It dries when it is wet, and sometimes it is used to wash its face with water. Work rest as a cushion, use the next dust to clean, as before, clean and economical, it was a master craftsman (old name: farmer and carpenter, bamboo craftsman, stone work, blacksmith, fisherman, wine workman, ship boss, tin foil master, etc.) "Short clothing"), so it is generally called "wool felt hat guest".
Since most of the former handicraftsmen also worked in agriculture, they were not completely separated from agriculture, so wool felt hats actually became the common hat ornaments of farmers in Shaoxing. At that time, the society was based on agriculture. People wearing wool felt hats can be seen everywhere. The honest and rustic loyalty of wearing it is simple and unpretentious, and has distinctive characteristics.
