Essay on the History of Imperial China: Ming Dynasty

Dres's regulations:

Qing dynasty: First structured dress code (P.4-5):

When referring to the dress regulations carried out in the Forbidden City, what pops up as the most characteristic and representative are the attires worn during the Ming and Qing periods. Especially, during the Qing dynasty, we can reflect how by 1759, the Qianlong Emperor (1736-1795), worried about the Manchu customs of his dynasty being diluted by Chinese ways, constructed a great work entitled “Illustrated Precedents for the Ritual Paraphernalia of the Imperial Court”. In this one, he gathered all regulations covering subjects like ritual vessels, astronomical instruments, state occasions, etc. But most importantly, he dedicated a big section of this work to the dress of the emperors, princes, noblemen, and their consorts, as well as Manchu officials and their wives and daughters, and other people employed in the service of the Manchu government.

In this section, he reflected on everything from the different attires that had to be worn during each season to the official and non-official wear, which was then subdivided into formal, semi-formal, and informal wear. Also what type of clothes should be worn inside and outside the court and the dress code be during different types of events? However, in this paper, we will be focusing on the two most important attires which were the Chao Pao and the Dragon Gown.

Chao pao: Court attire (P.7-8):

The Chao Pao or court robe was the most relevant of all attires and it was worn during many ceremonies and courtly rituals. Only the highest people in the land such as members of the imperial family, nobles, dukes, princes, and high-ranking mandarins at the court were allowed to wear it. And together with other elements like the collar, griddle, hat, necklace, and boots the Chao Pao (robe itself), formed the Chao fu (“court dress”), and was designated formal attire.*pictures in the annex.

As for the pattern of this robe, the Qing did some modifications to the already existing robes the Ming had done in order to add their Manchu style. For instance, they included some nomadic features to the Ming robes to make them less bulky. The garment was cut across the middle right under the waist, while the top part was made narrower below the arms and became a short side-fastening with a curved overlapping right front for more coverage and protection. As for the skirt, it was reduced in width to fit the top part better. All of these modifications were done in order to still keep the look of bulk, traditionally associated with a festival dress, but resulted in a less cumbersome way.

In the case of patterns, just like Ming court robes, early Qing robes were decorated with a large dragon on the front curling over one shoulder, with another one in the back curling over the opposite shoulder. As well as other dragons, mountain and wave motifs placed on the bottom skirt. Also, even though some symbols were being taken from the previous attires, some others were being rejected as they were way too representative of the Ming, however more and more of these were introduced again during the ruling of the Qianlong emperor.

Dragon gown (P.15-19):

Despite the Qing early wearing the same attire as their Ming predecessors, the use of richly ornamented dragon robes for semi-formal occasions at court and other official business was implemented. Since they were worn by lower-ranking officials and other members of the royal family, it became the most common type of official robe to survive from the Qing dynasty.

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They were full-length coats with sleeves and curved overlapping right front (this shape was due to the kind of animal skin being used to confection the front and back). In order to make it comfortable for riding horses, they added slits at the center seams, at the front and back hem, to those already at the sides. It was worn belted like other court attires, but with the streamers more narrow and straight, and with purses that contained daily necessities hanging from the griddle.

As for the meanings and symbolism carried by this gown, we can remark how on the one hand, the circular roundels depicted imperial status and were a continuation of the Ming tradition. Robes of higher rank people displayed eight roundels containing front-faced five-clawed dragons (long), meanwhile, the robes of the lower ranks carried the side profiles of either five or four-clawed dragons (mang). Placed around the dragons on the robe there were cloud patterns and at the hem, mountains, waves, and the diagonal stripes of the five colors representing deep, standing water (li Shui).

On the second hand, other important elements represented on these robes were the Twelve Symbols of Imperial Authority, whose use was strictly confined to the emperor. Six symbols were on the jacket: the sun and the moon, one on each shoulder; the constellation of the Big Dipper above the mountain on the back and pheasants and dragons on each sleeve. The other six symbols were depicted in the skirt, each of them appearing in a pair and forming columns, the sacrificial cup, water weed, grains of millet, flames, sacrificial ax, and fu symbol representing the forces of Good and Evil.

Colors (P.6):

The colors used for their clothes were very symbolic and they kept the same meaning from the Ming dynasty through the Qing.

Yellow denoted center and the earth, blue represented spring and the east, white meant autumn and the west and was usually related to death, black represented winter and the north, and lastly, red meant summer and the south. However, out of all these colors, some did change a little bit their connotation from one dynasty to another. For instance, red became generally avoided by the Qing since it had been the dynastic color of the Ming, and it was only worn by the emperor on occasions like the Annual sacrifice at the Altar of the Sun.

The colors that were used for the robes were controlled and chosen carefully, and certain ones were reserved for the emperor and his immediate family.

For the Qing dynasty, bright yellow (representing central authority) was exclusive for the emperor to use, nonetheless, he could also wear other colors if he wanted or if it was appropriate for the occasion, such as when he wore blue robes at the worshipping ceremony at the Altar of Heaven. Following that same yellow scheme, the heir wore an “apricot yellow”, while the sons of the emperor wore “golden yellow”, which seemed to be a little bit more of an orange. Then imperial dukes and fourth-degree princesses wore blue and brown shades, but never any kind of yellow since it was reserved for the emperor and his family. Lastly, lower-ranking princes, noblemen, and high-ranking officials wore blue and black.