Chapter 42 Chapter 8 Costumes of the Ming Dynasty

The official uniforms of the Ming Dynasty returned to the Tang system, but the difference in grades of "Pin Se Yi" was more obvious than that of the Tang Dynasty.This is related to Zhu Yuanzhang's change of peasants' standpoint and his acceptance of Confucianism after he seized power. The highest level of official uniforms is limited to members of the royal family such as emperors, crown princes, and princes.Mianfu is used in ceremonies such as sacrifices or court meetings.The mianfu in the early Ming Dynasty was the same as the traditional shape, and there were several changes between Hongwu (AD 1368-1398) and Jiajing (AD 1522-1566), only some adjustments were made in the material and the position of the pattern.All previous changes have made the regulations more specific and the production more sophisticated.The Mianfu of the Ming Dynasty is slightly different from the previous ones: firstly, the first three and the last four parts of the lower part of the original Mianfu are changed into a style that is connected together like a curtain; secondly, the diameter of the embroidered sun and moon is stipulated as five inches; Topaz is used to fill the ears; the fourth is to change the ancient five-color jade pendant into seven-color jade beads, and embroider fire, Chinese insects, and Zongyi on the sleeves, the sun, moon, and dragon on the shoulders, and the stars and mountains on the back. etc.When the crown prince accompanied the emperor to offer sacrifices to the heaven and earth, the state, the ancestral temple, as well as the great court meeting and the acceptance of the canon, he also wore the crown, but it was inferior to the emperor. .Shizi Gunmian is second-class again, with seven chapters and seven chapters.The materials and colors of the pearls and jades used in the case are slightly different to show the difference.

Royal crown clothes, as well as skin uniforms, martial arts uniforms, Tongtian crown uniforms, regular uniforms, and swallow uniforms, are used for different occasions.The above crown clothes have changed slightly due to different eras.For example, Wubianfu was used for the emperor's personal conquest or sending generals in the early Ming Dynasty, but it will not be used much later.Among the several kinds of crown clothes, the common clothes are the most versatile. The regular clothes are black gauze caps with upward folded corners, yellow robes with narrow sleeves and collars, gold woven dragons embroidered on the front, back and shoulders of the robes, and gold, jade, and amber belts.Because the corners of the black gauze hat are upward like the word "Shan", it was later named "Ying Shan Guan".Compared with the Tang Dynasty, the "Yishanguan" in the Ming Dynasty is much simpler.The actual crown that we can still see today is the gold Yishan crown of the Wanli Emperor Zhu Yijun unearthed from the Dingling Tomb of the Ming Tombs.The full crown is woven with extremely fine gold wire, and is inlaid with two golden dragon play beads. The posture is vivid and the workmanship is exquisite, reflecting the honor and privileged status of the emperor.

In the seventh year of Jiajing (1528 A.D.), Yanbianfu was changed to be the leisure clothing of the emperor Yanju.Emperor Shizong Zhu Houcong (General Manager Zong) believed that the ancient Xuanduan was used from top to bottom, which lost the prestige of the emperor, so he told the Ministry of Rites: "It is not comparable to the ancients. Although it lives in a swallow, it is appropriate to distinguish the prestige" ("History of the Ming Dynasty Yufu Zhi").It was later renamed "Yan Bian", which means being alone in the deep palace and taking Yan'an as a warning.The crown of the Yanbian suit is like a leather bean. It is made of black yarn as a hat. The full hat has 12 petals, and gold threads are pressed between each petal.The clothes are still in the ancient Xuanduan style, with the sun and the moon embroidered on the shoulders, a round dragon on the front and two square dragons on the back.In the same year, on the basis of Yanbianfu, the Baohe Guanfu was formulated as the clothing for princes, county kings, princes and others when they lived in Yanju.The Baohe crown was created in the Ming Dynasty, but it did not break away from the traditional crown system.

Civil and military official uniforms in the Ming Dynasty included sacrificial, court, official, and ordinary uniforms. Sacrificial clothes are the most noble and are only used for specific occasions of sacrificial rituals.At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, Tao An, a bachelor, asked to make five crowns.Zhu Yuanzhang thought that the ancient system was too complicated, so he deleted the complicated and simplified it, and stipulated that the emperor "sacrifices to heaven and earth, ancestral temple, and wears the crown. For sacrifices to the country and other sacrifices, he wears the Tongtian crown and the crimson gauze robe. The rest are not used" ("Ming History·Yu Fu Zhi").In the twenty-sixth year of Hongwu (1393 A.D.), sacrificial clothing for officials was formulated.From the first rank to the ninth rank are Qingluo clothes, white gauze mid-sole, black collar and black border.Chi Luoshang, Chi Luo covers the knees.Crown belts, wearing ribbons, etc. are all in accordance with the grade of court clothes.

Court clothes are used in national ceremonies such as Dasi, Qingcheng, Zhengdan, and issuing imperial edicts.Wearing Liang Guan, wearing red clothes and skirts, wearing red and white two-color silk belts, leather belts, and wearing ribbons.In the Yansong system of the Ming Dynasty, the grades were also divided by the number of beams on the crown.The public crown is eight beams, plus a cage scarf Diaochan, 50% off the standing pen, four pillars, five sections of vanilla, and front and rear jade cicadas.Hou Qiliang, Diaochan in the cage, Jinchan in the front and back, and the rest are all inferior to Gongguan.Bo is a tortoiseshell cicada, and the rest are one class lower than Hou.All have pheasant tails.The son-in-law is the same as the Hou, but without the pheasant tail.In addition to the number of beams, the belts and ribbons worn by officials are also signs of distinguishing grades.Official first-class, crown seven beams, don't use sable cicadas in cages, jade for leather belts, and four-color (yellow, green, red, purple) brocades of clouds and phoenixes for ribbons.The second grade, the crown with six beams, the rhinoceros leather belt, and the same grade as the ribbon.Three grades, crown with five beams, gold leather belt, ribbon with crane flower brocade.The fourth grade, the crown and the four beams, and the rest are the same as the third grade.Five grades, crown with three beams, silver leather belt, ribbon with carved brocade.The sixth-rank and seventh-rank crowns have two beams, silver leather belts, and three-color (yellow, green, red) flower brocades for ribbons.The eighth and ninth ranks have a crown and a beam, black horns for the leather belt, and 鸂鶒 for the ribbon [xichi west wing, a kind of water bird, the color is mostly purple]. Two-color (yellow and green) flower brocade.Xiezhi is used as the crown of imperial censors.The first to fifth ranks of the wat boards are made of ivory, and the sixth to ninth ranks are made of pagoda wood.

Official clothes are used for morning and evening court performances, attendants, thanksgiving, and speeches, etc. Later, they will be changed to casual clothes during regular courts, and official clothes will only be worn during the first and fifteenth court visits.This kind of clothing is a right lapel gown with a collar and a sleeve width of three feet, made of silk or gauze silk.The color of robes is crimson for ranks 1 to 4, blue for ranks 5 to 7, and green for ranks 8 to 9.Embroidery and weaving various patterns of different sizes according to grades.Official uniforms of officials below the eighth rank have no ornamentation.When wearing official uniforms, Futou must be worn on the head.

Ordinary clothes are used for year-round directors and are also official clothes.The black gauze cap is low in the front and high in the back, with a wing inserted on each side. The whole body is round.In the Ming Dynasty, the black gauze hat was used as the official hat, and it was extended to be the official title thereafter.Zheng Banqiao's "Throwing away the black yarn does not make you an official, the bag [tuotuo, bag] Xiao Xiao's sleeves are cold" ("Yu Gaogui, Huazhu Farewell to the Gentlemen and People of Weixian County") refers to the official position with the black yarn hat.The girdles are differentiated according to the grades. The first grade is jade belt, the second grade is rhinoceros, the third grade is golden 钑花, the fourth grade is plain gold, the fifth grade is silver flower, the sixth grade and seventh grade are plain silver, and the eighth grade and ninth grade are black horns.In the twenty-fourth year of Hongwu (AD 1391), fixed-rank officials used mending in their regular clothes.This is a pattern with a fixed position, form, content and meaning. It is woven with gold thread or colored silk into patterns of birds and animals, and is decorated on the chest and back of official uniforms. It is usually made into a square shape, one at the front and one at the front.Civil officials embroider birds, which means civilization; military officials embroider animals, which means mighty.Gong, Hou, Bo and other officials are different.This creation in the Ming Dynasty continued into the Qing Dynasty, and became another significant symbol for distinguishing official ranks.The specific embroidered patterns are as follows:

Gong, Hou, Bo, Consort Qilin, Baize Civilian first-class crane Second Grade Golden Pheasant Three Grade Peacock Sipin Yunyan Fifth grade white pheasant [Xian Xian] Six Grade Egret Qipin Chi Chi Eight Pin Oriole Nine grade quail Miscellaneous training bird military officer first grade lion Second Grade Lion Third grade tiger and leopard Tier 4 tiger and leopard Pinxiong (pi skin) Liupinbiao Qipinbiao Grade Eight Rhino Jiupin Seahorse Haechi In the Ming Dynasty, the regulations on the grade and pattern of Buzi were not very strict, and some miscellaneous staff without formal official positions could also use miscellaneous poultry and miscellaneous flower Buzi.There are also other supplements that are used to suit the situation, such as: "Dengjing" supplements on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, "Aihu" and "Five Poisons" on Duanyang in May, "Magpie Bridge" in July, and "Gourd" and "Chrysanthemum", etc. Most of the supplements other than formal clothes are bought by the ministers, officials and other people by themselves.

In the Ming Dynasty, apart from official uniforms, there were conferments. The original intention was that the emperor gave special permission to officials with meritorious service. Later, due to the corruption of the government, the conferments have also deteriorated, mainly depending on the emperor's preferences and needs.One kind of obedience is given before the official rank is reached, such as the jade belt given to the official before the first rank, the unicorn suit for the prince and marquis of the second rank, or the crane and golden pheasant suit for the first and second ranks for the lower rank.During the Jiajing period, the emperor Zhu Houcong was fond of Taoism, and the bachelors Yan Na, Li Chunfang, and Dong Fen were all gifted with five-rank officials because they could write green poems ("Ming History · Yufu Zhi").The other is to give clothes for pythons, flying fish, and bullfighting clothes.The pattern of the python is similar to that of the dragon, only one claw less than the dragon; the flying fish is a python with fins and fish tail; the bullfighting has two more horns on the python's head.These three patterns resemble dragons, which are the most noble patterns on the outside of Gunlong clothing.Because the images of the three are similar, it is easy to confuse them, and sometimes it is unavoidable to be mistaken. "History of Ming Dynasty Yufu Zhi" contains such an incident: In the 16th year of Jiajing (1537 A.D.), Zhu Houcong went on a trip, and the officials went to the residence [bibi] (the place where they stayed temporarily on the way).Minister of the Ministry of War Zhang Zan (zan Zan) "served the python" to meet.The emperor was furious when he saw this, and asked, "Shangshu is a second-rank official, why is he wearing a python suit?" The cabinet minister Xia Yan replied, "Zhang Zan is wearing a flying fish suit rewarded by the emperor. It looks like a python, not a python." Zhu Houcong It is still very offensive and should be strictly prohibited.As a result, the Ministry of Rites made a decision that civil and military officials were not allowed to use python clothes, flying fish clothes, bullfight clothes, and other prohibited colorful clothes.

In the seventh year of Jiajing (1528 A.D.), Zhongzhongjing Guanfu was used as the clothing of senior officials when they lived in Yanju.It was named "Zhongjing", which means "to be loyal in advance and thinking, and to make up for mistakes in retreat" ("Ming History · Yufu Zhi").This is an antique crown dress, with a black gauze hat, three beams on the top of the crown, each pressed with gold thread, and a gold edge along the edge. Officials below the fourth rank remove the gold edge and use light-colored silk thread.The Zhongjing crown was also created in the Ming Dynasty.This kind of crown clothing is used in a wide range of applications, including generals and lieutenants in the palace, officials above the seventh rank in Beijing, officials above the eighth rank of the Imperial Academy, Guozijian, and pedestrian officials, officials of various houses, prefectures and counties, Confucian instructors, and military officers above the governor. Can be worn.During the reign of Chongzhen, all officials were ordered to wear Zhongjing Crown Clothes when they lived in Yanju.

Inner clothing.After Zhu Yuanzhang took power, he deeply forbade eunuchs from intervening in politics and imposed various restrictions on eunuchs.In the early Ming Dynasty, it was stipulated that all inner ministers (eunuchs) were not allowed to read and write; costumes.In the third year of Hongwu (AD 1370), it was stipulated that internal envoys and supervisors participated in court meetings and used court and official clothes according to their grades.The usual uniform is a sunflower chest-back round-collar shirt, regardless of color; a black gauze gold curved-foot cap; a rhinoceros horn belt.For those without grades, they only wear regimental collar shirts, and there are no chest and back flowers on the shirts.And cast an iron plate at the gate of the palace, engraved with "inner ministers are not allowed to interfere in political affairs, and offenders will be beheaded".The purpose of making these regulations is to make eunuchs a veritable court servant.However, things backfired. The damage caused by eunuchs in the Ming Dynasty was one of the most serious dynasties in Chinese history.In his later years, Zhu Yuanzhang had already violated his original intention and allowed his ministers to participate in some government economic activities.This is of course very limited.When Ming Chengzu Zhu Di, because he relied on eunuchs to gain political power, during the Yongle period, the status of eunuchs was greatly improved. Not only was the name "changed to the eunuch", but in fact, he also participated in state affairs and went to the place of envoy. Some even became local supervisors.In the eighteenth year of Yongle (1420 A.D.), the East Factory was set up to let eunuchs spy on the secret affairs of the subjects.This is a kind of espionage, and the power of eunuchs has surpassed that of courtiers.At this time, the crown clothes of the ministers have long since changed from the past. The system clearly stipulates that the eunuchs accompanying the emperor "must wear python clothes, made like dragging, embroidered pythons on the left and right, and tied with luan belts." Giving pythons is not easy for civil and military officials" ("History of Ming Dynasty Yufu Zhi").During Emperor Xizong of the Ming Dynasty, the great eunuch Wei Zhongxian controlled the government. His court uniform was not only the same as that of the outer court, but also surpassed it.His court crown has been added to Jiuliang, and he wears the hairpin tassels of Duke, Marquis and Earl.It was not until Xi Zong's death that he restrained himself. There are dental plaques on the ornaments other than the crown clothes.This is required to be hung by the internal officials and the permanent court officials of various departments in Beijing, and it is used as a certificate for entry and exit.Official ivory plaques are made of ivory with official titles engraved on them.It is awarded by Gao Baosi when worshiping an official, and must be returned when changing an official, and cannot be transferred, otherwise you will be punished.Ebony medals are used for internal envoys and small fire fighters, and bronze medals are used for captains, wrestlers, warriors, and servants.Liu Jin, the eunuch at the time of Emperor Wu of the Ming Dynasty, conspired against the law. He not only made weapons privately, forged treasure seals, but also made dental plaques.When his house was confiscated, apart from gold, silver, jewellery, python clothes and gowns, there were actually two large cabinets of tooth cards.