Long live our Emperor!
Through the form of the upper dynasty between the ancient monarchs and subjects, we can see the changes in the relationship between the monarchs and subjects in ancient China, and the strengthening of the centralized system. In the pre-Qin period, when monarchs and ministers went to the court, ministers could still sit, and state affairs were discussed together.
After the Qin Dynasty, the emperor was on top, and the ministers stood below, and they were respectful to the emperor, but fortunately, the ministers were standing. In the Qing Dynasty, the minister also stood, but knelt down without a word.
Before the Qing Dynasty, the ministers saw the emperor just simply to perform the ritual, but in the Qing Dynasty, the ministers saw the emperor and knelt down, while kneeling, while shouting: "Slaves see the emperor, long live my emperor." ”
The emperor nodded satisfactorily at this time, letting the minister calm down. When the audience watches Qing Dynasty film and television dramas, they will always see that qing ministers always have to pat their sleeves twice before kneeling, and then kneel, why do they do this? There are three main reasons.
First, the Manchus were a people on horseback, and archery on horseback was their basic skill. Huang Taiji once stressed that you should not forget the ability to ride horses and shoot arrows, so he set up an arrow sleeve on the clothes of the civil and military officials, which was called "horseshoe sleeve" and "wow ha" in Manchus.
Usually, the horseshoe sleeves are pulled up, and the ministers have to put the horseshoe sleeves down when they kneel to the emperor, so they will slap their sleeves and bounce the horseshoe sleeves off, which is a kind of etiquette.
Second, the minister slapped his sleeve to prove that he did not have a weapon hidden in his sleeve, because the emperor was afraid that the minister would assassinate them, so he patted it first to prove that he did not have anything with him.
This is mainly aimed at Han Chen, because the Qing Emperor did not believe in Han Chen, nor did he reuse Han Chen, and was very suspicious of Han Chen. The emperor did not believe in Han Chen so much, it was no wonder that the Qing Dynasty would die, and pointing to the Eight Banners was simply not counted on.
Third, the minister slapped his cuffs in order to prove to the emperor that they were two sleeves of breeze, but whether they were two sleeves of breeze or not, only they themselves knew.
To sum up, when the Qing Dynasty ministers knelt before the emperor, the first thing was etiquette, which was only for the Manchus; the second was to prevent assassination, which was for the Han Chen; and the third was to prove that the two sleeves were clean, which was for all the civil and military officials.
References: Draft History of the Qing Dynasty, Qing Barnyard Banknotes, etc