This idiom tells such a story: In 960 AD, Zhao Kuangyin was ordered to lead an army to the north, and when he arrived at Chen Qiaoyi, some of his generals were fully armed and led the soldiers straight to his bedroom, and Zhao Kuangyin, who was terrified, quickly dressed up, and before he could react, the soldiers draped the yellow robe prepared in advance on him. Then everyone knelt on the ground and shouted long live.
Some people say that this is Zhao Kuangyin's self-directed and self-acting, and some people say that his younger brother Zhao Guangyi wants to become emperor and instigates his subordinates to add his brother's yellow robe, and some of the subsequent "Alliance of the Golden Dragon", "Axe Light Candle Shadow" and other divine things seem to be inextricably linked to this "yellow robe plus body". So, must the imperial robes of ancient emperors be yellow?
Now let's talk about our protagonist, Zhao Kuangyin in Chen Qiaoyi was draped on the body is indeed a "yellow robe", and there is no dragon pattern on it and a strange thing is that the robe worn by the emperor behind the Song Dynasty is mainly red, or because they like red clothes, after all, red symbolizes celebration, another way of saying that the Song Dynasty according to the five elements, belongs to fire virtue, fire is red, should wear red. The Song Dynasty advocated the aesthetics of "light elegance and simplicity", so the Emperor of the Song Dynasty wore red official uniforms similar to those of officials, because the Song Dynasty believed that this could tighten the relationship between the monarch and the subject, and also achieve the purpose of being close to the people. That is, the king is the official, the subjects are for the people, and the government and the people are combined, becoming a solid haven for the people. It is also in this way that the people of the Song Dynasty all honored the king as an official. In the solemn event, the emperor will still wear a "yellow robe", and in normal times, the "yellow robe and red robe" can be worn.
Before the Tang and Song dynasties, there was no clear rule on what color clothes the emperor and the king wore. During the Western Zhou and Eastern Zhou Dynasties, according to the "Book of Rites to the Moon Order", the Son of Heaven was "dressed in green clothes". The picture that "Qingyi" makes people emerge the most is probably the image of "Qingyi" in the opera, and the image of the serious and upright Danjiao. And the TV series kings who shoot this period in the TV series are really "Qingyi", do you all say that the director does not understand history, shoot it randomly, but the truth is so. In the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the princes of various countries were constantly in dispute, and the monarchs wore a variety of robes, which seemed to echo the chaos of this period.
In the Qin Dynasty, the theory of the Five Elements prevailed, and the Qin Dynasty was still watery and precious, so Qin Shi Huang wore black robes. Yellow robes have always been more popular in ancient times, and anyone can wear them, but only in the Sui and Tang Dynasties, because yellow is precious, "yellow robes" have become the special clothing of emperors.
Yellow clothing was more popular in ancient China and could be worn by anyone. In the Sui and Tang dynasties, yellow was precious, so the "yellow robe" became the special clothing of the emperor, especially in the Tang Dynasty, the emperor did not want to wear the yellow robe with ordinary people, so he issued the order that "the shishu shall not be dressed in red and yellow". It is recorded in the "Wild Guest Series ~ Prohibition of Yellow": "Tang Gaozu Wu Dechu, using the Sui system, the Son of Heaven often wore yellow robes, so he forbade shishu not to wear them, and the yellow clothes were forbidden from here." Later, during the reign of Emperor Gaozong of Tang, he reiterated that "all things are not allowed to wear yellow", but the regulations at that time were not particularly strict, and it was still more common for ordinary people to wear yellow clothes.
So when did the "yellow robe" become the "dragon robe"? In the museum in Fushun, Liaoning Province, there is a dragon robe of the Qing Guangxu Emperor, which is 125 cm long, 172 cm long with sleeves and 110 cm long at the hem. The dragon robe has a round neck, right side, and horseshoe-shaped sleeves in Manchu style. The front chest, back and shoulders of the dragon robe are embroidered with a dragon, and the front and back plackets are embroidered with a rising dragon, a descending dragon and a walking dragon.
According to historical records, the emperor's dragon robe should have nine dragons, one on the chest, behind the back, one on the left and right shoulders, two on the front and back knees, and one inside the placket. The dragon robe began during the time of Emperor Wen of Sui, but the emperor's exclusive dragon robe was in the Ming Dynasty.
Generally, there are nine dragons on the dragon robe, which is the symbol of the "Ninth Five-Year Supreme", but the Ming Emperor's dragon robe has more than nine. The Wanli Emperor's "Twelve Chapters of Silk GongFu", unearthed in 1958, has twelve dragons. The "Yan Ben Costume" created by Jiajing in the seventh year, the front body of 12 pieces of a tuan dragon pattern, the back of the body of two coiled dragon square pattern, collar and sleeve dragon pattern added up to a total of 45, 36 dragon stripes on the placket, in addition to the waist jade belt is also decorated with nine pieces of jade engraved with dragon patterns. However, no matter how many dragon patterns there are, it is useless, and the transformation of Ming from prosperity to decline was also in the Jiajing period.