In the usual TELEVISION or movie footage, we often see such a scene: a certain father-in-law from the court holds a yellow aya in his hand to read the emperor's holy will: "Fengtian carries the transport, the emperor commands..." So, what should the true Emperor's Holy Will look like? Today, through the Dongying auction site, i have a brief understanding of the holy will of the Qing Dynasty.
Tongzhi Six-Year Holy Will
The Qing Dynasty Sacred Will uses a jacquard brocade specially used by emperors to pass on the will, which is divided into five colors and white. It is usually 0.3 meters wide and between 2 and 3 meters in length, and is woven in a single way. This piece is the Royal Five Colors of The Holy Will, a brown, an ochre, a bright yellow, a white, and a red. The Five Colors Society varies according to the rank of the objects of the Holy Will, and in the Qing Dynasty there were nine pins and eighteen steps, and the official orders below the six pins were all white. This sacred inscription is 1.9 meters long and 0.3 meters wide, and begins with a jacquard woven with five-clawed double dragons, and in the middle is four seal characters of "Fengtian Commandment". Beginning with the holy will of "Fengtian Carrying the Emperor's Edict", the word "Tian" is at the top of the grid, higher than the emperor's word, and the whole picture is interspersed with cirrus cloud ornaments, the colors are clear and gorgeous, and the atmosphere of the royal rich clouds is faintly permeated.
Commandments from Heaven
From the main text of the Holy Will, it can be seen that this commandment was issued in the sixth year of Tongzhi, that is, in 1867, the emperor awarded the mother of Tongzhi Shao Guisheng and gave him the title of Pleasant. Shang Yue "Shao Guisheng's mother Shu Cautious Qiyi, Rou Jiawei preached the precepts, did not forget the diligence of raising children in the morning and evening, Ji Qingze was in the door Lu style quilt, from the favor of heaven to Qin En, Feng Er was pleasant to play up....... The vernacular is to commend his godson for being generous and prudent for his mother.
The Holy Will begins
Tongzhi Shao Guisheng
So what does "pleasant" mean here? Why was his mother named Pleasant? This is because among the civilian foreign officials of the Qing Dynasty, Tongzhi was known as a Zhengwupin official. According to the Qing system (mainly from Qianlong onwards), all women's titles correspond to the mother and wife of officials, one pin and two pins are called ladies, three pins are called shuren, four pins are called Gongren, five pins are called Pleasant, six pins are called Anren, and seven pins are called widows. Regardless of whether it is right or wrong, the civil and military positions are the same. Concubines in the court are called internal wives, and the wives and mothers of foreign court officials are called foreign wives.
Seal the content
The Ming Dynasty's Holy Will is written in Chinese throughout, and in the Qing Dynasty, it is written in Chinese and Manchu, the Chinese line is from right to left, and the Manchu line is written from left to right, and this commandment is combined in the middle section of the Minghuangdi highlighting the royal color, and the seal of the emperor is covered with the emperor's "treasure of making the truth". The Holy Decree was issued in the sixth year of Tongzhi, that is, on the seventeenth day of the ninth lunar month in 1867. In ancient China, the emperor's decree was not originally called "holy will", but "fate", "order", "government" and so on. It was not until the Song Dynasty that emperors and ministers collectively referred to the imperial decree as the "Holy Will". The earliest use of the eight characters of "Fengtian Carrying Emperor's Edict" at the beginning of the Holy Will was opened from Zhu Yuanzhang, the ancestor of the Ming Dynasty.
Written in Chinese and Manchu
The holy will of the ancient emperors is a relatively scarce type of collection, and if there is a chance encounter, it should be a treasure [thank you]