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During the feudal era, China was influenced by Confucian etiquette and culture, and the whole society attached great importance to the hierarchical identity system, especially above the court.
All dynasties used various ways to distinguish the grades of officials, and in the Ming and Qing dynasties, a unique system of official uniforms and complements was gradually formed.
The so-called complement is the ornament on the chest and back of the official uniform, which first appeared in the Yuan Dynasty, and in the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang stipulated that the civil official complement embroidered the spirit bird, and the military attache embroidered the beast, this habit also continued to the Qing Dynasty.
In order to better distinguish officials of different grades, the Qing government also made detailed regulations on the types of ornaments of officials at all levels, which also reflected the breadth and profundity of the traditional culture of the mainland.
Civilian complement style
Starting from the Hongwu period of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang for the first time stipulated the difference between civil officials and military attaches in complements.
Because civil officials are representatives of erudition and talent, their knowledge and temperament are like "spirit birds", so they adopt bird ornaments, and military attaches are brave and good at war, and their majesty is like "divine beasts", so the complement pattern is set to a four-legged beast.
The Qing Dynasty's complement design continued the tradition of the Ming Dynasty, where civil officials still used bird ornamentation, and compared with the Ming Dynasty, the Qing Dynasty made detailed regulations on the complement ornamentation on the official uniforms of officials of different grades, so that people could distinguish the identity of the wearer at a glance.
The order of these birds also represents their status in the traditional Chinese cultural system.
The bird depicted on the Qing Dynasty Yipin civil official complement is the crane, which has always represented auspiciousness in the traditional cultural system of the mainland, and is also the mount of the legendary immortals.
At the same time, cranes often appear with images such as pine trees, representing longevity and health, which makes them the highest status of birds.
And because of the elegant shape of the crane and the regularity of walking, it was regarded as a representative of the fairy wind in the Ming and Qing dynasties, and then extended to a symbol of loyalty, integrity and noble character.
This further enhances its status, and naturally becomes the most suitable for matching with the existence of a large person, and the crane is also known as "a bird" in the Qing Dynasty, which shows people's recognition of its dignity.
The complement of the second-grade official is the golden pheasant, which is a unique bird of the mainland, the male golden pheasant has colorful feathers and a beautiful body, and has been loved and sought after by the ancestors of the mainland since ancient times.
Therefore, people also gave the auspicious meaning of the golden pheasant, and believed that its feathers also had the effect of warding off evil spirits, which also made it a bird second only to the crane.
The complement of the three-grade official uniform is the peacock with the title of the king of birds, and the crane and the golden pheasant, the peacock is also loved by people because of its beautiful appearance, and is gradually endowed with the connotation of kindness, beauty and luxury.
This is very consistent with the beautiful imagination of the ancients for the aristocracy, and the peacock is naturally very suitable for being drawn on the official uniform.
After these three kinds of birds, the four to nine rank civil official complements are painted with cloud geese, white pheasants, herons, emus, quails and training birds, and they represent etiquette, harvest, order, loyalty, peace and longevity, which also reflects the ruler's expectations for the country and society.
Military attache complement style
As the actual executors of ancient political affairs, civil officials have a clear political meaning on the complement pattern on their official uniforms.
As the administrator of the national army, the complement patterns of the Qing military attachés had a weak cultural relevance, and most of them were fierce beasts, reflecting the importance that the rulers attached to the military attaché's combat ability.
The pattern on the complement of the Qing Dynasty's first-class military attache is a unicorn, which is one of the four great spirit animals in ancient China, which is rumored to be able to live for thousands of years without dying, and has an extraordinarily powerful force.
Although the unicorn with super strength is the chief of beasts, its personality is very gentle and will not harm humans, so it is believed to have a benevolent character, and was also called "benevolent beast" in ancient times.
As a complement ornament for the military attaché of the first rank, it can also reflect the generous side of the ruler.
As a representative of the beast, the lion has always been highly respected by people, and it is believed that the lion has great strength and king-like majesty, and can guard the peace of the party, which is why the ancients would place a stone lion at the door of the residence.
Therefore, the choice of the lion as the military attaché's complement ornament can not only reflect the strong combat effectiveness of the military attaché, but also give people a sense of peace of mind, and it has also become the existence second only to the unicorn.
There has always been a great deal of controversy about the complement patterns of the third-rank and fourth-rank military attachés of the Qing Dynasty, when the complement patterns of the third-rank military attachés were leopards and fourth-rank tigers.
This is contrary to people's general impression of the combat effectiveness of these two animals, and in the Ming Dynasty, the tiger complement also had a higher status than the leopard complement.
Historians have different opinions on why the Qing Dynasty ranked leopards ahead of tigers.
- Some people believe that tigers were considered fierce beasts in ancient times because they often ate people, and they would cause fear among the people, so they ranked behind leopards.
- There are also people who believe that the Qing army focused on cavalry rush combat, so they preferred the commander to be able to move quickly like a leopard, and so on.
Under the tiger and leopard, the complements of the five to nine military attachés of the Qing Dynasty were also drawn with various fierce beasts, which were bears, biao, rhinoceros and seahorses.
Among them, Biao refers to the tiger that grows alone after being abandoned by the female tiger, and is more ferocious than other tigers, while the seahorse is not what we now call an aquatic animal, but a BMW with wings on its back and can fly on the surface of the sea.
It is worth noting that the Qing Dynasty's seventh- and eighth-rank officials' complements were painted with rhinoceros patterns, so it is impossible to distinguish their grades from the official uniforms alone, and ultimately it is necessary to observe the decorations on their crowns to distinguish them.
Compared with the complement ornament of civil officials, the complements of military attaches in the Qing Dynasty pay more attention to their fierce atmosphere and strong combat effectiveness in the choice of imagery, and do not need to have auspicious meanings.
This also reflects the full-time nature of the ancient military attache system, as well as the state of military attachés far from the core system of political culture.
Special complement ornamentation
In the Qing Dynasty, in addition to the civil and military officials, the official uniforms of the emperor's relatives also had complements, and the patterns on these complements were mainly composed of dragon patterns and python patterns.
Since the Eastern Han Dynasty, the dragon pattern has been regarded as a symbol of dignity, and in the Tang Dynasty it gradually became a symbol of the ruler, and in the Ming and Qing dynasties, the dragon pattern officially became a unique symbol of the royal family.
In the Qing Dynasty, only the emperor was able to wear the costume of the dragon-patterned complement, which in addition to being exquisitely made, was characterized by its composition, which was mostly a central symmetrical pattern, which symbolized the emperor's central leadership.
On the other hand, the complement ornament of the civil and military officials is on one side, and on the other side of the pattern is often depicted with a rising sun as a symbol of the emperor.
The relative position of the sun was determined according to the different positions of officials in the court, which also shows the rigor of the feudal hierarchy at that time.
The royal family and nobles of the Qing Dynasty did not have the right to wear dragon pattern complements, and their complement patterns were mostly python patterns.
The python pattern of the Qing Dynasty is not the same thing as the real python, and the python here is a creature similar to a dragon, and it is generally difficult for people to distinguish it due to its very similar appearance.
It was not until the promulgation of the "Great Qing Huidian" that people clarified the rule that the five claws are dragons and the four claws are pythons. Therefore, before the Qing Dynasty, there was no historical evidence to prove that the vassal kings and royal families could not use the "five-clawed python pattern".
In addition to the royal family, the Qing Dynasty also had a unique complement ornament, that is, the Qing Dynasty Metropolitan Procuratorate and the officials of the Qing Dynasty wore the Purple Pig Complement.
The hedgehog is a spirit animal in the ancient legends of the mainland, its appearance is very similar to the unicorn, the biggest difference between the two is that the hedgehog has only one horn on the top of its head, so it is also called a unicorn.
It is rumored that the pig is a kind of beast that can determine the evil of the world, and when Gao Tao was handling the case, he would let the pig help him, and anyone who was touched by the pig with its horns was a guilty person.
In the Qing Dynasty, the main responsibility of the Metropolitan Procuratorate and the officials of the Imperial Court was to supervise the hundred officials and deal with difficult cases, so they used the hedgehog as a complement pattern.
This shows the Qing court's hope that they will be able to enforce the law impartially and uprightly.
Nowadays, there are also sculptures of hedgehogs at the entrance of mainland courts and other institutions, which can be regarded as a kind of cultural inheritance.
Other ornaments on the complement
In the Qing Dynasty, in addition to the main pattern of the identity, there are many other ornaments, and these ornaments are also symbols of auspiciousness in the traditional culture of the mainland.
Among the many costumes, moire and geometric ornamentation are the most common, as the most common ornament in ancient ornamentation, moire is varied and full of auspicious meaning, so it is widely chosen as a pattern to fill the vacancy of the complement.
Geometric patterns, on the other hand, are mostly used to outline the borders of complements, and their ornamentation is mostly an extension of the variation of characters such as "king", which also reflects the support of officials for the ruler.
In addition, Qing Dynasty officials often painted the pattern of "seawater river cliff" on the complement, and the main animal of the complement would stand on the river cliff to make a lookout shape.
The use of this motif is mainly to reflect the vastness and continuity of the territory, and at the same time to highlight the high power of the king.
In addition, in the blank space of the official's complement, you can also see many auspicious patterns, such as bats representing good fortune, dark eight immortal ornaments with the effect of eliminating disasters, peonies representing wealth, peaches meaning longevity, chrysanthemums symbolizing loyalty, and butterflies that convey beauty.
On the complement of the official uniform of the Qing Dynasty, there are also the eight treasures of Tibetan Buddhism with strong religious meaning and the ruyi-like ornamentation, which also reflects the Qing Dynasty rulers' respect for Buddhist culture.
The use of these ornaments makes the composition of the Qing Dynasty official uniform complement fuller, the colors more vivid, and at the same time adds more auspicious meanings, which is also a concentrated display of the development achievements of mainland folk culture.
Write at the end
As the last feudal dynasty on the mainland, the Qing Dynasty embodied a strict hierarchy in its political and cultural system.
This point is also vividly reflected in the pattern of the complement of the official uniform, and the Qing court used different birds and beasts to distinguish between officials.
The careful selection of ornaments was intended to hope that officials could have the excellent qualities of these auspicious spirit animals, but in the end, "well-dressed beasts" became a purely derogatory term, which shows the oppression of people by the feudal bureaucracy, which is also a fact that cannot be concealed by any modification.
Resources:
Part of the content of this article is referred to from "Research on the Design Elements of Qing Dynasty Official Uniforms", written by Ha Xiaojing, published in April 2014.
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