Lin Yuteng
2021 marks the 170th anniversary of the Jintian Uprising of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. As an important chapter of the Taiping Army, the dragon robe system is a weak link in the study of modern history and a regret in the history of Chinese costumes. The lack of relevant documents and physical objects of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, coupled with the bias of historical materials, and the custom of the Taiping Army not using coffins and only wrapping them in satin cloth, made it impossible for the world to understand the original appearance of the "Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Clothing and Crown System". In addition, after the defeat of the Taiping Army, the Qing government severely destroyed all people and things related to the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, which also made the research of later generations difficult.
The biased "Compilation of Thieves' Feelings" and qing dynasty manuscripts
The Taiping Army was strictly hierarchical, submitting them step by step, and had been using secret codes and other methods to prevent the infiltration of traitors and obstruct the qing side's spies. The "Yu ZaiMu" records that every time the Taiping Army was stationed in a place, it would be guarded by soldiers on all four important roads, called 'shokas', and the thieves' camp pseudo-brigade commanders were there." One to prevent officers and soldiers, one to prevent thieves from escaping... Every night in the thief camp, the pseudo-general system of the Ninth Army obeys the orders of the pseudo-general departments, and the thieves also obey the orders of the pseudo-general system of the various armies..."
The "Personal Record of the Taiping Army's Two Captures of Hangzhou" also records: "All the bandits in the city were not allowed to leave the city gate without permission, and the guards were very strict... The poems are coded, and the words are changed every day... Half of the respondents, half of the questioners, and Du Gang's treacherous details are mixed in. ”
The "Oral Narrative of Li Jinfu" records: "The eldest son is Feng Yunshan, the second head is Hong Xiuquan, the third head is Yang Xiuqing, the fourth head is Xiao Chao, the fifth head is Wei Zheng, and the sixth head is Hu Yi, who is washed and dressed in yellow clothes..." It can be seen that the lower-level Taiping Army did not understand the internal status of the knighthood, not to mention that the objects of the visit were mainly hearsay and escapees.
Therefore, there are errors in the information in the costume part of the Qing Dynasty spy book "Thief's Love Collection", such as: "The hat of the Emperor Xiang uses a phoenix, the master of the hat uses a dragon but goes to a claw" and "The pseudo-Marquis pseudo-Xiang embroidered dragon four, the pseudo checkpoint plain yellow robe, the pseudo command to the pseudo two Sima are su red robes" and "the pseudo-commander to the pseudo two Sima are all red robes".
The reality is that Jiayin's fourth year's "Divine Will of the Father" descends: "(The dragon's) four claws are demon snakes, and the prime minister is also allowed to use a phoenix." It can be seen that the kingdom of heaven canceled the 4-clawed dragon, and in the future, it will use a 5-clawed dragon, and the beggar will also be awarded the permission to use the "phoenix", which proves that the "4-clawed dragon + the phoenix with the phoenix" will not coexist. It can be seen that the costumes of "Thief Love" are contradictory in part.
The Mandate of Heaven edict further promises: "The position of military commander (the smallest rank in the conquest of Nanjing), hereditary for generations, the dragon robe horn belt in the Heavenly Dynasty." That is, commanders, generals, chiefs, and supervisors above the military commander level are all allowed to wear dragon robes. And the Loach Diary. The "Scroll Down" records that in the ten years of Gengshen, the "military commander" under the command of Qian Guiren of Kang Tianfu was "wearing a python and arrow suit, and the dragon and yellow coat".
Looking at the manuscripts of different bureaucratic factions between Xianfeng and Tongzhi Dynasties, there are dragon robe records: "(Xiangjun Luo Zenan) intercepted more than 300 people, including the pseudo-commander Liu surname, the pseudo-general Yu surname, and the eight division commanders, and won the pseudo-pan dragon crown, the golden dragon robe and other pieces. "(Luo Wenzhongbu) slashed the reverse channel pseudo-loyalty to the state Dun Tianyan Zhang surname, pseudo Chunguan and deputy Xiang Xiang Yuanxun Zhang surname, pseudo wing hall right ten Chengxuan Tan surname, pseudo command Wu surname, pseudo Chengxuan Chengwei Li Taiyou, Yang Twenty Thousand, pseudo general Luo Zaitian, 'all' stripped embroidered dragon robes, embroidered dragon hoods, horse coats, false seal licenses and other pieces for examination." "(Xiang Rongbu) Liu Tingzhao fired a foreign gun to attack the thief on horseback, and inside there was the first thief in yellow clothes who was shot and fell off his horse... Yu Rebellion is about to snatch the thief's head back... He was awarded the Panlong Thief Hat with the words "Twelve Chengxuan" embroidered on the left side of the East Hall. ”
These government manuscripts of different periods prove that the supervisors, generals, generals, commanders, and inspectors of the ranks above the "military commander" are all wearing dragon robes, which is in line with the "dragon robe horn belt in the Heavenly Dynasty" promised in the "Mandate of Heaven". (Press: The "Compilation of Thieves' Feelings" points out that the Heavenly King 9 Dragon Robe, the Eastern King 8 Dragon Robe, the Northern King 7 Dragon Robe, the Wing King 6 Dragon Robe, the Yanyu Second King 5 Dragon Robe, the Hou and Xiang Xiang 4 Dragon Robe, the Inspection Plain Yellow Robe, the remaining commanders, generals, chief producers, supervisors, military commanders, division commanders and the two Sima are all "plain red robes", which is obviously different from the official manuscript of the facts. ）
Part of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Dragon Robe Lin Yuteng painted
Zeng Guofan spent his life cautiously, thirsting for enemy information. Why didn't you update the addendum "Thief's Love"? The reason is that he pays more attention to those who surrender, such as Li Zhaoshou, Xue Zhiyuan, Wei Zhijun, Tong Ronghai, etc. They brought a lot of military intelligence to the Qing court and captured a large number of rosters and prisoners on the battlefield, which were enough to understand the latest internal situation of the heavenly kingdom. For a military scientist, compared with "victory and defeat", the "exploration of the costume system" is absolutely insignificant.
Literati records and Times prints
According to zhang runan's "Difficult Chronicle of Jinling Province" under the rule of the Taiping Army: "... The yellow shirt weaves dragons on it and water on it. The Thirty-six Dragons of the Eastern King, the Decreasing North Wing, and the Yellow Dragons are also embroidered. The Crown of Thieves has not been seen... Its yellow-shirted weaver dragon times the East Thief. "The Crane Tree Resident's "Shengchuan Barnyard Ride": "The false king embroidered the twenty-four dragons (referring to the kings of listening to the king and the king of Rong), and the twenty dragons of the heavenly generals (referring to the embroidery of the yellow robe of the heavenly general Shen Zhishan). "Lihu Strange Sound Sequence": "(Futianhou Xu Shaoxuan) clothes dyed goose yellow gui, Xu Wu wore tuanlong gold embroidered yellow robes." "It can be seen that the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom uses the embroidered gold tuanlong as a complement, and each knight rank is different from 4 dragons.
The author also collected the "Portrait of Wu Ruxiao Liangguan of the Fifth Checkpoint of the Left Of the Temple" (Western print "The Illustrated London News: The Rebels of Taipings in Nankin") and "The Inspector of the Heavenly Custom House Caishen Hat Su Huangpao Portrait of Liang Fengchao of Tianguan Tian'an" stationed in Zhenjiang Province and Huazhou in July 1855. (On the coasts of Cathay and Cipang of orty years ago, pp. 140-143) Other English costume materials, such as the Ganwang costume, the Zansijun golden crown embroidered hood dragon robe, the Yih-tien-fuh embroidered crown forehead hood plain yellow robe, yitianfu Li Chunfa, etc.
As for whether the knights wore dragon robes or plain robes, it seemed to be more casual in the Taiping Army, coupled with the shortage of materials in wartime, not everyone had a dragon robe to wear, and the King of Zhongwang also wore red robes to fight. The Chronicle of Refuge also records: "The clothes of thieves are also indefinite... The Great Thief and the False King had to wear yellow robes or the robes of the gods. "Compared with the dragon robe, the official seal is an important recognition of the knighthood rank and a source of power." The Taiping Army attached great importance to it, and always set up a grand opening banquet; and when it died in battle, it was often carried with its seal.
Rank and continuation of the Dragon Robe of the King
According to the "Difficult Chronicle of Jinling Province" and the "Shengchuan Barnyard Ride", according to the difference of 4 dragons per level of the dragon robe, the author analyzes its dragon robe system as follows.
The Heavenly King is 40 dragon robes; the Eastern King and the Western King are 36 dragon robes. (Press: The "Taiping Military Catalogue" contains "The Two Banners of the Zhengjun Division are Nine Feet", the "Eight-Year Taiping Ceremonial System" The daughters of the Eastern King and the Western King are all "righteous" lords, and the Auxiliary King proposes to build a "Zhengjiu Heavenly Court" for the Youdong King, while the "Urn Mu Yu Tan" states that the Youxi Wangfu "is also the Ninth Heavenly Court", and the "Jinling Chronicle Poem": "The pseudo-Eastern King and the Pseudo-Western King each have one son, and both are falsely sealed." Its dwelling is called the Heavenly Court". ）
Heavenly King's Robe Lin Yuteng painted
The Southern King and the Northern King are of the same rank as 32 dragon robes. (Press: "Taiping Military Catalogue" contains "deputy army division two banners eight feet five inches", the Heavenly King's edict called the King of Gan "Zhi Tongnan", "Eight Years of Taiping Ceremonial System" The Southern King is 7,000 years old Gan Wang Fu Chitose, and the juxtaposition of the title can be seen in the later period of the Gan King and the Southern King.) ）
Wing King 28 Dragon Robe. (Press: In the early period, only the Wing King, in the later period, see the "Eight-Year Taiping Ceremony System" Wing King Hi Chitose Ying King Lu Chitose, knighthood tied for the same rank.) ）
24 dragon robes of the second king of Yanyu (later from the king of Zhong to the kings of the various columns).
The birth of the Second King of Yanyu and The Heavenly Yan and Tianyu Lords was demoted due to defeat. According to the Title of the Heavenly Dynasty Lord, it is pointed out that the "Fujue Youyu King" and the "Listening Rebellion" recorded in the "Shengchuan" wearing 24 dragon robes are of the same level, so the "Lords" are wearing 24 dragon robes.
In the later period, there were extensive grants of titles and re-titles, and their hierarchical uniforms were the same as those of their predecessors.
"Dingtianyan" was renamed: "On December 23, 2011, Li Shizhong fell in Liuhe County, and among the captives was Dingtianyan Wang Yucheng. (See Strategy, vol. 285, p. 3, and Tongzhi Donghua Sequel, vol. 5, p. 18, first year, first month)
An example of the change of the title of "King of Yan" can be found in Sheng Xunchang's "Records of officials of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom", according to the Complete Works of Zeng Zhongxianggong. Volume VI), October 1862 "King of Yan" accompanied King Zhong to aid Tianjing. Later, he pointed out that the King of Yan referred to by Guo Ting in the Annals of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was Chen Taichang (陈崇常), not the King of Yan who rescued Tianjing. It seems that the "King of Yan", an early prominent prince, was sealed at least twice in the later period.
Other remarried titles include: Bao Wang Tong Rong Hai descended to Qing and changed the title of Hong Renshan. King Gu Longxian of Feng descended to Qing and changed the title of Huang Penghou. King Wang Anjun of Kang descended and changed the title of Wang Haiyang. Than Wang Wu Guiwen changed the title of Qian Guiren. Zhou Wenjia, the King of Ning, changed the title to Zhang Xueming. King Zhou Chun of Huai changed his title to Qiu Yuancai.
The mystery of the six official residences, crowns and official seals
Tianyan and Tianyujue were born unexpectedly by king Yu of Yan after losing the battle, which was unexpected by Tianjing, so the Eastern King degraded them to "top the heavens and protect the heavens". The situation of Yi'an Fujue and even the Heavenly General Dynasty General's command and command is similar, all of which were added to the knighthood for the courtiers when the Heavenly King removed his brother Wang Jue and promised never to be crowned king, so the costume of the six lords will not change, but will continue to use the embroidered 20 dragon robes.
The Taiping Army determined the six titles according to three aspects: "official residence title system" (the name of the official residence at all levels: Tingfu Yu Loft Di Yaguan), "Knighthood Crown Forehead System" (see the physical Royal engineers museum collection of Gordon relics Taiping Crown Forehead Hood Taipinghood with tiara Collection Number: GGC287, "Jinling Province Difficult Chronicle" records: "The forehead adds a piece of mountain-like shape, embroidered next to two small dragons, and the embroidered official name is in red. "Yih-tien-fuh crown of YiTianfu Li Chunfa, etc."), "new official seal size". (For details, see "Thief's Love Compilation of False Seals Long and Wide Inches" and the size of the baowang Tong Ronghai official seal list)
In the "Taiping Heavenly Kingdom "Pseudo" Official License and "Pseudo" Seal List" of the Qing Baowang Troops, the official seal of the "BaoWang" of the Knight King, who was crowned king at the same time as "Listening to king Chen Bingwen": seven inches long x three inches wide and six minutes (24.15 cm long and 12.42 cm wide) is consistent with the official seal of another cultural relic, "Shou Wang", which is 24.2 cm long and 12.2 cm wide, and the physical object will be slightly divided due to wear and tear. The size of the Marquis's seal also coincided.
("Pseudo" Seal Inventory, Hou Yin is five inches and eight minutes 20.01 cm long, 2 inches wide and 10.005 cm wide, which is consistent with the size of the seal of Marquis Huang Jingzhong and Marquis Ren Wujun and Political Secretary, Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Art (Volume II), pp. 268-269)
The dragon robes of the chancellor and the military commander are divided
According to the "Miscellaneous Records of Jinling", "Chronicle of The Decay", and "Zhongxing Beiji", the number of dragons embroidered with dragon robes from the minister to the military commander was drawn at the level of "official hat rui beast". The breakdown is as follows: The minister wears 16 dragon robes ("the prime minister is also allowed to use the phoenix" and "the official is the best"), the inspection and command 12 dragon robes (hats use "Qilin"), the general and the general 8 dragon robes (the hat uses "lion"), the supervision army and military commanders 4 dragons (the hat uses "tiger"), and the others are plain robes. According to the "Main Map of the Chaotian Dynasty", it can be seen that the ranking of the military master Gan Wang is lower than that of Wang Chang's second brother and the son-in-law of the Western King, which proves that the "knighthood" is higher than the "military position". According to this, it was divided into "Divine Descent Military Division King" (that is, the Eastern King and the Western King), "Special Lord Military Division King" (Nangan Wing Ying Zhongshi Auxiliary King), "Late Commander" (Zhonggu FengDai Ji Yang Wang) and so on. Among the later kings, Wang's eldest brother "Xixia Nanshang" was 34 dragon robes, Nan Wang Gan Wang tongjue wore 32 dragon robes, Wing Wang Ying Wang's same rank belonged to 28 dragon robes (see "Eight Years of Taiping Ritual System"), and the kings below the King of Zhong to each of the various kings were 24 dragon robes. The ranking of the kings in the "List of Kings written by Hong Tianguifu" is basically arranged according to the knighthood of the "Eight-Year Taiping Ceremonial System", showing the real ranking of the heavenly kingdom.
The truth about the cultural relics of the Eastern King's Horse Coat and the Wing King Dragon Robe
Four-regiment dragon embroidered horse coat donated by Xi Baotian's descendants to the "Nanjing Taiping Heavenly Kingdom History Museum" as a basis for finding other heavenly costumes. The author found half a piece of Dong Wang Jue 8 Regiment Dragon Horse gown material, Wing King off-white 28 dragon robe civilian clothes.
According to the "Thief's Feelings", "Hong reverse yellow horse coat embroidered eight tuanlong, the middle of the embroidered double dragon, the number of nine dragons, Yang reverse embroidery eight tuanlong, Wei Shi Qin Hu four thieves embroidered four tuanlong, from the pseudo Hou to the pseudo command are embroidered two tuanlong." "This 8-tuan dragon horse coat has obvious characteristics, just like the horse coat collected by the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Museum.
The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Museum collects horse coats and 8 regiments of dragon horse coats
The ancient costumes seen from the "Qing Dynasty Embroidery Specifications" all have a fixed format, and the Taiping Army costumes also follow this tradition.
In terms of the popular color of dragon robe satin, according to the "Xi'an Evening News", "Weaving and Embroidery Collection: From Small-sized Elegant Play to Mass Investment": "During the Xianfeng Tongzhi period, blue, camel, oil green and beige were popular. The off-white object is found in the Gordon Relic Off-White Boots in the Royal Engineers Museum collection. (Taiping satin boots collection number: 8201.1.23) Boot pan dragon eight, inter-embroidered cloud bat flowers, and the "Jinling Miscellaneous Records" written by the Difu Daoist record that "that is, the sole wall of the boot is also embroidered with golden dragons".
The Han robe is left and right slits, while the Manchu men are mainly front and back slits, and the wing king robe is in accordance with the Han tradition and has horseshoe sleeves.
The ink book inside the Yiwang robe is "Imperial Treasury presents respectful civilian clothes", while the Inner Ink Book of the Forbidden City Tibetan Costume is mostly "Shengping Signature Map", and the folk embroidered dragon god robe is ink book "Dragon Fly Guangxu Twenty Years A Noon Age... Letter Daughter Tianshui Jiang Clan Respectful Help", "Great Qing Daoguang Eleventh Year Xin Ji Yue Ji Dan, Bo Fu Yi De Lady, Dragon Robe One Raid" and so on. The off-white dragon robe openly used the "imperial treasury", proving that its owner must be the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom that could compete with the emperor of the Qing Dynasty.
Compared with the Royal Dragon Robe, the Official Python Robe and the Official Supplement of the Qing Dynasty, the Taiping Army's crown was different. The above comparative analysis can prove the authenticity of the cultural relics of the Wing King Dragon Robe and the Eastern King's Horse Coat.
epilogue
The newly discovered "Ganwang Hongren Jie Yellow Satin Embroidered 32 Golden Dragon Robe" is embroidered with clouds and red bats, embellished with peonies, chest back, shoulders, hem embroidered a total of 8 regiments of dragons, the rest are dragons and dragons, a total of 32 golden dragons, sleeve ends and hem embroidered five-color standing water and flat water, its overall style is slightly later than the wing king white robe, should belong to the later military master Gan Wang, the dragon robe is exquisite, rare and valuable.
At this point, the discovery of the dragon robes of the Taiping Army includes the "full plate of golden thread dragon robes" of Mr. Guo Cunxiao's "Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Museum" Of the Eastern King's 36 regiments of dragon and yellow robes ("Jinling Province Difficult Chronicle" contains: "(Yellow Shirt) Eastern King Thirty-six Dragons"), 32 Dragon Yellow Robes of the Gan King, 28 Dragon White Robes of the Wing King, and the literature has "Shengchuan Barnyard Ride" records that the pseudo-king robe embroidered dragon 24, the Heavenly General embroidered 20 dragons. Combining physical objects and documents, it perfectly shows the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Dragon Robe System, which is 4 dragons apart from each knight.
Taiping Army Eastern King 36 Regiment Dragon Yellow Robe, Gan Wang 32 Dragon Yellow Robe, Wing King 28 Dragon White Robe physical photos
In 1965, Mr. Shen Congwen wrote an article entitled "A Little Opinion on the Issue of Lai Wenguang's Horse Coat", which believed that the Taiping horse coat collected by Zhan Yuan may be a Qing Dynasty opera class costume. However, under the isolated evidence, it is really difficult to draw conclusions.
Mr. Zhang Tiebao, an expert at the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom History Museum, is very strict in the appraisal of heavenly cultural relics and evaluates many heavenly cultural relics. He believes that the horse coat was donated by Xi Baotian's descendants, has a source to be examined, and is a relic of the kingdom of heaven. I also agree with it, and after exploring in many ways, I found the same Taiping coat from the relics of the Victorious Army Gordon collected by the Royal Engineers Museum in the United Kingdom. This yellow satin coat is embroidered with 12 dragons, and the collection name: TaiPing riding jacket number: 4801.36.1. This major discovery finally perfectly answered the doubts of Shen Congwen's predecessors, proving that the collection of Zhan Yuan was a real Taiping Heavenly Kingdom horse coat.
Of course, a new question arises here, that is, who does the 12 regimental dragon Taiping horse coat belong to? There is no record at present, but I found that the museum also has another collection of "Shinden Right One Shoumen" and "Long Hall Left Seven Servant Shooting" official seals, number: GGC44, will the horse coat belong to the King of Letters or the King of Long? Worth pondering.
12 Tuanlong Taiping Horse Coat
Editor-in-Charge: Zhong Yuan
Proofreader: Zhang Liangliang