Why did the ancient dragon robe use yellow? Why does the emperor like yellow?

In many film and television dramas, as the supreme emperor, there are naturally many things that are unique, which is obvious in the dragon robe. Many emperors chose yellow robes. Since the emperor used them, people can no longer wear yellow clothes. Moreover, if he is the "emperor" on the stage, the yellow of his clothes is very different from the yellow of his robes. Why does the emperor like to use yellow? Are all the robes yellow?

Before the Tang Dynasty, the colors of emperors' costumes did not form a unified tradition, what's more, emperors all liked yellow.

Portrait of Liu Xiu, Emperor Guangwu of the Eastern Han Dynasty

According to the Book of Rites and the Moon Order, the Emperor of Zhou "wore Tsing Yi". After Qin unified the six countries, Qin Shihuang promoted the theory of five virtues, thinking that Qin was water virtue and water virtue corresponded to black. Therefore, in the Qin Dynasty, "clothes, flags and flags are all black", and the emperors of the Qin Dynasty all wore black robes. Han inherited the Qin system, but it was still black in the early years of the Western Han Dynasty (later, it was suggested that the Han Dynasty should belong to Tude and the Eastern Han Dynasty should be changed to Huode). Therefore, in the film and television dramas of the Qin and Han Dynasties, most emperors wore black robes. Of course, film and television dramas have also symbolized the role of the Qin and Han emperors. When they appear, they are often crowned with mysterious costumes (coronation is a kind of costume used for sacrifices and ceremonies), which is not rigorous, so I won't go into details here.

Portrait of Emperor Wen of Sui Dynasty

The topic returned to the color of the emperor's clothes. How is yellow related to the emperor?

This has to start with Emperor Wendi of Sui Dynasty, and it has been mentioned many times in Sui Shu, Old Tang Book and New Tang Book. Emperor Wendi likes to wear ochre yellow robes. In the Sui Dynasty in Cheng Tang, Li Yuan, the founding emperor of the Tang Dynasty, even imitated his uncle Sui Wendi in clothes, and often wore ochre yellow uniforms. "In Tang Gaozu, ochre yellow robes and scarves were used as uniforms (New Tang Book? Che Fuzhi ")".

What needs special attention is that what we are talking about here is ochre yellow (Zhejiang yellow or red yellow), not ordinary yellow, nor bright yellow, but khaki, which is relatively deep. The ochre yellow robe is clearly reflected in the painting, and the uniform worn by Emperor Taizong in the painting is dark ochre yellow.

Bujitu Part (Li Shimin)

At first, this ochre yellow robe could not be used by officials, nor did it officially enter the Tang Dynasty, but was the daily preference of emperors. The Six Classics of the Tang Dynasty compiled by officials during the reign of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty? The "Shangyi Bureau" in Miyagi Province stated the emperor's clothing system. All the formal dresses are listed, and only a small note is added at the end: "It has been normal since Emperor Wendi of Sui Dynasty ordered the yellow robe and scarf to listen to the court."

Later, because the emperors of the Tang Dynasty also preferred ochre robes, ochre (Huang Zhe or Huang Chi) gradually became the emperor's exclusive color. "Because the emperor's royal robes are slightly red and yellow, it is forbidden for subjects to wear them ("New Tang Book "? Che Fuzhi ")". Therefore, there is a saying in Du Fu's "Play for Flowers" that "Mianzhou's deputy is in charge, and I'm in charge of sweeping the Japanese peace", so I borrowed "Huang Zhe" to wear a yellow robe to refer to Duan Qizhang's rebellion.

Song Xuanzu (Zhao Kuangyin's father) sits on the portrait axis.

Ochre yellow (Huang Zhe, Huang Chi) color, as a common color of emperor's clothing, has gradually gained popularity. During the Five Dynasties after the Tang Dynasty, two incidents of "wearing yellow robes" just illustrated this point.

Zhao Kuangyin didn't create "wearing a yellow robe". He also imitates his former boss Guo Wei. In the Five Dynasties of the Later Han Dynasty, Liu Chengyou, a Yin Di of the Later Han Dynasty, did not want to be pinned down by Guo Wei and others, and sent someone to assassinate Guo Wei, which aroused the rebellion in Guo Wei. When Liu Chengyou saw Guo Wei rise to revolt, he killed Guo Wei's family in Beijing, including Guo Wei's youngest son.

Song Renzong (Zhao Zhen) took a seat.

Guo Wei invaded Kaifeng, the capital, and for a pretence set up a new emperor, leaving the Queen Mother in charge. As soon as the situation in Beijing stabilized, the Khitans suddenly went south, and Guo Wei led an army to resist in the north, resulting in a mutiny in the state. The soldiers tore off a yellow flag, put it on Guo Wei, and made him emperor. Guo Wei returned to Kaifeng with his soldiers and horses, forcing the queen mother to appoint him as "supervisor of the country", and then successfully seized power and proclaimed himself emperor, with the title of "Da Zhou".

Guo Wei, wearing a yellow robe, never dreamed that his dynasty was soon overthrown by his younger brother Zhao Kuangyin in the same way. However, Zhao Kuangyin was very clever, so he took the old path of Guo Wei himself and simply drank a glass of wine to relieve the relieving. Since then, the Great Song Dynasty has emphasized literature over martial arts, and the general has no worries about usurping the throne.

Ming Xiaozong Zhu Youtang

History has staged the "yellow robe plus body" twice in a row, and the yellow robe has become an insurmountable ceremony for the emperor. Therefore, in the early Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang issued a decree prohibiting officials and people from wearing yellow clothes. The scope of the ban on yellow is not only "ochre yellow", but also includes all yellows such as willow yellow, bright yellow and turmeric.

The crown of the Ming emperor

In the Qing dynasty, the color of the emperor's court clothes changed from ochre to bright yellow with the highest brightness. Apart from the special reward (yellow jacket), ordinary people still have no chance to wear yellow clothes. Because the Qing Dynasty is closest to us, many people now mistakenly think that the color of the emperor's clothes is "bright yellow", so that many emperors in ancient costume movies and TV plays wear bright yellow clothes no matter which dynasty, misleading the audience.

Michelle Ye, the ancestor of the Qing Dynasty.

It should be noted that there is a rule in ancient etiquette that "the upper part can be combined with the lower part, and the lower part can not be arbitrarily taken". After yellow became the emperor's special color, officials and people were only forbidden to wear yellow clothes, but it didn't mean that the emperor's clothes were all yellow (ochre yellow or bright yellow in Qing Dynasty), and it didn't mean that the emperor liked yellow! According to the needs of different occasions and the emperor's personal preferences, the emperor's clothes also have other colors.