The dragon robe is the unique clothing of the ancient emperors, many people know that the ancient dragon robe and the python robe, the dragon robe is the clothes worn by the emperor, and the python robe is usually the clothes worn by the princes and nobles. And the dragon and the python embroidery is very similar, many people distinguish the difference between the dragon and the python is to look at the claws, four claws for the python, five claws for the dragon.
In fact, this distinction is a misunderstanding, if the dragon robe and the python robe are distinguished according to the four claws for the python and the five claws for the dragon, then many people in the Qing Dynasty will wear the "dragon robe". In fact, in the Qing Dynasty, there were many people who could wear five-clawed "dragon robes", but even if they were five-clawed, they were actually python robes, so let's talk about how the Qing Dynasty distinguished between dragon robes and python robes, and which people in the Qing Dynasty could wear five-clawed "dragon robes", and how high the power status of these people was.
In the Qing Dynasty's clan titles, the prince, the prince of the county, the baillor, the bezi, the prince of the town, the duke of the auxiliary state, the duke, the marquis, and the earl of the foreign surnames, all of these titles belong to the senior titles, all of which are super-grade titles, and the probability that these people can wear the five-clawed "dragon robe" is relatively large.
In fact, the Qing Dynasty's specifications for python robes were very relaxed, and the ** in the basic system can wear python robes, but only in auspicious clothes. According to the regulations of the Qing Dynasty, the super-grade nobles, first-grade to nine-grade officials in the system and the small officials who have not entered the stream can wear python robes and auspicious clothes, but the number of python-shaped patterns on the clothes and the number of python claws are different.
According to the record of the "Great Qing Huidian": the prince and the county king, the two titles of the people, are embroidered with five claws and nine pythons; Baylor has the following titles to the civil and military ** third-grade official level, as well as the county monarch's forehead, the clan title, the auxiliary general, the Fengguo general, and the first-class guard, and the people at these levels are embroidered with four claws and nine pythons; The civil and military ** fourth-grade to sixth-grade official ranks, as well as the county monarch's forehead, the clan title, the Feng'en general, the second-class guard to the Lanling guard, these levels of people are embroidered with four-clawed and eight pythons; Civil and military ** seven to nine official levels and officials without grades, these people's auspicious clothes are embroidered with four claws and five pythons.
Therefore, it can be seen from these records that in the Qing Dynasty, the prince and the county king could wear a five-clawed "dragon robe", they not only had a five-clawed "dragon robe" on their auspicious clothes, but also a five-clawed python pattern embroidered on their court clothes, according to the folk saying that four claws are pythons and five claws are dragons, so the princes and county kings of the Qing Dynasty belong to the people who wear "dragon robes".
Therefore, the folk always say that the four claws are pythons, and the five claws are dragons are actually misunderstandings, and the princes and nobles are also qualified to wear the five-clawed "dragon robe", of course, but the five-clawed one is called the dragon robe on the emperor, and the python robe is worn on the princes and nobles.
For example, the picture below is a portrait of Dawazi, the leader of the Mongolian Dzungar tribe during the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, which is in the collection of the Berlin State Museum in Germany.
Dawazi was the last Great Khan of the Mongolian Dzungar Khanate, in the twentieth year of Qianlong (1755), Qianlong sent troops to destroy the Dzungar Khanate, Dawazi was captured by the Qing army, and was captured by the Qing army to Qianlong at the noon gate. In the 39th year of Qianlong (1774), Qianlong pardoned Dawazi and released him on the grounds of the wedding of his son Yiyan (later Emperor Jiaqing), and canonized him as the Prince of Dzungaria of Mongolia.
The portrait above is painted by the French missionary Wang Zhicheng in the Qing Dynasty after Dawazi was canonized as the prince of Dzungaria, and it can be clearly seen from the portrait that the dragon-shaped animal on the complement of Dawazi's court clothes is five-clawed, so Dawazi is wearing the standard Qing Dynasty pro-court clothes, which shows that the python patterns on the clothes of the princes and county kings of the Qing Dynasty are five-clawed.
But even if these princes and county kings wear five-clawed dragon-shaped pattern clothes, they are not considered dragon robes, only those worn on the emperor are dragon robes, and they are also called python robes when worn on them, but the pythons on their clothes are one more claw than the average nobles and **, this is to strictly distinguish the status level, in order to show that the prince and the county king belong to the most honorable knighthood after the emperor.
And according to the records of the "Great Qing Huidian", the prince and the prince not only wore "dragon robes", but even the number of dragon patterns on the clothes was the same as that of the emperor, which was nine, and in fact, if you look closely, you will find that there is almost no difference between the appearance of the dragon and the python, only the difference between the number of claws is seen carefully.
In fact, the appearance of the dragon and the python is almost the same, the four claws must be a python, but the five-clawed one is also a python on the prince and the county king, so how to distinguish the dragon robe from the python robe?
In fact, according to the etiquette system of the Qing Dynasty, the emperor's clothes must be bright yellow, and the prince's clothes are golden yellow.
The princes and county kings of the Qing Dynasty can only wear blue or stone blue, so it is simple to distinguish whether it is a dragon robe or a python robe.
The prince and the people below the county king are wearing four-clawed python robes, even if they are meritorious and noble, you can see from the portrait of the first-class public worship of the powerful minister in the Kangxi period in the picture below.
Ao Bai is the founding hero of the early Qing Dynasty, the Qing Dynasty Emperor Nurhachi, the Qing Emperor Taizong Taiji, the Qing Shizu Shunzhi Emperor, and the Qing Shengzu Kangxi Emperor four dynasties, for the Qing Dynasty unified China made great achievements, because of the merit was awarded the title of a first-class duke. Even a founding hero like Ao Bai can only wear a four-clawed python robe.
Of course, in addition to the prince and the prince can directly wear the five-clawed "dragon robe", if the emperor rewards and rewards, some princes and princes and nobles under the county can also get the treatment of wearing the five-clawed "dragon robe", but this situation is rare, the emperor generally only allows a very small number of meritorious heroes who have made great contributions to wear the five-clawed "dragon robe", and the emperor's reward is to allow auspicious clothes and court clothes to be embroidered with five-clawed dragon shapes.
For example, the portrait below is the portrait of Fu Heng, the younger brother of Qianlong's wife Empress Fucha, because Fu Heng led the army to destroy the Dzungar Khanate during the Qianlong period, the above-mentioned Dawazi was captured by him, he also quelled the first Jinchuan rebellion, and also commanded the battle between the Qing Dynasty and Burma.
From the portrait of Fu Heng hanging in the Ziguang Pavilion, you can see that the dragon-shaped pattern on his court dress is five-clawed, which is the reward that Qianlong specially gave him, ordering him to wear a five-clawed dragon-shaped supplement. Therefore, in addition to the prince and the prince can wear the dragon-shaped supplement of the five claws, the emperor will allow some royal relatives and meritorious nobles to wear it.
Therefore, strictly speaking, there is almost no big difference between the appearance of the dragon and the python in the Qing Dynasty, although there is a difference in the number of claws, but it is not as absolute as the folk say that the four claws are pythons and the five claws are dragons, and the five claws also have pythons, but it depends on whose body the clothes are worn, and the dragon is worn on the emperor, and the python is worn on other people.
So under normal circumstances, the only people in the Qing Dynasty who could wear the five-clawed "dragon robe" were the prince and the county king. So how much power did the prince and the prince of the county have in the Qing Dynasty, and how high was their status?
Although the princes and county kings of the Qing Dynasty could wear "dragon robes", which only means that their status is noble and noble, it does not mean that they also have great power.
In the early days of Shunzhi's reign, the Qing Dynasty was regent by Shunzhi's uncle regent Dorgon, because Dolgon manipulated the young Shunzhi, which made Shunzhi very dissatisfied with Dolgon, and after Dolgon's death, Shunzhi carried out a political liquidation of Dolgon.
Therefore, since the emperors of the Qing Dynasty were more wary of their close relatives and princes since Shunzhi. The princes of the Qing Dynasty usually had to work as errands in the imperial court, but the vast majority of the princes were responsible for handling some complicated and trivial and small affairs for the emperor, and most of the princes were in charge of some nosy affairs and did not have much power in their hands.
Only a very small number of people like Emperor Yongzheng's thirteenth brother Prince Yi Yinxiang can gain the emperor's love and trust and be entrusted with important tasks, it can be said that the vast majority of princes are responsible for some idle errands, even if there are princes like Yinxiang who are entrusted with important tasks, they may become the object of the emperor's suspicion at any time.
For example, Yongzheng's sixteenth brother Prince Zhuang Yinlu, after Yinxiang's untimely death, Yongzheng trusted the sixteenth brother Prince Zhuang Yinlu and the seventeenth brother Prince Guo Yinli, and Yongzheng specially appointed Yinlu and Yinli as ministers when he was dying, so that they could assist the young Qianlong who succeeded him.
When Qianlong officially succeeded to the throne, Yinlu and Yinli were both auxiliary kings, and their powers were very great, but Yinlu and Yinli could check and balance each other, but not long after Qianlong succeeded to the throne, Yinli died young, so that Yinlu had the greatest power among the princes, Qianlong began to be suspicious of Yinlu, worried that his power was too great and threatened the imperial power, so Qianlong personally concocted Kangxi's abolished prince Yinren's eldest son Honghui rebellion.
In the absence of substantial evidence, Qianlong imprisoned Honglu on the charge of secret correspondence and conspiracy between Yinlu and Hongxi, and Yinlu was dismissed from all positions and thought about it behind closed doors. Since then, although Qianlong has reactivated Yinlu, he only let Yinlu be responsible for such trivial matters as managing the royal band, and no longer gives Yinlu real power, which shows Qianlong's suspicion of Yinlu.
Therefore, in the Qing Dynasty, the closer the princes were to the emperor, the more susceptible they were to the emperor's suspicion, so the princes of the Qing Dynasty had little power.
In addition, the rules of title inheritance in the Qing Dynasty are hereditary descending systems, that is, each generation needs to be downgraded to inherit the title, and only the iron hat royal family that has obtained hereditary replacement does not need to be demoted to inherit the title, so the descendants of the Qing Dynasty prince are not necessarily princes.
The iron hat king of the Qing Dynasty is basically the owner of the Eight Banners or the small banner owner, the power of the Eight Banners in the early Qing Dynasty is still very large, but after Shunzhi entered the customs, Shunzhi began to gradually weaken the power of the banner lord prince, after the weakening of the three generations of emperors of Shunzhi, Kangxi and Yongzheng, the power of the banner lord and the prince is very small in the end, and it is not as big as the power of the six Shangshu, almost the rich and idle prince.
Although the princes of the Qing Dynasty did not have much power, their status was very lofty, even if they were equivalent to the prime minister's bachelor and minister of military aircraft, they had to salute when they saw these princes.
There is a clip in the TV series "Iron Tooth and Bronze Tooth Ji Xiaolan", that is, He Shen, a university scholar and minister of military aircraft, saw the hereditary iron hat king Jin Da Tobacco Bag, the flag owner of his own flag and red flag, and he immediately had to kneel down and kowtow to Jin Da Tobacco Bag to say goodbye.
Don't look at this is a clip from the TV series, but this clip is very in line with the history of the Qing Dynasty, according to the rules of the Qing Dynasty, He Shen was born in the Zhenghong Banner, no matter how big his official should be, no matter how great his power is, he sees the flag owner of the flag and the red flag, and he must also kneel down and kowtow to say goodbye, in front of the flag owner and the prince, no matter how big the official is, he will always be a slave.
In fact, the titles of the Qing Dynasty are not directly related to the official power, so although the princes of the Qing Dynasty may not have a lot of power, their status is definitely very high, second only to the existence of the emperor.
Therefore, the distinction between the dragon robe and the python robe is not the so-called four-clawed python and the five-clawed dragon distinction, and there are also five-clawed pythons on the python robe, and the difference between the dragon robe and the python robe mainly lies in the person who wears it, which is bright yellow on the emperor's body, which is the dragon robe, and when worn on the prince, it is blue or stone blue, which is the python robe.
Although the princes of the Qing Dynasty wore five-clawed python robes, the power of the princes was very limited by the emperors of the Qing Dynasty, but the status of the princes was still very lofty.