What will happen if the concubines in the Ming and Qing dynasties get started with wearing bright red? Film and television dramas tell us that she will be punished if she is outspoken, but is this really the case?
Qing Dynasty Xu Ke "Qing Bai Lei Chao·Clothing" records: No matter whether the rank of officials or ordinary people, the bride must use a phoenix crown and a red robe when her son gets married to indicate that she is a wife rather than a concubine. The novels from the late Qing Dynasty also confirm this point. Both wives and concubines can wear red. The real difference between wives and concubines is in the phoenix crown and red robe, not the color.
However, literary works in the late Qing Dynasty and early Republic of China revealed such information, that is, concubines cannot wear red skirts. This is because in , in the late Qing Dynasty, the cloak and red skirt were the special outfits of the wife in formal occasions, so the concubine naturally could not wear red skirts, but it did not include red clothes.
In fact, the requirements and restrictions on color levels in the Ming and Qing Dynasties have always been yellow. For example, the provisions on the regular clothes of concubines in the early Ming Dynasty were the slut shirts, golden embroidered phoenixes, and yellow was not required; while the Queen's regular clothes were the slut shirts, golden dragon and phoenix patterns, which could be used yellow. So the queen's privilege is to wear yellow and dragon patterns instead of red. Qing Dynasty is more relaxed. The emperor, empress, empress dowager, empress dowager, imperial concubine can wear bright yellow, and imperial concubines and concubines can wear golden yellow. The ones that can be found in the red are clearly stipulated in the early Ming Dynasty: folk women cannot wear big red, crow green, or yellow. I don’t know if this is the source of the saying that concubines cannot wear red.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-