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| Buzi |
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Buzi is a term referring to animal patterns embroidered with silk
thread in yellow and other colours on the front and back of robes
worn by officials during the Ming and Qing. In Chinese feudal hierarchy
such animal patterns were status symbols for government officials.
In 1393, or the 26th year of the Hongwu reign of the Ming, the
imperial court set strict rules on the robes the officials wore:
Civil officials and army officers alike should have buzi embroidered
on either the front or the back of the robes they wore. The buzi
for civil officials features a flying bird to symbolize literary
grace; and that for army officers was a beast to symbolize valour.
The crane was for a top-rank civil official; yellow pheasant,
second rank; peacock, third rank; mail wild goose, fourth rank;
white silver pheasant, fifth rank; egret, sixth rank; mandarin
duck, seventh rank; quail, eighth rank; and long-tailed fly-catcher,
ninth rank. For army officers, kylin (or unicorn, an auspicious
legendary animal with a horn and scales all over its body) was
for the first rank; lion for second rank; leopard for third rank;
tiger for fourth rank; bear for fifth rank; young tiger for sixth
and seventh rank; rhinoceros for eighth rank; and sea horse for
ninth rank. The Censor-in-chef and the Surveillance Com-missioner
were required to wear robes with the pattern of a xiezhi (legendary
animal credited with the ability to distinguish between right
and wrong).
The Qing Dynasty inherited the buzi system of the Ming, but there
were some differences between the two dynasties. Firstly, the
patch of embroidery was made for robes during the Ming but it
was for mandarin jackets during the Qing; secondly, during the
Ming the buzi on the front of an official robe was a whole patch
of embroidery, whereas during the Qing, the patch on the front
of a mandarin jacket was cut in two because the jacket was buttoned
down the middle; third, during the Ming buzi appeared either on
the front or the back of a robe, while during the Qing it also
appeared on the shoulders. Moreover, during the Qing, buzi was
round in shape for members of the imperial clan and square for
officials in various ranks.
Historical documents indicate that prior to the Tang (618-907),
the rank of the official robes in China was marked by colour and
the quantity of ornaments an official was supposed to wear. It
was not until Empress Wu of the Tang that animal and bird patterns
were adopted to distinguish the ranks of court officials and generals.
This innovation rendered graphic images to a hierarchical system
whose complicated symbolism made it mind-boggling to tell the
rank of a court official. The patterns of embroidery on the costumes
of I the Chinese opera are mostly derived from the buzi ornamentation.
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