The color of yellow robes in different dynasties

The theory of Yin-Yang and Five Elements has always been very popular in China, and Zou Yan is also an original scholar of Yin-Yang. He believes that each dynasty has its own virtues, which correspond to the Five Elements. Influenced by this thought, the emperors in ancient China also paid close attention to the Five Elements Theory and studied the virtues of their own dynasties. The virtue of dynasties is directly reflected in the color of the emperor's robes, so in real history, the emperor's robes are not all yellow, and each dynasty has its own color.

The five elements are wood, fire, earth and gold, and the corresponding colors are blue, red, yellow, white and black. The interaction between the five elements is like the alternation of dynasties.

The theory of the five elements in the dynasty was firstly Zou Yan's viewpoint that the five elements were interdependent and mutually restrained, namely, Mutuke, Tukeshui, Shuihoke, Huojinke and Jin Kemu said. Zou Yan believes that the alternation of dynasties is mutually guaranteed, that is to say, the establishment of the next dynasty is because he restrained the previous dynasty. From this point of view, the theories of Yu Tu, Natsume, Yin Jin and Zhou Huo appeared, and the Qin Dynasty, which replaced the Zhou Dynasty, naturally belonged to water virtue, or black, and water suppressed fire. So the robes we see today are black, and the Qin people are still black.

According to this theory, the replacement of the Qin Dynasty by the Han Dynasty should belong to Tude and still be yellow, so the color of the dragon robe should be yellow, but in fact the dragon robe at the beginning of the Han Dynasty was black, which is why Liu Bang left the Qin Dynasty directly when the Han Dynasty was established, thinking that the Han Dynasty directly replaced the Zhou Dynasty, so Liu Bangding's virtue of the Han Dynasty at the beginning of the Han Dynasty was to be watery and still black. This view did not change until the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty thought it was not appropriate to leave the Qin Dynasty directly, so he changed the Han Dynasty to Tude and shang huang, which meant replacing water with soil.

This theory of mutual resistance of five elements did not change until the end of the Western Han Dynasty, perhaps because it was too bloody and violent, so Liu Xiang and his son put forward the theory of mutual resistance of five elements. In other words, they think that the replacement of dynasties is not because of mutual restraint, but because the luck of the previous dynasty ran out, so a new dynasty was born. Correspondingly, the virtues of past dynasties were also revised, such as Yu Tu, Xiajin, Yinshui and Zhou Mu. This theory did not receive much attention when it was first put forward until Wang Mang's New Dynasty.

Because Wang Mang accepted the abdication in name, in order to find a support point for the legitimacy of his regime, Wang Mang adopted the theory of Liu Xiang and his son's five elements. In Liu Xiang's theory, the Qin Dynasty was also neglected. Han directly inherited the Zhou Dynasty, and made a fire with wood, so the Han Dynasty belonged to Huode. The new dynasty that replaced the Han dynasty was born of fire, and the fire was yellow. Liu Xiu, Emperor Guangwu of the Eastern Han Dynasty, also acknowledged the theory that the five elements were born together. He also thinks that the Han Dynasty belongs to the fire virtue or red, so the robes of the emperors of the later Han Dynasty are generally black and red.

During the Three Kingdoms period, under the influence of the Five Elements Theory, Wei Shuwu thought he was the orthodox of the Han Dynasty, so Wei Shuwu decided that he belonged to Tude. Gold is native gold and belongs to Jinde. The continuation of this dynastic virtue was chaotic in the period of Five Hu and Sixteen Countries. In order to find an orthodox support point for the establishment of their own country, countries cling to each other and build a strong relationship with each other. Of course, some ethnic minority regimes are not keen on this. For example, the pre-Qin dynasty did not set a virtue for itself, so the five elements of the pre-Qin dynasty were immoral.

By the time of the Sui Dynasty, due to the chaos of the direct replacement of dynasties and the coexistence of five elements in the period of Five Hu and Sixteen Countries, Emperor Wendi of Sui directly connected himself with the Zhou Dynasty and decided to establish the Sui Dynasty on the basis of the Zhou Dynasty. So wood is fire, fire virtue, or red. Since then, the theory that the five elements are related to each other has been followed up, and the subsequent Tang Dynasty considered itself to be Tude and Huang Shang.

After the Tang Dynasty, the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms were too small to judge for themselves. The back beam belongs to Jinde or white, and the later Tang Dynasty thinks it is a continuation of the Tang Dynasty, so it belongs to Tude or yellow. After the metal Jinde, Shangbai, the later Han belongs to Shuide and Hei, and the later Zhou belongs to Made.

Until Chen Qiao and Zhao Kuangyin mutinied and the Song Dynasty was founded. Because Zhao Kuangyin was established in the Song Dynasty on the basis of the later Zhou Dynasty, according to the theory of wood fire, the Song Dynasty decided that it was fire virtue or red, so we saw that many emperors in the Song Dynasty had red robes.

Subsequently, the Yuan Dynasty decided to return it to Jinde, which was still white. Some people here may wonder, isn't fire indigenous? How could the Yuan Dynasty belong to Jinde? This is because the Northern Song Dynasty was destroyed by Jin, so Jin decided to belong to Tude, and Yuan destroyed Jin, so Yuan belonged to Jinde and got native gold.

It was not until the Yuan Dynasty that the theory of coexistence of five elements was accepted by everyone. Until the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, because the Yuan Dynasty was a minority regime, Zhu Yuanzhang did not think that the establishment of the Ming Dynasty replaced the Yuan Dynasty and restored the orthodoxy of the Han nationality. Therefore, he took out the theory of coexistence of the five elements and thought that the Ming Dynasty was a fire virtue and red, so there was a red dragon robe in the dragon robe of the Ming emperor.

Later, the Qing dynasty was in chaos. After all, it is a minority regime that doesn't care much about the traditional five elements theory, so it doesn't clearly determine its own virtue. Since then, the theory of Suntech's heavy color dynasty has been interrupted. Of course, some people later thought that the Qing Dynasty belonged to Shuide. According to the theory of five elements, the Republic of China belongs to Mulder and Shang Qing, so there is a clear sky Wan Li. Moreover, this dynasty is a fire virtue, so the whole country is full of red flags.