Abstract

Auspicious Symbols of Rank and Status

Highlights

  • While walking along the bustling streets of Beijing, Chengde, Shenyang, Wuhan, or other Chinese cities during the Qing dynasty (1644–1911), people would regularly brush past bats, cranes, pheasants, peacocks, egrets, or ducks; slow their step so a lion, leopard, tiger, rhinoceros, or bear could hurry past; or yield to allow passage to a dragon, unicorn, or qilin

  • The animal or bird looks up at a prominent red sun, symbol of the emperor.”. This month’s cover image is an 18th century Qing military rank badge that depicts a muscular leopard standing on a small piece of light brown, green-tinged

  • The design of the squares evolved from one dynasty to the ―for instance, Qing badges were smaller than Ming badges and featured decorative borders―the specific birds and animals used to denote rank remained more or less constant

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Summary

Introduction

While walking along the bustling streets of Beijing, Chengde, Shenyang, Wuhan, or other Chinese cities during the Qing dynasty (1644–1911), people would regularly brush past bats, cranes, pheasants, peacocks, egrets, or ducks; slow their step so a lion, leopard, tiger, rhinoceros, or bear could hurry past; or yield to allow passage to a dragon, unicorn, or qilin (a chimera with horns, a dragon’s head, fish scales, an oxen’s tail, horse’s hooves, and multicolored skin). Their wives, all of whom indicated their rank and status by wearing embroidered badges featuring images of those creatures on their outer coats. From the late 14th century until the early 20th century ce, these ornate rank badges (called buzi or Mandarin squares) featured fierce animals to denote military officials, various bird species to identify civic officials, and exotic and imaginary creatures to signify members of the imperial court.

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