OFFICIAL COLOURS OF CHINESE REGIMES: A PANCHRONIC PHILOLOGICAL STUDY WITH HISTORICAL ACCOUNTS OF CHINA

Abstract

1. Introduction In Chinese civilisation, an official colour [[TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]] is a lawful or conventional colour of sovereign flag and/or formal dress. It is not necessarily identical to national colour, because there are many nations in Protocols of official colours were as important as protocols of official ethnonyms, capitals and languages. In Chinese history (the historical accounts of China are introduced in Section 3), when a new regime was established, official ethnonym and colour were more often shifted than other protocols. For example, official spoken language variety of Chinese sovereignty has been same Beijing dialect of Yan regional lect of Chinese language since Qing Empire (1644~1912); capital of Chinese sovereignty has been same Beijing since Yuan Empire (1276~1368) [excluding periods of early Ming Empire (1368~1421) and reformed Republic of China (1928~1949), when capital was Nanjing]. The picture of Chinese official colours is more complicated than common notion Red China. The present study will provide details of Chinese official colours in a panchronic way. The present study will also answer following three major questions: 1) How was an official colour determined? 2) Was official colour of Xia Empire black or grue? 3) What reasons have made red colour official colour now? On first question, classical common idea in China, after a Chinese scholar, who specialised in Sino-metaphysics (classical Chinese metaphysics), Zou Yan [[TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]] (ca-305~ca.240BCE), has stated that official colour should be determined by the main property of 'the five elements [[TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]] (henceforth 'the fifth property') in Sino-metaphysics' (first quoted in -239-LL). In Sino-metaphysics, everything should have a fifth property (Wood [[TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]], Fire [[TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]], Earth [[TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]], Metal or Water [[TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]]), so does every regime or country. Ideally, official colours are associated to fifth property of regime or country. The fifth property of five pure colours [[TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]] are: black--Water; white--Metal; red--Fire; yellow--Earth; grue--Wood. Nowadays, fifth property is considered as superstition by many people. Some Chinese scholars have tried to explain official colours only for natural reasons. In 1994, a Chinese scholar, who specialised in Chinese history, He Guang Yue [[TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]] (1994) correlated all presentations of black official colour with Xia Empire and archaeological sites in eastern central China where black pottery was dominant. It was first attempt to explain official colour in panchronic way. In 2002, a Chinese scholar, who specialised in Chinese language and Sino-semasiology, Chen LiangYu [[TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]] (2002) suggested that official status of yellow colour is determined by dominance of agriculture in Four years later, a Chinese scholar, who specialised in Chinese language and glyphs, Sun JianJun [[TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]] (2006) suggested that official status of yellow colour is also influenced by once dominant Taoism in China (589~1276), while official status of red colour was caused by ancient worship of fire and/or blood. The explanations on yellow official colour of previous studies are reasonable. The present study will explain all official colours in parallel. The second question is well known within Chinese historical circles. Two options, 'black' and 'grue', have been claimed according to different terms 6506 [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] (hei/hac) (1) and 9751 [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] (qing/thanh) in historical records. …