Why was Qin Shihuang’s dragon robe not yellow but black? What is the reason?
Qin Shihuang’s dragon robe is not yellow as people think in traditional concepts, but black. The reason why Qin Shihuang chose black as the dragon robe is because it follows the theory of Yin and Yang and the Five Elements. In this theory In the Qin Dynasty, the Qin Dynasty belongs to the water virtue, and the north belongs to water and black. Therefore, in the Qin Dynasty, not only the emperor's dragon robes were black, but even the soldiers' uniforms were black.
In modern people's minds, dragon robes are all yellow. This is a system that has been passed down for thousands of years, because in Chinese people's perception, yellow and gold are the same color, which represents nobility and wealth. , so the emperor made the dragon robe yellow, but many people may not know that the original dragon robe was not yellow. Qin Shihuang, who unified the six countries and established the Qin Dynasty, used black dragon robes. When the Han Dynasty was established, Later, Liu Bang also followed Qin Shi Huang's example in using black dragon robes. It was not until the time of Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty that the color of the dragon robe was changed to red, but yellow was still not used because red symbolizes happiness. Later emperors all used the red dragon robe of the Han Dynasty. It was not until the period of Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty Yang Jian that yellow was used on dragon robes, and it continued thereafter. Let’s talk about why Qin Shihuang, who established the first unified kingdom, did not use yellow dragon robes:
1. Follow the theory of Yin and Yang and the Five Elements
In the Warring States Period, Zou Yan, the Yin and Yang family First, the theory of Yin and Yang and the Five Elements was proposed. In this theory, it is believed that the change of dynasties is due to the mutual restraint of the five elements. The Yellow Emperor period belonged to Tu De, the Yin and Shang Dynasties belonged to Jin De, the Zhou Dynasty belonged to Fire De, and the Qin Dynasty replaced the Zhou Dynasty, so it belonged to Water Virtue, after Qin Shihuang unified China, he fully accepted Zou Yan's theory. Since the Qin Dynasty was a water virtue, it needed to use black.
2. Yellow was not taken seriously at the time
Although later generations of emperors regarded yellow as an auspicious color, yellow was not an important color during the Warring States Period. , even if the emperor did not use black later, he chose red instead of yellow for the first time.
Why do you think Qin Shihuang’s dragon robe was black instead of yellow? What is the reason? Welcome to leave a message for discussion.