In ancient China, it is said that the Yellow Emperor formulated the ritual system of crown and clothing. From then on, from the rulers to the common people in China, the male should be crowned at the age of 20, and the elders should wear the crown to show that in ancient times, why did the emperor's crown have a string of beads, much like a door curtain, why add this thing?
In fact, the row of beads on the emperor's crown has an official name, which is called "Diao", which is placed above the crown and is called "Mian Diao". This kind of hat is one of the ancient Chinese ritual crowns. According to legend, the crown system began in the Yellow Emperor and was completed in the Zhou Dynasty. In ancient times, emperors, princes, ministers and officials attended the grand sacrifice, and Mian Diao was the most valuable one among the ritual crowns.
The plate shape behind the front circle of the emperor's crown is called "Yan". It is usually the back of the front circle, which represents the round sky and is generally black, indicating solemnity and majesty. The number of the crowns is also particular. The emperor is nine, plus the heaven, earth and man, 12 strings of jade beads, representing the emperor's status.
The material of jade beads must be white jade. There are hanging pearls before and after the board, which means that the emperor does not squint and is clear about right and wrong. Moreover, a yellow pearl jade is hanging on the left and right ears of the crown. When walking, the jade beads are shaking behind to remind the emperor not to believe in slander. The idiom "turn a deaf ear" is also derived from this.
At the same time, the Diao also has a function of reminding the emperor to have a proper appearance. If the emperor looks left and right, the crown will swing around to remind the emperor and keep the emperor dignified. At the same time, the officials can't look directly at the emperor through the mian Tiao.
Each crown is made of 12 pieces of multicolored jade, arranged in the order of Zhu, Bai, Cang, Huang and Xuan. The distance between each jade is 1 inch, and the length of each crown is 12 inches. According to the records of the official dress system of the later Han Dynasty, the twelve crowns are white jade beads.
The number of crowns varies according to the severity of the ceremony and the identity of the wearer. According to the degree of ceremony, 12 pieces are used for the crown of the big coat and the crown of the emperor's lucky clothes; 9 pieces of jade are used for the crown of the emperor's first official clothes; 7 pieces of jade are used for each crown; 7 pieces of jade are used for each crown; 5 pieces of jade are used for each crown; 5 pieces of jade are used for each crown; and 5 pieces of jade are used for each crown Three crowns are used, and each crown has three jades.
According to the status of users, only the son of heaven's crown with 12 crowns, each crown of jade 12. The public clothing can only be lower than the crown of the emperor with nine crowns, each crown with nine jades; Hou Bo can only wear the crown with seven crowns, and each crown has seven jades; the son man can only wear the crown with five crowns, and each crown has five jades.
According to the official position, xuanmian can be divided into 6, 4 and 2 crowns. Only the front one is used for less than three gongs, and there is no rear one. All people with high status can wear dresses lower than the regulations, while those with lower status are not allowed to wear dresses higher than the regulations, otherwise they will be punished.
The emperor has twelve crowns, and the princes and princes of Zhou Dynasty have nine, seven and five. However, the Diao was gradually limited to the emperor, so "Mian Diao" became the name of the emperor. It can be seen that the number of Miandiao and the number of Diao have been established and become the ritual law at a very early time.
The emperor's hanging beads are 12 strings, which are called twelve crowns. In turn, the lower princes are nine strings, and the upper doctor is seven strings. The higher the status, the more rows of beads on his head. Huang Zunxian, a poet of the Qing Dynasty, once wrote in the song of Xixiang stars: "there is a man wearing a crown, who is the son of the God of the sun." So the jade beads hanging in the crown were very important to the emperor.
