Mandarin square

A mandarin square ( zh, t=補子, s=补子, hp=bŭzi, w=putzŭ; mnc, m=, v=sabirgi; vi, Bổ tử; Chữ Nho: 補子; ko, 흉배/胸背, hyungbae), also known as a rank badge, was a large embroidered badge sewn onto the surcoat of officials in Imperial China (decorating and ), Korea (decorating the of the Joseon dynasty), in Vietnam, and the Ryukyu Kingdom. It was embroidered with detailed, colourful animal or bird insignia indicating the rank of the official wearing it. Despite its name, the mandarin square () falls into two categories: round and square . Clothing decorated with is known as () in China. In the 21st century, the use of on was revived following the Hanfu movement.

China

The history of the square-shaped is unclear. However, in the Song dynasty ''Encyclopaedia Shi Lin Guang Ji''《》, there are pictures showing officials wearing clothing with squares on the back, decorated with birds. By the Yuan dynasty, the square-shaped was already worn as clothing ornaments.

Ming dynasty

Mandarin squares were first authorized for the wear of officials in the sumptuary laws of 1391 of the Ming dynasty. The use of squares depicting birds for civil officials and animals for military officials was an outgrowth of the use of similar squares, apparently for decorative use, in the Yuan dynasty. The original court dress regulations of the Ming dynasty were published in 1368, but did not refer to badges as rank insignia. These badges continued to be used through the remainder of the Ming and the subsequent Qing dynasty until the imperial system fell in 1912.

Ming nobles and officials wore their rank badges on full-cut red robes with the design stretching from side to side, completely covering the chest and back. This caused the badges to be slightly trapezoidal with the tops narrower than the bottom. The Ming statutes never refer to the number of birds or animals that should appear on the badges. In the beginning, two or three were used. In a typical example of paired birds, they were shown in flight on a background of bright cloud streamers on a gold background. Others showed one bird on the ground with the second in flight. The addition of flowers produced an idealized naturalism.

Qing dynasty

There was a sharp difference between the Ming and Qing styles of badges: the Qing badges were smaller with a decorative border. And, while the specific birds and animals did not change much throughout their use, the design of the squares underwent an almost continual evolution. According to rank, Qing-dynasty nobles had their respective official clothes. Princes, including ''Qin Wang'' and ''Jun Wang'', usually wore black robes as opposed to the blue robes in court, and had four circular designs, one on each shoulder, front, and back, as opposed to the usual front-and-back design. Specifically, princes of the blood used four front-facing dragons, ''Qin Wang'' had two front-facing and two side-facing dragons, and ''Jun Wang'' had four side-facing ones; all had five claws on each foot. ''Beile'' and ''Beizi'' had a circular design on their official clothing, the former having two front-facing dragons, the latter two side-facing ones; these dragons had only four claws on each foot, and are referred to as "drakes" or "great serpents" (巨蟒 jù-mǎng). National duke, general, ''efu'', "commoner" duke, marquis and count had two front-facing, four-clawed dragons on square designs, whereas viscount and baron had cranes and golden pheasants, as for mandarins of the first and second class.

File:Rank Badge (China), mid- 19th century (CH 18563223).jpg, 3rd civil rank (peacock). Mid 19th century. Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum
File:MandarinsRankBadges ArtGalleryNSW-20171107-2.jpg, 2nd military rank (lion). Late 18th cent. Art Gallery of New South Wales
File:Military rank badge with leopard (CBL C 3312).jpg, 3rd military rank (leopard). 19th or early 20th century. Chester Beatty Library
File:Chinese painting Ancestors gallery 19th century.jpg, Members of three generations of a lineage are shown in Qing mandarin attire, complete with mandarin squares

Comparative table across dynasties

The specific birds and animals used to represent rank varied only slightly from the inception of mandarin squares until the end of the Qing dynasty. Officials who held a lower position or did odd jobs used the magpie during the Ming dynasty. Supervising officials used xiezhi. Musicians used the oriole. The following tables show this evolution:

Military

Civil

21st century

The use of the round-shaped and square-shaped has been revived in China following the Hanfu movement.

Korea

Korean rank badge (흉배 in Korean) is a small panel of embroidery that would have served to indicate the status of a government official in the Choson dynasty Korea (1392–1910). Made in the nineteenth century, it shows a pair of black and white leopards, one above the other in opposing stance, surrounded by stylised cloud patterns in pink, purple and pale green upon a blue background. It would have been worn by a military official from the first to third ranks. Leopards and tigers, respected for their strength and courage in Korea, were used for the dress of military officials while civil officials wore crane motifs. This badge shows the distinctively spotted animals among rocks, waves and clouds in a pattern which remained virtually unchanged for 300 years.

Image:Rank_badge.jpg, Korean rank badge, 1850-1900, Victoria & Albert Museum (no. FE.272-1995)

Vietnam

File:Annam MandarinRankBadge ArtGalleryNSW-20171107.jpg, Annamite (Vietnamese) badge, Nguyễn dynasty (19th century), civilian 8th rank.
File:Quan phuc nha Nguyen.gif, Mandarins of the Nguyen dynasty (circa 1820). The Mandarin on the left is a "man of letters", with a stork on his chest and the one on the right is a military Mandarin, signified by a boar.

See also

*Tablion
* Chinese hat knob
*Hanfu, Gwanbok, Qizhuang
*Nine-rank system, for an earlier system for ranking officials in China
*Chinese auspicious ornaments in textile and clothing

References

Further reading

* "Rank insignia for military officers of the imperial court", in:
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External links

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{{Types of Han Chinese clothing

Chinese traditional clothing
Chinese inventions
History of Imperial China
Insignia
Korean embroidery
Orders, decorations, and medals of Imperial China
Vietnamese culture
Vietnamese clothing