Mandarin

Mandarin official images are often shown seated with arms on the arm rests of horseshoe shaped or high back chairs wearing Qing dynasty officials’ front button long coat (changsang) over a long skirt and pointed hat with a finial (qing guanmao). This style was introduced by the Manchus, founders of the Qing dynasty, and influenced by their less elaborate cavalry-style clothing and was required by all Chinese Civilian Officials at court. Traditional Mandarin attire included a changshan coat – a long Chinese jacket with a high neck and front buttons worn over a long skirt – and the official headgear of Qing dynasty officials (qing guanmao): a black velvet hat in winter and a rattan woven hat in summer both having a top button or knob that later became a pointed finial worn for an audience or ceremony held by the emperor. For daily business or informal occasions, officials had to change the hat’s top. The shape and color of one’s finial was closely regulated and depended on the official’s rank which ranged from 1-9. A Mandarin Square (buzi 補子)is an embroidered badge affixed to the outer robe of civil and military officials that showed their rank and status in their hierarchies. First approved in Ming dynasty sumptuary laws of 1391, an official’s rank was indicated by large colorful bird insignias and animals were depicted for military officials. Although continuing into the Qing dynasty, there were stark differences in the square’s smaller overall size, the decorative borders were not as wide and there were some changes of the animals rank insignia’s after 1662 in military badges .