As the last feudal dynasty in Chinese history, the system of the Qing Dynasty basically followed the tradition of the Ming Dynasty to set up six ministries of officials, households, ceremonies, soldiers, criminals, and workers. However, in order to strengthen the centralization of power, the Qing Dynasty also established a set of official systems that are different from other dynasties, in various Qing palace dramas, it is often seen that Qing Officials wear court clothes and decorate their tops, and officials are often punished by taking off "wearing flower plumes on top"? So, what does ''wearing a flower plume' mean?
''Top wear'' is also known as ''top belt'', is the Qing Dynasty officials wear hats and beads collectively, the hat system began in the Yuan Dynasty, popular in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, after the Qing army entered the Central Plains, established a set of hierarchical official system, the official clothing according to the quality, color and quantity of different, to distinguish the size of the official position.
Generally speaking, from the color point of view, one and two products are red; three and four products are blue; five and six products are white; seven products below are golden, even if they are the same color, there are also pure colors and variegated colors, such as pure red and variegated red in the first and second products, and two blue and dark blue in the third and fourth products. From the material point of view, one pin official top bead uses ruby, two pins use ''coral'', three pins use ''sapphire'', four pins use ''lapis lazuli'', five pins use '''crystal'', six pins use '''砗磲'' use, seven pins use ''su gold'', eight pins use ''Yin Wen cut-out gold'', and nine pins use ''Yangwen skeletonized gold''.' If there is no hat bead on the top of the hat, there is no grade, and Qing officials will often take the hat beads on the top while removing the official post after breaking the law.
''Hua Ling'' is an ornament inserted in the hat, which is a unique crown style of the Qing Dynasty, usually given by the emperor, and rewarded to those who have meritorious service or special contributions to the imperial court, and the role of Hua Ling is to use it to ''show the rank, reward military merit'', which cannot be worn at will, and once violated, it will be severely punished. The plume is connected by a plume tube and a crown cap, and the material of the pipe is generally white jade or jade. Qing Dynasty flower plume is also known as '''plume'',''' The top wear corresponds to the flower plume and the official rank, which together constitute an important part of the Qing Dynasty costume system, that is, the top wearing flower plume system.
Hua Ling is also divided into single eyes, two eyes and three eyes, of which the three eyes are the most honorable, the so-called ''eye'' refers to the peacock plume on the eye-shaped pattern, a circle is counted as a glance, blue plume and flower plume of the same nature of the six pins below the official reward to the blue plume, more than five pins of officials to give a single eye flower plume, the two eyes of the flower plume can only be obtained by the high official, and the three eyes of the flower plume is usually awarded to the prince, Belle and other imperial relatives and relatives and meritorious people with special contributions.
According to the "Draft History of the Qing Dynasty", "Where the peacock plume, the three-eyed one, the shell wears it." The two-eyed one, Zhen Guo Gong, Fu Guo Gong, and He Shuo ErYi Dai Zhi. The one-eyed, the Minister of the Interior, the first, second, third, and fourth class guards, the forward and escort commanders, the staff leaders, the forward guards, the princes of the palaces, the scattered horsemen, and the second class guards must all wear them. The collar is embellished with blue plumes. The chief of the abbot of the Baylor House, the second and third class guards below the prince, and the forward, pro-army, and military schools all wear dyed blue plumes. ''
It can be seen that the wearing of the flower plume has strict hierarchical requirements, usually the crown jewelry unique to the princes and nobles who hold high positions, even the nobles who have the qualifications to wear it, they must be 10 years old, after passing the necessary riding and shooting examinations, they are allowed to wear it, and then the flower plume is rewarded more, and this examination process gradually disappears, and even the princes and nobles who are given the flower plume cannot wear the flower plume when they meet, because wearing the flower plume is 'the crown of the courtiers',' the prince Belle, etc. is a clan nobleman, and wearing the flower plume is suspected of ''honor'.'
According to the Qing Dynasty Zhu Pengshou's "Old Canonical Preparations", "Prince, Junwang, Belle, Beizi and Gulun Forehead Donkey Zhun Wear Three-Eyed Flower Plume." Since Qianlong, there have also been special rewards among the ministers, and Ran Xunqi entered Fu Wenzhong, and did not dare to wear them at that time, because those who received gifts were especially rare. According to the two hundred years of the recipients are the rewards, only Fu Heng, Fu Kang'an, He Lin, Chang Ling, Xi En, Li Hongzhang, Xu Tong and other seven people. Among the ministers, there were only a few twenty people with dazzling eyes, so it can be seen that the emperor was very cautious in rewarding the flowers, and the rewards were said to be great glory.
However, at the end of the Qing Dynasty, the Opium War broke out, because the treasury was empty, there was a routine of donating plumes, and with money you could buy hualing to wear, at that time, the flowers were 10,000 taels per branch, and the blue plume was 5,000 taels, and it could be discounted with reference to the items of donation, Xianfeng Ninth Year (1859), Hualing was changed to 7,000 taels per branch, and 4,000 taels per branch. Hua Ling also went downhill and began to lose the price, and later, each flower plume could be donated for only two hundred yuan.