Dragon robe
everyday dress of the emperors or kings of China, Korea, Vietnam and the Ryukyu Kingdom
Dragon robes, also known as gunlongpao (traditional Chinese: 袞龍袍; simplified Chinese: 袞龙袍; pinyin: gǔn lóng páo; Korean: 곤룡포) or longpao for short, is a form of everyday clothing which has a Chinese dragon, called long (龍), as its main decoration. In the past, it was worn by the emperors of China. Dragon robes were also adopted by the rulers of neighbouring countries, such as Korea (Goryeo and Joseon dynasties), Vietnam (Nguyễn dynasty), and the Ryukyu Kingdom.
Cultural significance
Chinese dragons have origins in ancient China. The Chinese dragons have been associated with the emperor of China since ancient times, while the fenghuang is associated with the empress of China. When used on clothing, the Chinese dragons denote the superiority of its wearer or his aspirations. Since the Song, Liao, Jin and Yuan dynasties, the wearing of robes with dragon patterns were forbidden for subjects of the emperor without his authorization.
Since the Ming dynasty, the Chinese dragon is a five-clawed dragon; if it has four claws, it is no more considered as a Chinese dragon but is considered as a Chinese dragon-like creature mang (蟒; 'python'); mang can be found on clothing called mangfu (蟒服; 'mang robe'). According to Shen Defu, "The mang robe is a garment with an image close to a dragon, similar to the dragon robe of the top authority (the emperor), except for the deduction of one claw". Other clothing with four-clawed Chinese dragon-like creatures are feiyufu and douniufu; feiyu and douniu have additional specific characteristics which differ them from both the mang and the long.
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This entry incorporates text from “Dragon robe” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.