Ceremonial robe

In the hierarchical clothing system, the most typical and effective clothing that reflects the hierarchical characteristics is the ceremonial robe. Although according to the records in the literature, it is said that the ceremonial robe appeared during the reign of the Yellow Emperor, it is still a legend after all. Judging from Chinese historical materials, the ceremonial robe system should have been estabilished in the Western Zhou Dynasty.

In Pre-Qin dynasy period

Ceremonial robe specifically referred to the clothing worn by ancient emperors, feudal lords, and high officials during sacrificial ceremonies, and was not worn in daily life. By offering sacrifices to heaven and earth, the concept of divine right of emperor was solidified, maemperor sacrifices extremely important.

In the Zhou Dynasty

Commoners were not allowed to wear ceremonial robe,which maemperor it a clear distinction between commoners and aristocrats. The ranks of aristocrat were numerous, with the emperor being the highest, having six types of ceremonial robe. Gong(公）could have five, Hou（侯）and Bo（伯）four, Zi（子）and Nan（男） three, Gu（孤） two, and Qing（卿）and Dafu（大夫）one. The lowest-ranemperor aristocrat, known as Shi（士）, were not qualified to wear ceremonial robe，their highest ceremonial dress was Bianfu（弁服）. It can be seen that the number of ceremonial robes owned varied by aristocrat rank.

At the same time, the forms of the ceremonial robe also differed, mainly reflected in the shape and the number of patterns on the ceremonial robe to distinguish their different status levels.

The styles of the ceremonial robe were basically the same, all adopting the upper garment and lower garment design. The colors of the clothing were also uniform, afeaturing with dark color (Xuan玄）on upper garments and a mixture color of red and yellow Xun (醺)on lower garment.

From the Chinese historical documents Zhouli·Chunguan·Sifu(《周礼·春官·司服》) details the ceremonial robe of the emperor, stating there were six types of ceremonial robe（Liu Mian六冕）and three types of hats (三弁San Bian), collectively known as the nine ranks dress.