RULING FROM THE DRAGON THRONE
Costumes of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911)
By JOHN E. VOLLMER
Berkeley: Ten Speed Press, 2002. 208 pages, $40 (paperback)

reviewed by Lee Kavaljian

During China's last imperial dynasty, the Qing (1644-1911), the kind of clothing officials wore became vastly important. Authority, power, discipline, and organization were all reflected in the mandated official clothes donned by the vast legions of the Chinese bureaucracy. In Ruling from the Dragon Throne, John Vollmeran internationally recognized curator and authority on Asian textiles and costumescatalogs, explains, and analyzes the ways in which the minority Manchu rulers of the Qing period used clothing styles, pattern, and construction to consolidate their rule and impose their imperial power on the officials of the Chinese government.

Conquering the Ming forces in the early seventeenth century was no easy feat, and the victorious, nomadic Manchus were well aware of the assimilation that had led to the gradual loss of identity of previous nomadic conquerors of China. To avoid a similar loss of distinct difference between themselves and the newly subjugated Chinese, the Manchus used their organizational skills to sustain the existing Chinese bureaucracy and, at the same time, maintain some level of their own ethnic identity. Sinification of the Manchus had begun when they had become tributaries to the Ming-dynasty emperors, but when they ascended to leadership, there was interest in countering further sinification. Costume and dress differences were one of the ways to do that. Functional riding coats, boots, and trousers of the nomadic lifestyle replaced the flowing robes and slippers of the Ming period.

This book documents the origins and development of Qing costume as it relates to the social and political aspects of government policies. The first chapter outlines the early history of the Manchus and their conquest of China. The next two chapters bring into focus the development of clothing from the characteristics of a nomadic, steppe-dwelling ethnic group to the elaborate and lavish robes befitting the rulers of the vast Chinese empire. The last chapter presents information on the relationship between costume and the Confucian ideals of the family and the hierarchical position of family members, beginning with the emperor. Colors, symbols, clothing construction, and even accessories all played a role in this elaborate system. For example, red, the official color of the Ming dynasty, was replaced by yellow. The numbers of claws on dragon decorations depicted on robes were officially mandated, with five, the largest number, reserved for the emperor and his immediate family. The construction of Manchu garments was often wasteful of fabric; the issue of economy of cutting was sacrificed to the more important concern for following the animal-hide prototypes essential to the Manchus. Ceremonial dress required the wearing of hats with jeweled finials that gave immediate, visual information about the wearers' rank or status. Finials with pearls indicated imperial clan rank.

Many full-color illustrations of garments chosen from the finest available in both museum and private collections, construction diagrams of garment technology, and other diagrams relating to ornament and symbolism illuminate the text. At the conclusion of the book, there is an extensive glossary, a bibliography, and a section of notes for each chapter.

This is a fascinating, beautifully illustrated catalogue of the interconnection between garment traditions and the efforts of a powerful, historically significant regime to control a huge government apparatus. The Manchus' success established a 250-year rule by a conquering ethnic minority, and created a spectacular textile heritage, to the delight of art and textile lovers the world over.