The Qing Dynasty

In the reading it said that the officials and people in charge were very strict and harsh to the townspeople and local people. They demanded more taxes and labor. They were worried that if they were soft and kind to them then that may effect how strong the military recruit for the military would be. They wanted to keep the "fighting spirit of the Mongols." (p.423) They said that "people of noble rank," (also on page 423) were exceptions to the strict ruling. They did not have to pay the extra taxes. The reading also mentioned that the rulers would mock the Chinese by wearing hairstyles that they would wear and gold on their hats with peacock feathers.

I decided to research more about the "noble people" and figure out what they looked like.

The people worn many different things depending on rank and occasion. They had court robes that were worn for semi formal to formal events. And the dragon was a symbol of the emperor and you could only wear it if you had passed a civil service exam or if the emperor gave you permission. Surcoats were also worn but mostly by the imperial family. They were like the court robes and they were worn with medallions. Medallions were also another item you need to get approved by the emperor before you wore it. The Manchu dress was an informal dress and I think it could be worn by underclassmen.

People wore not only robes and dresses but they wore hats. The hats came in all sorts of different styles. One style was for winter and another for summer. But most of them consisted of fringe or threading on the top of the hat with a knob. The knob was a symbol indicating the status or ranking of the wearer. For the officials they could add peacock feathers to their to make them more distinct but again with approval from the emperor.

Women were given foot bindings to wear. They were used to immobilize the women so that they could not leave the house. This also kept them from leaving their husband. The way a women would walk with bound feet was supposedly attractive and a sign of beauty. The girls would start wearing the extremely painful and uncomfortable foot bindings starting at the age of three!

This just amazed me. I couldn't imagine having to wear painful foot bindings at the age of three and being immobilized more most of my life! I found this information from this site here.