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to their attraction.

      Manchu women wore a dianzi headdress on informal festive occasions. The one shown here (Fig. 75) is made of wire lattice woven with black silk ribbon and decorated with kingfisher feather inlay and gold filigree in the style of the “endless knot,” with butterflies and the shou character.

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      Fig. 71 Roundel with a two-toed profile dragon in kesi, from a Manchu ladies surcoat, mid-19th c.

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      Fig. 72 Manchu lady’s dragon jacket in kesi, with four five-claw front-facing dragons surrounded by Buddhist emblems, ca. 1825–50.

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      Fig. 73 The Guangxu Emperor’s consort, Dowager Duan Kang, wearing the first style surcoat over a matching five-clawed dragon robe, its wide cuffs turned back over the surcoat, ca. 1913.

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      Fig. 74 Lower-ranking noblewoman’s official surcoat with eight roundels, each containing the shou character surrounded by bats and peonies, a wish for happiness and long life, the li shui at the hem embroidered with Buddhist emblems, early 19th c.

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      Fig. 75 Manchu headdress called a dianzi for informal festive occasions such as birthdays, ceremonies, and New Year celebrations, made of wire lattice woven with black silk ribbon and decorated with kingfisher feather inlay and gold filigree in the style of the Endless Knot, with butterflies and the shou character.

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      Fig. 76 Non-official formal surcoat for a lower-ranking noblewoman, with eight floral roundels and li shui hem, early 19th c.

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      Fig. 77 Non-official formal robe with eight floral roundels, Qianlong period.

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      Fig. 78 Manchu bride, with her maid, wearing a surcoat with eight roundels, with no li shui, ca. 1870.

      Non-official formal robes were worn for weddings and other important family occasions not connected with the court. Towards the end of the nineteenth century, formal robes, like the dragon robes of this period, had wide sleeves with horse-hoof cuffs, and a plain band rather than a ribbed one between the cuff and upper sleeve (Fig. 77). In practice, these robes were the same as those worn for official formal occasions by noblewomen and wives of officials. Eight roundels with shou or, later, other motifs were dispersed over the robe, which had either a li shui or plain hem. Worn with a surcoat having eight roundels with shou or floral patterns, some had the li shui pattern at the hem and cuffs, while others did not (Fig. 76).

      A Manchu bride of an official wore a non-official formal robe with horse-hoof cuffs and eight roundels on the gown. Later in the dynasty, these garments were predominantly made in red, reflecting the Han influence of this auspicious “Chinese” color (Fig. 79). A dark blue surcoat was worn over this robe, and an elaborate head-dress completed the outfit (Fig. 78).

      Non-official semiformal robes were very lavishly embroidered, particularly those worn by the Empress Dowager Cixi, who favored pastel shades of blue, lilac, and pink as she felt the yellow dragon robes were unflattering to her ageing skin tone (Figs. 80, 81). The contrasting borders on clothing after the middle of the nineteenth century were based on Han styling, and indicated assimilation into Chinese culture.

      In addition to the rules governing the types of fabric for certain times of the year, each season was identified with a particular flower and these appeared as motifs on semiformal robes. The flower for spring was the peony (since 1994 the peony has been the national flower of China, symbolizing love of peace and the pursuit of happiness), for summer the lotus flower, for autumn the chrysanthemum, and for winter the plum blossom. For ladies at court in the late nineteenth century, to wear the wrong flower was to disobey the imperial decree and risk incurring the wrath of the Empress Dowager (Figs. 82, 83).

      Non-official robes of this period often had three very wide bands running around the edges of the robe: the outer made of brocade, the middle a wide border of embroidery, and the inner a multicolored woven ribbon (Fig. 84). Semiformal robes had wide sleeves with turned-back cuffs, which were then lavishly embroidered on the underside. In place of the zai shui pointed kerchief, women of the imperial family in informal dress wore a narrow band of silk embroidered with auspicious symbols and decorated with jewels. It looped around the neck, with one end tucked into the top of the gown.

      Informal robes were plainer than semiformal ones, and comprised a silk damask body with a less elaborate border on the straight cuffs, around the neck, and down the side, and sometimes around the hem, although this was more common on the more formal robes (Fig. 85). They were worn with a long or short sleeveless waistcoat fastening down the center or at the side, with a wide decorated border, or a short jacket (Figs. 8688).

      The clothing of servants in the palace reflected their lowly status, as recalled by a palace maid: “We had to be completely unobtrusive. Our clothes were provided by the Palace. Come the spring, we would be measured for four sets of vest, blouse, robe and waistcoat. Except in October (the month of the empress dowager’s birthday), when we were allowed to wear red, most of the year we were confined to a few colors – in spring and summer we dressed in pale blue or green, in autumn and winter a purplish brown. We wore our hair in a thick plait, tied at the end by a short red ribbon” (Holdsworth and Courtauld, 1995: 85).

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      Fig. 79 Manchu bride’s robe in red kesi, with Buddhist emblems in the eight roundels, and a deep li shui at the hem, latter half of the 19th c.

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      Fig. 80 Non-official semiformal robe in lilac kesi with shou characters, chrysanthemums, and bats, with more shou

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