Yellow was the emperor's color in Imperial China and is held as the symbolic color of the five legendary emperors of ancient China, such as the Yellow Emperor. The Yellow River is the cradle of Chinese civilisation. Yellow is sometimes paired with red in place of gold. Associated with but ranked above brown, yellow signifies neutrality and good luck. The Chinese saying Yellow generates Yin and Yang implies that yellow is the center of everything. The Chinese conception of yellow ( 黃, huáng) is inclusive of many shades considered tan or brown in English and the primary association is with the earth rather than the sun. Yellow of a golden hue is considered the most beautiful and prestigious color. Yellow Portrait of the Hongwu Emperor in a silk yellow dragon robe featuring embroidered the Yellow Dragon Other colors were considered by Confucius as 'inferior'. Throughout the Shang, Tang, Zhou and Qin dynasties, China's emperors used the Theory of the Five Elements to select colors. These colors correspond to the five elements ( 五行) of water, fire, wood, metal and earth, taught in traditional Chinese physics. In traditional Chinese art and culture, black, red, qing ( 青) ( a conflation of the idea of green and blue), white and yellow are viewed as standard colors. In Chinese mythology, the goddess, Nüwa, is said to have mended the Heavens after a disaster destroyed the original pillars that held up the skies, using five coloured-stones in these five auspicious colours to patch-up the crumbling heavens, accounting for the many colours that the skies can take-on. A Chinese idiom with the meaning "many colours" or "multi-coloured", Wǔyánliùsè (五顏六色), can also mean 'colours' in general. During the Tang dynasty, the word yánsè came to mean 'all colour'. It was generally used alone and often implied sexual desire or desirability. In Classical Chinese, the character sè ( 色) more accurately meant "colour in the face", or "emotion". The Chinese word for "colour" is yánsè ( 顏色). Values ascribed to colors in Chinese cultural traditionĬhinese cardinal and intermediary coloursĬhinese culture attaches certain values to colours, like which colours are considered auspicious ( 吉利) or inauspicious ( 不利).
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