Glossary
Glossary
术语表
Terms in Chinese and English. The practical obstacle for an English reader is that one Chinese word is rendered three or four different ways from book to book, so that looking something up means first guessing which rendering an author used. Each entry therefore lists the renderings in circulation, and says where a common one misleads.
Technique and stitch
How the thread is put into or through the cloth.
缂丝
ke si
kesi
A tapestry weave in which coloured wefts are worked back and forth only across the area each colour occupies, instead of running the full width of the cloth. Where two colours meet on a vertical edge, the wefts turn back independently and leave a slit — the small gaps that give the technique its Chinese name. The result is reversible and has no floating threads on the back.
Also seen ascut silk · silk tapestry · k'o-ssu
Kesi is woven, not embroidered. It is often mislabelled as embroidery in sale catalogues because the pictorial effect is similar; the test is the back, which in kesi is as finished as the front.
锁绣
suo xiu
chain stitch
Each stitch passes through the loop of the one before it, producing a continuous chain. The line it makes is raised, elastic and clearly bounded, which suits outlines and flowing forms. It dominates surviving embroidery from the Warring States and Han periods.
Also seen aslooped stitch · lock stitch
平绣
ping xiu
satin stitch
Floss laid side by side across an area so that the filaments lie parallel and unbroken. Because nothing interrupts the surface, light reflects across the whole shape at once and the silk reads as a sheet of colour rather than a set of marks. It displaced chain stitch as the dominant technique from the Tang onwards.
Also seen asflat stitch · laid stitch
盘金
pan jin
couched gold
Gold thread — usually a strip of gilded paper or membrane wound round a silk core — is laid on the surface and held down by fine stitches in another thread, because the gold itself is too stiff and too valuable to pass repeatedly through the cloth. The couching stitches are part of the design: their spacing and colour change how the gold reads.
Also seen asgold couching · laid and couched gold thread
Almost all “gold thread” on Chinese textiles is gilded paper or membrane on a silk core, not drawn metal wire. Under magnification the paper core is usually visible where the gold has worn.
打籽
da zi
seed stitch
The thread is wound once or twice round the needle and drawn back through close to where it emerged, leaving a small tight knot on the surface. Massed, the knots build a granular texture that catches light quite differently from flat silk.
Also seen asPeking knot · forbidden stitch · French knot (loosely)
The name “forbidden stitch” appears in older English writing, with a story that the work was banned for blinding embroiderers. There is no evidence for the ban; the term is best avoided.
纳纱
na sha
counted stitch on gauze
Embroidery worked over the open mesh of a gauze ground, counting threads so that each stitch sits in a fixed position. The grid makes the design geometric by nature, and the ground can be left uncovered to lighten the whole — which is why summer robes often use it.
Also seen asgauze embroidery · petit point on silk gauze
掺针
chan zhen
blended stitch
Stitches of uneven length interlock between one colour band and the next so that the join is broken up and the eye cannot find a line. It is the basic means by which embroidery achieves gradation, and the Song ambition to rival painting depends on it.
Also seen aslong and short stitch · shaded stitch
劈线
pi xian
splitting the floss
A length of floss is separated into finer and finer strands before use. Fine work may divide a single thread many times over; the finer the strand, the less light each stitch interrupts and the smoother the transition between colours. It is preparation rather than a stitch, but it sets the ceiling on how fine the finished work can be.
Also seen asdividing the silk · thread splitting
Material and weave
What the cloth itself is, before anything is stitched onto it.
妆花
zhuang hua
zhuanghua
A weaving method in which small bobbins of coloured weft are inserted only where each colour is needed, rather than carried across the loom. It allows many colours in one cloth without heavy floats on the back, and permits colour changes within a single row.
Also seen aspolychrome supplementary weft weave · brocaded satin
Zhuanghua is a weave, not embroidery, and not the same as kesi — in zhuanghua a continuous ground weave runs through the whole cloth, which kesi does not have.
织金
zhi jin
gold-brocaded silk
Silk woven with gold thread as a supplementary weft, so that the gold is part of the cloth rather than applied to its surface. Yuan-dynasty examples in this manner are known in Persian sources as nasij and were traded across Eurasia.
Also seen ascloth of gold · gold-woven silk · nasij (for the Yuan type)
Distinguish from couched gold embroidery, where the gold sits on top of a finished cloth and can be lifted at the edges.
缎
duan
satin
A weave in which warp floats pass over several wefts before binding, and the binding points are scattered rather than aligned. Nothing interrupts the surface visually, so the cloth is smooth and highly reflective — the usual ground for Qing court robes.
Also seen assatin weave
绫
ling
damask
A figured silk in one colour, in which the pattern is made visible only by the contrast between two weave structures — typically twill against twill in opposite directions. The design appears and disappears as the light moves.
Also seen aspatterned twill · monochrome figured silk
绢
juan
plain silk
Silk in plain weave — one warp over one weft, throughout. The simplest structure and the usual ground for embroidery, because an even surface without floats takes a needle predictably.
Also seen astabby silk · silk taffeta
纱
sha
gauze
An openwork silk in which paired warps cross between wefts and lock them in place, so the mesh stays open and does not slip. Light and cool; the ground used for counted embroidery and for summer dress.
Also seen asleno · open-mesh silk
锦
jin
polychrome figured silk
A general term for silk patterned in several colours by the weave itself. The Chinese word covers a range of structures that Western textile writing separates into distinct named weaves, so it rarely maps onto one English term.
Also seen asbrocade · samite (for the weft-faced compound type)
“Brocade” in English is used loosely for almost any rich patterned silk, and is not a reliable translation. Where the structure matters, name the structure.
Garment types
Named categories of dress, most of them fixed by Qing regulation.
朝服
chao fu
court dress
The most formal Qing category, worn for the great state and sacrificial occasions. Its cut is distinctive: a separate pleated or flared lower section joined to the upper body at the waist, rather than the single continuous panel of a jifu robe.
Also seen asformal court robe · audience dress
The seam at the waist is the quickest way to tell chaofu from jifu when the decoration alone is ambiguous.
吉服
ji fu
festive dress
The category worn at celebrations and on ordinary official occasions — a step below court dress. The jifu robe is cut in one piece from shoulder to hem, with the dragon roundels or full-length dragons and a wave-and-mountain border at the bottom.
Also seen assemiformal court dress · dragon robe (loosely) · auspicious dress
English writing often calls any Qing robe with dragons a “dragon robe”, which merges jifu with several other categories and loses the distinction the Qing themselves drew.
龙袍
long pao
dragon robe
Strictly, a robe bearing the five-clawed dragon, reserved by regulation for the emperor and those the emperor specifically permitted.
Also seen asimperial dragon robe
The claw count is the whole point of the term and is the first thing to check. Note also that a robe could be altered — claws have been removed and added — so the count states an intention, not always the original one.
蟒袍
mang pao
mang robe
A robe bearing the four-clawed mang, worn by officials and nobles below the ranks entitled to the five-clawed dragon. In form it is otherwise close to the dragon robe.
Also seen asfour-clawed dragon robe · python robe (a mistranslation)
Mang is sometimes rendered “python”, which is a dictionary equivalence rather than a description — the creature depicted is a dragon with four claws, not a snake.
氅衣
chang yi
changyi
An informal Manchu woman’s robe, wide in the sleeve and slit high at both sides, worn over an inner garment. Its decorative bands at cuff and edge are often the most elaborate embroidery on the whole dress.
Also seen asinformal women's robe · Manchu woman’s side-slit robe
龙褂
long gua
dragon surcoat
A dark outer coat worn over a robe, its decoration usually confined to dragon roundels at chest, back and shoulders. Because it covers the robe beneath, the two were designed to be read together.
Also seen asdragon jacket · outer coat with dragon roundels
Ornament and components
Motifs and the separately made elements applied to a garment.
补子
bu zi
rank badge
A square panel applied to the chest and back of an official’s surcoat, its creature declaring the wearer’s grade — birds for civil office, animals for military. Civil badges were worn in facing pairs, split down the front opening.
Also seen asmandarin square · insignia badge
Badges were made separately and could be transferred between garments, so a badge and the coat carrying it need not be of the same date.
海水江崖
hai shui jiang ya
wave-and-mountain border
The band at the hem of a court robe: diagonal stripes of standing water below, breaking waves above, and rocks rising from them. It places the wearer at the centre of an ordered world, and its proportions change measurably across the Qing reigns, which makes it useful for dating.
Also seen aslishui border · water and rock border · terrestrial diagram
十二章
shi er zhang
twelve symbols
A set of twelve emblems — sun, moon, constellation, mountain, dragon, pheasant, sacrificial cups, waterweed, grain, fire, axe and the fu symbol — reserved for the emperor’s most formal dress. Their presence is a strong indication of imperial use.
Also seen astwelve ornaments · twelve imperial symbols
The symbols are small and often placed where they are easily missed — at the shoulders, and low on the skirt. Their absence proves less than their presence.
团窠
tuan ke
roundel
A motif enclosed in a circle and repeated at intervals across a cloth or placed at fixed points on a garment. The circle is a compositional frame rather than a subject: what it contains varies widely.
Also seen asmedallion · circular motif
联珠纹
lian zhu wen
pearl roundel
A ring of small dots enclosing paired animals or birds, usually facing one another across a central axis. The framework is not native to China: it enters from Central and West Asia along the overland routes and is then reworked in Chinese weaving.
Also seen aspearl-bordered medallion · beaded roundel
云肩
yun jian
cloud collar
A separately made collar piece, usually of four lobes, worn over the shoulders. It descends from an old and widely distributed form and appears in both court and popular dress.
Also seen asshoulder cape · four-lobed collar
霞帔
xia pei
xiapei
A pair of long decorated bands worn over the shoulders and down the front by women on formal occasions, weighted at the ends. Like the rank badge, what it carries reflects status.
Also seen asceremonial stole · rank stole for women
缠枝莲
chan zhi lian
scrolling lotus
A continuous vine that winds across a surface, throwing off lotus blooms at intervals. The scroll can run indefinitely, which makes it a solution to covering large areas without a repeat that reads as mechanical.
Also seen aslotus scroll · meandering lotus vine
System and institutions
The rules, offices and workshops that decided what was made and who could wear it.
织造
zhi zao
imperial silk manufactory
The three offices at Jiangning, Suzhou and Hangzhou that supplied silk to the Qing court. Their existence explains why court textiles are technically consistent across long periods: production was centralised and specified in advance.
Also seen asImperial Silkworks · weaving and dyeing bureau
皇朝礼器图式
huang chao li qi tu shi
Illustrated Regulations for Ceremonial Paraphernalia of the Qing Dynasty
The illustrated compendium in which the Qing set out ritual objects and dress, with drawings and specifications by rank. It is the document against which surviving garments are read — and the gaps between what it prescribes and what survives are where the research questions are.
Also seen asHuangchao liqi tushi · Illustrated Precedents for Ritual Paraphernalia
The regulations state what should have been made. They are evidence of intention, not a record of production.
四大名绣
si da ming xiu
the four great embroidery traditions
Su (Suzhou), Xiang (Hunan), Yue (Guangdong) and Shu (Sichuan) embroidery, grouped under this name in the modern period. What separates them is not only style but the structure of the stitching itself.
Also seen asfour famous embroideries · four schools of embroidery
The grouping is a modern formulation applied retrospectively; it is a convenient handle rather than a category the workshops themselves used.
About this list
Definitions here are written for this archive; they are not taken from any dictionary or reference work. The “also seen as” line records other renderings in circulation, so that a reader meeting a different term elsewhere can recognise it as the same thing. Where a common English rendering is misleading, the entry says so.