Ancient first-class officials have cranes on their clothes, what does it all mean?

The main reason is that cranes are of noble character, which is more suitable to be used for literati; and they are long-lived, implying that the gods of the earth and the gods of the world can be retained for a long time.

Additionally, the crane is the second most auspicious bird after the phoenix, and in ancient times, the dragon was used to describe the emperor and the phoenix was used to describe the empress, so the crane was used as a pattern for the official uniform of the first rank of the civil servants.

Meanwhile, it was recognized as a first-class civil bird in Chinese history. The Ming and Qing dynasties gave the crane the cultural connotation of loyalty, purity and high moral character.

The official's dress, the first grade official embroidered cranes, which was second only to the royal dragon and phoenix as an important symbol, so people also called the crane "first grade bird". People also take the crane as a symbol of high officials. p>Dresses worn by Qing officials:

The Qing regulations prohibit the wearing of Ming official dresses but the Ming patches for the Qing dynasty continued to be used, the pattern content is largely the same, but changed to a single bird.

The grades are slightly different, usually, civil officials: a crane, two brocade chicken, three peacocks, four geese, five white pheasants, six herons, seven quail, eight quail, nine practice sparrows;

martial forces: a unicorn, two lions, three leopards, four tigers, five bears, six puma, seven, eight rhinoceros, nine seahorses. In addition, the imperial historian and the admonition officer are both haetae.

Baidu Encyclopedia-Official Uniforms