What are the clothes of Royal Guards in the Ming Dynasty and what are their characteristics?

From the establishment of the Ming Dynasty to the end of the rule, the Royal Guards always existed. Wei Jinyi was the only military and political intelligence agency in Ming Dynasty. Formerly known as "Gong Weisi" established by Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, it was later renamed as "Pro-military Dewey House", which was in charge of the ceremonial guards of Yiluan and the emperor. In the fifteenth year of Hongwu, the pro-military Duwei House and Yiluan Department were abolished and replaced by Jinyiwei. Senior officials of Royal Guards have three kinds of clothes: python clothes, flying fish clothes and bullfighting clothes.

Python skin suit

Python clothing is a kind of clothing given by the emperor, also known as embroidered robe and flower clothing. It is named after the embroidered python pattern on the robe. Embroidered python is not a dragon, but a four-toed dragon is a python, because it has four toes on its claws, which is dragon five's toe in the royal family. The design of python suit is shoulder-length round neck, wide sleeves (with sleeves) and full length of robe body. There are ruffles under the sleeves, and the whole body is embroidered with gold or silver thread and colored wool. In ancient times, it was the highest ideal of doctors to add embroidered robes to their bodies, which meant great importance and prosperity.

Flying fish cloth

Flying fish suit is a grand dress second only to python suit. Officials must have a certain rank to allow flying fish suits. Flying fish is a kind of texture, and there are different styles of flying fish clothes in drag, straight body and paste. The flying fish suit has a pattern of flying fish with four claws.

Note: Flying fish pythons also have two horns. The so-called flying fish pattern is a python with fins. The flying fish tail is slightly different and is not the real flying fish shape. It is mentioned in the historical materials of the Ming Dynasty that all the officials in the Royal Guards Hall wear flying clothes, but the "flying clothes" are famous. All clothes decorated with flying fish patterns are called flying fish clothes, including over-the-shoulder, patchwork and so on. All kinds of clothes styles are ok.

Bullfighting suit

The Ming dynasty gave official uniforms and embroidered bullfights, hence the name. Bullfighting clothes, python clothes and flying fish clothes, because of their patterns, are similar to the dragon armor clothes worn by the emperor and are not included in the official clothing system. They were given by eunuchs and Zaifu in the Ming Dynasty. It is considered a great honor to receive such a gift. Bullfighting suit is a grand dress after python suit and flying fish suit.