International Journal Of Literature And Languages
18
https://theusajournals.com/index.php/ijll
VOLUME
Vol.05 Issue05 2025
PAGE NO.
18-22
10.37547/ijll/Volume05Issue05-05
What Is China's "National Color"
Alimova Sevara Farkhadovna
Tashkent State University of Oriental Studies, Faculty of Chinese Studies " Chinese philology”, Senior Teacher of the Department,
Uzbekistan
Received:
09 March 2025;
Accepted:
05 April 2025;
Published:
08 May 2025
Abstract:
"National color" is tempered from the process of historical civilization, and modern times. In ancient
times, the Qin Dynasty advocated black, and the atmosphere was simple; the Northern and Southern Dynasties
advocated blue, which was bright and flying; the Song Dynasty advocated "preserving natural principles and
removing human desires", fresh and elegant Green has become the mainstream; in addition, yellow, which
symbolizes imperial power, and the majestic Chinese red have always been the national colors that will never fade
in the hearts of the Chinese nation.
Keywords:
Chinese civilization, five colors, five elements,chinese history, chinese cosmology, chinese medicine.
Introduction:
The five national colors of black, red,
blue, green, and yellow have become the colors that
represent China in Chinese civilization and are
consistent with popular colors. The five colors that best
represent Chinese civilization happen to be the colors
of the Olympic rings. This not only closely adheres to
the purpose of national unity, but also echoes the
theme of the Olympic Games. And tracing back to
history, we can find representatives of the origins from
the popular colors of clothing in each dynasty and each
historical period. They have gone through time and
space and have been given a new interpretation in
today's high-end Chinese clothing series.
"Zhou Li Kao Gong Ji": "Green and white are the second
phase, red and black are the second phase, and black
and yellow are the second phase. Green and red are
called wen, red and white are called chapters, and
white and black are called fu. , it is called black when it
is green, and it is called embroidery when it is more
colorful."
The word "five colors" was first seen in the pre-Qin
works "Shang Shu" and "Shang Shu·Yi Ji", which mainly
records the dialogue between Emperor Shun and Dayu.
Emperor Shun requested that twelve kinds of objects,
including the sun, moon, stars, mountains, and
dragons, be painted in five colors. It was embroidered
on his own dress and supervised by Dayu, and later
generations called it "Twelve Chapters". The five colors
are white, green, black, red, and yellow as the "correct
colors". After speculation in the Spring and Autumn and
Warring States periods, the prototype of the Five
Elements Color Theory system was formed in the Han
Dynasty. With the development of science and
technology in the Han Dynasty, especially the
establishment of the theory of traditional Chinese
medicine, the theory of five elements and colors was
enriched and perfected. As traditional Chinese
medicine penetrated into people's lives, the theory of
five elements and the use of five colors in the Han
Dynasty penetrated into every corner of society and
became common among the Chinese nation. Approved
color usage practices. "Five colors" indicates that
ancient China's color aesthetic consciousness has
obtained the aesthetic meaning of rational
consciousness from the accumulation of primitive
concepts.
The "five colors" have become the foundation and
orthodoxy of traditional Chinese colors. The five
elements, five colors, five directions and five virtues
correspond to each other and express the cultural
attributes, ethical philosophy and thoughts and
emotions of the Chinese people. The five elements
form five stars in the sky, namely Venus, Jupiter,
Mercury, Mars, and Saturn. On the earth, they are the
five substances of gold, wood, water, fire, and earth. In
humans, they are the five virtues of benevolence,
righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and faith. sex. Each
of these five types of elements has different properties,
International Journal Of Literature And Languages
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International Journal Of Literature And Languages (ISSN: 2771-2834)
such as wood with the property of growth and
development; fire with the property of being hot and
upward; earth with the property of peace and
preservation; metal with the property of chilling and
astringent; water with the property of coldness and
moisturizing. . Gold, wood, water, fire, and earth in the
"Five Elements Theory" correspond to white, green,
black, red, and yellow in the "Five Color Theory"
respectively. The "Five Colors" were artificially
combined with the "Five Elements" theory, allowing
color culture to penetrate into the field of philosophy,
covering ancient philosophy with a colorful coat, which
not only enriched the content of philosophy, but also
increased the connotation of color. The color circle in
the theory of Yin and Yang and the Five Elements, with
yellow as the center, undergoes a spiral periodic cycle
in the order of green, red, white, and black. Its colors
correspond to the four directions and four seasons,
thus containing the Chinese cosmology of the unity of
man, nature, and man.
From the perspective of Chinese history, in ancient
times, the colors used in painted pottery and textiles
were: red (iron ore powder and cinnabar), black,
yellow, white and blue.
Since the Shang Dynasty, the appearance of the five
characters red, yellow, blue, black and white in ancient
oracle bone inscriptions shows that the ancient Chinese
had a deep understanding of the colorful natural
phenomena in nature and applied them to social life. In
ancient China, in the process of understanding and
understanding nature, people boiled down the
complex colors into five basic colors - red, yellow, cyan,
black and white.
Starting from the Zhou Dynasty, the three colors of red,
yellow, and cyan are called colors (that is, the current
chromatic system), and black and white are called
colors (that is, the current achromatic system). These
five colors are classified as positive colors. Except for
the positive colors In addition, other colors are called
intermediate colors. It is recorded in "Shangshu" that
"the five colors are given to the five colors, which are
red, yellow, green, black and white". It is recorded in
"There are no more than five colors, and the changes of
the five colors are indescribable." "Ci Yuan" records
that "(the five colors) are blue, yellow, red, white, and
black. - In ancient times, these five were the main ones.
Color." It can be seen that the ancient Chinese people
have gradually mastered the basic principles of color
matching in their social life practice.
From the Zhou Dynasty to the Spring and Autumn
Period and the Warring States Period, there were two
main methods of silk dyeing: mineral pigment dyeing
and plant pigment dyeing. Mineral pigments include:
cinnabar, ocher, stone yellow, orpiment, azurite and
lead white, used to draw clothes or dye silk. Vegetable
pigments are used for dip dyeing, counter-dying,
mordant dyeing and over-dying of textiles. For
example, you can get blue by dyeing with indigo grass,
purple by dyeing with comfrey, and black by dyeing
with soap beans. You can get red by counter-dying with
madder three times, deep red by counter-dying five
times, and deep red by counter-dying seven times. Get
black. These show that the ancient Chinese have
mastered dyeing technology and a relatively complete
traditional color system.
1.Red dominates
"Red" is considered the color of the sun. Enthusiastic,
warm and energetic. Chinese people love and admire
the color red. According to archaeological discoveries,
as early as more than 20,000 years ago, the ancestors
of the cave people began to admire the color red. The
decorations found in the archaeological discoveries
were all dyed red with hematite, and red powder was
sprinkled around the corpse. This period is known as a
totemic phenomenon in which red is the sacred color.
Later, red pigments and other substances were found
on corpses in cemeteries such as Banpo in Xi'an,
Yuanyangchi in Yongchang, Wangwan in Luoyang, and
Sanlihe in Jiao County. Some corpses still had large
amounts of residual crimson material.
From these remaining information, we can see that the
earliest clothing color in ancient my country was red.
The "Red Crow", "Red Rabbit" and "Red Carp" in
ancient legends are all auspicious things. In Chinese folk
culture, red symbolizes happiness and good luck, and
has the function of warding off disasters and exorcising
evil spirits. From the red cloth strips hung on the lintel
when a child is born to the "full moon" made when the
child is one month old; from the red headband of the
boudoir daughter to the red wedding dress of the
daughter when she gets married; from the red belt in
the year of birth to the longevity peach of the old
birthday star; from the red ribbon posted during the
New Year From Spring Festival couplets and window
grilles to New Year's red envelopes and red lanterns,
people tie or wear red ribbons and cloth strips on their
bodies, or wear red jackets, trousers, shoes and socks,
etc. in their natal year. The custom of wearing red
clothing to ward off evil spirits and avoid disasters is still
retained today.
⋯
Red has always been considered the
embodiment of happiness and auspiciousness, and is
the main color of auspicious celebrations in our
country.
To this day, red is still the Chinese color in the minds of
most Chinese people. Red is also an indispensable color
in popular colors, even in ancient times. In the Tang
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International Journal Of Literature And Languages (ISSN: 2771-2834)
Dynasty, pomegranate skirts were popular and became
all the rage. There is a song that says, "The
pomegranate flowers are about to burn down the
street, and the branches and branches are all falling
apart. Thousands of households can't buy them all, and
only their children are left with dyed red skirts."
2. Yellow supremacy
In China, yellow has special symbolic meaning. It is
located in the center of the five elements and
symbolizes the color of the earth. In ancient times,
there was a saying that "yellow gives birth to yin and
yang", which regarded yellow as the master of colors,
ranking above all colors. The Chinese people have an
indissoluble bond with the color yellow: the birthplace
of the Chinese nation is on the Loess Plateau, the
Yellow River is the mother river of the Chinese nation,
the ancestor of Chinese humanity is called the "Yellow
Emperor", and the descendants of the Yan and Huang
people have yellow skin and belong to the yellow race.
. The Chinese nation has been a farming nation for a
long time, and the working people attach great
importance to the land. The most widely distributed
temples in the country are undoubtedly the land
temples, which shows that people worship the land.
People's attitude towards the land is extended to the
color yellow, which also carries people's deep feelings
for the land. In addition, yellow also has the meaning of
longevity. It is said that when a person gets old, he will
turn white, and when he is too old, he will turn yellow.
Later, yellow hair was used to refer to people with long
life. Moreover, the yellow crane is also a symbol of
longevity. It is often associated with people's good
wishes to become immortals. For example, Cui Hao, a
poet of the Tang Dynasty, left an eternal masterpiece:
"In the past, people rode the Yellow Crane. The Yellow
Crane Tower is vacant here."
The thinking model of the Five Directions and Five
Elements gradually matured during the Warring States
Period. The five directions refer to east, west, south,
north, and center, and the five seasons represent
spring, summer, summer, autumn, and winter. During
the five seasons, you need to wear clothes in species
colors, namely green, crimson, yellow, white and black.
Among them, yellow is regarded as the central color of
honor, and the color culture of yellow as the honor
gradually formed, representing the emperor and a
symbol of wealth. Therefore, since the Sui and Tang
Dynasties, the emperor's clothing has been mainly
yellow, which has profound philosophical thoughts.
Yellow is also associated with the title of Yellow
Emperor. According to the theory of Yin Yang and Five
Elements, the Yellow Emperor was the supreme ruler
who ruled the east, south, west and north. The Yellow
Emperor is in the center, that is, the earth among
metal, wood, water, fire, and earth. The emperor is the
earth. The worship of the Yellow Emperor is actually an
extension of the worship of the loess. Secondly, yellow
is the color of neutrality. Yellow and "neutral" are
fused, so yellow is the color of the earth that will never
change. This color represents the beauty of nature and
the beauty of "neutralization", so it is called Zun color.
Therefore, yellow means nobility and power.
3. Black eternity
Black is considered to be the color of the sky in the
"Book of Changes". The theory of "Heaven is Yellow and
Earth is Yellow" comes from the ancients' feeling that
the sky in the north has been mysteriously black for a
long time. They believe that the North Star is the
position of the Emperor of Heaven, so in the Chinese
cosmology and spiritual color, black is the color of the
chaos of the universe and the mother color of nature.
Black belongs to water, which means fairness and
justice. The word "
法
" has water as its radical.
Therefore, black often means "uprightness, fairness
and selflessness". The black facial makeup in opera
masks represents loyal and virtuous ministers. These
people have the noble personality of "enforcement of
justice and impartiality". Bao Qingtian, who is loved by
the general public, is said to have a complexion as pale
as coal.
The main color of the Qin Dynasty was black, from the
emperor's robes to the flags. The Taoist view of color
pursues the original color, advocates Taoism and
nature, returns to the true nature, and takes the beauty
of the original color as the most beautiful. Therefore,
they admire black and believe that black is the color
that ranks above other colors. As Lao Tzu said, "Xuan is
mysterious, the door to all wonders." "Xuan" means
black, the color of the underworld. It is the color of
heaven beyond life and death. Yin and Yang are higher
than all things, and black and white are higher than the
five colors. The colorful beauty in the world is just the
secular beauty that stimulates people's senses. It is not
the true beauty. Only black and white is the simplest
and most authentic beauty. There is also a saying in the
Tao Te Ching, "Know the white and guard the black."
"To the extreme of emptiness, keep quiet and sincere",
"Tranquility is beautiful, but victory is not beautiful".
The Taoist view of color is intended to guide people to
use the spiritual world of their minds to perceive colors
and comprehend nature, which will have a great
influence on the color aesthetics of later generations.
4. White Holy
For the Chinese. White is a color word with a dual
nature. The positive cultural connotation of "self-color"
in Chinese mostly comes from the ancients'
appreciation of jade and its extension and
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interpretation. People often use "white jade to be
flawless" as a metaphor for a perfect human being.
White also means "innocence and incorruptibility", as
in Gou Zi's saying, "Therefore, if you are poor, you will
not hide, and if you are general, you will be
enlightened, and your div will be white when you
die", as well as "white" in "unwhite injustice" and
"innocent innocent". this meaning. "White" is
explained in "Shuowen Jiezi" as: "Western color. Yin is
used for things, and white is the color." The most
typical embodiment is in Chinese ink painting. The
charm of ink painting lies in "the ink is divided into five
colors" and "no painting is applied." ", radiant", using
the shades of ink to express the charm, and the
simplicity contains the brilliance of all things. White
paper and black ink, but full of artistic conception.
The ink painting is light, strange, and distant, and at the
same time pays attention to the white space, reflecting
a kind of abandonment of form and profound meaning.
Buddhists, a sublime and ethereal art, also advocate
white. In Buddhism, the consequences caused by evil
are called "black" and the consequences caused by
good are called "white". Buddhist stupas are usually
white. During festivals, monks will refresh the stupa
with white lime powder. Most of the ancient Buddhist
pagodas across China are white, such as the Beihai
Pagoda in Beijing, the White Pagoda of Miaoying
Temple, the White Pagoda of Lianxing Temple in
Yangzhou, etc. The whiteness of the pagoda is meant to
imply that the Buddha's nature is pure and flawless,
and the white lotus is often used as a symbol of the
Buddha's nature. The emergence of artistic realm is a
deepening and sublimation of color by Chinese literati
who inherited the spirit of Zhuang Chan.
5. Beautiful blue color
Blue was mostly colored cyan in ancient times. "Green.
Life" symbolizes the vibrant spring. In the ancient
people's concept, cyan is the color of life and the color
of the East. It also means life. The pictographic
character for "
生
" is grass growing out of the soil, and
the color of the grass is green. "
青
" and "
生
" come from
the same pictographic aspect. The ancients gave
"green" the connotation of "life" from the cyan color
that appears when plants grow, completing the
upgrade from concreteness to abstraction. The word
"quiet" comes from Qing, and "Qing Tong Jing" means
Jing is also related to cyan. Among the five colors, cyan
is indeed the color that makes people feel the most
peaceful and tranquil.
In ancient times, people also believed that cyan has the
effect of hair growth and prosperity, and is the color of
inspiration. Therefore, Confucian scholars wearing cyan
clothes can help their literary thoughts flow and write
thousands of words. In terms of utensils. China's blue
and white porcelain is the variety with the widest
coverage and largest output among Chinese porcelain.
It is also the most influential and longest-lasting variety
among monochrome porcelain. It is one of the symbols
of Chinese classical culture. This all reflects people's
love for cyan and its imagery, interest and
connotations.
Every nation has the phenomenon of "advocating for
the blue". But in China, the widely popular phenomena
of blue calico and blue and white porcelain, which are
highlighted in the form of living art (the coverage is
particularly wide and lasts for a long time), in our view,
is a "special" - special It is a symbol of culture and
aesthetics and has profound and broad connotations of
the "color philosophy" with Chinese characteristics.
Based on the basic meaning of "green", the words
"quiet", "jing", "emotion" and "qing" are all extremely
important philosophical categories and concepts in
ancient China, indicating a "cyan-color thinking" with
Chinese
character
istics.
Metalogical
Paradigm”.
"Shuowen": "Quiet, Congqing, contending for voice.
Trial". Xu Kai's note: "The painting is clearly judged";
Wang Jun's sentence reads: "The color is picked and
carefully examined to obtain the appropriate
tranquility." It can be seen that the "subtle meaning" of
the philosophy of "Jing" (jing, examination, accuracy,
accuracy, truth) comes from the phenomenon of color
(painting, picking colors), specifically from the cyan
phenomenon or "cyan" "Thinking" comes. This is a kind
of "color (color) thinking" with cyan as the "core".
There are dozens of color names for Chinese blue. The
Dream of Red Mansions’ “blue sky after rain” is enough
to arouse endless reverie. Blue and white porcelain,
porcelain blue paper, blue calico, and cloisonné are all
favorite colors among Chinese people. In terms of
traditional dyeing colors, indigo dyeing is the longest-
standing traditional technique and is still loved by the
Chinese people.
Before the Han Dynasty, yellow did not become the
exclusive color for emperors, but was the color revered
by the country based on the "Five Virtues Theory". For
example, in the Zhou Dynasty, "fire is stronger than
gold, and the color is red." Then Qin Shengzhou is Shui
De, and the color advocates black. Therefore, in the
early days of China, "the people of Yin preferred white,
the people of Zhou preferred red, and the people of Qin
preferred black." In these three dynasties, white, red
and black were the most respected colors respectively.
To sum up, China’s
national color does not refer to a
single color, but to the five true colors of red, yellow,
cyan, black and white. It is a comprehensive color
system.
International Journal Of Literature And Languages
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International Journal Of Literature And Languages (ISSN: 2771-2834)
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