In Ruyi's royal love in the palace, the harem wear beads around their neck along with their court dresses. Is there any significance to that?
These strings of beads are called chaozhu 朝珠 and are a part of formal court dress in the Qing dynasty. The construction closely resembles the japamala prayer beads used in Buddhism, from which they originate from being religious objects to court accessories.
Emperor Kangxi in chaofu and chaozhu
Chaozhu are worn by literary officials from the fifth rank and up, military officials from the fourth rank and up, palace guards and officials serving in the capital, as well as their wives, when wearing court attire. The materials making up the beads denote the rank and position of the person wearing it.
The main string consists of 108 beads, representing 12 months, 24 periods, and 72 pentads in a year. 108 is also a significant number in Buddhism, representing the 108 earthly temptations that a person must overcome to achieve nirvana.
Every 27 beads is intersected by a fotou bead about twice the size of other beads, in a contrasting colour. The fotou divides the chaozhu into four, signifying the four seasons in a year.
The fotou at the top of the chaozhu is attached to a hulu gourd shaped bead called fotouta. The two ends of the string of beads enter the top fotou and come together in the middle through the fotouta. From the fotouta hangs a silk strip at the end is a water-droplet-shaped precious stone called dazhuijiao. In the middle of the silk strip is also a large gemstome called beiyun.
Close up of beiyun - one of Yongzheng’s chaozhu
On either side of the chaozhu are three smaller strings of beads, each consisting of 10 beads, called jinian. These are used to differentiate between chaozhu and japamala. They also represent 30 days in a month. For men’s chaozhu, the side with the two strings of jinian will be on the left. For women, the side with two jinian will be on the right.
The beiyun will be behind the wearer’s back as above.
Close up of Ruyi’s chaofu, with dongzhu central chaozhu and two coral side chaozhu. Note two jinian (green, probably jade) on the right side.
Yanwan wearing jifu and one chaozhu
When wearing court dress (chaofu), women will wear three sets of chaozhu: one in the middle and two draped across their sides. For the empress, the central chaozhu are made of Eastern pearls (dongzhu, fresh water pearl) and the side ones are made of coral. Imperial noble consorts, noble consorts and consorts’s central chaozhu will usually be made of amber and the sides made of red coral.
Hailan wearing chaofu and amber and coral chaozhu
Imperial women rank of imperial concubine (pin) and below, wives of princes of various ranks, princesses of various ranks wear the central chaozhu made of coral and the sides made of amber.
Amber chaozhu
Officials’ wives wear chaozhu made of materials such as amber, coral, turquois etc, without prescription. When wearing formal dress (jifu, not court dress), women only need to wear the one middle chaozhu made of any materials. However, yellow-coloured chaozhu and dongzhu pearls are reserved for the emperor, empress dowager and empress.
Men will wear one set of chaozhu regardless of dress.
Emperors will conduct sacrifice at a different temple each season. During the winter solstice (dongzhi), sacrifice is made at the Temple of Heaven, and the emperor wears blue-coloured chaofu and chaozhu made of lapis lazuli.
During the summer solstice (xiazhi), sacrifice takes place at the Temple of Earth, the emperor wears yellow (minghuang) with amber chaozhu.
During spring equinox (chunfen), sacrifice is made at the Temple of the Sun, and the emperor wears red with red coral chaozhu.
During autumn equinox (qiufen), sacrifice is made at the Temple of the Moon, and the emperor wears light blue (yuebaise) with turquoise chaozhu.
For everyday use, the chaozhu is usually made of dongzhu or any other materials.
Special dongzhu and coral chaozhu where each bead is made up of tiny smaller beads.
The beaded yajin are also based on these prayer beads and prayer bead yajin can only be worn by ranks of consort (fei) and up.
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