Legitimation Discourse and the Theory of the Five Elements in Imperial China

What is it about?

This article examines the construction and deconstruction of Chinese dynastic lineage in imperial China. In particular, I investigate how dynasties applied the Five Elements theory in their respective legitimation discourses. Drawing on both documentary and visual sources, I reveal that the Liao, Jin, and Yuan rulers constructed different dynastic lineages that challenged the “orthodox” dynastic succession pattern formulated by Han Chinese dynasties. In particular, I will show that the Yuan tacitly invoked Metal as its dynastic element and white as its imperial color. I argue that the Yuan choice of dynastic element essentially claimed succession to the Jurchen Jin, another non-Han conquest dynasty, rather than to the Song as scholars have previously assumed. However, these constructions were later negated by the Ming dynasty, which restored a purely Han Chinese dynastic lineage that excluded the Liao, Jin, and Yuan. These ideological conflicts, which were ultimately grounded in ethnic tensions between Han and non-Han peoples, eventually led to the disappearance of the Five Element theory in the Qing political rhetoric. This article sheds new light on understanding how a dynasty engaged its cultural heritage and ethnic background in its political ideology and how it perceived its own place in the Chinese dynastic lineage.

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Why is it important?

Challenging the traditional view on Chinese dynastic transitions from the Song to the Yuan, and from the Yuan to the Ming, this study contributes to enhancing our understanding of empire building, dynastic legitimation, and identity construction in Han-Chinese dynasties and non-Han conquest dynasties in imperial China. It is also the first work in English language that examines the history of color, in particular its use in the imperial portraits, in pre-modern Chinese political rhetoric.