The mianfu and the dragon robe are typical garments for ancient Chinese emperors. They serve as a micro cosmos that exemplify the unique Chinese aesthetic and sense of the universe.
In Chinese history there is a story of "Dressed with yelIow robe" that occurred in 959 A.D. One year after a young emperor took over the throne at the death of his father, the old emperor, a general was dressed with the royal yellow robe by his supporters and made emperor. That was the beginning of the Song Dynasty. But why does tile "yellow robe" represent the emperor? It all started in the Han Dynasty.
The Chinese theories of the Yin and Yang and of the Five Elements all try to explain the 
interdependence and mutual rejection of gold, wood, water, fire and earth. White represents gold; green represents wood; black represents water; and yellow represents earth. color for garments, but by Qin Dynasty (221 B.C.-206 B.C.) black ranked highest among all garment colors. All officials followed suit and wore black as much as they could. When Han Dynasty replaced Qin, yellow was promoted to the highest place, favored by the emperors of the time. By Tang Dynasty, the court made it official that no one, except the emperor, had the right to wear yellow. This rule was passed aII the way down to the Qing Dynasty. It was said that when the 11 year old Pu Yi (1906-1967), the last emperor, saw his 8-year old cousin wearing yellow silk as his clothes lining, he grabbed the sleeve and said: "How dare you use yellow!" The status of the color yellow was apparently supreme in their heart.
