Xiangyun (Auspicious clouds)
Traditional Chinese auspicious clouds / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Xiangyun (simplified Chinese: 祥云; traditional Chinese: 祥雲; pinyin: xiángyún), are traditional Chinese stylized clouds decorative patterns.[1][2]: 581 [3]: 132 They are also known as yunwen (云纹; 雲紋; 'cloud motif'), auspicious clouds, lucky clouds, and sometimes abbreviated as clouds (云; 雲; yún) in English.[4] A type of xiangyun which was perceived as being especially auspicious is the five-coloured clouds, called qingyun (庆云; 慶雲; qìngyún), which is more commonly known as wuse yun (五色云; 五色雲; wǔsèyún; 'five colour cloud') or wucai xiangyun (五彩祥云; 五彩祥雲; wǔcǎi xiángyún; 'Five-coloured auspicious clouds'), which was perceived as an indicator of a kingdom at peace.[1][2]: 579 [note 1]
Xiangyun | |
---|---|
Chinese name | |
Traditional Chinese | 祥雲 |
Simplified Chinese | 祥云 |
Literal meaning | Auspicious clouds |
Hanyu Pinyin | Xiángyún |
Japanese name | |
Kanji | 瑞雲 |
Katakana | ずいうん |
Romanization | Zuiun |
English name | |
English | Auspicious clouds/ clouds/ lucky clouds |
Xiangyun are one of the most auspicious patterns used in China and have a very long history.[5] Clouds motifs have appeared in China as early as the Shang dynasty and Eastern Zhou dynasty.[1][2][3]: 132 [6]: 25 They are one of the oldest decorations and ornaments used in Chinese art, Chinese architecture, furniture, and Chinese textile and Chinese clothing.[6]: 25 [7][2]: 579–582 When used on Chinese textile, xiangyun can take many various forms, including having the appearance of Chinese character wan (卐; wàn) or the appearance of the lingzhi.[2]: 582 [4][note 2] Xiangyun motif has been transmitted from generation to generation in China and is still valued in present days China for its aesthetic and cultural value.[5][7] Xiangyun was also introduced in Japan, where it became known as zuiun.[8]