The Dragon Throne () was the

throne A throne is the seat of state of a potentate or dignitary, especially the seat occupied by a sovereign on state occasions; or the seat occupied by a pope or bishop on ceremonial occasions. "Throne" in an abstract sense can also refer to the mon ...

of the

Emperor of China ''Huangdi'' (), translated into English as Emperor, was the superlative title held by monarchs of China who ruled various imperial regimes in Chinese history. In traditional Chinese political theory, the emperor was considered the Son of Heav ...

. As the dragon was the emblem of

divine Divinity or the divine are things that are either related to, devoted to, or proceeding from a deity.divine< ...

imperial power, the throne of the Emperor was known as the Dragon Throne. The term can refer to very specific seating, as in the special seating in various structures in the

Forbidden City The Forbidden City () is a palace complex in Dongcheng District, Beijing, China, at the center of the Imperial City of Beijing. It is surrounded by numerous opulent imperial gardens and temples including the Zhongshan Park, the sacrifi ...

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), Chinese postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the Capital city, capital of the China, People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's Li ...

or in the palaces of the

Old Summer Palace The Old Summer Palace, also known as Yuanmingyuan () or Yuanmingyuan Park, originally called the Imperial Gardens (), and sometimes called the Winter Palace, was a complex of palaces and gardens in present-day Haidian District, Beijing, China. ...

Metonymically Metonymy () is a figure of speech in which a concept is referred to by the name of something closely associated with that thing or concept. Etymology The words ''metonymy'' and ''metonym'' come from grc, μετωνυμία, 'a change of name' ...

, "the Dragon Throne" can also refer to the

Chinese sovereign The Chinese sovereign was the ruler of a particular monarchical regime in the historical periods of ancient China and imperial China. Sovereigns ruling the same regime, and descended from the same paternal line, constituted a dynasty. Several t ...

and to the Chinese monarchy itself. The Daoguang Emperor is said to have referred to his throne as "the divine utensil." ::"My sacred and indulgent father had, in the year that he began to rule alone, silently settled that the divine utensil (the throne) should devolve on my contemptible person. I, knowing the feebleness of my virtue, at first felt much afraid I should not be competent to the office; but on reflecting that the sages, my ancestors, have left to posterity their plans; that his late majesty has laid the duty on me -— and heaven's throne should not be long vacant -— I have done violence to my feelings, and forced myself to intermit awhile my heartfelt grief, that I may with reverence obey the unalterable decree and on the 27th of the 8th moon (October 3rd), I purpose devoutly to announce the event to heaven, to earth, to my ancestors, and to the gods of the land and of the grain, and shall then sit down on the imperial throne."

Seat of State

The dragon was the symbol on the imperial flag and other imperial objects, including the throne or imperial utensil. The dragon was said to have the power to become visible or invisible—in short, the dragon was a

factotum Factotum may refer to: *A handyman, employed as a servant * ''Factotum'' (novel), a 1975 novel by Charles Bukowski * ''Factotum'' (film), a 2005 film adaptation of the novel *Factotum (arts organisation), an arts organisation based in Belfast * fac ...

in the "divinity business" of the Chinese emperors. The dragon was the crest on royal monuments. The dragon was displayed on the Emperor's robes. The Grand Chair of State was called the "Dragon Throne." The term can be used to refer to a very specific Seat of State in the Hall of Supreme Harmony (also known as the "Hall of Highest Peace"). This is a uniquely crafted object which was used only by the Emperor. When European and American military forces pushed their way into the

Peking } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

after the

Boxer Rebellion The Boxer Rebellion, also known as the Boxer Uprising, the Boxer Insurrection, or the Yihetuan Movement, was an Xenophobia, anti-foreign, anti-colonialism, anti-colonial, and Persecution of Christians#China, anti-Christian uprising in China ...

in 1900, they were the first men from the West to appear in the presence of the Dragon Throne since

Isaac Titsingh Isaac Titsingh FRS ( January 1745 – 2 February 1812) was a Dutch diplomat, historian, Japanologist, and merchant.Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Isaak Titsingh" in . During a long career in East Asia, Titsingh was a senior official of the ...

and Andreas Everardus van Braam Houckgeest were received with grace and ceremony by the Qianlong Emperor in 1795.

William Elliot Griffis William Elliot Griffis (September 17, 1843 – February 5, 1928) was an American orientalist, Congregational minister, lecturer, and prolific author.Brown, John Howard. (1904)."Griffis, William Elliot,"''The Twentieth Century Biographical Diction ...

was among those who did actually stand with cameras and notebooks before the Dragon Throne on a sunny September day in 1900; and he described what he saw: ::There was the throne itself, a great three-leaved affair. Over the ample seat in the centre, with a high reredos, two great wings spread off from the central division. All was white marble and jade, liberally sculptured according to the canons of Chinese art. Along the top lay and leered dragons, each one "swinging the scaly horror of his folded tail" toward the central seat, his head projecting outward in the air. Below the throne were the three steps, on the broad second one of which the suppliant performed the nine prostrations or knocks of the head.

History

In Imperial China, the seat of power was called the Dragon's Seat or the Dragon Throne. The process of accession, the ceremonies of enthronement and the act being seated on the Dragon's Throne were roughly interchangeable. The Dragon Throne was an hereditary

monarchy A monarchy is a form of government in which a person, the monarch, is head of state for life or until abdication. The political legitimacy and authority of the monarch may vary from restricted and largely symbolic ( constitutional monar ...

in China before 1912. In much the same sense as the

British Crown The Crown is the state in all its aspects within the jurisprudence of the Commonwealth realms and their subdivisions (such as the Crown Dependencies, overseas territories, provinces, or states). Legally ill-defined, the term has different ...

, the Dragon Throne became an abstract

metonymic Metonymy () is a figure of speech in which a concept is referred to by the name of something closely associated with that thing or concept. Etymology The words ''metonymy'' and ''metonym'' come from grc, μετωνυμία, 'a change of name ...

concept which represented the monarch and the legal authority for the existence of the government. According to tradition, the Chinese Empire began with the

Qin dynasty The Qin dynasty ( ; zh, c=秦朝, p=Qín cháo, w=), or Ch'in dynasty in Wade–Giles romanization ( zh, c=, p=, w=Ch'in ch'ao), was the first dynasty of Imperial China. Named for its heartland in Qin state (modern Gansu and Shaanxi), ...

in 221 BC; and the chronology of the emperors continued in unbroken succession until the fall of the

Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...

in 1912. For a short time in 1917, to whatever extent the Chinese emperor was held to be as symbol of the state and its people, the Dragon Throne would have been construed as a symbol of a

constitutional monarch A constitutional monarchy, parliamentary monarchy, or democratic monarchy is a form of monarchy in which the monarch exercises their authority in accordance with a constitution and is not alone in decision making. Constitutional monarchies dif ...

Rhetorical usage

This flexible English term is also a

rhetorical Rhetoric () is the art of persuasion, which along with grammar and logic (or dialectic), is one of the three ancient arts of discourse. Rhetoric aims to study the techniques writers or speakers utilize to inform, persuade, or motivate parti ...

trope Trope or tropes may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Trope (cinema), a cinematic convention for conveying a concept * Trope (literature), a figure of speech or common literary device * Trope (music), any of a variety of different things ...

. Depending on context, the Dragon Throne can be construed as a

metonymy Metonymy () is a figure of speech in which a concept is referred to by the name of something closely associated with that thing or concept. Etymology The words ''metonymy'' and ''metonym'' come from grc, μετωνυμία, 'a change of name ...

, which is a rhetorical device for an allusion relying on proximity or correspondence, as for example referring to actions of the

Emperor An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife ( empress consort), mother ( ...

or as "actions of the Dragon Throne." The Dragon Throne is also understood as a

synecdoche Synecdoche ( ) is a type of metonymy: it is a figure of speech in which a term for a part of something is used to refer to the whole ('' pars pro toto''), or vice versa ('' totum pro parte''). The term comes from Greek . Examples in common E ...

, which is related to metonymy and metaphor in suggesting a play on words by identifying a closely related conceptualization, e.g., * referring to a part with the name of the whole, such as "Dragon Throne" for the mystic process of transferring Imperial authority, e.g., ::In 1368, " e of the

Hongwu Emperor The Hongwu Emperor (21 October 1328 – 24 June 1398), personal name Zhu Yuanzhang (), courtesy name Guorui (), was the founding emperor of the Ming dynasty of China, reigning from 1368 to 1398. As famine, plagues and peasant revolts i ...

's first acts upon ascending the Dragon Throne was to set up a network to spy on his subordinates and to register the entire population of China for the first time." * referring to the general with the specific, such as "Dragon Throne" for emperorship (or the supreme autocrat of China) or Imperial China itself, e.g., ::In 1418, " e fleet moored just outside

Malindi Malindi is a town on Malindi Bay at the mouth of the Sabaki River, lying on the Indian Ocean coast of Kenya. It is 120 kilometres northeast of Mombasa. The population of Malindi was 119,859 as of the 2019 census. It is the largest urban cent ...

's coral reefs (off the east coast of what is today known as

Kenya ) , national_anthem = " Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

). From the belly of the big ships came small rowboats and men in lavish silk robes. And among the faces were some the king recognized. These men he knew. They were his own ambassadors whom he had dispatched months ago on a tribute-bearing mission. Now emissaries of the Dragon Throne were returning them home, and they brought wondrous things to trade. But had so many men and so many ships come in peace or had they come to make the citizens of Malindi subjects of the

Son of Heaven Son of Heaven, or ''Tianzi'' (), was the sacred monarchical title of the Chinese sovereign. It originated with the Zhou dynasty and was founded on the political and spiritual doctrine of the Mandate of Heaven. Since the Qin dynasty, the secu ...

?" * referring to the specific with the general, such as "Dragon Throne" for the long reign of the

Qianlong Emperor The Qianlong Emperor (25 September 17117 February 1799), also known by his temple name Emperor Gaozong of Qing, born Hongli, was the fifth Emperor of the Qing dynasty and the fourth Qing emperor to rule over China proper, reigning from 1735 ...

(r. 1736–1795) or equally as well for the ambit of the Imperial system, e.g., :: In 1921, "... the movement for the restoration of the Throne will eventually have the hearty approval of the vast majority of the people. They will welcome it, not only because the Dragon Throne has been for ages an essential part of the Confucian system, inseparable from the ideas of an agricultural race born and bred on patriarchal Theism, but also because of the callous corruption and disorder with which the present administration has been identified all over the country.Bland, John. (1921)
''China, Japan and Korea,'' p. 299.
/ref>

Notes

* * * * * * * *

References

* Arnold, Julean Herbert. (1920)
''Commercial Handbook of China.''
Washington, D.C.: United States Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce; Government Printing Office
OCLC 3882862
* Bland, John Otway Percy. (1921)
''China, Japan and Korea.''
New York: W. Heinemann
OCLC 252248839

"Chinese Coronation: Coronation of Taou-Kwang, the new Emperor of China,"''The Asiatic Journal and Monthly Miscellany.''
(

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Sou ...

). London: William H. Allen & Co. Vol. 13 (1822 January–June), pp. 332–335. * Griffis, William Elliot. (1911)
''China's Story in Myth, Legend, Art and Annals.''
Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company
OCLC 850353
* William Elliot Griffis. (1901)
''In the Mikado's Service: A Story of Two Battle Summers in China.''
Boston: W.A. Wilde Co
OCLC 4591145
* Levathes, Louise. (1996)
''When China Ruled the Seas: The Treasure Fleet of the Dragon Throne, 1405-1433.''
Oxford:

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print book ...

. {{ISBN, 978-0-19-511207-8 * Ricalton, James. (1901)
''China Through the Stereoscope: A Journey Through the Dragon Empire at the Time of the Boxer Uprising.''
New York:

Underwood & Underwood Underwood & Underwood was an early producer and distributor of stereoscopic and other photographic images, and later was a pioneer in the field of news bureau photography. History The company was founded in 1881 in Ottawa, Kansas, by two brothers ...

OCLC 5871769
* Williams, Samuel Wells. (1848)
''The Middle Kingdom: A Survey of the ... Chinese Empire and Its Inhabitants.''
New York: Wiley & Putnam
OCLC 2276049
Individual thrones Imperial China

Seat of State

History

Rhetorical usage

See also

Notes

References