Chinese art has a very long history, which still affects the patterns of carpets woven in the contemporary China. The very history of weaving oriental carpets in China is many centuries old. The earliest examples of Chinese rank badges are from the time of the last ruler of the dynasty Chen, reigning in the years 557-589.
It was a niche art, until 1700, mainly because the Chinese carpets were woven for domestic use due to the difficult access to the materials. However, this fact alone meant that Chinese carpets are very specific and have their own traditions, different from those that formed the other oriental carpets. Also for this reason, in the nineteenth and twentieth century Chinese rank badges have become a popular export.
Chinese rank badges in contrast to other Oriental carpets are classified due to the monarch, who ruled China during the time when carpet was bade, and not because of the place of its origin, as in the case of Persian carpets. So the styles of carpets are very closely linked to the ruling dynasty.
Wool in China was not very common, which is why carpet weaving was not popular among the lower social classes. So despite the fact that China has since the days of Marco Polo willingly exported its traditional art, they weave carpets mainly for internal use.
Each color in Chinese culture, which was used to create Chinese rank badges, has a very specific meaning. In China, there are five basic colors that are associated with the theory of five elements: the green, which corresponds to the wood, red symbolizes fire, yellow, which is the symbol of the sun, white – color of metal and black , which is the color of water. These colors result from traditional science, which was based on the theory of five elements.