Man's surcoat of dark blue silk, with centre front opening, fastened with five gilt metal ball-loop toggle buttons and one silk button knot-loop. A short straight collar, wide straight sleeves and long slit sides. Lined with light blue silk. Decorated with eight large roundels, three in front, two on shoulder and three at back, with gold embroidery of auspicious motifs that symbolise wealth, rank, honour, and longevity, interspersed with flower sprays and butterflies.
The roundel on the chest has: 1. Five bats, which symbolise the five blessings: old age, wealth, health, love of virtue, and natural death. 2. Crane, deer and 'ruyi' sceptre all symbolising wishes for longevity. 3. Auspicious objects from the Eight Jewels, 'ba bao', each conveying a wish: Pearls (wisdom), rhinoceros horns (happiness), ingot (wealth), musical stone (discrimination), swastika (longevity). 4. A 'lingzhi' fungus held in a vase expresses a wish for peace and security. 5. An official's crown on a circular tray with an official's tablet beside it symbolises high rank and honour, as 'crown' is pronounced 'guan' in Chinese, which is a homophone with 'official'. The two roundels on the lower front are identical and each has: 1. A river scene with a boat carrying an official's crown and a tablet on an altar table with two scrolls and a pomegranate underneath. Boat, 'chuan' is in Chinese pronounced the same as another word, 'chuan' meaning 'to pass on'. The depiction of an official's crown on a boat creates a rebus of a wish for the official's title and honour to pass from generation to generation. 2. Two bats, symbolising double blessings, and other auspicious plants near the top of the roundel. The roundel on the shoulder: 1. Gourd with 'lingzhi' fungus at centre symbolises longevity. 2. Motifs that represent a scholar and his achievement in passing the Civil Service Examination: An official's crown (officialdom), books wrapped in cloth (knowledge), scrolls (symbolic of culture), pearl (wisdom), rhinoceros horn (happiness), coin (wealth), 'ruyi' sceptre (authority). Above the hem is a landscape scene with a cart drawn by a deer. The cart has a vase holding a branch of coral hung with a coin and a lotus spray. Deer, 'lu' in Chinese is a homophone with the word for an official's salary in feudal China, 'lu'. The vase holding coral, coin and lotus symbolises officialdom, wealth and purity, an essential quality to be an honourable and respectable official. Flying above the cart is a crane holding two peaches in its mouth, which symbolises longevity.
