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Mianfu () is a kind of Chinese clothing in hanfu; it was worn by emperors, kings, and princes, and in some instances by the nobles in historical China from the Shang dynasty to the Ming dynasty. The mianfu is the highest level of formal dress worn by Chinese monarchs and the ruling families in special ceremonial events such as coronation, morning audience, ancestral rites, worship, new year's audience and other ceremonial activities. There were various forms of mianfu, and the mianfu also had its own system of attire called the mianfu system which was developed back in the Western Zhou. The mianfu was used by every dynasty from Zhou dynasty onward until the collapse of the Ming dynasty. The Twelve Ornaments were used on the traditional imperial robes in China, including on the mianfu. These Twelve Ornaments were later adopted in clothing of other ethnic groups; for examples, the Khitan people and the Jurchen people rulers adopted the Twelve ornaments in 946 AD and in 1140 AD respectively. The Korean kings have also adopted clothing embellished with nine out of the Twelve ornaments since 1065 AD after the Liao dynasty emperor had bestowed a nine-symbol robe () to the Korean king, King Munjong, in 1043 AD where it became known as ().
The upper garment of the emperor's mianfu is usually black in colour while the lower garment is crimson red in colour in order to symbolize the order of heaven and earth. The upper and lower garment are tied with a belt. A pure red coloured , an important component for ceremonial clothing, hangs down under the belt. Twelve Ornaments, including the Chinese dragon, are the usual decoration of the . When decorated with all the Twelve Ornaments, the mianfu can be classified as while decorated with nine out of the twelve symbols, it is can be classified as or .
In the Zhou dynasty, there were various types of mianfu; including the , , , and , which are the five grades of the worn by the members of the nobility apart from the Emperor; the Zhouli stipulated which types of mianfu were allowed to be worn depending on each noble and official ranks of its wearer:
Though the use of mianfu was abolished during the Qin dynasty, in favour of a black called and , which was continued to be used throughout the Western Han dynasty, the and were later restored by Emperor Ming of Han in the Eastern Han dynasty based on Rites of Zhou and Confucian Classic of Rites.
In the Song dynasty, the emperor wore which included and . (2026). 9781107167865 ISBN 9781107167865 The crown prince of the Song dynasty also wore . The rulers of the Jurchen people Jin dynasty also created their own carriages and apparel system by adopting the clothing system of the Han people and by imitating the Song dynasty; and the Jin emperors wore . According to the Yuanshi, Möngke wore the gunmian in 1252.
After the Manchu conquerors established the Qing dynasty, the new government initiated a policy that forbade Han Chinese to wear Hanfu. Qing emperors did not use as the emperor's official garb, which eventually resulted in this style of clothing disappearing from use.
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