Xiangyun (Auspicious clouds)

Xiangyun (simplified Chinese: 祥云; traditional Chinese: 祥雲; pinyin: xiángyún) are traditional Chinese stylized clouds in decorative patterns. 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. 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.

Xiangyun are one of the most auspicious patterns used in China and have a very long history. Clouds motifs have appeared in China as early as the Shang dynasty and Eastern Zhou dynasty. They are one of the oldest decorations and ornaments used in Chinese art, Chinese architecture, furniture, Chinese textiles and Chinese clothing. When used on Chinese textiles, xiangyun can take many various forms, including having the appearance of the Chinese character wan (卐; wàn) or the appearance of the lingzhi. Xiangyun motif has been transmitted from generation to generation in China and is still valued in present-day China for its aesthetic and cultural value. Xiangyun was also introduced in Japan, where it became known as zuiun.