Crowns in different cultures

I noticed that Europeans (and Africans) have crowns for their monarchs, some passed from one generation to another, many on displays now.

However, many Asian monarchies did not have such traditions, nor did the crown seem to be as important, if it existed. Rather, they emphasised on dress codes - for example, only golden yellow or dragon motif could be used in attires by royalty.

There was a Korean gold crown, but it appeared symbolic headpiece rather than a grand statement. The Chinese also had small headpieces, but it seemed really more ornamental and other aristocrats also could wear them.

Does anyone know what led to the very dissimilar attitudes in this aspect of the different cultures?

I mean comparing the European crowns and Korean crowns, the a number of former were more ... how should I put it ... ostentatious?

Is that the most showy korean crown?

Compare that to some of the crowns boasting of the largest diamond, rubies etc ...

Look at the Imperial Crown of British India, number of times used, once. Weighs 34.05 ounces and is set with emeralds, rubies, sapphires and 6,100 diamonds.

Above : Hungary's St. Stephen Crown

Above: Papal Tiara

Not only dragons but many other symbols are also sewn on the ceremonial cloth each has a special meanings.
Sun,Moon and Star - radiance of light
Mountain - steadiness
Dragon - change
Hua Chong ( a mythic bird) - literacy
Jing Yi ( ceremonial vessel depicting a tiger and a monkey) - loyalty
Algae - cleanness
Fire - light
Rice - Nourishment
Axe - Resolution
Fu (a special symbol depicting two mythic monsters back to back) - clarity

In ancient China, every men had to wear some sort of crown or hat. They were called Guan (冠 in Chinese. Whenever a man reached the age of adulthood, special ceremony called GuanLi (冠礼 would be performed where the man will formaly enter his adulthood by start wearing a Guan for the rest of his life. The Guan was also an important symbol of a man's social statue in an China. There the emperor got to wear the highest class of Guan called Mian Guan (冕冠.  To distinguish the Mian Guan of a king and a emperor, different number of the string of marbles were used. The emperor's Mian Guan has 12 strings of marble while the king's only has 10.

There are hundreds more rules regarding each small portion of the Mian Fu which I will not get into detail now.

Here is a portrait of Shu-Han emperor Liu Bei wearing Mian Fu and a picture of Song Taizong, Zhao Guangyi wearing casual cloth.

I don't get what you mean.

Do you mean you still think the Korean crown is more ... grand/ostentatious/showy?

Perhaps if I get a chance to see it in real life ... photography could fail to capture certain ... details.

That's how it looked to me - an elegant fine artistic product without any hint of being pretentious.

Rather reminds me of something of (high) elven design in certain Advanced Dungeons & Dragons genres - its beauty lies not in the quantity of gold used but in the delicate fine details crafted skilfully.

PS : You do realise the descriptions of grand/ostentatious/showy is not really complimentary?

Originally posted by Gubook Janggoon [QUOTE=snowybeagle]No..I havn't been really comprehending anything you've said up till now.. You tang ren speak in such riddles...that carrier pigeon thing threw me way off.

Ooops, sorry about that.

But you're right, it's all a matter of personal preference.

For me, I prefer elegance and artistic over something ostentatious/loud (artistic is subjective, of course).

Sorry about the carrier pigeon too, it used to be something you can always count on to appear in stereotypical Chinese wuxia genre - like thriller movies requiring the hero has to choose the right wire to cut to defuse a bomb going off in 3 ... 2 ... 1 seconds. (see http://newton.hep.upenn.edu/~usynin/fun/mov1.html for other things you always find in movies).