Quick Wear Dream Qiqi

On the Autumnal Equinox of the 30th year of the Qianlong Emperor's reign, in the seal-casting workshop of the Shangyi Bureau, Meng Qiqi stared at the newly cast copper mold, her fingertips stroking the butterfly pattern on the mold.

This is the first seal she designed for the Commercial and Taxation Bureau for women. The seal is shaped like a butterfly with its wings spread out, and the angle of the wings opening and closing is precisely 37.5 degrees - that is the writing angle of the female character "quan".

"It's made of copper, with a Hetian jade border," she told the seal-casting craftsman. "The seal button is engraved with two butterflies embracing each other, and the seal face is inscribed in female script: 'Women's Commercial Tax Seal'. The border is filled with fluorescent powder."

The craftsmen looked at each other in bewilderment, having never seen such a "disrespectful" official seal.

But when the first seal was stamped on the rice paper, everyone gasped - the fluorescent powder revealed the hidden anti-counterfeiting pattern under the candlelight, which turned out to be the word "Qi" composed of countless miniature butterflies.

Yongqi picked up the seal and looked at it carefully. The veins on the butterfly wings were exactly the same as the dark patterns on the title page of "Female Economic Theory" in his sleeve.

"If this seal is stamped on the pass," he chuckled, "I'm afraid even foreigners will be amazed at the wisdom of Oriental women." Lin

Meng Qiqi looked at the moon outside the window and remembered the "Historical Seal Research" that the system had prompted.

She deliberately designed the seal in the form of a hermaphrodite butterfly, which not only conforms to the ancient image of "Emperor Jiang has no face, six legs and four wings" in the "Classic of Mountains and Seas", but also implicitly coincides with the Western philosophical concept of "yin and yang are one body".

On the day of Frost's Descent, the Hall of Supreme Harmony in the Forbidden City welcomed a new Russian delegation.

The ambassador's wife, Catherine, held the text of the peace treaty inlaid with gems and her eyes fell on the butterfly seal on Meng Qiqi's waist.

"I heard your country uses butterflies to manage its economy?" she quipped in Russian. "In St. Petersburg, butterflies are pets of noble ladies."

Meng Qiqi smiled and unfolded the Jiangnan Embroidery Workshop's silk price list, on which was drawn a map of the butterfly trade route in fluorescent ink: "In our country, butterflies are messengers connecting heaven and earth. Just like this benzoin trade-"

She pointed to the incense burner in the corner of the temple. "It can both refresh the mind and dispel war."

Qianlong nodded and ordered someone to present the Sino-Russian Spice Trade Treaty stamped with a butterfly seal.

The main text of the treaty was written in Manchu, Chinese and Russian. The butterfly seal was stamped above the Chinese character "和" (harmony), with its wings just covering the two parts of "禾" (grain) and "口" (mouth), implying "using commerce to stop war, and using grain and mouth to achieve peace."

Ekaterina took the contract and saw the faint glint of gold powder in the ink—that was the Siamese gold foil that Meng Qiqi had deliberately mixed in, symbolizing the business magic of “turning gold into butterflies.”

She suddenly understood why last year's spy plot had failed: when the East used butterflies to carry wisdom, the West's guns seemed so crude.

From the 31st year of the Qianlong Emperor's reign to the 4th year of the Jiaqing Emperor's reign, Meng Qiqi's life was like the wings of a butterfly spreading out, with each scale shining with the light of a woman's awakening:

In the 33rd year of Emperor Qianlong's reign, she established the first "Lanxin Women's School" in Jiangnan. The textbooks were written in women's script, and the courses covered arithmetic, textiles, and overseas customs.

On the first day of school, she stamped each student's textbook with a butterfly seal. The ink was mixed with jasmine powder, and you could smell the fragrance when you opened the book.

In the 40th year of Emperor Qianlong's reign, she pushed for the passage of the "Women's Property Inheritance Law", which stipulated that "unmarried daughters can inherit 30% of their father's property, and widows can independently manage their husband's business."

On the day the bill was promulgated, she wore a golden butterfly crown inscribed with the Chinese character for "Ping" in women's script. She refuted the old saying that "hens crow at dawn" in court: "Women managing finances does not deprive their husbands of power, but rather fills the gaps in the family and the country."

In the 50th year of Emperor Qianlong's reign, she presided over the revision of the "Da Qing Hui Dian", adding new chapters such as "Women's Commercial Tax", "Buddha Education", and "Widow Remarriage", and each entry was marked with a butterfly pattern.

As the crown prince, Yongqi personally wrote the title for her revised edition: "Kunyu Xindian".

In the first year of the Jiaqing reign, she initiated the "International Women's Expo" in the Forbidden City.

Persian carpets are embroidered with butterfly patterns designed by her, French perfume is made using the distillation method she improved, and Indian saris are printed with auspicious words in women's script.

She sat in a wheelchair, gently tapping the ground with the butterfly scepter in her hand, like the goddess of wisdom in mythology.

In the first month of the first year of the Jiaqing reign, at Yongqi's enthronement ceremony, the newly minted "Emperor's Treasure" jade seal and Meng Qiqi's butterfly seal were displayed side by side.

He was wearing a dragon robe embroidered with hundreds of butterflies paying homage to the phoenix, and beneath the twelve tassels of his crown was a golden hairpin with a butterfly pattern given by Meng Qiqi.

"Today I issue three decrees," his voice echoed through the Hall of Supreme Harmony. "First, to open a special examination for women, allowing women from the boudoir to participate in the imperial examinations; second, to establish the 'National Women's Censorate', with Meng Qiqi as the first Chief Censor; third, to abolish the old saying that 'women's virtue lies in their lack of talent' and to establish women's writing as one of the official scripts."

In the court, Meng Qiqi, who was over seventy years old, stood at the foot of the imperial steps, looking at Yongqi sitting on the dragon throne, tears in her eyes.

She thought of the young man who painted butterflies with scented ink in the imperial garden forty years ago, and now he has grown into an emperor who can open up a world for women.

"On behalf of all women in the world, I express my gratitude," she kowtowed, the golden butterfly crown on her head juxtaposing Yongqi's crown. "May I be like a butterfly emerging from its cocoon, each day renewed."

Among Meng Qiqi's belongings, this butterfly seal has always been carefully preserved:

- Material level: The copper casting symbolizes the tenacity of women, the Hetian jade edging reflects the gentleness of women, and the fluorescent anti-counterfeiting powder implies the secret inheritance of women's wisdom.

- Symbolic: The androgynous butterfly breaks the gender binary. The coexistence of intaglio and relief Chinese characters symbolizes the balance of yin and yang. The 37.5-degree wing angle corresponds to the light of civilization in the "Li" hexagram in the Book of Changes.

- Historical: The seals were the first to use fluorescent materials, predating Western photosensitive seals by 150 years. The use of women's script in seals was a precedent for official documents using a non-Chinese script system, and was described by The Cambridge History of China as "the first seal of the Eastern Gender Revolution."

After the signing of the Sino-Russian Spice Trade Treaty, a "butterfly trade" emerged on the border between the two countries:

- Russia traded vodka for Chinese benzoin, with a butterfly wax seal on the barrel.

- Chinese merchants exchanged Jiangnan embroidery for Russian amber, and the paper wrapping the embroidery was stamped with a butterfly seal of Nüshu

- At its peak, it was fashionable for Moscow noble ladies to be able to read women's script and fold butterflies. St. Petersburg even had a "Madame Butterfly" salon dedicated to studying the wisdom of Eastern women.

This cultural penetration is far more lasting than military deterrence.

When Catherine II saw the translation of "Dream of the Red Chamber" in Nüshu, she exclaimed: "The Chinese butterfly carries an entire civilization on its wings."

Meng Qiqi left many memories in her life:

- Make Nüshu a subject in the imperial examination (the reading and writing of Nüshu was a mandatory test for women in the Jiaqing era)

- Include women's business tax data in the "Hubu Huanglu" (accounting for 17.6% of national tax revenue)

- As a woman, she presided over the revision of the national code (the "Kunyu New Code" had an influence until the end of the Qing Dynasty)

- Demonstrating women's governance in international diplomatic settings ("Women's Governance" exhibition area at the World Expo)

In her later years, she often said, "I'm not breaking anything, I'm just proving that women's wings, like men's, should be able to carry both dreams and truth."

When she died, 100,000 women in the capital spontaneously folded butterflies to see her off. The sky full of paper butterflies blocked out the sunlight, like a grand metamorphosis.

During Yongqi's reign, he transformed Meng Qiqi's (Xinrong) ideas into institutions:

- Education: Every county must have a girls' school, textbooks will include content compiled from the "Haiguo Tuzhi", and women will be allowed to study abroad in the West.

Economic sector: Promoting the "Butterfly Shareholding System," where women can invest in workshops based on their skills and receive year-end dividends based on their contributions.

- Political field: Women who passed the special examination can serve as "Agricultural Envoy" and "Weaving and Embroidery Supervisor" in prefectures and counties, breaking the iron rule that "women are not allowed to enter the government"

- Culture: Compiled "Biographies of Chinese Heroines," which includes 100 women from Ban Zhao to Meng Qiqi. The book begins with her design of the "Hundred Butterflies Facing the Sun" painting.

Under his rule, unprecedented scenes appeared on the walls of the Forbidden City: princesses wore modified riding and archery skirts and practiced archery in the imperial garden, female officials carried account books in and out of the Shangshu Room, and even the palace maids wore butterfly jade hairpins in their hair, which symbolized knowledge.