Why were the Qing emperors and other members of the Imperial Family almost always depicted to hold the beads of their necklaces in their portraits? Is there any particular symbolism behind this?

That is the Buddha beads, the Qing Dynasty royal family believed in Tibetan Buddhism.

As early as the Nurhaci and Huang Taiji period, the Qing government began to pursue a policy of adhering to Tibetan Buddhism, often rewarding Buddhist beads to its subordinates, and officials at all levels also paid tribute to Buddhist beads as gifts.

Later, as the standard royal bead for the Qing court, its style was born out of Tibetan Buddhist beads.

According to the standard, Buddhist beads are usually divided into three categories: holding beads, wearing beads, and hanging beads.

Holding beads is the prayer beads held in the hands of Buddhists. The number of beads ranges from 18 to 54, often with graceful pendants and tassels;

wearing beads, that is, beads worn on the wrist, later developed into bracelets. The most common number of beads is 18 sub-beads. Bracelets evolved from Buddhist beads have become popular in the courts of the Qing Dynasty.

Hanging beads, that is, the prayer beads hanging around the neck, are usually made of 108 sub-beads and matched with Buddha head, spacer beads, and disciple beads.

The standard royal bead is composed of 108 sub-beads, which is the standard wear of Qing Dynasty court costumes.

It means that December, 24 solar terms, and 72 periods are a year. The total number is 108.

There is also a saying that Buddhism believes that there are 108 kinds of troubles in life. Chinese Buddhist temples ring the bell 108 times day and night, which is called "Relieve 108 troubles".

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Udayana Vatsaraaja
· December 30
Their true name is ‘Akshamaalaa’, and they are a part of Buddhism because of its origin in India. References to Akshamaalaa-s appear in various texts and literature. For instance, in the Upanishads, there is a tale that the sages Vasishtha and Vishvaamitra had a contest to decide who was greater. They decided that the judges should be Shesha, the snake who holds up the earth, Aaditya, the sun, and the sage Agastya, who drank the very oceans from his palm. Vishvaamitra visited them, requested them to come with him, and they all said ‘no, I must hold up the earth’, ‘no, I must travel the skies and brighten all the world’, and ‘no, I can’t move very much because of the weight of the oceans within me’ respectively. Vasishtha visited them, placed his staff under the earth to hold it, placed his Akshamaalaa in Surya’s divine chariot to brighten the worlds, and had Agastya place the oceans in his small Kamandalu and brought all three of them. An Akshamaalaa generally has 108 beads, since that is 2 sets of 54- the number of letters in the Sanskrit alphabet.