During the Three Kingdoms period, Cao Cao, Cao Pi, Cao Rui, Cao Fang, Cao Mao and Cao Huan were all single names. The Shu-Han regime, Liu Bei and Liu Chan were also single names; Sun Quan, Sun Liang, Sun Xiu, Sun He and Sun Hao of Dongwu regime are all single names. As for the well-known figures of the Three Kingdoms such as Zhuge Liang, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Zhao Yun, Sun Jian, Sun Ce, Zhou Yu, Lu Su, Huang Zhong, Ma Chao, Yuan Shao, Yuan Shu, Lu Bu, Wang Zuo, Jiang Gan, Xiahou Chun, Huang Gai, Lu Xun, Xu Chu, Zhang Liao, Meng Huo, Ma Ji, Jiang Wei, Sima Yi, Sima Zhao, Wargo, Hua. Kong Rong, Chen Lin, Wang Can, Xu Gan, Ruan Yu, Ying Yang, Liu Zhen and Ji Kang, Ruan Ji, Shan Tao, Xiang Xiu, Ruan Xian, Wang Rong and Liu Ling, seven sages of bamboo forest, are all single names. Occasionally, two-character names are used, but they are rare. Or seclusion, such as Pang Degong and Deng Lu Xu; Or as an artist, such as Dongfang Anshi; Or do not change the birth name, such as Liu Penzi and Zheng Xiao; Or simply call it a word, such as Huang Chengyan and Gou Jubo. The Eastern Han Dynasty (25-22 years) and the Three Kingdoms (22-265 years) lasted about 24 years. If we add the Western Jin Dynasty (265-316 years) where the three kingdoms were unified, this period accounts for about 3 years. According to the history of China's names, this 3-year period is the first peak period when single names prevailed in China.
why are there so many single names in this period? Ancient and modern theorists have different opinions on this phenomenon.
In the past, it was generally explained that after Wang Mang established a new dynasty at the end of the Western Han Dynasty, he went back to the ancients and reformed his system, so that China could not have two places. Xiao Yaotian, a Malaysian scholar today, also said this. In his study of China's names, Xiao said, "Have you read Hanshu recently? Biography of Wang Mang, the custom of single name was first known, which was initiated by Wang Mang. Originally, when Mang assisted the government, the ban on two names was implemented. Mang said that the Huns were Khan, and the production was suitable, so the ban on two names was found in imperial edicts. Mang also said that his eldest grandson, Wang Zong, was dressed as a son of heaven because of his self-painted appearance and carved three bronze seals. In collusion with his uncle, he attempted to inherit his grandfather's reunification. After the incident, he committed suicide and was still punished. There is a' Sect whose original name is Huizong, and two of them were made, and now it is renamed Huizong.' And demote the official rank and change the title. This also means that going to the second place is a favor to the court, and restoring the second place is a disgrace. Such a suppression, a praise and a demotion will have a great impact on society, at least causing people to have a low concept of the two. Therefore, Wang Mang's regime stepped down after more than ten years, and the habit of going to the second place has been maintained for 3 years. Even after the Wei and Jin Dynasties, there were still more single names than two. "Wang Mang's" two-name ban "caused the single name to be advocated in the Eastern Han Dynasty, the Three Kingdoms and even the Western Jin Dynasty for more than 3 years. This view may be justified, so it is recorded for future storage.
However, Wang Mang's regime was between the Han Dynasty, which lasted only 15 years (9-23 years). Although Wang Mang, under the banner of "following the destiny of heaven", resolutely reformed the system by restoring ancient ways, thinking that "before the Qin Dynasty, the compound names were too few to cover, so the compound names were forbidden", and directly wrote a letter to praise and criticize single names and compound names. However, Wang Mang's time in power is short after all, and it is impossible to uniformly implement his orders throughout the country. Even if the "two-name ban" was carried out from top to bottom, it was implemented by only one generation at most in these 15 years. After 15 years, Wang Mang's new dynasty collapsed, and its ban could not affect the history of the next 3 years. Therefore, Wang Mang's "prohibition of two names" is not the fundamental reason for the prevalence of single names in the Eastern Han Dynasty and the Three Kingdoms, but only one of them.
In this regard, Ling Yangzao, a Qing dynasty, once questioned in Volume 27 of Li Shao Bian: "Wang Mao's Wild Guest Series said:' There were no names in the later Han Dynasty, or it was forbidden by Wang Mang.' Servant view "Huns Biography", mang play, make China can not have two, because the messenger with the wind Khan, should write a book to admire, as a word name. In other words, it is not unfounded. The servant said that the headstrong stole the national handle. In a few days, the great truth prevailed, and the Han family resumed its great cause. All the policies that were falsified and swept away should not be independent of the fact that the names of people were still headstrong. "Then Han leads more than one name, which is almost inherited, not for recklessness."
This view in Li Shao Bian is insightful. Just as any culture is inherited, name culture, as one of the important cultural phenomena of the Chinese nation, also has the characteristics of inheritance. Culture is not static, but a living fluid, which is a social activity process to communicate the relationships between people, the older generation and the next generation, groups and communities. Every generation needs to inherit the social and cultural heritages from the previous generation and pass them on to the next generation, so that culture becomes an uninterrupted continuous existence. Every society, nation or group forms cultural traditions through continuous inheritance, and develops and creates new cultures on the basis of traditional cultures.
the reason why single names prevailed in the eastern Han dynasty, the three kingdoms and the western Jin dynasty for more than 3 years is a cultural inheritance phenomenon.
Since the Zhou and Qin Dynasties, China people's name symbols have been dominated by single names, and advocating single names has become a social subconscious. Although the Zhou and Qin dynasties advocated single names, they did not prohibit two names, and there was no reason to ridicule them. In this regard, we have been in the above-mentioned Yao, Shun, Yu and Xia, Shang and Zhou emperors, and there are two more, that is, it can be proved. Due to the custom of thousands of years, the custom of taking a single name will naturally be passed down from generation to generation, and it is impossible to suddenly change one morning. Therefore, in my humble opinion, the prevalence of single names in the 3-odd years since the Western Han Dynasty only inherited the naming tradition of the previous dynasty, and it was not "the custom of single names was initiated by Wang Mang", as Xiao Yaotian called it. Of course, when we say this, we are not completely denying Wang Mang's role of "banning the second place". The "No Two Names in China" promulgated by Wang Mang has played a role of "adding insult to injury" and "adding fuel to the fire" for China's name system, which has long practiced the custom of single names, and has further strengthened its social subconscious that originally advocated single names. Similarly, the so-called "two people are indecent" and "two people are scorned in the Spring and Autumn Annals" in the Biography of the Ram, although the evidence is insufficient, has a wide influence in the cultural environment of "ousting a hundred schools of thought and worshiping Confucianism alone" in the Han Dynasty (Dong Zhongshu is the one who studied the ram), so it will also have an impact on the social subconscious who advocates a single name.
To sum up, the naming custom of advocating single names for thousands of years in the Zhou, Qin and Western Han Dynasties was inherited and further developed after the Eastern Han Dynasty. In addition, Wang Mang's "prohibition of two names" and "indecent assault on two names" influenced the social subconscious, which led to the prevalence of single names for more than 3 years after the Eastern Han Dynasty. Of course, whether this view is in line with the historical reality is a matter of opinion, and it is still hoped that the elegant gentleman can teach it.
then, why are there so many single names between Han and Jin dynasties? The main reason for this phenomenon is to avoid it. Taboo began in the Western Zhou Dynasty, and the names of monarchs and elders should not be written or spoken directly, so they must be avoided by other means. At first, the Zhou Dynasty only avoided the name of the dead, "Zuo Zhuan? In the sixth year of Huan Gong, it goes: "Zhou people will be afraid of God and name." Zhou substitutes taboo to serve the gods. After death, his name must be taboo. Because only the names of the dead are avoided, not the names of the living, there are not many words that need to be avoided, and the confusion of names and things has not been caused by taboo, so there are many people in the two-week period. For example, Zhou Xiaowang was the founder, Zhou Pingwang was the appropriate mortar, Zhou Ai was the king who died of illness, Zheng Zhuanggong was born, Jin Wengong was Zhong Er, and Qi Huangong was Xiaobai. Entering the Qin and Han dynasties, especially the Han dynasty, was very different. In order to consolidate and strengthen the feudal autocratic rule and imperial power and safeguard the sacred position of the emperor, the emperor ascended the throne. We must avoid it, not only the dead name, but also the living name. If Qin Shihuang was famous for his administration, he changed "the first month" to "end the month" or pronounced "levy the month". Emperor Gaozu became a famous country, and changed "state" to "country". Emperor Guangwu of the Eastern Han Dynasty was famous for his show, replacing it with "Mao" and changing "scholar" into "Mao Cai". The father of Emperor Han 'an was named Qing and changed "Qing" to "He", so everyone named Qing changed to He.
the taboo system became more and more dense in the Han and Jin dynasties, and there were already provisions in the Han law that taboo violated the law. In the second year of Yuan Kang, Emperor Xuandi of Han Dynasty (the first 64 years), he wrote a letter to Japan: "Nowadays, people often write books to taboo criminals, and I feel very sorry for them. It is even more inquiring, and all the touches are in order to make the former forgive it. " ("Han Shu? Xuandi Ji) The imperial court of Jin Dynasty discussed taboo many times, which made the taboo system more complicated. In the Eastern Jin Dynasty, concubines were taboo and included in the taboo list, which made the whole world taboo.
since the Qin and Han dynasties, taboo has become more and more dense, which is bound to produce a wide range of social problems. There are more and more characters that need to be avoided and changed from top to bottom, which leads to all kinds of confusion in names, places, official names, titles and year numbers. They even revised ancient books, such as changing Spring and Autumn to Yangqiu and Zhuangzi to Yanzi.
In order to overcome the disadvantages caused by taboo and reduce taboo words, emperors in the Han and Jin Dynasties adopted two conventional naming methods:
First, a large number of single names were used (the number of words taboo in a single name was less than half that of compound names). According to the imperial lineage, there are only two compound names among the 15 emperors in the Western Han Dynasty. The 13th Emperor of the Eastern Han Dynasty had a single name; The five emperors of Cao Wei, the two emperors of Shu and Han, and the four emperors of Soochow in the Three Kingdoms are all single names. In the Jin Dynasty, from Sima Yan, Emperor Wu of Jin Dynasty, to Sima Dewen, Emperor Gong of Jin Dynasty, only two of the 15 emperors had duplicate names. According to statistics, during the 626 years from the Western Han Dynasty to the Eastern Jin Dynasty (26-42 BC), among the 54 emperors, only 4 had compound names, accounting for about 94% of the total. This shows the prosperity of single names at that time. The emperor used a single name, which greatly reduced the taboo words. He Xiu in the Eastern Han Dynasty pointed out in "Spring and Autumn Ram Selling": The emperor used a single name to avoid it. "It's difficult to avoid it, and it's a name. Now it's hard to say but easy to avoid it."
second, it is named after an obscure character. Sun Xiu, Emperor Jing of the Eastern Wu Dynasty, named the fourth son, the Prince Zhenming (Yinwan) word quotient (Yinzhi), the second son Ao (Yinzhi) word millet (Yinzhi), the third son Ling (Yinmang) word display (Yinju), and the fourth son Kou (Yinbao) word award (Yinyong). Wu Shu? Sun Xiu Biography quotes Wu Lu and Sun Xiu's imperial edict). This character is rarely used in the world, so that it is difficult for people to commit crimes and avoid them. Among the 54 emperors from the Western Han Dynasty to the Eastern Jin Dynasty, there are many people who used obscure or less commonly used words to name them. For example, in the Western Han Dynasty, there were Han Yuan Emperor Liu Shi (phonological style), Han Cheng Emperor Liu Ao (phonological pride) and Han Ping Emperor Liu Kan (phonological look, also known as Liu ji zi); In the Eastern Han Dynasty, there were Liu Tan, Liu Zhao, Liu Zuan and Liu Bian. The three countries have Wei Mingdi Cao Rui (sharp sound) and Guigui Xianggong Cao Mao (sound hair); In the Western Jin Dynasty, there were Sima Chi, Emperor Huai of Jin, and Sima Ye, Emperor Yi of Jin; In the Eastern Jin Dynasty, there were Jin Yuan Emperor Si Marui, Jin Mu Emperor Sima Dan (Yindan), Jin Fei Emperor Sima Yi, and Jin Jian Wendi Sima Yu (Yinyu). Because subjects have another set of special terms for addressing emperors, such as Tianzi, Emperor, Emperor, Shang, Jin Shang, Emperor, Emperor, Your Majesty, Saint, Saint, and Master, the names of emperors are not as common as ordinary people, so it is not difficult to name people by using obscure words. In the Han and Jin Dynasties, emperors used single names, as well as obscure and less commonly used words, which made their names avoid "unspeakable and taboo", which not only reduced taboo words, but also facilitated taboo. It can be said that "you can have your cake and eat it". "There are good people in the world, and there must be bad people in the world." (Mencius) As a result, other high-ranking officials, nobles and even scholars, farmers and businessmen have adopted single names in order to maintain their dignity in the family and facilitate taboo (taboo). As a result, the single name of the land of China has been advocated, and the names seen in the Book of the Later Han Dynasty and the History of the Three Kingdoms are almost all single names. It was not until the "Eight Kings Rebellion" in the Western Jin Dynasty that China entered a period of great division and great turmoil, and there were 19 countries in China at random, and ethnic minorities flocked to the Central Plains, and the taboo system suffered a serious impact. Taboo is not customized, but lenient and strict, so it is not convenient to avoid taking a name. As a result, the name of the land of China has gradually increased.