Seniority and title. They are two of the more concerned contents in genealogy. Relatively speaking, Yu generation has received more attention from within the clan, especially when compiling the genealogy, most of the names of people entered into the genealogy are arranged according to Yu generation. The hall number is not only the concern of the clan members. It has also attracted the attention of outsiders, especially genealogy organizers and researchers, and has become an important content for outsiders to study or record the history and current situation of the family.
Zi generation is also called Xing generation, Xing di, class generation, Zipai, Banpai, Paiyu, etc. In order to reflect the clan relationship, people of the same generation in the family usually need to find a surname with the same surname when naming. The surnames with the same surname of different generations are arranged to form the surname used by the family to indicate the order of the lineage. The formation of the Yu generation is to distinguish the superior and the inferior, and distinguish between the elder and the younger. The dignity here does not refer to political status, but to the hierarchy within the family. The use of Yu generation is particularly important for a large family, especially a long-lasting family like the Confucius family that lasts for dozens of generations and reproduces hundreds of thousands. Because of the function of the elders to differentiate between seniority and inferiority and age, it has also been used as a reference by other groups who need to differentiate between seniority and inferiority and age. Such as religious sects, social gangs, martial arts sects, etc. In this way, the character form of Zi generation, which was originally purely used within the family, has a wider scope of application.
Some people say that the generation of the character generation originated in the Han Dynasty. After investigation, we believe that in the Han Dynasty, and even in the pre-Qin period, there were some buds or signs of reflecting peer relationships in the use of names, such as choosing the same word for *** or reflecting it in radicals. However, this can only be the germination, and it is far away from truly purposefully and consciously using the same words to distinguish generations, and then pre-selecting a certain number of auspicious characters with a certain meaning as a stipulation when naming future generations. There is still a considerable distance between those who must abide by it. Furthermore, during the Han and Wei dynasties and even for a considerable period of time thereafter, people at that time mostly used single-character names, making it more difficult to distinguish between generations. What's more, several generations of the great calligrapher Wang Xizhi and his son in the Eastern Jin Dynasty had the character "Zhi" in their names. Not only is it impossible to talk about the Yu generation, but it also fundamentally violates the requirements of later generations. Therefore, during this period, even if there are traces of Zi generation, it is still in a spontaneous budding stage.
Due to the Sui and Tang Dynasties, basically no genealogical information from this period has been handed down, so it is impossible to make an accurate judgment on this. However, from some phenomena, we can still feel that during this period, some families began to have the phenomenon of peers using the same word when naming them. For example, the famous calligrapher Yan Zhenqing in the Tang Dynasty, among his cousins Famous people include the famous generals Yan Gaoqing, Yan Yaoqing, Yan Chunqing, etc. who resisted An Lushan. They all use the word "Qing". Yan Zhenqing's sons all have the radical "Ye", which seems to meet the generation requirements, but there is no connection between his great-grandson's name Hongshi and Yan Gaoqing's great-grandson's name Conglan. But how this "Qing" Yu was determined, whether the words for different generations were determined when it was determined, and how many generations were determined at the same time, cannot be determined. However, it is certain that the Yan family has rules for the younger generations in certain generations, but the younger generation's requirements are not as standardized as those of future generations. If the Yan family is like this, other families must also use the character generation.
The hall name is actually the name of the ancestral hall. It is the symbol and representative of a surname or family, symbolizing blood, history and honor. Hall names appear most often in ancestral halls, usually accompanied by hall couplets. In addition, it also appears on family trees, gods or tombstones.
When did the use of family ancestral hall names originate. No longer available for examination. However, the origin of the clan name can still be vaguely discerned, and it can be roughly traced back to the ancient clan commune period. Most of the clans had their own names and emblems. More recently, it can be traced back to the Sui and Tang dynasties when literati named rooms and studies after halls and their admiration for county magistrates. Judging from the existing literature, in order to express feelings and show interest, literati in the Tang Dynasty liked to select certain words and add the word "tang" as the name of a room or a house. This became a fashion after the mid-Tang Dynasty, among which the famous ones include Du Mu's "Bilantang", Yuan Zai's "Yuanhui Hall", Pei Du's "Green Field", etc. It was even more common in the Song Dynasty. According to Chen Naiqian's "Index of House Names and Aliases", there were hundreds of house names in the Song Dynasty using the character "tang". Many of them were directly used as family hall names by later generations, such as "You Mao" Sui Chutang" and so on.
In the Tang Dynasty, it became a fashion for literati to mark their prefectures. County prestige is also called local prestige and family prestige, so there is a saying that "the title is not as good as the family prestige".
There was once a man named Li Zhen who served as governor of Huaizhou. When writing letters to people, he only called him Li Zhen of Longxi without his official title. What's more, Han Yu's hometown is Heyang (today's Meng County, Henan Province) according to modern research, but he still calls himself Changli because it is the county seat. The county title was also the main source of the titles of various clans in later generations.
The county name used in the hall name is actually the county name or county number. If you examine it strictly, you will find that in addition to a considerable part of these county names being county names, they are also mixed with the names of vassal states, prefectures, prefectures, and counties. The county was an administrative system established during the Qin and Han dynasties. The rise of the ancient people's awareness of county status was largely related to political factors. County hope can be roughly divided into two aspects: one is the county where it originated, and the other is the county where it is looked out. As early as the Han Dynasty, county and state inspections were implemented. After the Cao and Wei Dynasties, the nine-rank Zhongzheng system was adopted. In the Jin Dynasty, the county and county bureau system used the surnames of wealthy families in the county as the standard for selecting officials. As time goes by, the family will inevitably become more and more prosperous. In this way, some areas will become the birthplaces of certain surnames or families. The ancients loved the past and kept the old name, that is, the name of the county. This was the county name of the county where it originated. With the development of the times, some surnames or families moved from their place of origin to other counties. After being passed down, they became prominent families in the county. These counties then became the counties where the surname or family came from. Of course, there are also descendants who are not clear about it and mistakenly confuse the place of birth with the place of origin. The county where it originated and the county where it looked out were collectively called Junwang.
The general popularity of county Wang was during the Northern Dynasties. Emperor Xiaowen of the Northern Wei Dynasty carried out reforms and promoted Sinicization, causing Hu people to change their surnames to Han surnames and encouraging intermarriage between Hu and Han people. Correspondingly, some Central Plains gentry who stayed in the north mostly compiled family trees and marked their county names to distinguish themselves from other tribes and elevate their status. By the time of the Northern Qi Dynasty, all kinds of families that considered themselves to be noble or respected by the local people also marked themselves with county rank, with the purpose of "looking at other clans" and distinguishing other clans with county rank. In the Sui and Tang Dynasties, this trend was unstoppable. After the Sui and Tang dynasties, the population multiplied at a faster pace, and older clans became more prosperous. People moved around for some reason. In order not to forget their origins and remember their lineage, most of the descendants of those who considered themselves to be famous families had the title of county before their surnames. If it is inscribed on the ancestral hall, it becomes the name of the hall.
There are generally two types of naming of hall names: one with obvious surname characteristics, and the other with no obvious surname characteristics. Among the two, the ones with surname characteristics are the most common. Among the hall names with surname characteristics, the use of county titles is the most common. The county name of Wangtang is divided into two types: the county name of the birthplace and the county name of Wangchu County. Sometimes it is not easy to distinguish between the two, but we can still see some of the more obvious ones. Such as Li's "Longxi Hall", Wang's "Taiyuan Hall", Yang's "Hongnong Hall", Xu's "Donghai Hall", Liu's "Pengcheng Hall", Xiao's "Lanling Hall", He's "Lujiang Hall" ", Jiang's "Tianshuitang", Ge's "Linhaitang", Tao's "Jiyangtang", Fu's "Jinantang", Liu's "Hedongtang", Zhao's "Tianshuitang", Huang's "Jiangxiatang" ", Zhou's "Runantang", etc. all use the name of the county where they were born, while Huang's "Shanggutang", Wang's "Shanyangtang", Liu's "Hongnongtang", Zhou's "Henantang" , Zhao's "Jinchengtang", Xu's "Gaopingtang", etc., although they are also county names, they are all Wangchu counties. Even the most famous Wang family's "Langyatang" is also a Wangchu county. Sometimes a surname has more than one birthplace. For example, the Fu family has "Taiyuan Hall", the Xiao family also has "Guangling Hall", and the Xu family has "Dongguan Hall", "Gaoping Hall" and Langya. "Tang", "Puyangtang", etc., and there are more other big surnames, such as Wang, Liu, Huang, Zhou, etc.