Generally, the earliest emperors used more posthumous titles, and later temple titles were used more often. In the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the reign titles were often more popular. Kings in the Xia and Shang dynasties did not have posthumous titles, and they were often called by their first names. Most of their titles were based on stems and branches, such as Taijia, Kongjia, Pangeng, and Dixin. There are different opinions on whether this is the ranking or the year of birth. We still don’t think so. Leave him alone. Posthumous titles began to appear in the Zhou Dynasty, but King Wen of Zhou and King Wu of Zhou were not posthumous titles, but self-titles. King Zhao and King Mu of Zhou were posthumous titles from the beginning. The so-called posthumous title is to use one or two words to make a general evaluation of a person's life, which can be regarded as a final conclusion. Xiang Wen, Wu, Ming, Rui, Kang, Jing, Zhuang, Xuan, and Yi are all good words. Emperor Hui is mediocre. For example, Emperor Hui of Han and Emperor Hui of Jin are all incompetent. Emperor Zhi, Emperor Chong, and Emperor Shao are all good words. People often ascend the throne at a young age and die early. Li, Ling, and Yang all have negative meanings. Sad and Si are not good words, but they also have a bit of sympathy. If the last emperor, Xiandi, and Shundi are the winner, they will be the loser. laughed at. In addition, Sun Quan is a special case. His posthumous title is Great Emperor, which is unique in China. Posthumous titles began in the Zhou Dynasty. In addition to the emperor, princes and ministers also had posthumous titles, but I am talking specifically about the emperor and the emperor here. Qin Shihuang believed that the posthumous title was a son's reference to his father and a minister's reference to the king, so he abolished the posthumous title. Starting from him, the first emperor, he wanted to pass it on to the second, third, and even infinite generations, but unfortunately it was only passed down to the second. It was implemented again in the Han Dynasty. The Han Dynasty advocated governing the world with filial piety, and all emperors' posthumous titles had the character filial piety, such as Xiaohui, Xiaowen, Xiaojing, and even Xiaoxian. Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty was a posthumous title given to him by Cao Wei after his death. He was not called this way when he was emperor. In the literature and art of the Three Kingdoms, when he was emperor, he was called Emperor Xian. Do you know that he will give up the throne? According to Zhou rites, the Seven Temples of the Emperor, that is, the Emperor only respects ancestors of seven generations, but if there is a temple name, it will be retained from generation to generation. If there is no temple name, after a certain period of time, it will be "destroyed for all relatives" and his temple will no longer be preserved. Instead, he attached his god to another temple. The temple name is the name of the ancestor, and the ancestor is generally of a higher level than the ancestor. At first, there were not many emperors with temple names. For example, in the Han Dynasty, Liu Bang was the emperor, Liu Xiu was the ancestor, and there were no other emperors with temple names. This ancestor, just like when a certain emperor is honored as the great emperor in Europe, he must have special achievements, and he is usually the founding emperor. But there are also those who abuse the title. During the Cao Wei Dynasty, Cao Cao was Emperor Taizu Wu, and Cao Pi was Emperor Shizuwen. When Cao Rui was alive, he couldn't wait to call himself Emperor Liezuming, and was ridiculed by later generations. Generally, the temple names of Gaozu or Taizu are the founding emperors, such as Liu Bang of the Han Dynasty, Li Yuan of the Tang Dynasty, Zhao Kuangyin of the Song Dynasty, Temujin of the Yuan Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang of the Ming Dynasty, and Nurhaci of the Qing Dynasty. Those named Shizu often complete the unification, such as Yuan Dynasty Kublai Khan, the ancestor of the Qing Dynasty, Fulin, the ancestor of the Qing Dynasty, and Liu Xiu also re-established a dynasty on their own, so they are also the ancestors of the world. Zhu Di is similar to them, so they are called the ancestors of the Ming Dynasty. In addition, Xuanhuai is called the ancestor of the Qing Dynasty, which is unique in Chinese history. . Era names were not always available at the beginning. They did not exist in the early Han Dynasty, and they only began to appear later. Moreover, emperors generally liked to change the era names, both for good and bad things. Sometimes they were changed every few years, and occasionally they were changed every year. Several times, emperors who were generally simple and pragmatic rarely changed their reign names, and those who liked to be unconventional changed more. For example, Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty always used Zhenguan, and Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty did not change it much. Wu Zetian especially liked to change his reign names. Generally, the reign name was It's a two-letter word, and she also used a four-letter word. Originally, not all emperors had temple names, but they all had posthumous titles, so most emperors before the Tang Dynasty were given posthumous titles. Since the Tang Dynasty, everyone has had a temple name, so people are accustomed to calling them by temple names. Emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties generally use one reign name for a lifetime, so people are accustomed to calling him by his reign name. Among them, only Ming Yingzong used two reign names because he was captured by Oala and Ming Daizong ascended the throne. After he was released, He became the Supreme Emperor. When Daizong was seriously ill, he launched a coup and became emperor again, so he had two reign titles. In addition, the original reign name of Tongzhi was Qixiang, which was proposed by Sushun and others. Soon Cixi launched a coup, killed Sushun, and changed the reign name to Tongzhi. The original reign name was not changed, and people used to call him Emperor Tongzhi.Sometimes, those who did not become emperors were honored as emperors after their death, such as Cao Cao, Sima Yi and his son, and Dorgon, who held great power and was honored as Emperor Cheng Zongyi by Fulin after his death, but that was only expedient. As a plan, within a month, Fulin imprisoned Dorgon's brother Azig and others, and then announced that Dorgon had tampering intentions and ransacked his home. The title of Emperor Cheng Zongyi naturally lost his posthumous title. A title is a title of praise, derogation or sympathy given to deceased emperors, ministers and nobles (including other high-status people) based on their life deeds. It began in the Western Zhou Dynasty. Zhou Gongdan and Jiang Ziya made great contributions to the Zhou Dynasty and received posthumous titles after their deaths. This is the beginning of posthumous titles. "Book of Rites of the Zhou Dynasty" says: "A posthumous title is given in small mourning." Small mourning refers to a period of time after death. "Yi Zhou Shu. Interpretation of the Posthumous Law": "The posthumous title is also the trace of one's conduct. A big deed will receive a big name, and a small deed will receive a small name. The deeds come from oneself, and the name comes from others." There are two key points in the posthumous legal system: 1. The first is that the posthumous title should be consistent with the person of the deceased, and the second is that the posthumous title should be assessed and awarded by others after death. The posthumous title of the monarch is determined by the ceremonial officer and announced by the enthroned emperor. The posthumous title of the minister is given by the court. The posthumous title is judgmental and is equivalent to sealing the coffin. The posthumous title comes from the posthumous law. The posthumous law stipulates a number of words with fixed meanings, which are roughly divided into three categories: those that belong to praise: Wen, Wu, Jing, Lie, Zhao, Mu, etc.; those that belong to criticism include: Yang, Li, Ling, etc.; those that belong to sympathy The ones include: sorrow, nostalgia, sympathy, condolences, etc. For example, "Huai" in King Huai of Chu means "kindness is short-lived". The former is called the upper posthumous title or the beautiful posthumous title; the middle one is called the lower posthumous title or the bad posthumous title; the latter is called the middle posthumous title. In June 1926, the famous scholar Wang Guowei committed suicide. Puyi "zhao" posthumously named him "Zhongcu", and the tombstone was engraved with "Wang Zhongcu Gong". Chou: Honesty. Chen Yinke said in his inscription: "If you don't have free thoughts, you would rather die!" The fear of not having free thoughts was the main reason why Wang Guowei died. This is the end of China's posthumous title system. Evil posthumous titles came later - people gradually realized that some emperors and ministers were not good people, and some were quite hateful. King Zhou Li's "Li" means "violent, arrogant and unkind" and "killing innocent people". He was a greedy monarch, and the "countrymen" launched a riot. He fled to Zhi (now northeast of Huo County, Shanxi), and later died there. "Zhao Gong Admonishes Li Wang Mi Slander" is a famous pre-Qin historical prose piece, which has been selected into many textbooks. This article reflects King Li's autocratic cruelty from one aspect. The "Yang" of Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty means "being lazy at home" and "conducting chaos at home and abroad". It was added by Li Yuan, the founding emperor of the Tang Dynasty, when he was hanged. ● The First Emperor was arrogant and abolished the posthumous title. Emperor Ying Zheng of the Qin Dynasty saw that the posthumous title was suspected of "the son discussing the father, and the minister discussing the emperor", so he abolished it. He believed that he had "the virtues of the three emperors and the merits of the five emperors", so he connected "emperor" and "emperor" and began to call him "emperor". "Emperor" is more beautiful than a posthumous title, so the highest rulers in the past dynasties happily accepted it. Posthumous titles were restored in the Western Han Dynasty. The number of characters in the posthumous title started with one character, then developed to use several characters, and it became a pile of complimentary words. Wu Zetian set a precedent for the emperor to set his own posthumous title by superimposing flattery during his lifetime. Its essence has changed from objective judgment to blind praise. The increase in the number of words is the development of the degree of praise. In the Tang Dynasty, the posthumous title was abbreviated to the deceased emperor. The emperor of the Ming Dynasty had a posthumous title of seventeen characters. The posthumous title of the emperor of the Qing Dynasty was 21 characters. With so many words, of course it cannot be used as a name. It is only used on specific occasions. ● Cao Cao sought "literary" but got "martial". For a relatively long period of time, the posthumous law was generally fair, and even the emperor could not influence it. For example, Cao Cao wanted to be King Wen of Zhou Dynasty to reflect his literary and martial arts. The "wen" he dreamed of represented the ability to "know the world" or the qualities of "a postdoc in morality" and "diligence in learning and inquiring". But later generations chose to give him the posthumous title of Emperor Wu of Wei. According to the posthumous law, disasters can be suppressed, the people can be punished and conquered, and the ambition and poverty can be praised as military. The posthumous title of Cao Cao was decided when his son was in charge of the country. Even if my son wanted to put some makeup on me, he couldn't. Later, it became a compliment to the deceased and completely lost its original meaning. Cao Cao thought he couldn't do it, but the later emperor really got his wish. Under normal circumstances, after a system is established, it becomes more and more perfect as time goes by. As China's feudal system declined step by step, some good systems, such as posthumous titles, also deteriorated.
Temple name: It is the name given to ancient Chinese emperors after their death when they were enshrined and worshiped in the Ancestral Temple. It is generally believed that temple names originated from the Shang Dynasty, such as Taijia for Taizong, Taiwu for Zhongzong, and Wuding for Gaozong (Chengtang has Probably Taizu). Temple names were very strict at first. According to the standard of "the ancestors have merit and the clan has virtues", the founding monarch is generally the ancestor and successor monarch who have the ability to govern the country. The Zhou Dynasty established the posthumous title system and gave final evaluations to the life deeds of monarchs and ministers. The temple number system was abolished. In the Qin Dynasty, even the posthumous title system was abolished. After the Han Dynasty, the system of temple names was inherited. The Han Dynasty was extremely cautious about adding temple names, and many emperors did not have temple names because of this. Liu Bang was the founding monarch, his temple name was Taizu (but he was called Gaozu since Sima Qian, and later generations used it more often), and his posthumous title was Emperor Gao (there is no "Gao" in the posthumous law, so he was regarded as the Taizu of the Han Dynasty because of his highest merit. Specially named). The Han Dynasty emphasized governing the world with filial piety, so the posthumous titles of successive emperors all had the word "filial piety" in them. All emperors of the Han Dynasty had posthumous titles, but very few had temple titles. In the Western Han Dynasty, Liu Bang was Emperor Taizu Gao (Emperor Xiaohui Liu Ying took the temple title), Liu Heng was Taizong (Emperor Xiaojing Liu Qi took the temple title), Liu Che was Emperor Shizong Xiaowu (Emperor Xiaoxuan Liu Xun took the temple title), and Liu Xun was Zhongzong Xiao Emperor Xuan (the temple name of Liu Xiu); Liu Xiu of the Eastern Han Dynasty was the emperor Guangwu (the temple name of Emperor Xiaoming), Liu Zhuang was the emperor Xiaoming (the temple name of Emperor Xiaozhang), Liu Jin was the emperor Suzong Xiaozhang (the temple name of Xiaohe) Emperor Liu Zhao went to the temple (the name of the emperor). In addition, there were several emperors in the Eastern Han Dynasty who had temple names: Liu Zhao was Emperor Mu Zongxiaohe, Liu You was Emperor Gongzong Xiaoan, Liu Bao was Emperor Jingzong Xiaoshun, and Liu Zhi was Emperor Weizong Xiaohuan. However, these temple names were canceled when Emperor Xiaoxian was established. In the Tang Dynasty, except for some subjugated kings and short-lived emperors, they generally had temple names. Temple names often use the word "ancestral" or "ance". The founding emperor is generally called "Taizu" or "Gaozu", such as Han Taizu, Tang Gaozu, Song Taizu; subsequent emperors are generally called "Zong", such as Tang Taizong, Song Taizong, etc. But there are exceptions. The spread of "ancestor" began in Cao Wei. By the Sixteen Kingdoms period, almost all the emperors and temple names of small kingdoms such as Later Zhao, Former Yan, Later Qin, and Western Qin were called ancestors. When addressing someone, the temple name is often placed before the posthumous title, and together with the posthumous title, they form the full title of the deceased emperor. Traditionally, deceased emperors before the Tang Dynasty were generally given posthumous titles, such as Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty and Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty, rather than temple names. After the Tang Dynasty, because the characters of the posthumous title were lengthened, they were renamed temple names, such as Taizong of the Tang Dynasty, Taizu of the Song Dynasty, etc.