Seniority is a Chinese word, pinyin is bèi fen, which refers to the position in the family, relatives and friends. It also refers to the lineage order among families, relatives and friends. Mainly divided into elders (great-grandfathers, great-grandfathers, grandparents, parents, etc.), ordinary generations and younger generations. Also known as "generation".
Confucian culture’s emphasis on seniority stems from the unique social structure of agricultural society. This characteristic of the Chinese people is related to the influence of Confucian culture for thousands of years. Confucius himself was a person who paid great attention to "propriety", and propriety is the form of communication between people. Most of the rituals approved by Confucius emphasize the importance of status. The entire "The Analects of Confucius Xiangdang" talks about etiquette, including what rules scholars should follow in various situations and when facing various people. Confucius's etiquette has two core dimensions: "filial piety", which is based on closeness and distance, and "loyalty", which is based on respect and inferiority.
The Han people's concept of attaching importance to clan has continued to this day, even during the Qing Dynasty (ruled by the Manchus). According to the customs of the Manchu people in the early Qing Dynasty, the naming and use of words did not reflect seniority relationships. For example, Nurhaci means "a person as fierce as a wild boar" in Manchu and has nothing to do with seniority ranking. When the Manchus first entered the customs in the early Qing Dynasty, they still retained their inherent customs and named generations without typography. But starting from Emperor Kangxi, the names of princes were named according to their typesetting generation. The first character of the princes was all named "Yin", and the second character was next to "shi". "beside. Later, Qianlong personally selected the four characters "Yong, Mian, Yi, and Zai" under the seniority of "Hong" to name them in sequence; Daoguang personally selected the four characters "Pu, Yu, Heng, and Qi" under the seniority of "Zai"; Xianfeng was named after the seniority of "Qi" Down.
The arrangement of seniority is often reflected in people’s names. Using seniority characters is not only convenient for ranking among the same clan, identifying seniority, but also for compiling genealogy. Generally speaking, those who use characters to determine seniority will put these characters after the surname, such as Zhang Xueliang, Zhang Xuesi, and Zhang Xueming. From the royal family to the common people, there are seniorities. However, ordinary people are not particularly particular about seniority. For example, in the novel "White Deer Plain", Bai Jiaxuan's sons Bai Xiaowen and Bai Xiaowu brothers, the word "filial piety" is derived from words such as loyalty and filial piety, and there is no particularly strict history of the use of seniority. For another example, in the names of our parents, the word for seniority is generally used with the word that has a better meaning. Under this clan concept, the general hierarchy is mainly reflected among men. Women are not included in the genealogy, so they are not adopted. Nowadays, it seems that sisters in many families use generational characters, but usually they just choose the same character and use it to express the relationship between sisters, without any meaning of generational order. The characters of "Xingsei" are arranged in a certain order within the clan, and are not something that parents or I can choose arbitrarily. The Xingsei style of genealogy is used to strengthen the patriarchal system, so its wording fully reflects this purpose. There are three main categories. One category is words for virtue or auspiciousness, such as: virtue, benevolence, Ming, filial piety, blessing, Lu, auspicious, auspicious, virtuous, etc.; the second category is words that hope for the continuation and prosperity of the clan, such as: Yong, Chuan, Chang, Sheng, Xing, Yan, inheritance, succession, etc.; the third category is to remember the ancestors and praise the kindness of the emperor. The words, such as: Ze, Zu, Xian, Rong, En, Xi, Qi, Xian, etc. The Xingdaizipai of the family tree is a particularly important content in the family tree. It is usually formulated by a certain celebrity in the family and compiled into a few auspicious words. Some literati even wrote it into poetry, such as the "Tang Family Genealogy" in Zhejiang The Xingsei style of writing is "Fu Lu Yong Chang Long, harmonious and good, worldly beauty, wisdom and wisdom"; the Xing generation style of Hubei's "Wang Family Genealogy" is "upright and bright, success comes first, the world is prosperous, and the family is harmonious"