What Does The Posthumous Title Spirit Mean (whether The Posthumous Title Spirit Is Praise Or Derogation)

The history of posthumous titles

The posthumous title system was formed. The traditional view is that in the early Western Zhou Dynasty, that is, the posthumous title system mentioned in "Yi Zhou Shu·Posthumous Law Interpretation". However, in modern times, Wang Guowei and others concluded based on textual research on bronze inscriptions that the posthumous method should have been formed during the period of King Gong and King Yi in the middle of the Western Zhou Dynasty. This statement is now widely recognized.

The posthumous title system was widely implemented by the Zhou royal family and other countries in the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, until Qin Shihuang abolished it because he believed that posthumous titles were suspected of "sons discussing fathers and ministers discussing emperors". It was not until the founding of the Western Han Dynasty that the posthumous title was restored.

In ancient China, the title of the emperor was often associated with the year name, posthumous title and temple name. For example, Emperor Gaozu of the Han Dynasty was the temple name, Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty was the posthumous title, and Emperor Qianlong was the reign name. 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.

The kings of the Xia and Shang Dynasty did not have posthumous titles and were often called by their first names. Most of their titles were based on the stems and branches, such as Taijia, Kongjia, Pangeng, and Dixin. There are still different opinions on whether this is the ranking or the year of birth. We still don’t want to say it. 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, but self-proclaimed. King Zhao and Mu 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 emperor, 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 the emperor. In the literary and artistic films of the Three Kingdoms, when he was the emperor, he was called Emperor Xian. Did you know that he would give up the throne?

According to Zhou rites, the Seven Temples of the Emperor, that is, the Emperor only respects seven generations of ancestors, 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 Gaozu, Liu Che was Shizong, Liu Xun was Zhongzong, Liu Xiu was Shizu, etc. Not every emperor had a temple name behind him. This ancestor, just like the emperor in Europe who respected an emperor as the great emperor, must have made special achievements. Generally, he was the emperor who founded the country or had great achievements in preserving the country and was known as the ZTE. 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 Liezu Ming, and was ridiculed by later generations.

Generally, the temple names of Gaozu or Taizu are the founding emperors, such as Han Taizu Liu Bang (Liu Bang’s temple name is Taizu, and he is customary to be called Gaozu), Tang Gaozu Li Yuan, Song Taizu Zhao Kuangyin, Yuan Taizu Temujin, Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang, Qing Taizu Nurhaci , those who are called Shizu often complete the unification, such as Shizu Kublai Khan, Qing Shizu Fulin, Liu Xiu also re-established a dynasty on his own, so he is also Shizu. In addition, Xuan Ye is called Shengzu, 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 Xuanzong did not change much. Wu Zetian especially liked to change his reign names. Generally, the reign names were two. One word, she also used four words. Xiao Yan, Emperor Wu of the Southern Liang Dynasty, also used a three-character reign name.

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