Chinese sovereign

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"Chinese emperors" redirects here. See List of Chinese emperors for the list of Chinese emperors

The king or wang (王 wáng) was the Chinese head of state from the Zhou to Qin dynasties. After that, wang (sometimes translated "prince") became merely the head of the hierarchy of noble ranks. The title was commonly given to members of the Emperor's family and could be inherited.

The characters huang (皇 huáng "god-king") and di (帝 dì "sage king") had been used separately and never consecutively (see Three Huang and five Di) and were reserved for mythological rulers until the first emperor of Qin (Qin Shi Huang), who created a new title huangdi (皇帝 in pinyin: huáng dì) for himself in 221 BCE, which is commonly translated as Emperor in English. This title continued in use until the fall of the Qing dynasty in 1911.

From the Han dynasty, the title huangdi could also be abbreviated to huang or di. The former nobility titles Qing (卿), Daifu (大夫) and Shi (仕) became synonyms for court officials.

Although formally the "Son of Heaven (the celestial heavens or the universe)," the power of the emperor varied between emperors and dynasties, with some emperors being absolute rulers and others being figureheads with actual power lying in the hands of court factions, eunuchs, the bureaucracy or noble families.

The title of emperor was transmitted from father to son. Usually the first born of the queen inherited the office, but this rule was not universal and disputes over succession were the cause of a number of civil wars. Unlike the Emperor of Japan, Chinese political theory allowed for a change in dynasty and an emperor could be replaced by a rebel leader. It was generally not possible for a female to succeed to the throne and in the history of China there has only been one reigning Empress, Wu Zetian (624-705 CE) who usurped power under the Tang dynasty.

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How to read the titles of a Chinese sovereign

All sovereigns are denoted by a string of Chinese characters.

Examples:

  1. Hàn Gāo Zǔ Liú Bāng (漢 高祖 劉邦)
  2. Táng Tài Zōng Lǐ Shì Mín (唐 太宗 李世民)
  3. Wèi Wǔ Dì Cáo Cāo (魏 武帝 曹操)
  4. Hòu Hàn Gāo Zǔ Liú Zhī Yuǎn (後漢 高祖 劉知遠)
  5. Hàn Guāng Wǔ Dì Liú Xiù (漢 光武帝 劉秀)

The first character(s) are the name of the dynasty or kingdom. e.g. Hàn, Táng, Wèi and Hòu Hàn.

Then come the characters of how the sovereign is commonly called, in most cases the posthumous names or the temple names. e.g. Gāo Zǔ, Tài Zōng, Wǔ Dì, Guāng Wǔ Dì.

Then follow the characters of their family and given names. e.g. Liú Bāng, Lǐ Shì Mín, Cáo Cāo, Liú Zhī Yuǎn and Liú Xiù.

In contemporary historical texts, the string including the name of dynasty and temple or posthumous names is sufficient enough as a clear reference to a particular sovereign.

e.g. Hàn Gāo Zǔ

Note that Wèi Wǔ Dì Cáo Cāo was never a sovereign in his own right but his son was. Thus his imperial style of Wǔ Dì was added only after his son had ascended to the throne. Such cases were common in Chinese history, i.e., the first emperor of a new dynasty often accorded posthumous imperial titles to his father or sometimes even further paternal ancesters.

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Some rules of thumb and helpful tips for reading a list of sovereigns

All sovereigns starting from the Tang Dynasty are contemporarily referred to using the temple names. They also had posthumous names that were less used, except in traditional historical texts. The situation was reversed before Tang as posthumous names were contemporarily used.

e.g. The posthumous name of Táng Tài Zōng Lǐ Shì Mín was Wén Dì (文帝)

If sovereigns since Tang were referenced using posthumous names, they were the last ones of their sovereignties or their reigns were short and unpopular.

e.g. Táng Āi Dì Lǐ Zhù (唐哀帝 李柷), also known as Táng Zhāo Xuān Dì (唐昭宣帝), was last emperor of the Tang Dynasty reigning from 904 to 907.

Hàn Guāng Wǔ Dì is equivalent to Dōng Hàn Guāng Wǔ Dì since he was the founder of the Eastern (dōng) Han Dynasty. All dōng (east)-xī (west), nán (south)-běi (north), qián (former)-hòu (later) conventions were invented only by past or present historiographers for denoting a new era of a dynasty. They were never used during that era.

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Some common conventions of naming Chinese sovereigns

If you are even more confused after reading the above, here is a quick guide of the most common style of reference (but not a thorough explanation) in contemporary use. It should be noted that using an emperor's different titles or styles is nevertheless considered correct but not as common.

  1. Emperors before the Tang dynasty: use dynasty name + posthumous names. e.g. Han Wu Di
  2. Emperors between Tang dynasty and Ming dynasty: use dynasty name + temple names e.g. Tang tai zong
  3. Emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties: use era names (reign names) because most emperors had only one distinctive era name during their reign, e.g. Emperor Kangxi (康熙 kāng xī) of Qing. The exceptions are the first two emperors of the Qing Dynasty, and Emperor Yīngzōng (英宗) of Ming, who had two era names.
    However, the use of era names makes many mistake these for the names of the emperors themselves, and many scholars therefore encourage a reversed wording for Ming and Qing emerors, e.g., the Kangxi Emperor, the Qianlong Emperor, et cetera.
  4. Overrides rules 1 to 3: If there is a more common convention than using posthumous, temple or era names, then use it. Examples include Cao Cao (instead of Wei Wu Di) and Wu Zetian (the only female emperor in the Chinese history).
  5. Since all legitimate rulers of China after Qin Shi Huang can be titled Emperor of China, in English they can be referred to by "Emperor of" and the name of his respective dynasty after the temple or posthumous name. e.g.
    Han wudi = Emperor wudi of Han Dynasty
    Tang taizong = Emperor taizong of Tang Dynasty
  6. Some scholars prefer using the Wade-Giles romanization instead of the Pinyin but the above formats still hold. e.g. Han Wu Di = Wu-ti Emperor of Han Dynasty.

If you prefer better clarification and do not want to bother with all those "names," please refer to each dynasty, of which the specific convention is shown on top of its sovereigns.

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Table of Chinese monarchs

The tables: the page is very long (among the longest Wikipedia articles). If you are looking for specific monarchs of a dynasty, it is best to use the following "See also" links. The table has been chopped into smaller, digestible pieces according to the dynasties and placed under those pages.

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See also

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