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March 8, 2014 |
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Having their origins in the Chinese Zhou Dynasty, posthumous names were used 800 years earlier than temple names. The first person named posthumously was Ji Fa (姬昌), named by his son Ji Fa (姬發) of Zhou, as the "Civil King" (文王). The use of posthumous names was stopped in the Qin Dynasty, because Qin Shi Huang proclaimed that it is disrespectful for the descendants, or "later emperors" (嗣皇帝) to judge their elders, or the "prior emperors" (先帝). The practice was revived in the Han Dynasty after the demise of the Qin Empire. All Chinese posthumous names for rulers end in one or two of the Chinese character |characters for "emperor of China |emperor", huangdi (皇帝), which can be shortened to di; except about a dozen or so less recognized ones who have had only di and no huang. Starting with Emperor Xiaowen of Han China (more commonly "Emperor Wen"), every single Han emperor, except the final one of the Eastern Han, has the character of "filial piety|filial" (孝 xi?o) at the beginning of his posthumous names. "Filial" is also used in the full posthumous names of virtually all emperors of Tang Dynasty |Tang, Song Dynasty |Song, Ming Dynasty |Ming and Qing Dynasty |Qing Dynasties. For Qing emperors, 孝 xi?o is placed in various position in the string of characters, while those Qing empresses who were given posthumous names, 孝 xi?o is always initial. The number of characters in posthumous increased slowly. The emperors of the Tang Dynasty have names in between seven to eighteen characters. Those in the Qing Dynasty have over twenty characters, for example, Kangxi Emperor of China|Kangxi's name is The Emperors of Order who Observes the Heavenly Rituals with a Solemn Fate, Destined to Unify, Establishes with Extreme Talented Insights, Admires the Arts, Manifests the Might, with Great Virtue and Vast Achievement, Reaches Humanity, Purely Filial" (禮天隆運定統建極英睿欽文顯武大德宏功至仁純孝章皇帝 lǐ tiān l?ng yǔn d?ng tǒng ji?n j? yīng ru? qīn w?n xiǎn wǔ d? d? h?ng gōng zh? r?n ch?n xi?o zhāng hu?ng d?). The woman with the longest posthumous name is Empress Cixi, who is "The Empress who is Admirably Filial, Initiates Kindness, with Blessed Health, Manifests Much Contentment, Solemn Sincerity, with Longevity, Provides Admiration Prosperously, Reveal Adoration, Prosperous with a Merry Heaven, with a Holy Appearance" (孝欽慈禧端佑康頤昭豫莊誠壽恭欽獻崇熙配天興聖顯皇后 xi?o qīn c? xī duān yǒu kāng y? zhāo y? zhuāng ch?ng sh?o gōng qīn xi?n ch?ng xī b?i tiān x?n sh?ng y?n xiǎn hu?ng h?u). Posthumous names can be praises (褒字) or depreciations (貶字). There are more praises than depreciations, so posthumous names are also commonly called respectful name (尊號 zūn h?o) in Chinese. Sima Qian's Records of the Grand Historian outlines extensively the rules behind choosing the names. Some of those guidelines:
However, most of these qualifications are subjective, repetitive, and highly stereotypical; hence the names are chosen somewhat arbitrarily. Such names are usually given by modern historians. Japanese posthumous are also called "emperor names" (帝号). Almost all Japanese emperors' posthumous names have two Kanji characters, a few have three. Some names are given several generations later, this is case for Emperor Jimmu of Japan|Jimmu and Emperor Antoku of Japan|Antoku. Others are given immediately after death, like Emperor Mommu of Japan|Mommu. Many have style like the Chinese, for example
Some have Japanese style:
Although Korean emperors and kings had elaborate posthumous names, they are usually referred to by their temple names today. It was common in China, Vietnam and Korea for persons of note to be given posthumous names even when those persons lacked any relation to royalty:
Often immediate ancestors of the first emperor of a dynasty were typically given posthumous names even though they themselves were not royalty.
An exception to insignificant ancestor-naming is Lao Zi, the claimed ancestor of the Li family of the Tang Dynasty, was named posthumously (see the "Lao Zi" article). He has been culturally important after death. To combine an emperor's temple name and posthumous name, place temple first. The process of naming somebody posthumously is in Chinese called "retroactively posthumously naming" (追謚). A fuller description of this naming convention for royalty appears in the Chinese sovereign entry.
fa:نام پسامرگ ja:諡 zh:諡號 Category:Chinese names Category:Korean names Category:Korean rulers Category:Names This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Posthumous name".
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