Emperor of China
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The Emperor of China (Chinese: 皇帝; pinyin: Huángdì) refers to any sovereign of Imperial China reigning since the founding of the Qin Dynasty in 221 BC until the fall of the Qing Dynasty in 1912. Often referred to as the Son of Heaven (天子), the Emperor held absolute power de jure and was not constrained by any constitutions limiting his authority. In practice though not every Emperor was the holder of the highest power of his land, though this was largely the case.
The Emperor of China was not always a Han Chinese. During the Yuan and Qing dynasties China was ruled by ethnic Mongolians and Manchurians respectively, though both dynasties cannot avoid being sinicized to some extent. Their reign, with some variation, was hugely influenced by earlier Chinese precedents.
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[edit] Origin of the title
The pre-Qin monarchs were called Wang (王, roughly translated as King). In 221 BC, after the then King of Qin completed the conquest of the various kingdoms of the Warring States, he decided to adopt a new title to reflect his position as a ruler greater than the kings before him. He created the new title Huangdi or "Emperor", and styled himself Shi Huangdi, the First Emperor. Before this, the words Huang (皇, figuratively "god-king") and Di (帝, figuratively "sage-king") were used separately and never consecutively (see Three Wuang and five Di). After the Han Dynasty, Huangdi began to be abbreviated to Huang or Di—the two words had lost their original pre-Qin meanings and simply meant emperor.
[edit] Position and power
Since the Qin Dynasty, the Emperor of China was formally called the Son of Heaven (天子), and as the descendant and representative of Heaven on Earth, he legally had absolute power over all matters, big or small, under Heaven (天下). His mandate to rule is thought to be divine and predestined. In contrast to modern international relationships, the Emperor of China was seen in East Asia not merely as the head of one nation-state among many, but rather as the overlord of the entire civilized world, meaning there could only be one legitimate emperor in the world at any given time.
The emperor's words and directives were considered Sacred Edicts (聖旨). In theory, the emperor's orders were to be followed with immediate obedience. He was elevated above all commoners, nobility, and members of the imperial family. Addresses to the emperor were always to be formal and self-deprecatory, even by the closest of family members.
In practice, however, the power of the emperor varied between different emperors and different Chinese dynasties. Many emperors ruled as absolute monarchs, maintaining a tight grip on the country. A prominent example is Qin Shi Huang, the First Emperor. Other emperors, however, had found the Empress Dowagers, court officials, eunuchs, and nobility taking over actual power (e.g., Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty or Guangxu Emperor of the Qing Dynasty) and the person on the throne a mere figurehead. In addition the effective area ruled by the Emperor of China varied from dynasty to dynasty. In some cases, such as during the Southern Song dynasty, political power in East Asia was effectively split among several governments, however the theory that the head of one of these states was the legitimate emperor to which the other states owned allegiance was kept.
[edit] Heredity and succession
The title of emperor was hereditary, traditionally transmitted from father to son in each dynasty. By convention in most dynasties, the eldest son born to the Empress (嫡長子) succeeded the throne. In some cases when the empress did not bear any children, she adopted a son as her own (all children of the emperor were said to also be the children of the empress, regardless of birth mother). In some dynasties the succession of the empress's eldest son was disputed, and because many emperors had large numbers of progeny, often led to wars of succession between rival sons. In attempts to resolve disputes after death, the emperor often designated a Crown Prince (太子) in early times. Even such a clear designation, however, caused problems within the imperial family involving jealousy and distrust, whether it was the crown prince plotting against the emperor, or brothers plotting against each other, and did not actually ensure a peaceful succession. Some emperors, like the Yongzheng Emperor, after abolishing the position of Crown Prince, placed the succession papers in a sealed box, only to be opened and announced after his death.
Unlike, for example, the Japanese monarchy, Chinese political theory allowed for a change of dynasty as ruling houses could be replaced. This was based on the concept of the Confucian "Mandate of Heaven". The theory behind this was that the Chinese emperor acted as the "Son of Heaven." As the only legitimate ruler, his authority extended to "all under heaven" and had neighbors only in a geographical sense. He held a mandate to which he had a valid claim to rule over everyone else in the world--as long as he served the people well. If the ruler became immoral, then rebellion was justified and heaven would take away that mandate and give it to another. This important concept legitimized the dynastic cycle or the change of dynasties.
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This principle, together with the examination system, made it possible for even peasants to found a new dynasty, such as Han and Ming, or for non-ethnic Chinese dynasties such as the Mongol-led Yuan Dynasty and Manchu-led Qing Dynasty. It was moral integrity and benevolent leadership that determined the holder of the "Mandate of Heaven." Every dynasty self-consciously adopted this administrative practice, which powerfully reinforced this Sinocentric concept throughout the history of imperial China. Historians noted that this was one of the key reasons why imperial China in many ways had the most efficient system of government in ancient times.
In the history of China there was only been one lawful reigning empress, Empress Wu of the Tang dynasty. Many females, however, did become de facto leaders, usually as Empress Dowager. Prominent examples include Empress Dowager Cixi, mother of the Tongzhi Emperor (1861-1874), and aunt and adoptive mother of the Guangxu Emperor (1874-1908), who ruled China for 47 years (1861-1908), and the Empress Dowager Lü of the Han Dynasty.
[edit] Styles, names and forms of address
To see naming conventions in detail, please refer to Chinese sovereign
As the emperor had, by law, a high position challenged by no one else, his subjects were to show the utmost respect in his presence, whether in direct conversation or otherwise. In a conversation with the emperor, it was considered a crime to compare oneself to the emperor in any way. It was taboo to refer to the emperor by his given name, even if it came from his own mother, who instead was to use Huangdi (Emperor), or simply Er ("son"). The emperor was never to be addressed as you. The emperor referred to himself as Zhen (朕), the royal "We", in front of his subjects, a practice reserved solely for the emperor. Anyone who spoke to the emperor was to address him as Bixia (陛下), corresponding to "Your Imperial Majesty", Huang Shang (皇上, lit. Emperor Above or Emperor Highness), tian zi (天子, lit. the son of heaven ), or Sheng Shang (聖上, lit. the Divine Above or the Holy Highness). Servants often addressed the emperor as Wan Sui Ye (萬歲爺, lit. Lord of Ten Thousand Years).
Contrary to the Western convention of referring to a sovereign using a reign name (e.g. George V) or by a personal name (e.g. Queen Victoria), a governing emperor was to be referred to as simply Huangdi Bixia (皇帝陛下, His Majesty the Emperor) or Dangjin Wuangshung (當今皇上, The Imperial Highness of the Present Time) when spoken about in the third person. He was usually styled His Imperial Majesty the Emperor of the Great [X] Dynasty, Son of Heaven, Lord of Ten Thousand Years. His styles varied considerably during the Yuan and Qing Dynasties.
An emperor also ruled with an era name (年號). Up until the Ming Dynasty, the sovereign conventionally changed the era name on a semi-regular basis during his reign. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, emperors simply chose one era name for their entire reign, and people often referred to past emperors with that title. In earlier dynasties, the emperors were known with a temple name (廟號) given after their death. All emperors were also given a posthumous name (謚號), which was sometimes combined with the temple name (e.g. Emperor Shengzuren 聖祖仁皇帝 for Kangxi) or Daxing Wuangdi (大行皇帝) to refer to an emperor that had just died. The passing of an emperor was referred to as jiabeng (駕崩, lit. "collapse").
[edit] Family
The imperial family was made up of the emperor as the head and the empress (皇后) as the primary consort and Mother of the Nation (國母). In addition, the emperor had a series of other consorts and concubines (妃嬪) divided in a system of ranks who made up the harem, of which the empress was the leader. Although the emperor had the highest status by law, by tradition and precedent the mother of the emperor, i.e., the Empress Dowager (皇太后), usually received the greatest respect in the palace and was the decision maker in most family affairs, and at times, especially when a young emperor was on the throne, became the de facto ruler. The emperor's children, the princes (王子) and princesses (公主), were often referred to by their order of birth, e.g., Eldest Prince, Third Princess, etc. The princes were often given titles of peerage once they reached adulthood. The emperor's brothers and uncles served in court by law, with the status of any other court official (子), and the emperor was always elevated above them despite any chronological or generational superiority.
[edit] See also
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