How were Chinese Dynasties named?
Upvote:18
There are no specific rules, it is completely up to the founders. Many dynasties ultimately took their names from one of the ancient states of China. In any case, usually the actual choice were made in one of six ways:
Reviving an Ancient Name: the dynasty began where an ancient state existed, and took its name from its ancient predecessor. Examples include the Former Song, whose founder's family had lived on the ancestral lands of the Song state for generations. This is probably the most common type, due to the situation described in #3 below.
Place of Origin: the dynasty took its name from the name of the location it started at. More often used by nomadic dynasties; for example, Liao and Jin were founded by tribes hailing from the banks of the rivers Liao and Jin, respectively (alternative theory is they were named after the metals). In some cases the location name was also derived from an ancient state name, such as Song. Its founder was the military governor of Shangqiu, the ancient capital of the Song State; the city was also named Song at the time.
Previous Title: a twist on the previous two types; the dynasty's founder previous held a lower title (typically king or duke), and kept the name when upgrading to emperor tier. Examples include Han, whose founder was made King of Hanzhong by Xiang Yu. The Sui and Tang dynasties were founded by the Dukes of Sui and Tang, respectively. The original title is typically derived from the location, à la the previous two cases.
Ancestral Name: a previous member of the clan (i.e., sharing the same surname) had founded an illustrious dynasty; and the new upstart chose the same name. Often there is no actual family link whatsoever, and this was instead a political strategy for shoring up legitimacy. Examples include the Later Tang, founded by a nomad whose ancestor was given the royal surname. Legitimate examples include the Eastern Han, whose founder was descended from a minor branch of the Han Dynasty ruling house.
- Made up on the Spot: sometimes a dynasty's founder simply came up with a catchy name he likes for some random reason. Examples include Qing, which was renamed from Jin by its second emperor for no apparent reason (there are unsubstantiated theories). Another is Mongolian Yuan, which was apparently named after a phrase in the divinations book I Ching by the fifth Khagan of the Mongol Empire.
- Surname: when the dynasty is named after the surname of an exceptionally egoistical founder. Only ever happened once, with Chen. It didn't last.
Origin of Qing's Name
There's five theories I know of:
- It is a better looking character for transcribing the same name. The previous character, Jin, was already used by the fallen Jin Dynasty, an earlier Jurchen state originating from Manchuria.
- It symbolically makes the Manchu state equal to the Ming Empire. Both Qing
(清)and Ming(明)can mean "clear". - It fits the Cycle of the Five Elements theory. The Ming Empire was Fire; the word Qing
(清)contains a water radical (the three dot-strokes on the left). Hong Taiji chose it to symbolise putting out the fire of Ming. - The Manchurian liked the colour blue (sky?) due to their Shamanistic beliefs. Blue (
青) is the same word as Qing(清)minus the water radicals. This ties in with the previous theory. - It was a transcription of a Mongolian word meaning something along the lines of "good fighter".
More post
- 📝 Was there any time in non-recent history where it was fashionable to wear ripped clothes?
- 📝 What is known about the people of Khazaria?
- 📝 Why is Richard I (The Lion-heart) considered to be a good king and Jean I a bad one?
- 📝 Is this newspaper article describing the Battle of Glorieta Pass?
- 📝 Where can I find Japanese oil production figures through WWII?
- 📝 Identify these Cold War speeches from a movie trailer
- 📝 What do we know about the !Kung "major gatherings" (up to 200 peoples)?
- 📝 How does the cost-benefit relationship of owning a horse differ today from the Middle Ages or Early Industrial Revolution?
- 📝 Were there moves to make anti-miscegenation laws apply to Jews in the USA?
- 📝 Which lover of a Russian Empress obtained the highest rank?
- 📝 How did the maximum strengths of alcoholic beverages in Western Europe increase from wine which Romans watered to 80 proof to absinthe?
- 📝 What expenses did a village have?
- 📝 How long has western civilization known the body contains a significant fraction of water?
- 📝 1950s, UK-Soviet sporting event
- 📝 Number of artisanal working hours spent on making Terracota Army
- 📝 Which culture used no personal names?
- 📝 Can anyone identify these uniforms?
- 📝 Did a Japanese medieval castle withstand US battleship fire during the Pacific War?
- 📝 What was a Purity Chapter?
- 📝 Why was there relatively little use of land mines in WW1?
- 📝 What was the extent of Kohl's government opposition to the independence of Ukraine?
- 📝 In the Lombard period, could not the Byzantine Empire have occupied Rome?
- 📝 Why were submarines not made sound proof?
- 📝 Vatican hidden (secret) rooms and passages?
- 📝 What prevented empires with territory in North Africa from expanding south of the Sahara? And vice versa
- 📝 Were concentration camp guards allowed to talk about their work at home?
- 📝 Did Zoroastrianism influence some Ancient Greek Philosophers?
- 📝 Did medieval people wear collars with a castellated hem?
- 📝 Did Julius Caesar say: "Africa, I have grabbed you"?
- 📝 What role did British cartoonists play in the early 1800?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 How were Chinese Dynasties named?
- 📝 How widespread were major dynasties which did not follow agnatic succession or male primogeniture?
- 📝 How much faster/better were European printing presses compared to Chinese block printing?
- 📝 How useful were Chinese contributions to the defeat of Japan in WWII?
- 📝 How much (area) territory did Chinese dynasties control?
- 📝 How much smaller were medieval farm animals in England than today?
- 📝 How were tanks scrapped after World War Two?
- 📝 How do ancient Chinese "mirrors" such as these in the National Museum function?
- 📝 How were smallpox vaccines enforced in the US?
- 📝 How were concentration and extermination camp guards recruited?
- 📝 How severe were the casualties in ancient/medieval battles?
- 📝 How literate were common people in Medieval Europe?
- 📝 How were drawbridges and portcullises used tactically?
- 📝 How common were marital duels in medieval Europe?
- 📝 How kind were the Muslim occupations of North Africa?
- 📝 How were medieval castles built in swamps or marshes without draining them?
- 📝 How were horses disembarked from sail ships?
- 📝 How were Martello towers supposed to work?
- 📝 How were the cities of Milan and Bruges spared by the Black Death?
- 📝 How beneficial were war bonds to the US during WWII
- 📝 How prevalent were recreational drugs in the ancient world?
- 📝 How were Kurds involved (or not) in the invasion of Normandy?
- 📝 How much were telegraphists in the 1950s paid?
- 📝 Were secret treaties ratified? How did they become official while remaining secret?
- 📝 How unfavorable were the terms of Germany's "surrender" in WW1?
- 📝 How were books published in Ancient Greece?
- 📝 How heavily were the British taxing their American colonies?
- 📝 How many lives were estimated to have been saved by the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs?
- 📝 How were diplomats and their staffs treated when World War II was declared?
- 📝 How expensive were castles? And how were the costs distributed?