"What is the meaning of the titles of Dukes and Kings in ancient China?" Are titles and titles related to status ranking? 》
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The system of nobility in ancient China existed as early as the Shang Dynasty. The meaning of "jue" was originally a kind of ritual vessel used for sacrifice. The princes of all parties could only use it for sacrifice with the consent of the emperor. Later it evolved into a symbol of enfeoffment. The title system of each dynasty is more or less different. For example, the Zhou Dynasty has five levels of titles (gong, marquis, uncle, son, son), the Qin Dynasty has twenty levels of titles, the Han Dynasty plus royal titles, and the Three Kingdoms At that time, Cao Wei changed the system to nine ranks, and then the Northern and Southern Dynasties each had their own system. Then the Sui Dynasty basically had a stable system, and it did not change much until the Yuan Dynasty. The Ming Dynasty separated the royal family and outsiders, while the Qing Dynasty also separated the royal family and integrated some of the titles of honorary officials. I will talk about it in detail below.
Those with the same title are theoretically of the same rank, but depending on the specific title, there are actually distinctions between noble and inferior. Most of the titles and titles after the Han Dynasty and before the Sui Dynasty were the names of counties and counties. The specific titles were related to the size, population and economy of the counties and counties. However, the titles and titles in the long history from the Sui Dynasty to the Ming Dynasty were based on the names of princes and states. Most of them refer to the vassal states of the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, and their quality is related to the size of the states in the Eastern Zhou Dynasty; the remaining titles are still the names of counties and counties, and their specific status is related to the size and economy of the counties and counties.
The vassal states of the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period were derived from the fifth-class titles of the Zhou Dynasty. However, one thing to note here is that the Zhou Dynasty had two systems at that time. In addition to the title system sequence of Duke, Marquis, Uncle, Son, and Male, the vassals of the various countries were ranked in the same order. , as well as the hierarchical sequence of officials such as public, minister, doctor and scholar. In the vassal states of the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, their kings corresponded to one of the five titles. For example, the nobles of the Shang Dynasty royal family were granted to the Song Dynasty, and their titles were dukes. Therefore, the Song Dynasty was a dukedom, and the monarch of the Song Dynasty was Duke; Jiang Ziya and his family were granted the title of marquis to Qi State, so Qi State is a marquis state, and the king of Qi State is a marquis; Zheng Guo and his family were from a poor family background, but they served well in escorting and were granted the title of earl, so Zheng Guo is an earl. country (this is how Uncle Zheng in "Zheng Bo Duan Yu Yan" comes from); like Yue, Chu, Wu, Ba, etc. in the south, the Central Plains people think that they are barbarians, and their titles are relatively low and they belong to the viscounty country. . These princes and monarchs, regardless of their title, are not officials, but nobles and kings. In contrast, the system of public, minister, doctor, and scholar evaluates the rank of officials. For example, Zhou Gongdan (Ji Dan) who assisted King Cheng of Zhou was the "gong" in this system and an official of the central government of the Zhou Dynasty. In the five-level title system, he was a marquis and was granted the title of Lu; Officials are at the level of "Qing". A large country such as Jin has six Qings, a small country such as Lu has three Qings, etc.; the officials and scholars below are also officials in the vassal states, and may also be below Qing. Subordinate. The situation at that time was still relatively primitive, the title of nobility was not mature, and sometimes officials and nobility were not separated. Therefore, when the enfeoffment system was implemented, such parallel chaos of the two systems arose.
In the vassal states of the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the rank of their nobility was not necessarily related to their subsequent strength and weakness. For example, the State of Qin, which finally unified the country, was initially a count country; the State of Zheng, which first rose to prominence during the Spring and Autumn Period, was also a count state; The two noble duchies of Yu and Guo were squandered by the marquis's Jin (the story of how they defeated Guo on a false journey); the other duchy, Song, was pretty good and lasted until the middle and late Warring States Period, but it also failed to do so. Didn't last until later. Moreover, during the Warring States Period, tyrannical events such as the Five Kingdoms Prime Minister occurred, and the titles among the princes went from being in name only to being completely destroyed. Therefore, when people later evaluated the "size" of the countries in the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, they often referred not to the title of the Zhou Dynasty, but to their strength. The outstanding vassal states such as Qin, Chu, Jin, and Zheng, even if they started Their titles were not high, and they were still called big countries in later generations; those duchy states, such as Yu State, Guo State, and Dai State, were soy sauce characters, and even Quan State, Yuan State, Gan State, Yin State, etc. did not even have a chance to show their faces. The duchy of the country, no matter how high its initial title is, is often not regarded as a great country. The large, medium and small here laid the foundation for the titles and titles after the Sui Dynasty (Sui, Tang, Song, Yuan and Ming).
During the Warring States Period, the State of Qin carried out Shang Yang's Reform, linking titles with military merit, so the germination of military merit titles emerged, and by the Qin Dynasty it developed into a twenty-level title system. The names of the twentieth-level nobles are prescribed, from first-class public servants, second-class superiors, third-class hairpins, to nineteenth-class Guanneihou, and twentieth-class Chehou (for details, you can Baidu yourself), so at this time There is no question of the meaning of the account. In the past, titles were given to nobles, but after the Qin State did this, civilians had the opportunity to obtain titles. Moreover, titles had many uses, not only in terms of status and treatment, but also related to real estate, labor, etc., and could even be used to atone for crimes. . Because of this, the Qin army was brave in killing the enemy and had super combat effectiveness, which laid the foundation for Qin's subsequent unification of the world.
The Han Dynasty initially inherited the twenty-level nobility system, but there were also some innovations: in the Han Dynasty, when the first to nineteenth-level nobility was awarded, strictly speaking it should not be called a title, but a grant. Only when it reached the highest level was it Only the 20th grade Chehou can be called a canon, which marks that the person who is awarded has officially entered the "nobility" system. In the Han Dynasty's "nobility" system, on top of the rank of marquis, there were also kings and nobility. In the early years of the Han Dynasty, Liu Bang granted titles to kings with different surnames, such as King Han Xin of Chu, King Peng Yue of Liang, Wang Yingbu of Jiujiang, etc. However, they were later erased by him. From then on, princes could only be granted to clans with the same surname as the emperor. member. During the Han Dynasty, there was only one level of kingship, so in theory there was no question about the meaning of the title. You would be the king wherever you were given the title.
For example, during the Seven Kingdoms Rebellion during the reign of Emperor Jing of the Han Dynasty, those who rebelled included Chu, Wu, and Zhao, as well as Zichuan, Jinan, Jiaoxi, and Jiaodong. Their kings were not fundamentally different. They were all princes of the same party. . The areas under the jurisdiction of these kings were all "states" in the parallel system of prefectures and states in the Han Dynasty. In the early days, there were several counties under the kingdom. However, after the Seven Kingdoms Rebellion, the redundant counties were taken back by the court. Each kingdom had only one county. Therefore, the country here was administratively equivalent to a county. It could set up its own officials and collect its own taxes. But in fact, since the princes of the Han Dynasty really wanted to manage the vassal states, it was of course better to be granted a good or wealthy place. If you were granted a title in developed areas such as Henan and Shandong, such as the King of Qi , Liang Wang and Zhao Wang, it is definitely much better than being sealed to a remote area close to the Xiongnu, such as Dai Wang and Yan Wang. In short, the better the geographical location and economy of the country where the Han Dynasty king was granted, or the more households it contains and the more counties it governs, the better.
In the late Western Han Dynasty and the Eastern Han Dynasty, military merit titles were gradually abandoned due to lax control of the threshold, overuse, and loss of value. At the same time, the title system became more stringent, divided into those with the same surname and those with different surnames. You can be granted the title of king and be called "king of princes"; the sons of princes of princes can be granted the title of marquis and are called "lords"; at most, people with different surnames can only be granted the title of marquis, and they are not called princes, but are called Liehou (that is, the former Chehou, but Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was called Liu Che , in order to avoid taboo, he was renamed Liehou). In the Eastern Han Dynasty, the title system was updated, and the princes and kings were renamed county kings (this is actually easy to understand. The Han Dynasty implemented a parallel system of counties and states. After the Seven Kingdoms Rebellion, the area under the jurisdiction of the princes and kings was administratively equivalent to a county. ), this is also the origin of the name "Jun Wang", but at this time, the Jun Wang was a first-class title, which was different from the so-called "two-character king" Jun Wang later; the princes were subdivided into county princes, rural princes, Tinghou. For example, Zhang Fei was the Marquis of Xixiang and Guan Yu was the Marquis of Shouting of the Han Dynasty. It can be seen that Zhang Fei actually had a slightly higher title than Guan Yu. Marquises at this time were particular about titles. The principle was of course similar to that of kings. Within the same level, the richer the place corresponding to the title, the better.
During the Wei and Jin Dynasties, people were generally more unrestrained and retro was popular, and so were the titles. The fifth-class titles of the Zhou Dynasty were re-invited, and the fourth-class titles of the Han Dynasty were added, so the nine-class title system of Cao Wei emerged. What is more interesting is that the fifth-level title was inserted between the king and the marquis. Therefore, in Cao Wei, there was actually a big difference between the marquis and the county marquis. There were three levels of uncle, son and male in between. During the Jin Dynasty, further development was made on the basis of Cao Wei, and there began to be a separation between the royal family and foreign clans. If it was given to the royal family, it would be how it was granted; if it was given to outsiders, it would be added to the title. The word "founding the country". At the same time, the dukes were divided into county princes and county princes, followed by Guanneihou and Guanwaihou. Therefore, the title of the Jin Dynasty had a total of eighteen levels, which was very complicated. At this time, the titles were mainly based on the names of counties and counties. The specific rules and quality of titles were the same as those of the Han Dynasty. The richer the place, the better the titles.
During the Southern and Northern Dynasties, the Southern Dynasties basically inherited the Jin Dynasty, while the Northern Qi Dynasty in the Northern Dynasties abolished the marquises (county marquis, rural marquis, and pavilion marquis), leaving six titles, namely king, duke, marquis, uncle, son, and male. ; On this basis, the Northern Zhou Dynasty subdivided it according to the ancient Zhou rites, so there were princes, county kings, county kings, princes, county princes, county princes, county marquises, county uncles, county sons, county men, and country men, a total of ten One level; the Sui Dynasty and the Tang Dynasty inherited the system of the Northern Dynasty, and made some optimization adjustments, canceling the county king and country boy, which laid the foundation for the subsequent title sequence in the Tang, Song, Yuan, and Ming dynasties.
The titles of the Liao Dynasty and the Song Dynasty were roughly the same as those of the Tang Dynasty, but the titles and dukes of the Song Dynasty were more detailed, including princes, heirs, princes, dukes, dukes, founding dukes, founding dukes, and founding county dukes. Founding Marquis, Founding Uncle, Founding Son, Founding Male, a total of twelve levels. There were also some minor adjustments in the Jin Dynasty and Yuan Dynasty, but overall there was not much change. By the Ming Dynasty, the title system between clan and foreign clans was separated. Princes and county princes were still only given to the clan, and new titles such as General Zhenguo, General Fengguo, General Fengguo, Lieutenant Zhenguo, Lieutenant Fuguo, Lieutenant Fengguo, etc. appeared and were awarded to nobles of the clan. Their names are actually borrowed from the names of honorary officers (this is another system, which will be briefly mentioned below). The titles of Duke, Marquis and Count were reserved for foreign surnames, but Viscount and Baron were abolished. The specific rules for title selection are the same as those of the Sui, Tang, Song, and Yuan dynasties.
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The most relevant question in terms of time is the long historical period from the Sui Dynasty to the Ming Dynasty. The titles of the Tang Dynasty are relatively representative. We can talk about them in detail and talk about the choice of titles.
The official levels of titles in the Tang Dynasty were divided into nine levels:
Prince: If you are of the first grade, you can feed thousands of households in the city.
The prince of the county: From the first grade, he can live in a town of 5,000 households.
The Duke of the State: From the first grade, he can eat three thousand households in the city.
Duke of the county: the second rank, with a settlement of 2,000 households.
County Duke: From the second grade, there are 1,500 households in the city.
County Marquis: from the third grade, with a living area of 1,000 households.
County Bo: He is in the fourth rank and has a living area of 700 households.
County son: the fifth rank, with five hundred households living in the town.
County man: From the fifth rank, there are 300 households in the city.
Princes and princes are royal titles. In principle, they are only given to members of the clan. Other titles are available to everyone. Food is more interesting here. If there are the words "Shishi Feng" when conferring a title, then this person can get the rent, adjustment and tax of the corresponding household. However, under normal circumstances, this is not available, so these food houses are just empty and cannot bring any benefits to this person. The origins of title names are diverse. For example, Wang Jue, people generally pay more attention to the difference between the single-character king and the two-character king. This difference became more prominent after the Sui and Tang Dynasties.
Let’s talk about the prince first. Princes are usually awarded based on the place name of a state or the name of a country in the Eastern Zhou Dynasty. Because the names of states or Eastern Zhou kingdoms generally only have one character, the titles of princes generally have only one character, which is commonly known as one-character king or single-character king. This is probably how the so-called "One Word Side by Side King" in opera comes from. For example, the sons of Zhu Yuanzhang mentioned by the question: King Yan, King Zhao, King Chu Zhao, and King Qi Gong are actually princes, and they are princes with good status, because Yan, Zhao, Chu and Qi The Seven Heroes of the Warring States Period in the capital are very good titles. Some people say that is wrong. The single-character king means prince, while King Zhao of Chu and King Gong of Qi are two characters. Isn’t it the king of the county? No, because "Zhao" and "Gong" are not part of the title here, but the posthumous titles given to them by their descendants after their death, which is equivalent to the "Huan" of Duke Huan of Qi and the "Wu" of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. For another example, after the Xuanwu Gate Incident in the Tang Dynasty, Li Shimin named Li Jian the King of Xiyin, and at the same time gave him a pretty good posthumous title of "Yin", so later generations called Li Jian the King of Xiyin. Later, Li Shimin returned the position of "Prince" to Li Jiancheng, so Li Jiancheng was also called Prince Yin. In the TV series "The Long Song of Zhenguan", Wei Zheng talks about Prince Yin as soon as he appears. This is unscientific. In the same way, Li Yuanji was posthumously named King of Hailing, and later promoted to King of Chao. His posthumous title was an evil posthumous title of "La", so later generations called him King of Chao. There is also their third eldest son Li Xuanba who is said to be able to swing a hammer (only in legends). After his death, he was posthumously named King Wei, with a posthumous title of "Huai", so he was also called King Huai of Wei. In fact, King Xiyin, King Weihuai and King Chaola here are also princes.
Then as for the choice of name, generally speaking, other legitimate sons except the prince, or concubines whom the emperor loves very much, will be named kings of large countries, such as King Qin, King Zhao, King Qi, King Chu, King Jin, King Wei, King Zheng waits. The emperor's brothers and the sons of higher-status concubines will be named kings of middle countries, such as King Yue, King Wu, King Shu, King Dai, King Wei, King Qi, King Lu, King Song, King Liang, etc. The titles of other concubines were not so good, and they were all kings of small countries, such as King Huo, King Mi, King Teng, King Jing, King Liang, King E, King Xu, King Cai, etc.
County kings are awarded based on the place names of counties and counties, and most of the names of counties have two characters, so they are commonly called two-character kings among the people, such as Changshan County King, Lingling County King, Langya County King, and Zhongshan County King. , Beiping County Prince, Hejian County Prince, Jiangxia County Prince and so on. They can also be referred to as Changshan King, Lingling King, Langya King, Zhongshan King, Beiping King, Hejian King, Jiangxia King, etc. Of course, there are exceptions. For example, for some clan members with very high merit, or for some surrendered rebel leaders or ethnic minority leaders, the central dynasty sometimes gives titles to some very good county kings to win people's hearts. For example, in the early Tang Dynasty, Prince Li Xiaogong of Zhao County and Prince Yan Li Yi (actually Luo Yi, given the surname Li), their abbreviations were King Zhao and King Yan. They looked like princes, but in fact they were county princes.
There are many sources of titles at the Duke level, and there are at least three types: the first is the same as above, selecting the title according to the person's merit and prestige. For example, those with high merit can be named Wei Guogong, Zhao Guogong, Chu Guogong Wait, those with higher merit can be granted the title of Duke of Yue, Duke of Dai, Duke of Lu, etc.
The second type can be the hometown of the recipient. For example, if you are from Shandong, you will be granted the title of Duke of Lu. If you are from Hedong, you will be granted the title of Duke of Jin. If you are from the south, you will be granted the title of Duke of Yue or Chu. Duke, if you are from Hebei, I will make you Duke of Zhao, and so on.
The third type is to get a good title. Most people don't have this kind of treatment. Only people with extremely high merit can get this kind of title, especially in the Tang Dynasty and Qing Dynasty. For example, Li Jing, the Duke of Wei in the Tang Dynasty (so he is called Li Wei Gong in the world, has the military book " Li Weigong asked the question"), British Duke Li Ji (that is, Xu Shiji, courtesy name Maogong), Su Guogong Cheng Yaojin (later changed to Lu Guogong), Yi Guogong Qin Shubao (later changed to Hu Guogong), Bao Guogong Duan Zhixuan, Xun Guogong Yin Kaishan and so on. Titles below the county level. Most of them are awarded in the name of the county. Of course, there are differences between counties. For example, richer counties generally award more important people.
Generally speaking, titles are linked to military merit. Therefore, when the country was founded in the past dynasties, civil and military heroes may have received the title of Duke. However, it would be difficult to obtain the title of Duke under normal circumstances (especially for civil servants). For example, Among the 24 founding heroes mentioned earlier in the early Tang Dynasty who went to Lingyan Pavilion, except for the clan member Li Xiaogong (the county prince) and the pure scholar Yu Shinan (the county prince), the others were all dukes; those who did not go to Lingyan Pavilion were all Dukes. The founding heroes, such as Yu Zhining, Chen Shuda, Yu Wenshi and other civil servants, were all granted the title of Duke of the country because of their pioneering contributions. However, those who did not catch up with the founding of the country could not do it no matter how talented they were. People like Cen Wenwen were just Viscount, Ouyang Xun and Yan Liben were all barons, and Xu Jingzong was originally a baron. Because he helped Wu Zetian get rid of Changsun Wuji and Chu Suiliang, he became a county prince; even the likes of Xue Rengui, Cheng Mingzhen, and Liang Jianfang The fierce generals who have repeatedly made military exploits at the border are only county princes in the end. Each of these people has outstanding abilities, but it is really difficult to become a prince. For another example, when the Ming Dynasty was founded, Zhu Yuanzhang created a lot of dukes, such as Han Gong Li Shanchang, Wei Gong Xu Da, E Gong Chang Yuchun, Xin Gong Tang He, Ying Gong Fu Youde, Song Gong Feng Sheng, etc. (although later Zhu Yuanzhang himself executed many of them); but later, even Wang Yangming, who was a versatile man in both civil and military affairs, was only granted the title of earl when he was alive, and was granted the title of marquis after his death. The important ministers of the Qing Dynasty, Zeng Guofan, Li Hongzhang, Zuo Zongtang, etc., were all just marquises in the end. Zeng Guofan's "Zeng Wenzhenggong" was the honorific title given to him; important ministers like Zhang Zhidong and Lin Zexu did not even get marquises. If you still want to be awarded the title of Duke before you catch up with the founding of the country, you have to take advantage of the big changes and perform a unique feat like Guo Ziyi's "returning the emperor with two capitals in hand". Only then is it possible (Guo Ziyi was even awarded the title of Duke) For example, at the turn of the Song Dynasty, there were four ZTE generals who escorted the southward migration and continued Guo Zuo's achievements. Except for Yue Fei, who died unjustly early, the other three people all obtained extremely high titles while they were still alive. Liu Guangshi was the king of the country. Gong, Han Shizhong and Zhang Jun were county princes. Later, Song Xiaozong, who advocated the Northern Expedition, posthumously named all four of them princes. Other famous generals of the same period, such as Yang Yizhong, Liu Qi, Wu Jie, Wu Lin, etc., were also posthumously named kings. Of course, abnormal situations like the feudal towns in the late Tang Dynasty are another matter.
In addition, the Northern Zhou Dynasty in the Southern and Northern Dynasties also developed another "honored officer" system, which was parallel to the "title" system and both showed honor, including the Zhuguo, the general, the three divisions of Kaifu Yitong, the governor, the army guard, Captain and so on, there are eleven levels in total. They were originally the military titles of the Northern Dynasty soldiers, but later they became fictitious and became fictitious titles symbolizing honor. Later, this system was passed to the Ming Dynasty, with modifications and changes in the name. A lot has changed, but overall the nature has not changed much. There are some similarities between the honorary officer system and the title system as well as the casual official system formed in the Tang Dynasty, but they are all different from each other and should not be confused with the title system. Different from titles, although the honorary officer system comes from the military system, it is not necessarily linked to military merit. All civil and military officials have the opportunity to obtain it. Even in the Ming Dynasty, there was a separate sequence of civil and honorary officers.
The system of the Qing Dynasty was quite different from that of the previous dynasties. It was also divided between the clan and foreign races, but it had more Manchu characteristics. The titles of the Qing Dynasty clan include: Prince Heshuo, Crown Prince, County Prince, Eldest Son, Beile, Beizi, Feng'en Town Duke, Feng'en Assistant Duke, Burubafenzhen Guogong, Burubafenfu Guogong, Zhenzhen. Generals of the country, generals of the auxiliary country, generals of the country, and generals of Feng'en, a total of twelve ranks, commonly known as "clan nobles"; for foreigners, the titles are: duke, marquis, uncle, son, male, captain of light vehicles, captain of cavalry Wei, Yunqiwei, Enqiwei, a total of nine levels, commonly known as "Minshijue", the last four levels are directly from the Ming Dynasty's order of honorary officers; and the order of honorary officers itself was abandoned in the Qing Dynasty. The Zhenguo, Fuguo and Fengguo here are all fixed and are not the names of the countries. This is different from the titles of the Duke of Sui and Tang Dynasties. The so-called "not entering the eight points" simply means not enjoying certain preferential treatment, which corresponds to "feng en" (that is, "entering the eight points" and enjoying certain preferential treatment). The specific titles of the Qing Dynasty were also quite special. When conferring princes and dukes, they used more laudatory titles and downplayed the country's name, such as Gong, Yi, Duan, Yi, Zhong, Zhuang, Yong, Rui, etc. Among them, dukes did not have names in the early Qing Dynasty. There were only titles, such as first-class Duke, second-class Duke, and third-class Duke. Later, a few of them had names, and they were also given nicknames. The same goes for marquises. For example, Zeng Guofan was a first-class Marquis of Yiyong, which means his rank plus the title.
Since the previous ones are talking about the Ming Dynasty, let’s talk about the Song Dynasty. The countries in the Song Dynasty were divided into three levels: large countries, secondary countries, and small countries. Their names come from the feudal countries of the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. For example, the dukes of big countries are like Duke Wei and Duke of Lu. The dukes of minor countries are like Duke Wei and Duke Zheng. The dukes of small countries are like Duke Shu and Duke Wen. Of course, there are more noble dukes of the two countries. Emperor Gaozong once wanted to make Qin Hui the duke of Qin and Wei. Of course, there are some that will not be granted to ministers, such as Zhao Guogong (the country's surname is not granted), Song Guogong (the country's name is not granted), Liang Guogong (the country is not granted), and some counties where the emperor previously served as princes are not granted. Of course, if you still want to understand these in depth, it is recommended to take a look at the prefectures and states in Volume 18 of "Jade Sea". This was determined by the elephants in the third chapter of Jingyou, and was formed through the development of later generations.
