Emperor of China

The emperor or huangdi (皇帝 in pinyin: huang2 di4) of China was the head of government and head of state of China from the Qin dynasty in 221 BC until the fall of the Qing dynasty in 1911. The pre-Qin heads of the government were called wang (roughly translated as King). Before Qin Shi Huang, the characters huang ("godking") and di ("sage king") were used separately and never consecutively (See Three Huang and five Di). After the Han dynasty, huangdi began to be abbreviated to huang or di -- the two characters had lost their original pre-Qin meanings.

Styles, names and forms of address

To see naming conventions in detail, please refer to Chinese sovereign

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As the Emperor has, by law, a high position challenged by no one else, his subjects are to show the utmost respect in his presence, whether it includes direct conversation or otherwise. In a conversation with the Emperor, it is considered a crime to compare oneself to the Emperor in any way. It is taboo to refer to the Emperor by his given name, even if it is from his own mother, who uses Huangdi (Emperor), or "Er" (simply "son"). The Emperor is never to be addressed "you". The Emperor addresses himself as Zhen (朕) in front of his subjects. Anyone speaking to the Emperor is to address him as Bixia (??), translated as "Your Imperial Majesty"; Huang Shang (皇上, lit. Emperor Above or Emperor Highness), Wan Sui (萬歲, lit. Ten thousand years), or Sheng Shang (聖上, lit. the Divine Above or the Holy Highness). Servants often address the Emperor as Wan Sui Ye (萬歲爺, lit. Lord of Ten Thousand Years). In English all these forms of address are roughly translated as Your Imperial Majesty.

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Contrary to western convention of referring to a sovereign using a reign name (ex. George V), sometimes the sovereign's personal name (Queen Victoria), a governing Emperor is to be simply referred to as Huang-di Bi-xia (???? lit. His Majesty the Emperor) or Dang-jin Huang-shang (???? lit. The Imperial Highness of the Present Time) when speaking in third person. He is usually styled His Imperial Majesty the Emperor of the Great Dynasty, Son of Heaven, Lord of Ten Thousand Years. His styles varied considerably during the Yuan and Qing Dynasties.

Related Topics:
Yuan - Qing Dynasties

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An Emperor rules with a reign title (??). Up until the Ming Dynasty, the sovereign had conventionally changed the reign title on a semi-regular basis during his reign. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Emperors simply chose one reign title to last for that entire reign, and people often referred to past Emperors with that title. In earlier dynasties the Emperors were known with a Temple name (??) given after their death. All Emperors are all given a Posthumous name (??), which are sometimes combined with the Temple name to refer to an Emperor (ex. Shengzu-Ren-Emperor ????? for Kangxi). Da-xing Huangdi (????) is used to refer to an Emperor that had just passed away. The passing of an Emperor is referred to as Jia-beng (??), literally meaning "collapse".

Related Topics:
Reign title - Ming Dynasty - Temple name - Posthumous name - Kangxi

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