Emperor of China - Origin and History

Origin and History

Chinese feudal rulers with power over their particular fiefdoms were called Wang (王), roughly translated as King, but in fact somewhat amorphous and also readily maps to "duke" in English. In 221 BCE, after the then King of Qin completed the conquest of the various kingdoms/duchies of the Warring States Period, he adopted a new title to reflect his prestige as a ruler greater than the rulers before him. He created the new title Huangdi or "Emperor", and styled himself Shi Huangdi, the First Emperor. Before this, Huang (皇) and Di (帝) were given as titles of a number of rulers from the era known as the "sage kings" period, supposedly predating written history, but probably coinciding with or following the invention and early stages of evolution for the Chinese writing system. Huang (皇) was the title generally used for divine entities and legendary/deified rulers, and Di (帝) was used for feudal rulers of vassals who were themselves rulers of their own principalities.

Though these words came to be used synonymously and interchangeably, at the time of Ying Zheng's rule, they were not used together, and would have carried the connotation of "The Holy Emperor" because Huang (皇) was previously associated with divine or deified entities. Furthermore, it is generally agreed upon that the founding of the dominant Chinese race, the Han 漢 race, was the result of the "Yellow Emperor" Huangdi 黃帝, who unified a federation of tribes to drive the other tribes out of central China as it was known then (today's northwestern China), and several imperial dynasties existed since the time of Huang Di and before the time of Ying Zheng, the last of which integral dynasties, the Zhou 周 dynasty, disintegrated and formed the "Warring Nations" which were principalities of various sizes roughly based on the feudal kingdoms and duchies as ascribed under the Zhou dynasty political system. Ying Zheng, therefore, should really be called the re-unifier of the Chinese empire after the fall of the Zhou Dynasty, and his title should more correctly be rendered as "The First Holy Emperor" as opposed to the much less nuanced (and in fact much less accurate) "First Emperor." This is further evidenced by the fact that Chinese emperors since Ying Zheng also typically took on the title 帝 rather than 皇帝, e.g. Han Wu Di 漢武帝 "Emperor Wu of Han ", and it was not until much later that the term Huang Di 皇帝 came to be used interchangeably with the shorter Di 帝.

There is one minor exception to this interpretation in that, where the father of he who has ascended to the throne as emperor of China is still alive, this progenitor of the present emperor would be given the title Tai shang huang 太上皇, literally the "The Grand/Over-Emperor" or the "Grand Imperial Sire" or in the context of "Holy Emperor", the "Holy Imperial Sire." It is said that this practice was initiated by Liu Bang 劉邦, the founder of the Han Dynasty, in emulation of Ying Zheng (who granted his own father the title posthumously once he took on the new title of Huangdi 皇帝 for himself), because Liu Bang would not be bowed to by his own father, who was still technically a commoner.

Chinese political theory does not totally discourage or prevent the rule of non-royals or foreigners holding the title of "Emperor of China". Historically, China has been divided, numerous times, into smaller kingdoms under separate rulers or warlords. The Emperor in most cases was the ruler of a united China, or must at least have claimed legitimate rule over all of China if he did not have de facto control. There have been a number of instances where there has been more than one "Emperor of All China" simultaneously in Chinese history. For example, various Ming Dynasty princes continued to claim the title after the founding of the Qing Dynasty (1644–1911), and Wu Sangui claimed the title during the Kangxi Emperor's reign. In dynasties founded by foreign conquering tribes that eventually became immersed in Chinese culture, politics, and society, the rulers would adopt the title of Emperor of China in addition to whatever titles they may have had from their original homeland. Thus, Kublai Khan was simultaneously Khagan of the Mongols and Emperor of China.