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What were the names used in ancient China
There have been many different names in the historical process of "up and down five thousand years" in China, and these names in different dynasties are also called "country names". With the change of dynasties, the title of the country has been constantly changing. From the first title of Xia in ancient times to the title of Qing in the last feudal dynasty, there were dozens of titles used in ancient China, among which the titles used by the unified feudal dynasty mainly included Qin, Han, Jin and Sui. How did these feudal "titles" come from? What are the legends?
"Qin"-
The name of the country is due to the name of a pasture.
Historical Records of Qin Benji: the ancestors of Won were enfeoffed as "Qin of the city."
the Qin dynasty was the first feudal dynasty in China, with the title of "Qin". There were many folk sayings about the origin of Qin in the past. One of them was that Ying Zheng, the first emperor, wanted to be "in the Spring and Autumn Period", so the name of the country was Qin.
This statement is based on the fact that the word "Qin" is the prefix of "Spring" and the word "Autumn", which means both "Spring" and "Autumn". In fact, this is the postscript of Mr. Xia Zi in later generations. How did the title of "Qin" come from? Historians in ancient and modern times have done research.
as far as the original meaning of the word "Qin" is concerned, it is the name of a kind of grass-grass valley. Xu Shen, a philologist in the Eastern Han Dynasty, classified the word "Qin" into "He" in Shuo Wen Jie Zi, and explained that "the country was sealed after Bo Yi. The land is suitable for grain, from grain, and the province; One is Qin, and the name of the grain. " Bo Yi, who also wrote "Bo Ming" and "Bai Ming", was the ancestor of the surname Won. According to Records of the Historian Qin Benji, Bo Yi was a courtier of Shun Di, who was in charge of animal husbandry. Because of his excellent work, Shun Di gave him the name of "Won". Shun Di also made a prediction that Bo Yi's descendants would prosper, that is, the so-called "future generations will be big". Sure enough, after more than 2, years, the first emperor in the history of China was born among the descendants who won the surname.
Bo Yi obtained the "Won" surname for his clan, but it has nothing to do with the word "Qin". It was a man named Fei Feizi who made the word "Qin" a fief of the Won family. After Bo Yi, his descendants inherited the ancestral business, and by the time he won the prize, the history of China had entered the Zhou Dynasty. Won Feizi was responsible for breeding horses for the Zhou royal family, and was a famous "professional horse farmer" at that time. Won Feizi was rewarded by the King of Zhou for raising horses well, and the won family was granted a piece of land of their own for the first time, which is called "dividing the land into vassals" in Historical Records. It was this packet that the most primitive state of Qin appeared.
where is this fief? In the area of dog hill in Tianshui, Gansu province, which is the horse grass planting base of Feizi (another point is that it is around the Qin Pavilion in Shaanxi province), this place is the meeting of dying Wei, with rich water resources and rich grass of Qin. After Fei Fei-zi was sealed, he named the fief "Qin", and the "Qin of the city" mentioned in Historical Records refers to this matter.
In ancient times, most of the country names were chosen from the names of fiefs and titles, and the word "Qin", which brought great glory to the Won family, was naturally chosen as the country name. At this time, the state of Qin was very small, not even a vassal state, but a small vassal state under the vassal state, which was at most equivalent to a modern third-tier municipal town. However, Xiao Qin prepared the title for the future Daqin Empire. In 221 BC, after "destroying six countries" and building "Great China", Ying Zheng naturally continued to use the word "Qin" as its national title.
"Han" ——
The country name that Liu Bang didn't like at first
The Biography of Han Xiao He: "It is called" Tian Han ",which is very beautiful."
The second national title of feudal China was "Han" defined by Liu Bang, the emperor gaozu of Han Dynasty.
Ying Zheng created a unified feudal China, but it died in just 15 years and was replaced by the Han Dynasty. On the third day of February, 22 BC (Jiawu Day), Liu Bang, the founding emperor, proclaimed himself emperor in the Yang of Si Shui in Dingtao, Shandong Province, and named his country "Han".
Liu Bang disliked the title of "Han" at first, and even thought it was a humiliation. If Xiao He, the founding hero, hadn't done his ideological work, there probably wouldn't be the title of "Han". The reason why Liu Bang hates the word "Han" is related to Xiang Yu, the overlord of the western Chu Dynasty.
at the end of Qin dynasty, there was chaos in the world, and peasant uprisings surged. In the end, only two rebel leaders, Liu Bang and Xiang Yu, were able to win the world. Speaking of it, Liu Bang and Xiang Yu are still "hometown in northern Jiangsu". Liu Bang's hometown is in Pei County, Xuzhou, and Xiang Yu's hometown is in Suqian, adjacent to each other.
according to the biography of Han Xiao He, Xiang Yu, who had the upper hand at that time, reached a "gentleman's agreement" with Liu Bang: "Wang Qidi is the first to enter the customs and break the Qin Dynasty". It means that whoever's army enters Hangu Pass first and hits the old nest of the Qin Dynasty will be king. Xiang Yu didn't expect Liu Bang to take the lead. According to the agreement, Liu Bang should be the boss in Guanzhong and be named "King of Guanzhong" or something. However, at that time, due to the saying that "the one who gets the Guanzhong wins the world", Xiang Yu, who has the upper hand, is naturally unwilling to give up, but he can't keep his word. So he gave Hanzhong and Bashu to Liu Bang and made them "Hanwang".
Liu Bang was very angry with Xiang Yu's actions and immediately wanted to go to war with Xiang Yu. Xiao He advised him: "Although Wang Hanzhong's evil is worse than death?" Xiao He means, although it's better to be king in Hanzhong than in Guanzhong, it's better than dying, right? In order to convince Liu Bang, Xiao He also quoted the classics and said: The word "Han" is too good and great, and it is God's will to make you Hanwang.
The biography of Xiao He in Han Dynasty recorded Xiao He's original words: "Zhou Shu said,' Heaven refuses to take it, but bears the blame'. The language is' Tianhan', which is very beautiful. " The "Han" in ancient astronomy refers to Tianhe. The emperor thinks he is the "son of heaven" and is also a celestial being. Therefore, the word "Han" combined with "Tian" is definitely a good word for Liu Bang who wants to be an emperor. Yan Shigu, a native of the Tang Dynasty, once noted: "It is also a good name to match heaven with Han."
Before Liu Bang proclaimed himself emperor, the title of "Hanwang" was famous all over the world. Therefore, when the People's Republic of China was founded, it was obviously natural to choose such a beautiful word "Han" as the national title. Later, it was proved that "Han" was really good, and even the Eastern Han Dynasty brought a national fortune to the Liu Dynasty for more than 4 years.
"Sui"-
The name of the country that should have been "Sui"
A Random Record of Changing Zhai: Emperor Wendi of Sui "hated it, so he went away."
At the end of the Western Han Dynasty, a national title-"Xin" appeared briefly in China.
this is the name of the country that was activated after Wang Mang usurped the throne. Why did you take a fancy to the word "new"? In the first year of Emperor Yongzheng of Han Dynasty (16th BC), Wang Mang was named as the "new capital Hou", so he should be the new king. Helpless, wang xing's new dynasty was also unlucky, including the head and tail. Like the Qin Dynasty, it took 15 years to die.
Since then, China has entered a state of separatist regime for 37 years, and the first national title has been frequently abolished. During this period, including the Southern Dynasties and the Northern Dynasties, there were nearly 2 titles, and Wei, Shu, Wu, Jin, Song, Qi, Liang, Chen and Zhou were all used as titles. It was not until Emperor Wen of Sui replaced the founding of the Northern Zhou Dynasty that China regained its unified title "Sui".
The origin of the title "Sui" originated from the Sui Emperor Emperor Wen of Sui's "Following the King". Why is the title "Sui" instead of "Sui"? It turned out that Emperor Wen of Sui was afraid of the "leg" in the middle of the word "Sui", that is, "Zhuan". He thought that "Zhuan" was unlucky and the National Games would "go with it", so he cut off the "leg" of the word "Sui" and became "Sui".
in the southern song dynasty, Wu Zeng recorded that the word "sui" was not used in ancient times in the book "the beginning of events": "the word" sui "was not used in ancient times. When Emperor Wendi was in Zen, Wei, Zhou, and Qi were not satisfied with Ning, and they were evil, so they went to' go' and wrote the word' Sui'. "
It should be pointed out that the word "Sui" is not what Wu Zeng said, but existed in the pre-Qin period. There is a saying in "Zhou Li Chun Guan Shou San" that "if you sacrifice, you will hide your sui and his clothes."
Emperor Wen of Sui went to Kuai to get Sui, with the original intention of bringing good luck to the new dynasty and prolonging the national fortune. But it was soon discovered that the word "Sui" was not as good as the word "Sui", which was unlucky. "Shuo Wen Jie Zi" said: "Sui, crack meat also". The so-called "cracked meat" is the meat that is torn by hand to sacrifice to the gods. Imagine that a dynasty is a "meat sacrifice", can the national luck last long? Thirty-eight years after the founding of the People's Republic of China, the Sui Dynasty really became a "meat sacrifice" for the Tang Dynasty named Li.
"Tang"-
The most awesome country name in history
"White Tiger Pass": Tang is a "swinger with great morality."
in the history of China, the most "awesome" country name was Tang, which existed for 289 years. This is also the only country title that is qualified to be compared with "Han" so far, which is commonly called "Han and Tang Dynasties" by historians.
"Tang" is the title of the dynasty built by Li, and the founding monarch is Li Yuan. The connection between the word "Tang" and Li's surname can be traced back to Li Yuan's grandfather Li Hu's generation. Li Hu was named "Duke of Tang" at the beginning of the Northern Zhou Dynasty, and his territory is in Taiyuan today. Since then, the word "Tang" has become the symbol of the Li family.
In the 12th year of the Great Cause of Sui Dynasty (AD 616), Li Yuan was appointed as the appeasement ambassador of Taiyuan Road. After receiving this arrangement from the imperial court, Li Yuan "privately enjoyed this trip". In the 13th year of Daye (AD 617), Emperor Yangdi simply asked Li Yuan to stay in Taiyuan, so that he could stay in Taiyuan. Tang gaozu was even happier, "secretly pleased."
Why is Li Yuan so excited? What he said privately to his second son, Li Shimin, the future Emperor Taizong, revealed the secret: "When Tang consolidated our country, Taiyuan was the place. I came to Sri Lanka today for the sake of heaven. " It turns out that Taiyuan is an auspicious place for the Li family to make a fortune, and it is also a "land of geomantic omen". It was once the capital of emperors, and it was the fief of Yao Emperor, the Tang Kingdom. It is for this reason that the history books called Yao Emperor "Tang Yao", because Tang Yao once lived in pottery land, also known as "Tao Tangshi".
In addition, when Li Yuan stayed in Taiyuan, a strange thing happened. In Jinyang (now Jinyuan Town, southwest of Taiyuan), where Li Yuan fought against the Sui Dynasty, a large bluestone was dug. This bluestone was dragon-shaped and had four red words "Li Yuan Wan Ji" on it. According to Tang Lizhang's Miscellaneous Stories about Taiyuan's Deeds, Li Yuanji, the fourth son and king of Qi who stayed behind at that time, quickly showed it to Tang gaozu, and Tang gaozu strengthened his determination to proclaim himself emperor.
Obviously, all the so-called wonders are attached to the meeting, and even "planned" by Li Yuan himself. But there is no doubt that the word "Tang" belongs to auspicious characters for the Li family. When you are successful in the future, using the word "Tang" as the country name is of course the only choice.
It is said that Li Yuan chose the word "Tang" as the country title because it is a good word. Han Bangu's "White Tiger PassNo." said: "Tang, swinging. Those who swing are morally great. " "Shuo Wen Jie Zi" also said, "Tang, big words also." It can be seen that as early as the Qin and Han dynasties, "Tang" was recognized as a beautiful word and extended to the meaning of "big".
what is big? "Only the sky is the biggest", which is exactly the national body of a dynasty. Facts have proved that "Tang" was indeed a "big" country with a long history of nearly 3 years, and it was the most powerful and prosperous country in ancient China.
"Song" ——
The name of "Heaven, Earth, Yin and Yang
Personnel Association"
"Interpreting the name and releasing the state": "Song, sending an envoy to the sea with the current.
"
naturally, the words used in the country name are words that can bring good luck and have wonderful metaphors. In those days, Wu Zetian changed to Tang Dynasty and proclaimed herself emperor. When she became queen, she once used the word "Zhou" as her new title. Because she thinks that the word "Zhou" is "righteous and beautiful" and is not lost to "Tang".
After the Tang Dynasty, China entered the second wave of frequent change of titles. In more than 7 years, "Five Dynasties and Ten Countries" appeared successively. It was Zhao Kuangyin, the general of the Northern Zhou Dynasty, who ended the division of China, reunified the north and south of China and established the Song Dynasty.
the founding of the song dynasty was on the fifth day of the first month of the first year of jianlong (ad 96). "History of Song Dynasty, Biography of Taizu" said: "There must be a name of the world, which is called" Song "." Zhao Kuangyin took the word "Song" as the country title, and it is generally believed that Zhao's surname developed from this place because he served as our envoy in Songzhou (now in Shangqiu, Henan Province). In the words of Song Zhenzong in "Ascending Songzhou to Yingtianfu", Songzhou is "the land where the imperial industry is based".
The choice of a national title is often not a single factor, and so is Zhao Kuangyin's choice of "Song". It turns out that in ancient times, Songzhou was a "land of prosperity", and the Song State was born in the pre-Qin period. More importantly, the eldest son of Gao Xin (Di Ku), the ancestor of Shang Dynasty in ancient times, once moved here and served as the "fire leader" of Tang Yao, responsible for kindling. According to the theory of "Five Elements", Zhao Kuangyin's life belongs to "Fire Virtue", so the Song Dynasty is also called "Fire Song". Imagine that a dynasty that regards "fire" as a mascot meets the lucky "Vulcan", which is naturally a good thing. Furthermore, the Shang Dynasty was also called Yin Dynasty, or Yin Shang, and Zhao Kuangyin's father was called Zhao Hongyin. The two words "Yin" that crossed the historical time and space met magically, which was the "personnel meeting of Yin and Yang in heaven and earth". All kinds of coincidences decided that Zhao Kuangyin should choose the word "Song" as the title, because it was "God's will".
However, in fact, the word "Song" didn't bring much good luck to Zhao Jiangshan. On the contrary, it was bullied by Liao, Jin and Yuan in the north and forced to cede territory to send money for peace. The most shameful thing is that in February of the second year of Jingkang (AD 1127), Huizong and Qinzong were actually taken away by Jin Bing. After that, the Southern Song Dynasty, which lived in Lin 'an, was destroyed by the Mongols after a long period of instability, and the Song Dynasty finally disappeared from history.
Therefore, there is a folk saying that Zhao Kuangyin's chosen country name "Song" is unlucky. For example, Liu Xi, an exegetist in the Eastern Han Dynasty, did not value the word "Song". He said in "Interpreting the Name and Interpreting the State": "Song, send it. The ground meets Huaisi and leans southeast, thinking that if the cloud is dirty after Yin, it will be sent to the sea with the east. " If Zhao Kuangyin and his courtiers had considered Liu Xi's opinion, perhaps the Song Dynasty would have another title? Maybe you won't "send" Jiangshan to people early?
"Dayuan" ——
The name of the country
"The Book of Changes": "It is great to dry up the Yuan Dynasty, and it is to unify the sky from the beginning of all materials."
After the Mongolian army destroyed the Southern Song Dynasty, the first China ruled by ethnic minorities appeared in history. In November 1271, this China adopted Yuan as its national title, which was called Yuan Dynasty in history.
In fact, the title of the Yuan Dynasty was not a single word "Yuan", but a double word "Dayuan", which was the first time in ancient China. In the past, the so-called "Big Man", "Tang Dynasty" and "Da Song" were only honorifics with "Da" before the title, but they were not definite titles. After the Yuan Dynasty, it became a historical trend to use two-character or multi-character country titles, such as "Daming" and "Daqing".
In the early Yuan Dynasty, the national title was in Mongolian, which was transliterated in Chinese as "Mongolian Wulus" or "Great Mongolia" for short, which may be considered too long.