The
nobility of China were an important feature of traditional social and political organization of the
Chinese civilization. While the concepts of hereditary titles and noble families were featured as early as the semi-mythical early historical period, a settled system of nobility was established from the
Zhou Dynasty. In the subsequent millennia, this system was largely maintained in form, with some changes and additions, although the content constantly evolved. The last, well-developed system of noble titles was established under the
Qing Dynasty. In 1911, the overthrow of the imperial system saw the dissolution of the nobility. Though some noble families maintained their titles and dignity for a time, new political and economic circumstances forced their decline. The fact that most existing nobles were of the
Manchu ethnicity, a ruling elite under the Qing dynasty, but an ethnic minority like any other under the new Republic, resulted in minimal popular recognition of their nobility. Today, the nobility as a class is almost entirely dissipated in China, and only a very few maintain any pretense or claim to noble titles, which are almost universally unrecognized.
The Sovereign
The apex of the nobility is the Sovereign. The title of the sovereign has changed over time, together with the connotations of the respective titles.
In the earliest, semi-mythical age, the sovereign was titled either
huang (Chinese: 皇 huáng) or
di (Chinese: 帝 dì). Together, these rulers were called the
Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors.
- The King during the Xia and Shang dynasties called themselves di (Chinese: 帝 dì)
- The King during the Zhou dynasty was called Wang (Chinese: 王 or 國王; wáng), was the title of the Chinese head of state until the Qin dynasty. The title "Wang" should not be confused with the common surname, which has no royal implications. A King can be subordinate to an Emperor.
Although formally "The Son of Heaven," the power of the
emperor varied between different emperors and different dynasties, with some emperors being absolute rulers and others being figureheads with actual power in the hands of court factions,
eunuchs, the bureaucracy or noble families.
The title of emperor was usually transmitted from father to son. Most often, the first-born son of the
empress inherited the office, failing which the post was taken up by the first-born son of a
concubine or consort of lower rank, but this rule was not universal and disputed succession was the cause of a number of
civil wars. Unlike in
Japan, traditional Chinese political theory allowed for a change in dynasty, and an emperor could be replaced by a rebel leader. This was because a successful rebel leader was believed to enjoy the mandate of heaven, while the deposed or defeated emperor had lost favour with the gods, and his mandate was over, a fact made apparent to all by his defeat.
It was generally not possible for a female to succeed to the throne, so that in history of China there has only been one reigning
empress, the
Empress Wu, whose reign punctuated the
Tang dynasty. However, there have been numerous cases in Chinese history where a woman was the actual power behind the imperial throne (see
éminence grise).
Princehood and Peerage
Fengjian and Zongfa of the Zhou Dynasty
The social system of the
Zhou Dynasty is sometimes referred to as the Chinese proto-
feudalism and was the combination of
Fengjian (Honors and Awards) and
Zongfa (Clan Law).
Male aristocracies were classified into, in descending order of rank:
- the gentlemen ministers (of the royal court) – Qing (卿 qīng),
- the gentlemen bureaucrats – Daifu (大夫 dà fū)
Fengjian (Honors and Awards) divided the
noble class further into (originally) five ranks. The sizes of troops and domains a male noble would command would be determined by his rank of
peerage:
While before the
Han Dynasty a
peer with a place name in his title actually governed that place, it had only been nominally true since. Any male member of the nobility or
gentry could be called a
gongzi (公子 gōng zǐ) (or
wangzi (王子 wáng zǐ) if he is a son of a king, i.e.
prince).
Zongfa (宗法, Clan Law), which applied to all social classes, governed the
primogeniture of rank and succession of other
siblings. The eldest son of the
consort would inherit the title and retained the same rank within the system. Other sons from the consort,
concubines and
mistresses would be given titles one rank lower than their father.
As time went by, all terms had lost their original meanings nonetheless.
Qing (卿),
Daifu (大夫) and
Shi (士) became
synonyms of court officials.
Physicians were often called
Daifu during the
Late Imperial China. Referring to a male or self-reference of a male as
Gongzi eventually became a way to raise one's
mianzi (refer to
Face (social concept)), and would indeed be considered flattery today.
Female Nobility
Titles of
female members of the aristocracies varied in different dynasties and eras, each having unique classifications for the spouses of the emperor. Any female member excluding a spouse of an emperor can be called a
princess or
gongzhu (公主 gōng zhǔ), and incorporated her associated place into her title if she had one.
History
Before the
Qin dynasty,
Wang (
king) was the title for the ruler of whole China. Under him were the
Zhuhou or
nobles, who were the local warlords. They had the duty to support the
Zhou king during an emergency. In the
Spring and Autumn Period, the Zhou kings had lost most of their powers, and the most powerful
Zhuhou became the
de facto ruler of China. Finally, in the
Warring States Period, most
Zhuhou declared themselves
Wang or kings, and regarded themselves as equal to the Zhou king. After Zheng, king of the state of
Qin, later known as
Qin Shi Huang, defeated all other
Wang and unified China, he took a new title
Huangdi (
emperor). Qin Shi Huang eliminated noble titles, as he sponsored
legalism and it believed in merit, not birth. He forced all nobles to the capital, seized their land, turned them into administrative districts with officials ruling them selected for merit. After the demise of
Qin Er Shi, the last Qin ruler to used the title
Huangdi (his successor
Ziying used the title
King of Qin rather Emperor),
Xiang Yu styled himself Hegemon King of Western Chu (Xichu Bàwáng 西楚霸王) rather than Emperor. Xiang Yu gave
King Huai of Chu II the title of
Emperor of Chu (楚義帝) or
The Righteous Emperor of Southern Chu (南楚義帝) and awarded the rest of his allies, including
Liu Bang, titles and a place to administer. Xiang Yu gave Liu Bang the Principality of Han, and he would soon replace him as the ruler of China.
The founder of the
Han Dynasty,
Liu Bang, continued to use the title
Huangdi. In order to appease his wartime allies, he gave each of them a piece of land as their own "kingdom" (
Wangguo) along with a title of
Wang. He eventually killed all of them and replaced them with members of his family. These kingdoms remained effectively independent until the
Rebellion of the Seven States. Since then,
Wang became merely the highest hereditary title, which roughly corresponded to the title of
prince, and, as such, was commonly given to relatives of the emperor. The title
Gong also reverted purely to a
peerage title, ranking below
Wang. Those who bore such titles were entirely under the auspices of the emperor, and had no ruling power of their own. The two characters combined to form the rank,
Wanggong, grew to become
synonymous with all higher court officials.
During the
Tang dynasty, nobles lost most of their power to the
mandarins when
imperial examination replaced the
nine-rank system.
Subsequent dynasties expanded the hereditary titles further. It should be noted, however, that not all titles of peerage are hereditary, and the right to continue the heredity passage of a very high title was seen as a very high honour; at the end of the
Qing dynasty, there were five grades of
princes, amongst a myriad of other titles. For details, see
Qing Dynasty nobility.
A few Chinese families enjoyed hereditary titles in the full sense, the chief among them being the
Holy Duke of Yen (the descendant of
Confucius); others, such as the lineal descendants of
Wen Tianxiang, ennobled the Duke of Xingguo, not choosing to use their hereditary title. The Imperial Clansmen consisted of those who trace their descent direct from the founder of the
Qing dynasty, and were distinguished by the privilege of wearing a yellow girdle; collateral relatives of the imperial house wore a red girdle. Twelve degrees of nobility (in a descending scale as one generation succeeds another) were conferred on the descendants of every emperor; in the thirteenth generation the descendants of emperors were merged in the general population, save that they retain the yellow girdle. The heads of eight houses, the Iron-capped (or helmeted) princes, maintained their titles in perpetuity by rule of
primogeniture in virtue of having helped the
Manchu conquest of China.
All titles of nobility were officially abolished when China became a
republic in 1912. They were briefly revived under
Yuan Shikai's empire and after
Zhang Xun's coup. The
last emperor was allowed to keep his title but was treated as a foreign monarch until the 1924 coup.
Manchukuo also had titles of nobility.
Other Historical Chinese Titles
Protector General (都護; Duhu) – See e.g.
Ban Chao.
List of people given peerage by Yuan Shikai
Yuan Shikai resurrected the system, in his
Empire of China (1915-1916)Prince of the First Rank Wuyi (武義親王 Wǔyì qīn wáng)
Dukes of the First Rank (一等公 Yī děng gōng)
Marquesses of the First Rank (一等侯 Yī děng hóu)
Counts of the First Rank (一等伯 Yī děng bó)
Viscounts of the First Rank (一等子 Yī děng zǐ)
Barons of the First Rank (一等男 Yī děng nán)
Baron of the Third Rank (三等男 Sān děng nán)
Styles for Foreign Monarchs
Traditional Chinese political theory held that "All lands under Heaven belong to the emperor, all people under Heaven belong, are subjects of the emperor." (普天之下，莫非王土;率土之濱,莫非王臣). Thus, a foreign monarch would also be referred to as
Wang, implying that one was inferior in rank and thus subject to the Chinese Emperor.
In modern Chinese, a
king is referred to as a
Wang, while an
emperor would be referred to as
Huangdi. The king in those times were referred to as the mandate of heaven. Therefore
Victoria of the United Kingdom was styled
Nü-Wang (Queen) of the United Kingdom of
Great Britain and
Ireland, and
Nü-Huang (Empress) of
India.
