Sacred imperial title of the Chinese emperor
Inscription on Heng
gui
's lid (
恒??
;
??蓋
;
Heng gu? gai
), from
Western Zhou
period. Framed are the
graphs
天子 in
bronze script
.
Son of Heaven
, or
Tianzi
(
Chinese
:
天子
;
pinyin
:
Ti?nz?
), was the sacred monarchial and imperial title of the
Chinese sovereign
. It originated with the
Zhou dynasty
[1]
and was founded on the political and spiritual doctrine of the
Mandate of Heaven
. Since the
Qin dynasty
, the
secular imperial title
of the Son of Heaven was "
Huangdi
".
The title, "Son of Heaven", was subsequently adopted by other
Sinospheric
monarchs to justify their rule. The name
Celestial Empire
(or "Heavenly Dynasty") was also used in reference to the status of the Chinese emperor as the Son of Heaven in the Sinosphere.
The Son of Heaven was the supreme
universal monarch
, who ruled
tianxia
(means "all under heaven"). His status is rendered in English as "ruler of the whole world."
The title, "Son of Heaven", was interpreted literally only in
China
and
Japan
, whose monarchs were referred to as
demigods
,
deities
, or "
living gods
", chosen by
the gods and goddesses of heaven
.
History and adoption
[
edit
]
Son of Heaven
was a title of the
King Wu of Zhou
and subsequent Chinese sovereigns.
The title "Son of Heaven" (
Chinese
:
天子
;
pinyin
:
Ti?nz?
;
Middle Chinese
:
t?en t?s?
X
;
Old Chinese
(
B-S
):
*
l??in *ts??
) is attested earliest in
bronze inscriptions
dated to the reign of
King Kang of Zhou
.
[1]
This title stems from the concept of the
Mandate of Heaven
, created by the
Zhou dynasty
monarchs to justify their having deposed the
Shang dynasty
. They held that
Heaven
had revoked its mandate from the Shang and given it to the Zhou in retribution for Shang corruption and misrule. Heaven bestowed the mandate on whoever was most fit to rule. The title held the monarch responsible for the prosperity and security of his people by the threat of taking away his mandate.
"Son of Heaven" was often one of several titles adopted by Sinospheric monarchs. The
Emperor Taizong of Tang
held the title
"Son of Heaven", alongside the title "
Khan of Heaven
" (
Tengeri Qaghan
) which he had gained after
defeating
the
Eastern Turkic Khaganate
.
Japanese monarchs likewise used a second title,
tenn?
(
天皇
, "Heavenly Emperor")
, that, like "Son of Heaven", appealed to the emperor's connection to Heaven.
The title carried widespread influence across East Asia as the ancient Chinese monarchical title,
tianzi
(
天子
)
, "Son of Heaven", was later adopted by the
Emperor of Japan
during the
Asuka period
.
Japan sent
diplomatic missions to China
, then ruled by the
Sui dynasty
, and formed cultural and commercial ties with China.
Japan's
Yamato state
modeled its government after the Chinese Confucian imperial bureaucracy. A Japanese mission of 607 CE delivered a message from "the Son of Heaven in the
land where the sun rises
... to the Son of Heaven in the land where the sun sets."
But the Japanese emperor's title was less contingent than that of his Chinese counterpart; there was no divine mandate that would punish Japan's emperor for failing to rule justly. The right to rule of the Japanese emperor, descended from the sun goddess
Amaterasu
, was absolute.
Based on epitaphs dating to the 4th and 5th centuries,
Goguryeo
had concepts of the Son of Heaven (天帝之子) and
tianxia
.
[9]
[10]
[11]
The rulers of
Goryeo
used the titles of emperor and Son of Heaven and positioned Goryeo at the center of the
Haedong
(海東; "East of the Sea")
tianxia
, which encompassed the historical domain of the "
Samhan
", another name for the
Three Kingdoms of Korea
.
[12]
The title was also adopted in Vietnam, known in Vietnamese as
Thien t?
(
Ch? Han
: 天子). A divine mandate gave the Vietnamese emperor the right to rule, based not on his lineage but on his competence to govern.
Vietnam's adoption of a Confucian bureaucracy, presided over by Vietnam's Son of Heaven, led to the creation of a Vietnamese tributary system in Southeast Asia, modeled after the Chinese
Sinocentric system
in East Asia.
See also
[
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]
References
[
edit
]
General references
[
edit
]
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