The temple number is one of the titles for the emperor. The temple number originated in the Shang Dynasty, and future generations put the deceased ancestors into the temple for worship. However, it is not that all monarchs are entitled to the offerings of later generations, only those monarchs who have made a particularly great contribution to the country and are worthy of sacrifice in later generations can be put into the temple, and they are eligible to have a temple number. Before the Tang Dynasty, a dynasty had only a maximum of seven monarchs eligible for temple numbers, and this was the rule. Of course, rules are dead, people are alive. Many dynasties still broke this rule and became emperors. But there was a dynasty that was very powerful, and this dynasty strictly adhered to this rule, and it was the Han Dynasty. For more than four hundred years in the two Han Dynasties, there were a total of 28 emperors, only 7 temple numbers, and none of them exceeded the standard.
In 202 BC, Liu Bang officially proclaimed himself emperor, which marked the establishment of the Western Han Dynasty. In 8 AD, Wang Mang established himself as emperor and changed the name of the country to "Xin", and the Western Han Dynasty fell. The Western Han Dynasty existed for 210 years, from Liu Bang, the ancestor of the Han Dynasty, to his widows and babies, and there were a total of 15 emperors. In 25 AD, Liu Xiu, who claimed to be a member of the Western Han imperial family, became emperor and continued to use the state name of Han, which is regarded as a continuation of the Western Han Dynasty. In 220 AD, Cao Pi forced Emperor Chan of Han to give up, and the Eastern Han Dynasty collapsed. The Eastern Han Dynasty existed for 196 years and went through 13 emperors. The two Han Dynasties added up to a total of 406 years and 28 emperors. Although there were more emperors in the Han Dynasty, there was no chaos in terms of temple numbers. This was still rare in ancient dynasties.
As mentioned earlier, the temple number was only after the death of the monarch. Generally speaking, it is based on the life of the monarch that it is decided whether to give them a temple number, and only those who contribute a lot are those who have made a big contribution. Therefore, many monarchs want to get the temple number after death. There were a total of 28 emperors in the two Han Dynasties, and there were indeed many Ming Emperors in them. However, even if there are more Ming Jun, only 7 people are eligible for a temple number. Today we look at the seven emperors of the two Han Dynasties with temple numbers and what they contributed.
Han Taizu Liu Bang
It is estimated that many people will think that I wrote wrong, it should be Han Gao Zu Liu Bang. In fact, Liu Bang's temple name is Taizu, and his nickname is Gao, so he is also called Emperor Taizugao. After a long time, everyone directly called Han Gaozu. Inside the temple number, there is Gao Zu, such as Tang Gaozu Li Yuan, but the disparity between Gao Zu and Taizu is very large, and the two are not a grade at all. Taizu's grade is much higher than Gaozu's. And Liu Bang's temple number is the high-grade Taizu. For the origin of Liu Bangmiao number, everyone must not question, he is the founding prince of the Western Han Dynasty, should have his own temple number, this is the iron law. The temple number of the founding prince should be Zu, and he himself is a self-made man, and it is reasonable to call taizu. As for Liu Bang's exploits, there is no need to introduce them, and many people are more familiar with them. However, the establishment of the Western Han Dynasty alone is enough.
Emperor Taizong of Han Liu Heng
It is said that many people in Han Taizong may not be familiar with him, but his nickname is very familiar to everyone - Emperor Wen of Han. Generally speaking, the second temple number of each dynasty is Taizong. According to the provisions of the Law of The Prophet, the founding king is the ancestor, and the king who keeps the formation is the sect. The founding ancestors are generally Taizu, Gaozu and the like, and there are not many types. But there are many types of sects, Sejong, Zhaozong, Renzong, and so on, and the highest of the sects is Taizong. Tai means first, he is the first sect in the dynasty. The emperor who owns this temple name is generally the second emperor, or the emperor who did not know the founding of the country. Emperor Taizong meant that he could fully inherit the will of the founding emperor. The first person to fully inherit the will of the founding emperor is certainly not ordinary in ability, so the ability of those who have this temple number is also relatively strong.
If we look at Liu Heng's contributions during his reign, we can see that he really deserves this temple name. Before he ascended the throne, the country had just experienced the Zhulu Rebellion, and the Western Han Dynasty was at a crossroads. After Liu Heng ascended the throne, "exerted great efforts to govern, built water conservancy, strictly practiced frugality and simplicity, abolished corporal punishment, and realized the country's prosperity and the people's well-off", the country moved toward ztex. In dealing with the Huns, he continued to use peaceful and pro-means to maintain the stability of the border. He laid the foundation for the later development of the Han Dynasty and was fully worthy of Emperor Taizong's temple title.
Han Shizong Liu Che
Liu Che's nickname was Emperor Wu of Han, which everyone was all too familiar with. Many people are familiar with Liu Che's contribution, but he is a person with the same name as Qin Shi Huang and has a major impetus to the development of the entire Chinese civilization. He was fully qualified to have his own temple number, and if he did not qualify, the emperors behind him were almost not qualified to have a temple number. Sejong's meaning in the temple number is the king of shoucheng. "Shi" has the meaning of inheriting and carrying forward. Looking at it this way, this temple number is very appropriate for Emperor Wu of Han. After he succeeded to the throne, he really carried it forward. He further carried forward the system of centralized power of the feudal monarchy, and if it were not for him, the feudal system would not have been passed down in our country for more than two thousand years. For this nickname, Liu Che deserved it.
Emperor Zhongzong of Hanzhong asked Liu
Emperor Liu of Hanzhong's courtesy name was Emperor Xuan of Han, and many people knew who it was. Zhongzong has the meaning of Zhongxing in the temple number, generally for those emperors who turned the dynasty into safety, if we understand Liu Yuan's situation, we know that he is indeed a monarch who turned the Western Han Dynasty into a security. In the later period of the reign of Emperor Wu of Han, due to his relatively faint and perennial foreign conquests, the people's livelihood withered. The entire Western Han Dynasty was on the verge of extinction, and it was at this time that Liu Qing became emperor with huo Guang's support. After Liu Guang ascended the throne, huo Guang held great power in the previous few years, and after Huo Guang's death, Liu Guang took over the power alone. Under his rule, the Western Han Dynasty was renewed, and the people's lives were rich and the corruption of officials was improved. Even Emperor Wu of Han, who did not pacify the Xiongnu, was defeated during Liu Qian's reign.
In general, during The reign of Liu Yuan, the national strength of the Western Han Dynasty reached its peak, so it is also called Xiaoxuan Zhongxing. In any case, the temple number of Zhongzong was most suitable for Liu Xiang.
Han Shizu Liu Xiu
Liu Xiu, the ancestor of the Han Dynasty, was also Liu Xiu, the Guangwu Emperor of the Eastern Han Dynasty. The four emperors mentioned above are all emperors of the Western Han Dynasty, and liu xiu is talking about the emperors of the Eastern Han Dynasty. When talking about Emperor Shizong of Han, Liu Che said that the world has the meaning of inheriting and carrying forward. The "shizu" of "shizu" also has the meaning of inheritance and glory. However, the "ancestor" behind this is the meaning of the founding prince. In the temple number, this is equivalent to him playing the world again. If you look at it this way, Liu Xiu is also completely in line with this meaning. After all, the Eastern Han Dynasty was founded by him, and there is nothing wrong with the temple name being the ancestor. Of course, not only is his temple number similar to Liu Che's, but his nickname is also very similar. Liu Che's courtesy name was "Emperor Wu of Han", and Liu Xiu's courtesy name was "Emperor Guangwu of Han". To put it bluntly, they are all weapons, and their military contributions are very large. Since a dynasty cannot have two people with the same name, it has added a light to him.
Leaving aside Liu Xiu's other merits, the mere re-establishment of the Han Dynasty was enough to entitle him to the temple title of Shizu.
Han Xianzong Liu Zhuang
Emperor Xianzong of Han, Liu Zhuang, courtesy name Xiaoming Emperor. He was the son of Liu Xiu and the second emperor of the Eastern Han Dynasty. Throughout Liu Zhuang's life, we can find that what he did was very similar to a person, that is, Liu Heng of Han Taizong. After Liu Zhuang succeeded to the throne, the people lived and worked in peace and contentment, and the people lived a prosperous life. Militarily, he ordered Ban to go beyond the Western Regions, set up the Western Regions Capital Protection, and regain control of the Western Regions. Not only that, he also introduced Buddhism to China, which had a major impact on the cultural development of our country. If the Liu Xiu temple number of the Eastern Han Dynasty is called Han Taizu, liu Zhuang's temple number should definitely be Taizong, and everything he does is more in line with the requirements of the Taizong temple number. But who called them the Eastern Han Dynasty, the Western Han Already had Emperor Taizong. So he could only call other temple numbers, so he chose the sutra. Manifesting in the temple number has the meaning of carrying forward and expanding, which means to carry forward the inheritance of the ancestors. To put it bluntly, it is similar to sejong's meaning. And Liu Zhuang's life did meet the requirements of the sutra.
Emperor Suzong of Han
Emperor Suzong of Han's courtesy name was Emperor Zhang of Han. He was the third emperor of the Eastern Han Dynasty to have a temple number, and the last emperor in the Eastern Han Dynasty to have a temple number. Because there were already four emperors in the Western Han Dynasty with temple numbers, he was exactly the seventh in line, so he was the last. Emperor Zhangdi's exploits were similar to those of his father, Emperor Ming of Han, and during his reign, the people lived and worked in peace and contentment, and the economy developed rapidly, which was also counted as a Ming Jun. The reason why his temple number is Su is that I personally think that there is a certain relationship with the name. At the beginning of the chapter, we said that during the Shang Dynasty, there were only seven temple numbers, and there was no Suzong in these seven temple numbers. Many temple names in later generations were chosen from the name of the temple, and the word "Su" is interpreted in the tantra as "Gangdek is known as Su; Insistent determination is known as Su; Widek is known as Su; Zhengyi is taken down; He can carry out the Tao of Women; and good virtue is not slackened." In layman's terms, it means to be diligent in government and love the people.
Judging from Liu Zhao's political achievements, he had no problem with this temple name. In any case, he was a Ming Jun, after all, there were relatively few Ming Jun in the Eastern Han Dynasty.
These are the seven emperors of the Two Han Dynasties with temple numbers. There are only 7 regulations in the temple number, and there are only seven in the Han Dynasty, which really strictly abides by the rules of the game. Of course, it does not mean that the Han Dynasty people talked about the rules of the game. As mentioned earlier, the temple number is decided by the descendants after the death of the emperor not to give it, because the temple number is good, so many people hope that their ancestors can have a temple number. Because of this, many people want to give their ancestors a temple number. The original temple numbers of the two Han Dynasties were not seven at all, and later became seven.
In the Western Han Dynasty, there were originally seven emperors with temple numbers, except for the above four, the Temple number of Emperor Yuan of Han was Gaozong, the temple number of Emperor Hancheng was Tongzong, and the temple number of Emperor Ping of Han was Yuanzong. The latter three were abolished during the Eastern Han Dynasty. The reason why the Eastern Han Dynasty abolished their temple numbers was very simple, the first was that their contribution was too small to deserve to have temple numbers. The second is that the Eastern Han Dynasty said that it was inheriting the Western Han Dynasty, if the Western Han Dynasty had seven temple numbers, it meant that the Eastern Han Dynasty did not have a temple number, then Liu Xiu was definitely not happy. So Liu Xiu removed three and left three places for the Eastern Han Dynasty. Removing Liu Xiu's own one, the emperor behind the Eastern Han Dynasty only had two places.
Although the Eastern Han Dynasty initially had only two quotas, the emperor did not comply. In addition to the above three emperors have temple numbers, the temple number of Han He Emperor is Muzong, the temple number of Emperor An of Han is Gongzong, the temple number of Emperor Shun of Han is Jingzong, and the temple number of Emperor Huan of Han is Weizong. The total is also seven, but later generations feel that these four emperors are really not good, plus they are together with the Western Han Dynasty, and the total number of places is only seven, so they are abolished.
It is precisely in this way that the combined temple number of the two Han emperors did not exceed the standard. Although other emperors of the two Han Dynasties also had emperors, only these seven were recognized. Therefore, the gold content of the Han Dynasty Emperor's temple number is high. In the dynasty after the Han Dynasty, the temple number became more and more chaotic. Since the Tang Dynasty, every emperor has his own temple number, and the temple number has begun to rot the street. This has also led to the temple number becoming less and less valuable.
Resources:
"History", "Book of Han", "Book of later Han"