[bìhuì] refers to a system in which in the ancient absolutist society of our country, in order to maintain the dignity of the hierarchical system, the name of the monarch or respected relatives cannot be directly spoken or written out when speaking or writing, so as to show respect.
The avoidance originated in the Zhou Dynasty, but there was no system at that time, and the rules for avoidance were not very strict. Until Qin Shi Huang established a unified centralized dynasty, the monarchy's monopoly was strengthened, the monarch was supreme, and the name could not be the same or homophonous as the people, so from the Qin and Han dynasties, the system of avoidance began to be strict.
The general principle of avoidance is: "Secrecy for His Holiness, secrecy for the pro-ones, secrecy for the sages." (The Ram Chronicles min A.D.)
That is to say, all the names of His Holiness, relatives, and sages should be considered and avoided. His Holiness mainly refers to the names of emperors (including the fathers and grandfathers of emperors) and high-ranking officials; relatives mainly refer to the names of elders in their immediate family, especially fathers and ancestors; sages mainly refer to the names of teachers.
For example, if a person's name is "An", then if he does not change his name, he is doomed to not be an official in Chang'an for the rest of his life; if a person's name is "Qing", then he cannot be an official to the gongqing; if a person is named "Jun", he cannot be an official to the general.
If anyone violates these taboos, they will be convicted of "great disrespect", and in some demanding dynasties, even the violators will be executed!
Maybe some readers have to say, if so, then change the name. However, changing your name can solve some of the problems of "keeping a secret for His Holiness", but can you change the name of your relatives?
Because, avoidance also "for relatives", avoidance at least traced back to their own ancestors, so that the problem is serious.
For example, Li He, who is known as the "poet ghost" of the Tang Dynasty, when he participated in the imperial examination in the fifth year of Yuan He (810), some people who were jealous of his talents released rumors that Li He's father's name was "Jinsu", "Jin" and "Jin", and that he was not allowed to participate in the scientific examination to become a jinshi according to the avoidance, although Han Yue vigorously defended him, but in the end there was no choice, and Li He had to leave the examination hall.
Of course, li he's example should be in the minority, and most of the time he still uses the method of changing his name to solve the problem of avoidance, but it is not the name of His Holiness that has been changed, but the word of the public because of His Holiness.
For example, Hengshan, one of the Five Peaks, was forcibly changed to "Changshan" by the Han Dynasty because it had the same name as Liu Heng, the Emperor of the Han Dynasty.
The word Xiucai was renamed "Maocai" during the Eastern Han Dynasty because it was necessary to avoid the name of Emperor Liu Xiu of the Han Dynasty.
There was a famous hermit in the Eastern Han Dynasty who was originally named Zhuang Guang, because his surname was "Zhuang", and he violated the secret of Liu Zhuang, the Emperor of Han Ming, and his surname was changed to "Yan", and his name changed from "Zhuang Guang" to "Yan Guang".
During the Jin Dynasty, in order to avoid Sima Zhao's name, Wang Zhaojun of the Han Dynasty, one of the "Four Beauties", was even renamed "Wang Mingjun".
Sima Rui, the emperor of the Jin Dynasty, had a favorite concubine named Zheng Chun, so all place names with "spring" were changed to "yang", and even the Confucian classic "Spring and Autumn" was changed to "Yang Qiu".
Emperor Gaozong of Song made zhao even more so, in order to avoid his name, the folk absolutely could not mention the word "dog", and was always called "dog".
After Emperor Taizong of Tang ascended the throne, in order to avoid his name, he changed "min" to "ren", and Liu Zongyuan's famous article "The Snake Catcher Said" in the "People's Style" in which "the people's style of the people is the way to go", of which "the style of the people" is "the style of the people".
Due to the strict hierarchy of avoidance and the variety of ways, there have also been many big jokes in the history of our country that have arisen due to avoidance.
According to the Ming Dynasty Chen Yaowen's "Records of Heaven", Qian Liangchen, the Governor of the Southern Song Dynasty (Vice Chancellor), had a son who was good at reading when he was young, and in order to avoid his father's name, he encountered the word "Liangchen" when he read and changed his name to "Daddy".
Later, once, the teacher asked him to study in the classroom, and happened to read "Mencius Confessions Next", when Qian Liangchen's son read "The so-called good minister of the present, the so-called thief of the ancients", he directly read "the so-called father of the present, the so-called thief of the ancients", and the teachers and students on the spot laughed unceasingly.
At the end of the Ming Dynasty, there was a Huguang inspector named Song Yihe, who wrote a report to his superior Yang Sichang (1588-1641), but his signature was always "Song Yi bird".
Why? It turned out that his superior Yang Sichang had a more bullish father named Yang He (the right attendant of the military department and the governor of the three sides), and Song Yihe could only turn the crane into a bird.
During the Eastern Jin Dynasty, the powerful minister Huan Xuan entertained a guest at home, and when the banquet was socializing, the wine was a little cold, and because the guest could not drink cold wine, he said to the servant on the side: "Warm my wine." ”
As soon as this sentence was uttered, Huan Xuan on the other side suddenly burst into tears. The guest was startled and asked him what was wrong, Huan Xuan did not say anything, just crying, until the wine was warmed up and did not stop.
After a while, the wine became cold again, and the guest carefully asked Huan Xuan: "My wine still needs to be warmed, and yours is also warm?" ”
Who knows, Huan Xuan cried loudly again, crying so loudly that the guests were frightened, I still don't drink this wine, hurry up!
Why is this Huan Xuan crying? The guests later remembered that Huan Xuan's father was Sima Huanwen, who opened his mouth in front of others and closed his mouth to "warm up, warm up", no wonder people would cry once at a time.
Probably the most famous joke in history about avoidance is the allusion to "only state officials are allowed to set fires, and the people are not allowed to light lamps."
During the Northern Song Dynasty, the taishou of Changzhou was named Tian Deng, who was tyrannical and arrogant, because he had a "Deng" character in his name, so the people in the prefecture were not allowed to say any word that was homophonous with the word "Deng" in conversation, otherwise they would be charged with "insulting the local governor".
When the annual Lantern Festival is approaching, it is customary to set off fireworks for three days in the state city and light three days of lanterns to celebrate. The state capital Yamen should post a notice in advance, so that the people will come to see the lights when the time comes.
However, this time, it made the clerk who gave the notice feel embarrassed. How to write it? The use of the word "lamp" violates the too much guard; without the word "lamp", the meaning cannot be clearly expressed. After thinking about it for a long time, the petty official who wrote the notice finally came up with a brilliant solution: change the word "lamp" to the word "fire." In this way, the notice reads "Honshu set fire to the fire for three days according to the custom."
The common people are already very dissatisfied with Tian Deng's tyranny and unreasonableness, and this time when they read this notice posted by the government, they were even more indignant, and said angrily: "Only the state officials are allowed to set fires, and the people are not allowed to light lamps. ”
Reference self:"Gakukokugaku Kamatsu"