The Qianlong Emperor gave birth to a total of 17 princes. When the Qianlong Emperor named them, they all used "Yong" as a generation, followed by a word with the word "Wang" as a side, such as the Emperor's eldest son Yong Huang, the Emperor's second son Yong Lian, the Emperor's third son Yong Zhang, the Emperor's fourth son Yong Jun, the Emperor's fifth son Yong Qi, and so on.
The fifteenth son of the Qianlong Emperor was named Yongyan. In the winter of 1773, the Qianlong Emperor secretly made Yongyan crown prince. In 1796, the Qianlong Emperor announced his return to power and ceded the throne to Yongyan. Yongyan immediately ascended the throne as emperor and changed his era name to "Jiaqing". Therefore, Yongyan was known as the Jiaqing Emperor.
Jiaqing Emperor
The temple name after the jiaqing emperor's death was "Renzong". In ancient China, there were only a few emperors who could get the temple number "Renzong". There were only a few people, such as Zhao Zhen of Song Renzong, Zhu Gaozi of Mingrenzong, and Yongyan of Qingrenzong. These renzong houses are very generous and benevolent, and their administrative style is very generous and benevolent.
This can be seen from the fact that the Jiaqing Emperor changed his name.
After the Jiaqing Emperor succeeded to the throne, he changed his name from "Yongyan" to "Yongyan". Although the pronunciation of "yong" and "颙" is the same, both pronounce "yong", but the meaning is far from the same. More importantly, the structure of the word "颙" is more complex than the word "Yong". Why did the Jiaqing Emperor change it in this way?
In a word: it is convenient for civil and military officials and ordinary people around the world to avoid secrets.
The Qing Dynasty had a strict system of avoidance. The name of the emperor is also hidden.
For example, the name of the Kangxi Emperor was Xuan Ye, and when everyone wrote the word "Xuan" or "Ye" in a pen, they had to choose a similar word to replace it. If you directly write the word "Xuan" or "Ye", you will commit a crime of great disrespect, cause great trouble, and even kill yourself. The north gate of the Forbidden City was originally called Xuanwu Gate, but it was renamed Shenwu Gate because it wanted to avoid the name of the Kangxi Emperor. There is a Xuanwu Lake in Nanjing, which was a famous imperial garden during the Ming Dynasty, and in the Kangxi Dynasty, in order to avoid the name of the Kangxi Emperor, it was renamed Yuanwu Lake, and it was not changed back to the name of Xuanwu Lake until the Republic of China period.
Nanjing Xuanwu Lake
For another example, the Yongzheng Emperor's name was Yin Chan. After the Yongzheng Emperor succeeded to the throne, in order to avoid secrecy, the names of all his brothers were changed, Yinfu was changed to Yunzhen, Yinrong was changed to Yunfu... Only the thirteenth son of the Emperor, Yin Xiang, had a good relationship with Yin Chan, and made extraordinary contributions to the Yongzheng Emperor, and was allowed to change from Yun Xiang back to Yin Xiang, which is an example of a courtier in the Qing Dynasty who did not shy away from the emperor's name.
For example, the Qianlong Emperor's name was Hongli. After the Qianlong Emperor succeeded to the throne, although he claimed that the name avoidance was "the end of the text" and there was no need to engage in this set, he also ordered that the avoidance of the name be implemented in the imperial examination, stipulating that all those who "write straight books to the temple, the imperial name, and the ancestor Confucius" need to be punished with three punishments. That is to say, as long as the candidates write the words "Hong" and "Calendar" in the examination paper, there is no lack of pen to show respect, and all 3 subjects will be suspended. The Qing Dynasty examination was a subject for 3 years. For 9 years, he was unable to take the exam, and the candidate's path to the examination was basically cut off.
Qing Dynasty imperial examination
The Jiaqing Emperor believed that the "Yong" character in his name "Yongyan" was a commonly used Chinese character, both official and non-governmental, and the frequency of use was very high. If you continue to use the word "Yong" in your name, you will cause a series of huge changes. After that, the civil and military officials and the common people of the world could neither use the word "yong" in their names, nor could they mention this word when writing. Instead of this, it is better to change a strange word that is not commonly used. In this way, the civil and military officials and the common people of the world can continue to use the word "Yong", and his brothers do not need to change their names.
Therefore, the Jiaqing Emperor abandoned the word "Yong" and changed it to "颙". Since then, "Yongyan" has become "Yongyan".
Jiaqing Emperor and Empress
There is no doubt that the Jiaqing Emperor's approach was very generous and had a lot to do with his benevolent character. The Jiaqing Emperor became the first emperor of the Qing Dynasty to change his name, and after him, successive emperors imitated it.
The second son of the Jiaqing Emperor (concubine), Mianning, succeeded to the throne in 1820 as the Daoguang Emperor. The Daoguang Emperor changed his name to "Minning". The fourth son of the Daoguang Emperor, Yixuan, succeeded to the throne in 1850 as the Xianfeng Emperor. The Xianfeng Emperor was troublesome, did not change his name, and allowed the brothers to keep their names, but when everyone wrote these two words, the last stroke was not written, as a evasion.
Daoguang Emperor
After the Xianfeng Emperor, the Tongzhi Emperor Zaichun had no brothers and did not need to change his name. Both the Guangxu Emperor and the last emperor Puyi succeeded to the emperor as stepsons. At that time, internal and external troubles were constant, and everyone was very busy, and they could not take care of this set of secrets, and no longer changed their names.
Since then, the avoidance of names has gradually become history.