Thenobility of China represented the upper strata of aristocracy in premodernChina, acting as theruling class until the late seventh to ninth centuries during theTang dynasty, and remaining a significant feature of the traditionalsocial structure until the end of theimperial period.[1]
The concepts ofhereditary sovereignty,peerage titles, andnoble families existed as early as the semi-mythical and early historical periods, but the systems ofenfeoffment and establishment only developed in theZhou dynasty, by the end of which a clear delineation of ranks had emerged. This process was a function of the interface between the ancientpatriarchal clan system, an increasingly sophisticated apparatus of state, and an evolvinggeopolitical situation. While the imperial peerage system described here refers to noble titles formally conferred and inherited under state authority, the so-called “aristocracy” discussed in relation to the medieval period (roughly the 3rd to 9th centuries) was not defined by such titles. Instead, it denoted a broader social stratum of powerful lineages whose elite status derived primarily from pedigree and bureaucratic officeholding rather than from imperially sanctioned noble ranks.[note 1]
By theTang dynasty (618–907 CE), these semi-hereditary aristocratic families, distinct from formal noble titles, were already in decline. Their political advantages steadily eroded as bureaucratic recruitment expanded beyond pedigree lines. Quantitative analyses of Tang elites indicate that this erosion began as early as the late seventh century, marking a sustained weakening of hereditary privilege long before the final century of the dynasty. Social mobility rose markedly during this period, while the influence of family pedigree on official attainment declined.[2][note 2] TheImperial examination system, which had existed in earlier forms, gained increasing institutional importance under the Tang and played an expanding role in official recruitment and social mobility.[3][4] This transformation effectively ended the power of the old aristocratic clans, replacing them with a more bureaucratic and merit-based elite.
The last, well-developed system of noble titles was established under the final imperial dynasty, theQing. TheRepublican Revolution of 1911 ended the official imperial system. Though some noble families maintained their titles and prestige for a time, new political and economic circumstances forced their decline. Today, this class has virtually disappeared.
The apex of the nobility is thesovereign. The title of the sovereign has changed over time, together with the connotations of the respective titles. Three levels of sovereignty could be distinguished: supreme rule overthe realm, relatively autonomous local sovereignty, and tributary vassalage. The supreme sovereign is the only office translated into English as the term "emperor". An emperor might appoint, confirm, or tolerate sub-sovereigns or tributary rulers styledkings.
As a title of nobility,Ba Wang,hegemon, denoted overlordship of several subordinate kings while refraining from claiming the title of emperor. Sovereigns holding the title of king of an individual state within and without the shifting borders of the Chinese political realm might be fully independent heads of foreign states, such as theKing of Korea. In some cases, they could be subordinate to foreign emperors just as territorial or tribal sovereignMongolkhans might be subject to one of severalKhagans orGreat khans.
Some Chinese emperors styled many or all close male relatives of certain kinds such aswang, a term for king or prince, although the sovereignty of such relatives was limited. Local tribal chiefs could also be termed "king" of a particular territory ranging from vast to tiny, using convenient terms of the form "(locality)" + "king" such as Changshawang, "King ofChangsha". Changsha was briefly recognized as a kingdom, but was usually a political subunit. "Barbarian" leaders could also be referred to by names such as Yiwang, "king of the EasternYi", while in other cases terms such astusi (土司, "native chief") might be used for the same office.
Family members of individual sovereigns were also born to titles – or granted them – largely according to family tree proximity. This included blood relatives and affinal relatives. Frequently, the parents of a founding dynast would be posthumously elevated to honorary sovereignty.
Titles translated in English as "prince" and "princess" were generally immediate or recent descendants of sovereigns, with increasing distance at birth from an ancestral sovereign in succeeding generations resulting in degradations of the particular grade of prince or princess, eventually to nullity. Rulers of smaller states were typically styled with lesser titles of aristocracy, which could be upgraded or downgraded with or without royal assent. Sometimes such an alteration in grade reflected real power dynamics; in other cases it was merely an act of public relations.
Also known asTianzi, "TheSon of Heaven" theChinese emperor wielded varying degrees of power 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 usuallytransmitted from father to son. Most often, the first-born son of the primary wife inherited the office, failing which the post was taken up by the first-born son of aconcubine or consort of lower rank, but this rule was not universal and disputed succession was the cause of a number of civil wars. The emperor's regime in the political theory ofHeaven's mandate allowed for a change in dynasty, and an emperor could be replaced by a rebel leader. The overthrow of an imperial house was sufficient evidence of the loss of the Mandate.
It was generally not accepted for a female to succeed to the throne as a sovereign regnantin her own right, rather than playing the role of a sovereign's consort or regent for a sovereign during his age of minority. Official Chinese histories list only one reigning empress,Empress Wu of Tang. However, there have been numerous cases in Chinese history wherea woman was the actual power behind the imperial throne.
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Hou (后: Empress, Queen, Empress Consort)[6] was a title granted to an official primary spouse of the polygynous male Chinese Emperor. It was also used for the mother of the Emperor, typically elevated to the rank ofEmpress Dowager (太后:Tai Hou, "Grand Empress") regardless of which spousal ranking she bore prior to the emperor's accession. In practice, many Chinese Empresses Dowager wielded great power— either as official regent for a young sovereign or with the influence of position within family social ranks. FromEmpress Lü of Han (r. 195–180 BCE) toEmpress Dowager Cixi of Qing (r. 1861–1908), some women unquestionably reigned supreme.
Imperial Consorts, ranking below Empress, aren't often distinguished in English from imperialConcubines, the next lower rank, but these were also titles of significance within the imperial household.
TheRites of Zhou states that Emperors are entitled to the following simultaneous spouses:
Sovereigns styledBa orBawang (霸王,hegemon-protector), asserted official overlordship of several subordinate rulers while refraining from claiming the royal title. This practice began in theSpring and Autumn period, spurred by a royal house too militarily weak to defend its own lands, in combination with an aristocracy flexing its power in novel ways. A later example of this title isXiang Yu (d. 202 BCE), who styled himself Xīchǔ Bàwáng, Hegemon ofChu.
It was a custom in China for the new dynasty to ennoble and enfeoff a member of the dynasty which they overthrew, so that they could maintain sacrifices to their ancestors. This practice was referred to as "the two crownings and three respects." (Chinese:二王三恪;pinyin:Èrwáng Sānkè)
It is said that when the purportedXia dynasty was overthrown by theShang dynasty, Xia descendants were given a title and fiefs by the Shang King inQi (杞) andZeng.
When the Shang dynasty wasoverthrown by theZhou dynasty, the Zhou King granted a Shang royal scion the titleGong and fief ofSong.
In 220 CE,Emperor Xian of Han abdicated his throne toCao Pi, who granted the previous emperor the title Duke of Shanyang (山陽公). His line persisted until 309.
The Emperors ofShu Han came from a cadet branch of the Han dynasty. WhenCao Wei defeated the Shu Han EmperorLiu Shan, he and his family were granted noble titles under the new regime.
When theEastern Wu was defeated by theWestern Jin dynasty, the Jin Emperor granted the Eastern Wu EmperorSun Hao the title of "Marquis of Guiming". Sun Hao's sons were made junior officials in the Jin government.
A number of outgoing emperors during the kaleidoscopicSix Dynasties period were enfeoffed by their overthrowers and subsequently killed anyway. This specific vicissitude was shared byEmperor Gong of Jin,Emperor Shun of Liu Song,Emperor He of Southern Qi, andEmperor Jing of Liang, representing consecutive dynasties between 421 and 558. The child emperorGao Heng of theNorthern Qi dynasty experienced a similar narrative arc two decades later.
Thispractice continued all the way through theXinhai Revolution of 1911, when the Republic of China allowed the last Qing Emperor to stay in the Forbidden City and keep his title, treating him as a foreign monarch until 1924. The descendants of Confucius were maintained in the title ofDuke Yansheng until 1935 when the title was changed to Sacrificial Official to Confucius (大成至聖先師奉祀官), which remains as a position to this day, currently held byKung Tsui-chang.
TheZhou dynasty not only preceded the full unification of early China under theQin dynasty, the first empire whose realm would subsequently be considered to extend broadly enough to be national in the context of the territorial concept of China, theZhouli, Rites of Zhou were subsequently canonized byConfucius among his ConfucianChinese classics as a model precedent in principles of government, so ranks of nobility in later regimes both in periods of unified sovereignty and of competing smaller states would typically draw from its catalog of peerage. From Zhouli, later Confucian political philosophy and government publications, and from the surrounding historical literature of particular individuals, localities and events, the following social classifications have been attested.
The social system of theZhou dynasty is sometimes referred to as the Chinesefeudalism and was the combination offengjian (enfeoffment and establishment) andzongfa (clan law). Male subjects were classified into, in descending order of rank:
Zongfa (宗法, clan law), which applied to all social classes, governed theprimogeniture of rank and succession of other siblings. The eldest son of theconsort would inherit the title and retained the same rank within the system. Other sons from the consort,concubines andmistresses 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) andShi (士) became synonyms of court officials.
In theWestern Zhou period, ranks were not systematized. There were titles that indicated political authority as well as those concerned with seniority in the ancestral temple.[8] These were not mutually exclusive, and the names of some ranks could also be used as generic terms of respect to varying degrees in different circumstances. The most common titles were as follows:
As central authority crumbled, the aristocracy found itself needing to signal who had more land, power, and resources. During this time the titles they had been using started to take on a more systematized structure.[19] After a few hundred years, political thinkers saw this emergent structure and projected it idealistically and anachronistically backwards into a past where it had not actually held.[20] This was calledWǔděngjuéwèi (五等爵位), five (aristocratic) peerage ranks (abbreviatedWǔjué) below the royal ranks. This idealized structure was later implemented as policy during the early imperial period.[21] Much later English translators attempted to map European-style feudal titles onto these. These titles were also used much later inMeiji-periodJapan to name the ranks of theKazoku.
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 aprincess orgōngzhǔ (公主), and incorporated her associated place into her title if she had one.
Besides the systematized ranks listed above, there were also other familial appellations used as titles, e.g.Bo (伯; such asBo Qin of Lu, later, its usage changed to titles forhegemony andcountship),Zhong (仲; such asGuo Zhong [zh], younger brother of King Wen of Zhou),Shu (叔; such as several younger brothers of King Wu of Zhou,Guanshu Xian,Wei Kangshu, etc.), andJi (季; such asRanji Zai [zh]), birth order terms meaning "eldest," "second eldest," "third eldest," and "youngest" (Shu was later used by extension to denote a father's younger brother); andJiu (舅, maternal uncle).
Sons of kings who did not receive other titles were generically calledWangzi (王子, king's son), and their childrenWangsun (王孫, royal scion). Similarly, sons and grandsons of dukes and lords were calledGongzi (公子, duke's son) andGongsun (公孫, noble descendant).
These honorifics occasionally became heritable titles, no longer indicating relation with the reigning king. Some clans even took them aslineage names.Gongzi eventually evolved into the generic honorific for all young gentry. Today it is either used as a flattering way to address an interlocutor's son, or a pejorative term for a wealthy man.Wangzi, on the other hand, is used today as the generic translation for the sons of a foreign monarch.
The southernstate of Chu had a notably distinct culture from the central plain states, including the nobility system. The royalancestral temple kinship group surnamed Xiong and its branch lineages of Qu, Jing, and Zhao formed the main nobility of Chu. Within the elite, Chu's early period mirrored that ofPredynastic Zhou, the aristocratic ancestral temples and clan lineages sufficing to determine social position, without an additional expressly political dimension.[22] Chu's formal system of rank appeared around the late Spring and Autumn period, similar to the remainder of the Zhou confederation, but with different titles such asTonghou (通侯, marquis-peer),Zhigui (執珪, jade scepter bearer),Zhibo (執帛, silk bearer). Their political offices also differed in name even where scope of responsibilities did not. Noble ranks, bestowed primarily as reward for military and civil service, and not in principle heritable, came with a state stipend. Holders of the highest ranks also received fiefs and the honorific titleJun (君, lord), such asLord Chunshen.
The full systematization of ranks pioneered by theQin dynasty took a bit longer to overcome Chu's distinct culture, such that the Han founderLiu Bang, being of Chu origin, also awarded distinctly Chu titles.
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Other titles might be tailored down to a single individual being officially honored for a particular achievement, with or without executive portfolio following the granting of the title, and might truly be titles outside the executive government structure, even when words used in their phrasing would otherwise imply executive office, e.g.,
Protector General (都護; Duhu) – for example,Ban Chao.
On the other hand, victorious generals were often granted official praise-names or names implying particular old and new duties or some combination of these, which would be quasi-executive or fully executive titles honored as much like peerage as like actual military rank, as in the case ofLiu Bei promotingGuan Yu to a rank phrased as General Who Exterminates Bandits (蕩寇將軍) during the active course of Guan Yu's military career.
InDutch East Indies (modern-day Indonesia), the Dutch authorities appointed Chinese officers to the colonial administration to oversee the governance of the colony's Chinese subjects.[23] These officials bore the ranks ofMajoor,Kapitein orLuitenant der Chinezen, and had extensive political and legal jurisdiction over the local Chinese community.[23] Their descendants bore the hereditary title ofSia, and constituted theCabang Atas or the Chinese gentry of colonial Indonesia.[24]
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