Abstract
Since the beginning of the Warring States period, the titles of Qin monarchs had undergone changes from Gong (公), Ba (伯), Wang (king 王), and Di (帝), to “Huang Di” (emperor 皇帝) eventually. This development was closely associated with the evolving political order from the Warring States period to a unified Qin Empire. In its preliminary expansions of Xian Gong (獻公) and Xiao Gong (孝公) era, Qin relied heavily on the support from the weakened Zhou royal families, who had bestowed the title “Ba” (伯) to Xiao Gong. The statement “the beginning year of Hui Wen Jun’s (惠文君) rule” indicates a change of reign designation after declaration of kingship in the previous year, while the title “Wang” (king 王) is still different from “Tianzi” (Son of Heaven天子). Qin declared kingship relatively late but in a forcible way by conferring land to lords and establishing a system of commanderies and counties. The term Zhaoxiang Ye Di (昭襄業帝) refers to King Zhaoxiang’s imperial achievements. The Di (帝) institution corresponds to the Di (帝)-Zhuhou (lords 諸侯) political structure as opposed to the Di (帝)-Jun Xian (commanderies and counties 郡縣) one, and it focuses on dividing rather than unifying the world. This phenomenon reappeared in the late Qin and early Han dynasties. The title Huang Di is one of titular varieties of Di. Due to contemporaries’ preference of Wu Di San Wang (五帝三王) over San Huang Wu Di (三皇五帝), the proposal on titling emperor as Tai Huang (泰皇) was vetoed. The discussion among Li Si, Wang Wan and other officials was not simply the debate about the preference between commanderies and counties system or feudalism, but also the competition between Di-commanderies and counties / lords and Di-commanderies and counties system. The title Huang Di was aimed at promoting Qin’s achievement of uniting independent states. With the system of commanderies / lords being abolished during the Qin dynasty, a new political order other than the Di system of the Warring States period was established.
Keywords
Zhi Ba (bestowing the title of “Ba”), King and Son of Heaven, commanderies and counties / lords, dividing world, Huang Di (emperor)
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