What were the taboos in ancient times?

Taboos can generally be divided into two categories: first, public taboos, that is, taboos formulated by the state to force its subjects, such as avoiding the names of emperors and Confucius; The second is private taboo, which is the taboo of literati on the names of their elders.

Taboo system originated in the Zhou Dynasty, and in the Qin Dynasty, with the establishment of autocratic centralization, taboo law was initially established. Qin Shihuang was famous for ruling the world, so he ordered the whole country to change the month to the end of the month; Qin Shihuang's father's name was Chu, and the word Chu was renamed Jing. According to the laws of the Han Dynasty, it is a crime for subjects to blaspheme the emperor's name. In the Jin Dynasty, the taboo system became more and more strict, and there were strict regulations in many aspects, such as "giving officials the same name and changing it" and "taboo between mountains and rivers and temples should be changed". Even the queen's name is taboo. Empress Zheng's name is Chun. At that time, all the place names with spring characters were replaced by Yang characters, such as Fuchun changed to Fuyang and Yichun changed to Yiyang. People in the Jin Dynasty also paid special attention to family taboos. If someone else's speech involves the names of his father and grandfather, you should cry quickly to show your filial piety to your father and grandfather. According to Shi Shuo Xin Yu, Huan Xuan, the son of Huan Wen in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, gave a banquet to entertain guests one day. A guest thought the wine was too cold and asked the waiter to "heat it up". On hearing the word "warm", Huan Xuan burst into tears at once, crying to silence. Because it is easy to violate other people's family secrets in words, many people attach great importance to the study of genealogy in order to avoid inadvertently offending others.

In the Northern and Southern Dynasties, the scholar-officials were proud of being good at avoiding private affairs. Wang Hong, a Liu Song Taibao in the Southern Dynasties, was proficient in genealogy and could "treat thousands of guests every day without committing any taboo", which was actually praised as a beautiful talk at that time. In the Tang Dynasty, taboo became a law promulgated by the government, and many people lost their jobs and careers because of careless taboo. Li He, a famous poet, whose father's name is Jin Su, is considered to be unable to enter Jinshi because of the homonym of "Jin". Although Han Yu helped him write "Taboo Debate" to defend him, Li He finally failed to get into the Jinshi. Taboos (taboos expressing deep hatred) first arose in the Tang Dynasty. After the Anshi Rebellion, Tang Suzong hated the name of An Lushan and changed Anhua County to Hue County, and Baoan County in Guangdong Province to Dongguan County. Song dynasty was the most taboo dynasty, and the temple taboo reached 50 words. In the imperial examination, my son "brought a test paper, which was not suspected, but he dared not use it." If he makes a mistake, he often falls down in the dark and loses the chance to win the list. In Song Xiaozong, there are 278 words that should be avoided, and scholars are walking on thin ice in their words and sentences. As for those who are afraid to do something because of taboos and become officials, it is even more common. In Song Dynasty, Sima Guang was sent to Liao country, but because the main surname of Liao country was Ye Ludeguang, Sima Guang had to dismiss this messenger with the same name. Because the Yuan Dynasty was a minority regime, there was almost no taboo system, and ministers dared to call the emperor by his first name. The rulers of the Qing Dynasty were jealous that the Central Plains people regarded them as foreigners. Apart from the name of the emperor, Hu, Yi, Lu and Di are taboo. In the forty-second year of Qianlong, Wang Xihou, the son of Jiangxi Province, violated the taboo of Emperor Kanggan in Zi Guan, making all scholars in the world tremble with fear. Taboo system existed in China for more than 3,000 years, and it was not completely abolished until after the Revolution of 1911.

Taboos bring people a lot of trouble in reading and understanding documents and distinguishing authenticity, and even make many mistakes. But if we can master it, we can use it to test the age of ancient books and cultural relics and identify their authenticity, because counterfeiters often don't pay much attention to taboo, and the taboo that the previous generation avoided or should avoid can be used as the basis for judging their fakes.

There are also many forbidden jokes. There was a minister named Qian in the Southern Song Dynasty. His son is very clever and filial. It is inevitable that a son will keep his father's name a secret. Whenever he is studying, he will change the word "good minister" to "father". One day, when he was reading Mencius, he said, "Today's so-called good minister, ancient so-called thief." He read aloud in front of his father: "Today's so-called father, ancient so-called thief." Look, taboo should be respect, but it has become abuse here.

Needless to say, the word "Tao" written by Feng Dao in the Five Dynasties comes from Laozi's Classic of Tao Te Ching, the first sentence of which is "Tao can be said, but Tao is extraordinary". Feng Dao, who has experienced five generations, is called "tumbler" and calls himself "Changle Lao". One day, he had a whim and asked a doorman to tell him the Tao Te Ching. The doorman thought the word "Tao" at the beginning was taboo, but he dared not say it, so he even said, "I dare not say it, but I dare not say it." The public read the Tao Te Ching in this way, and at that time, everyone laughed their heads off.

In modern times, Yuan Shikai engaged in the restoration of monarchy, and the word "Yuan Mei" had to be erased from the wall of Beijing Coal Shop. Isn't the homonym of "yuan coal" "yuan coal"? Yuanxiao sounds like Yuan Xiao, which is even worse, so Yuanxiao was changed to Tangyuan. Sheng Xuanhuai, who organized the Westernization for Li Hongzhang, was the biggest bureaucratic capitalist in modern times. This man is partial to ham, and some people like it. He sent two Yunnan Xuanwei hams, and the gift card said "A pair of legs were announced". A word "Xuan" violated his taboo and said bitterly, "Take away everything that announces your legs!" I lost my taste just because of taboo.