What are the three common forms of name avoidance?

Ancient taboos

In the feudal era, in order to maintain the dignity of the hierarchy, one could not directly speak or write the names of monarchs or respected relatives when speaking or writing. This is the so-called taboo. For example, in order to avoid the taboo of Liu Heng, the Emperor of Han Dynasty, Heng'e in the moon was changed to Chang'e. Because "Heng" and "姮" have the same pronunciation, you can't use it again if the emperor calls it. The last sentence of Liu Zongyuan's "Snake Catcher's Theory" is "Those who observe people's customs by waiting for their husbands will get it." It is originally "people's customs", so why does it have to be written as "people's customs"? It is because Tang Taizong's name is Li Shimin, and everyone must avoid the emperor's name. In ancient times, this taboo was a very troublesome thing to pay attention to. Sometimes it was absurd and often led to some quite humorous jokes.

There was a famous general in the Sui Dynasty named Han Qinhu. The key to his name was the word "tiger". However, in the Tang Dynasty, when the "Book of Sui" was being compiled, he was named Han Qinhu. The word "Tiger" was deleted and the name became "Han Qin". Do you think it's ridiculous? The reason for this is simply that the grandfather of Emperor Gaozu of the Tang Dynasty, Li Yuan, was named "Tiger". Although the person he "captured" was not the "Tiger" of your ancestor, to avoid taboo, the "Tiger" in his name was still removed.

In the Song Dynasty, taboo avoidance reached its climax, and words with the same or close pronunciation were also taboo. The name of Emperor Renzong of the Song Dynasty was Zhao Zhen. The word "Zheng" which sounds similar to "Zhen" should also be avoided. The word "Zheng" in "steamed rice" was changed to "Cui". For example, in "Water Margin", the cakes sold by Wu Dalang were originally steamed, but they were no longer called steamed cakes and were called "cooked cakes". Zhao Gou, because his last name was "Gou", everyone in Sichuan had their surname changed. They were not allowed to have the surname "Gou" anymore. Overbearing, right?

When it comes to avoiding taboos, there are also those who are too rigid. Du Fu wrote nearly 3,000 poems in his lifetime, but none of them involved "Begonia Flower". Why? "Jin Gu Shi Hua" says this: "Du Zimei's mother's name is Haitang, and Zimei is taboo about it, so there is no Haitang poem in Du's poems." The poet Xu Ji of the Northern Song Dynasty, because his father's name was "Shi", he did not use stone tools in his life, and he could not touch the stones with his feet. When crossing a stone bridge, if someone carried him across the bridge, he must not step on the stone bridge with his feet. Liu Wensou in the Song Dynasty, whose father's name was Yue, did not listen to music or go to the mountains. Wei Yi's father's name is "Le". Not only does he not listen to music or go to the mountains, he also does not participate in activities that make him happy.

There are also many jokes caused by taboo avoidance. In the Southern Song Dynasty, there was a minister named Qian Liangchen. His son was very smart and filial. Naturally, the son has to avoid his father's name. Whenever he encounters the word "good minister" when he is studying, he will pronounce it as "dad". One day, he was reading "Mencius" and there was a sentence in "Today's so-called good ministers, in ancient times were called people's thieves", so he read aloud in front of his father: "Today's so-called fathers, in ancient times were called people's thieves." Look, tabooing is meant to be respectful, but here it becomes insulting.

Feng Dao in the Five Dynasties, whose name is Kedao, needless to say comes from Laozi's "Tao Te Ching". The first sentence of "Tao Te Ching" is "Tao can be Tao, but it is not Tao." Feng Dao, who served as prime minister in five dynasties, was known as the "roly-poly man" and called himself "the old man of Changle". One day, on a whim, he asked a disciple to teach him the Tao Te Ching. The disciple thought that the word "Tao" at the beginning was taboo, but he didn't dare to say it, so he kept saying: "I don't dare to say it, I don't dare to say it, I really don't dare to say it." The disciples read the Tao Te Ching like this, and for a moment, everyone burst into laughter.

In modern times, when Yuan Shikai restored the monarchy, the word "Yuan Mei" had to be painted out on the walls of Beijing coal shops. Isn't the homophony of "Yuan Mei" "Yuan Mei"? "Yuanxiao" sounded like "Yuanxiao", which was even worse, so "Yuanxiao" was changed to "Tangyuan". Sheng Xuanhuai, who was responsible for Li Hongzhang's foreign affairs, was the largest bureaucratic capitalist in modern times. He liked ham, and some people fell in love with him. Okay, I sent two Yunnan Xuanwei hams. The gift card said "a pair of Xuan legs", which violated his name. He said angrily: "Those with Xuan legs, take them away!" "Just because I avoid taboos, I lose the good taste of my mouth.