What are the taboo cultures in ancient China?

in the feudal era of our country, in order to maintain the ruling order and strict feudal hierarchy, people could not directly say or write the names of emperors, officials and respected elders, but used other words instead, or expressed them in other ways (such as empty words or lack of pens) to show respect, which is called taboo. Taboo is a unique custom in ancient China society and a unique cultural phenomenon. Some scholars have made a special study on the history of taboo in China, and published books such as The History of Taboo in Ancient China.

It is said that taboo originated in the Zhou Dynasty. "When you enter the country, you are forbidden, when you enter the country, you are vulgar, and when you get started, you are embarrassed." ("Book of Rites, Quli Shang") When you go to someone's home, you should first ask their family names. In order to avoid being rude in conversation because of taboo. Lu You described a story in Notes on the Old Learning Temple: "Tian Deng became a county, but he kept his name secret. Anyone who touched him would be angry, and his officials and soldiers were often punished. Therefore, for the state, it is said that the lamp is fire. On the Yuan Dynasty, people were allowed to enter the state for sightseeing. The official then wrote a list of books and revealed it in the city, saying,' The state set fire to it for three days as usual.' "Is a typical example of taboo. Understanding the taboo customs in Chinese history for thousands of years is very helpful to understand the origin of some words in modern Chinese, and you can also know how the original clear language was messed up in ancient times in order to avoid taboos.

taboo, also known as taboo, is the name of ancient emperors or elders. "taboo, taboo." (Shuo Wen Jie Zi) In the feudal era, the hierarchy was strict, and the feudal ethics emphasized the hierarchy. In order to show the respect for the superior, the humble and the respectful, and strictly divide the hierarchy of "monarch, minister, father, son and son", taboo came into being, and it reached its peak under the advocacy and promotion of the rulers. After thousands of years, it became an important means to embody the hierarchy and maintain the order of ethics.

There are four kinds of taboo objects. First, emperors should avoid the names of emperors who are in power at present and emperors in previous dynasties, which are called "national taboo" or "public taboo". For example, in the period of Liu Xiu, the scholar was changed to Mao Cai; Qianlong once wrote a letter to the door that five blessings was not allowed in the couplet, in order to avoid the name of Fu Lin, Emperor Shunzhi. Sometimes they even avoid the name of the queen, such as the name of the Empress Lu, and the courtiers have to change their names to pheasants when they meet pheasants. Second, the chief executive, that is, subordinates should keep the names of the chief executive himself and his father and ancestors secret. Even some arrogant officials strictly ordered their subordinates and people to avoid their names, calling them "official taboos" or "constitutional taboos". The idiom "only state officials are allowed to set fires, and people are not allowed to light lamps" reflects that officials are avoided and taboo. Third, sages, called "sacred taboos", mainly refer to avoiding the names of Confucius and Mencius, the sages. Some dynasties also avoided the name of the Yellow Emperor, the ancestor of the Chinese nation, some also avoided the name of Duke Zhou, and even avoided the name of Laozi. For example, Confucius, named "Kong Qiu", was ordered by the court in the Northern Song Dynasty that when reading the word "Qiu", it should be pronounced as "a", and at the same time, the word "Qiu" should be circled with a red pen. This is especially true in the Qing Dynasty: from now on, all people whose family name is "Qiu" in the world should add an ear next to it and change their family name to "Qiu", and they should not pronounce it as "Qiu" but as "seven". As a result, the world's surname "Qiu" changed its name from now on. Today, there are people with the surname "Qiu" and others with the surname "Qiu". The reason is that some have changed, and some have changed back to the original word "Qiu". Fourth, elders, that is, avoiding the names of parents and grandparents, are called "family taboos" or "private taboos". When interacting with others, you should avoid the taboo of the other person's elders, otherwise it is extremely rude. Li He, the father of the Tang Dynasty poet, was named Jin, and "Jin" and "Jin" were homonyms, so Li He could not be a scholar all his life. Sima Qian's father was called "Sima Tan", so in Historical Records, all people with the same name as his father were renamed. For example, "Zhang Mengtan" was changed to "Zhang Mengtong"; "Zhao Tan" was changed to "Zhao Tong". Later, the same was true of Fan Ye, the author of Were Han Shu, because Fan Ye's father was called Fan Tai, so in Were Han Shu, Guo Tai was turned into Guo Tai unnoticed. The person named "Zheng Qin" has also become "Zheng Tai". Another example is Du Fu, a poet in the Tang Dynasty. His father's name is Du Xian. In order to avoid the taboo of the word "leisure", Du Fu wrote poems all his life, but he never used the word "leisure" in his poems. Du Fu's mother's name is Haitang, and there is no Haitang poem in Du Ji, so she avoids her mother's name.

There are three main forms of taboo:

One is to change the word. If you encounter words that should be avoided, use other words. This method of taboo appears earlier and is more common. For example, Qin Shihuang taboo politics, the Qin Dynasty corrected the month as the end of the month. "End of the month, the first month also. Qin taboo politics, so yue end. " ("Historical Records") Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty was taboo, and the legendary wife Ji E was renamed Chang 'e. Emperor Guangwu of Han Dynasty was shy about showing off, and the scholar was renamed Maocai. In the Qing Dynasty, the holy father was afraid of Xuanye, and the Xuanwu Gate, the north gate of the Forbidden City, was renamed Shenwumen.

the second is empty words. If you encounter words that should be taboo in writing, use a blank space (word), a box, or words such as "taboo" and "certain". In Shuo Wen Jie Zi, Xu Shen did not give any explanation when he met the taboo of the current emperor, but only wrote the word "taboo". Such as "show, taboo".

the third is the lack of pens. If you encounter words that should be avoided, write one or two less. Generally, it is the last one or two. For example, during the reign of Emperor Yongzheng in the Qing Dynasty, whenever the word "Qiu" is encountered in a book, a pen must be missing. If the word "Qiu" in a name or place name is changed to "Qiu". The second time in A Dream of Red Mansions, "Leng Zixing gave a speech in Rong Guo Fu": "Yucun laughed and said,' It's strange that this female student read the word' min' in all books and pronounced it' mi'. Every time she does this, when she meets the word' min', she loses one or two strokes, and my heart is a little confused. Now I hear what you say, it's for this reason ...'"

The custom of taboo has lasted for more than a thousand years in the ancient history of China. The rules and requirements of taboo in the past dynasties are not the same. Some dynasties were relatively loose, while others were very strict. Generally speaking, after the Tang Dynasty, taboo was attached great importance. In order to consolidate its dominant position, successive dynasties were very particular about taboo. Tang Gaozu's grandfather was called Li Hu, so the Tang Dynasty could not be called a tiger. As a result, the tiger was replaced by the words "beast" and "tiger". "Nothing ventured, nothing gained" became "nothing ventured, nothing gained"; "Painting a tiger is not an anti-dog" is "painting a dragon is not an anti-dog". Even the name of "tiger" can't be called, but it is called "blade". After Song Taizu acceded to the throne, it was stipulated that all ancestors' names should be taboo since their ancestors. And words with the same sound as or close to the name cannot be used. Zhao Kuangyin's grandfather was famous for his respect, so in the Song Dynasty, he was not called a mirror, but a mirror. Ming Wuzong was surnamed Zhu and a pig, so in the fourteenth year of Zhengde, he issued an imperial edict prohibiting private pig raising. He thinks it is disrespectful to the emperor to raise and kill pigs. Unexpectedly, a few years later, the pigs in the whole country were almost cut off, so that the pigs used to worship the ancestral temple of heaven and earth in festivals could not be found. Later, due to the admonition of ministers, he had to cancel this ridiculous ban. This is true of national taboos, even if it is a family taboo, the ancients also attached great importance to it. The aforementioned examples of Li He, Du Fu and others are numerous in history. Su Xun, a famous litterateur in the Northern Song Dynasty, changed his preface to quotation because of his father's preface. When his son Su Shi prefaced others, he was renamed "Xu".

whenever a new dynasty is established, there are new national taboos. After that, the new emperor ascended the throne, and one or two taboo words should be added. If it is a short-lived dynasty, there are not many words to avoid when the dynasty changes. However, if it is a dynasty that lasts for a long time, before the end of the dynasty, the accumulated taboo words are often considerable. Until the end of a dynasty, all the words that were once taboo can be reused. Due to taboo in a dynasty, with the passage of time, the number of taboo words often doubled. This caused great inconvenience to people writing articles, especially the imperial examinations. A little carelessness, touching the taboo words, the light one loses the election, the heavy one is convicted, and even leads to death, and even implicates the nine families. In the history of China, there are still some things whose names have been completely changed because of repeated taboo, which makes it difficult for future generations to find their traces. For example, in the literature before the Tang Dynasty, it was recorded that there was a plant called "Dioscorea". In the late Tang Dynasty, Tang Daizong Li Yu acceded to the throne, so it was renamed "Potato Medicine". After entering the Song Dynasty, Song Yingzong Zhao Shu acceded to the throne and was renamed "Yam". Some surnames were also changed to other surnames because of the emperor's taboo. Such as the Zhuang family, because of avoiding the taboo of Emperor Liu Zhuang of the Han Dynasty, it was changed to the Yan family, such as Yan Ziling of the Eastern Han Dynasty, whose real name was Zhuang; Jishi, because of avoiding the taboo of Li Longji of Xuanzong of Tang Dynasty, was changed to Zhou; Chun Yu's family changed to Yu's family because he avoided the taboo of Tang Xianzong and Chun Li. Not only changed their surnames, but also those who changed their names because of taboo. For example, Kong Mang, a descendant of Confucius who lived in the late Western Han Dynasty, was renamed Kong Jun because Wang Mang usurped the Han Dynasty and proclaimed himself emperor. Pei Shizhen, the prime minister in the early Tang Dynasty, went to the "world" and was called Pei Ju because he avoided the name of Emperor Taizong. Even if they are gods, some people change their names because they avoid national taboos. For example, Guanyin Bodhisattva in Buddhism omitted the word "world" because it avoided the name of Emperor Taizong, and was called Guanyin Bodhisattva. Because of taboo, not only the living have to change their names, but even those who have already passed away are not spared. For example, Kuaiche, a counselor during the Qin and Han Dynasties, was called Kuai Tong in Historical Records and Hanshu because Liu Che, the Emperor of the Han Dynasty, ascended the throne after his death. In the Southern Qi Dynasty, the general Xue Daoyuan was called Xue Yuan only because he avoided the name "Tao" because of avoiding Xiao Daocheng, the great ancestor of Qi. However, when compiling the History of the South in the Tang Dynasty, it was renamed Xue Shen to avoid the name of Tang Gaozu Li Yuan, which made it difficult for later readers to recognize. Ancient place names were also renamed because of taboo; For example, the father of Qin Shihuang, the king of Qin Zhuang Xiang, was afraid of Chu, and after Qin Shihuang proclaimed himself emperor, he ordered that Chuzhou, Hubei Province be renamed Jingzhou. Sima Ye, the last emperor of the Western Jin Dynasty, ascended the throne, and Jianye (now Nanjing, Jiangsu Province) was renamed Jiankang. After the Five Dynasties, Li Cunxu, the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty, ascended the throne. Because of his father's name Guochang, Xiaochang County was changed to Xiaogan County.

The above three ways of taboo were invented by the ancients in their long-term practice of taboo, which met the needs of order and vanity at that time, but brought great trouble to later generations. Changing words and empty words often make it difficult for future generations to infer the original words or even understand mistakes; Lack of pens is more likely to cause mispronouncing into other words. For example, Tang Ruizong Li Dan, if the last stroke is omitted, will become the word "day". Because of taboo, even some habitual names in social life have been changed beyond recognition. For example, a bird called pheasant was recorded in the pre-Qin literature. In the Western Han Dynasty, this kind of bird had to be renamed as "pheasant" because of the name of Lu Hou. Like Lv Hou, Empress Dowager Cixi was a sheep in the late Qing Dynasty, so she ordered that people should not say anything like "raising sheep, killing sheep and eating mutton". However, Empress Dowager Cixi was greedy and had to eat mutton. Then he ordered that "mutton" should be called "blessing meat" and "longevity meat", which was really ridiculous. Fortunately, Cixi's "blessing meat" and "longevity meat" were not accepted by later generations like pheasants.

In the era when feudal monarchy was above everything else, taboo was deduced to a ridiculous degree. Emperor Wen of Jin was named Si Mazhao, so no one else was allowed to use the word "Zhao", so even the ancient Wang Zhaojun had to be renamed "Wang Mingjun". The name of Emperor Yi of Jin was Sima Ye, so the word "Ye" was monopolized by the emperor, and even the place name "Jianye" (now Nanjing) was renamed "Jiankang". When Tang Gaozong was called Li Zhi, the word "rule" became a unique word of the emperor, and the words with the same sound as "rule" had to be changed. In writing, all the words that encounter "governance" are rewritten as synonyms such as "persistence" and "reason". The word "childish" is homophonic with "cure", so wherever "childish" is used, it must be replaced by "young". Fortunately, there are many synonyms in Chinese, otherwise I really don't know what to do. Tang Gaozong's prince is called Jong Li, so the word "loyalty" is also taboo. The official name of the DPRK for many years was "corps commander", and it was also ordered to be changed to "brigade commander". In the Song Dynasty, the wind of taboo reached an incredible level, and those with the same sound and close sound should also be taboo. Song Renzong's name is Zhao Zhen, and the word "steaming" close to "Zhen" should also be avoided. The word "steaming" for "steaming dry rice" should be changed to "cooking". For example, in "Water Margin", the cakes sold by Wu Dalang were originally steamed, but they were no longer called steamed cakes, but changed to "cooking cakes". Song Huizong is a dog, so all dogs in the world are lucky, and it is forbidden to kill dogs in the world. Zhao Gou, Song Gaozong, because of his name "Gou", everyone in Sichuan has changed his surname, and all his surnames are not allowed to be "Gou" again. In order to avoid the word "structure", there are more than 5 homophones such as "enough", "love", "purchase" and "Li".

There are also many jokes made by taboo. In the Southern Song Dynasty, there was a minister named Qian Liangchen. His son's anonymity to his father was inevitable. Whenever he met the word "Liangchen" in reading, his son changed his name to "Dad". One day, when I read Mencius, I found that "a good minister today is a thief in ancient times", so I read aloud in front of my father: "Dad today is a thief in ancient times". In the Five Dynasties, Feng Dao, whose words are eloquent, lived through five dynasties and was called "the tumbler" and called himself "Changle Lao". One day, he asked a doorman to tell him the Tao Te Ching. In order to avoid it, the doorman even said, "I dare not say it, but I dare not say it. I dare not say it very much." Everyone present laughed their heads off. When Yuan Shikai engaged in the restoration of monarchy, the word "yuan coal" had to be erased from the wall of Beijing coal shop. Isn't the homonym of "yuan coal" "Yuan Mei"? "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 was partial to ham, and some people liked it. He sent two Yunnan Xuanwei hams, and the gift card read "A pair of legs were announced". A word "Xuan" violated his taboo and said bitterly, "Take away anything that announces legs!" In order to avoid taboo, famous specialties have also been looked down upon.

It can be said that in ancient times, names were changed because of taboo, which involved all aspects of social life. This custom of taboo brought great inconvenience to ancient social life. National taboo not only reflects the characteristics of autocratic rule, but also makes it difficult for modern people to study the ancient history of China. However, because taboo has a strong time limit, the appearance and disappearance of a taboo word have a clear time limit. This also provides a reliable basis for future generations to discriminate the fake historical materials, especially the identification of cultural relics.