Chinese era names
| Chinese era name | |||||||
| Traditional Chinese | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Simplified Chinese | |||||||
| Hanyu Pinyin | niánhào | ||||||
| Literal meaning | year number(ing) | ||||||
|
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| Transcriptions | |
|---|---|
| Standard Mandarin | |
| Hanyu Pinyin | niánhào |
A Chinese era name is the regnal year, reign period, or regnal title used when traditionally numbering years in an emperor's reign and naming certain Chinese rulers. Some emperors have several era names, one after another, where each beginning of a new era resets the numbering of the year back to year one or yuán (元). The numbering of the year increases on the first day of the Chinese calendar each year. The era name originated as a motto or slogan chosen by an emperor.
Emperor Wu of Han was conventionally regarded as the first emperor to declare an era name; however he was only the first to use an era name in every year of his reign. His grandfather and father also employed era names, though not continuously. Emperor Wu changed period titles every five years or so, going through a total of eleven reigning slogans during his reign from 140 BC to 87 BC.
Each era name has a literary meaning. For instance, the first era name of Emperor Wu was Jianyuan (, jiànyuán), literally meaning "establishing the First". Era names also reflected characteristics of political and other landscapes at the time. Jianzhongjingguo (建中靖國 jiàn zhōng jìng guó), the first era name of Emperor Huizong of Song China, means "establishing middle, peaceful country", reflecting his idealism towards moderating the rivalry among the conservative and progressive parties on political and social reformation. The very first era name of the Qing was significant because it means "[the Manchus possess] the Mandate of Heaven". Popular phrases might be repeated, as with the numerous (lit. "Era of Great Peace").
The process of era name declaration was referred to in traditional Chinese history texts as jianyuan. Declaring a new era name to replace an old one during an emperor's reign was referred to as gaiyuan (改元 gǎi yuán), literally meaning "change the First".
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