The Etiquette of Addressing the Emperor
It was taboo to refer to the emperor by his given name. The emper- or was never to be addressed as “you”. Anyone who spoke to the em- peror was to address him as “Your Imperial Majesty” “Emperor Above or Emperor Highness”, “the Son of Heaven”, or “the Divine Above or the Holy Highness”. Servants often addressed the emperor as “Lord of Ten-Thousand-Year”. The emperor referred to himself as “zhen” in front of his subjects, a practice reserved solely for the emperor.
The Naming Conventions of Emperors: Era Name, Temple Name, and Posthumous Name
An emperor also ruled with an era name . Since the adoption of an era name by Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty and up until the Ming Dynasty, and people often referred to past emperors with that title. In earlier dynasties, the emperors were known with a temple name given after their death. All emperors were also given a posthumous name , which was sometimes combined with the temple name (e.g. for Kangxi). The passing of an emperor was referred to as (collapse) and an emperor that had just died was referred to as .
The Structure and Hierarchy of the Imperial Family
The imperial family was made up of the emperor as the head and the empress as the primary consort. In addition, the emperor had a series of other consorts and concubines ranked by importance into a imperial harem , in which the empress was supreme. Although the emperor had the highest status by law, by tradition and precedent the mother of the emperor, i.e., the Empress Dowager, usually received the greatest respect in the palace and was the decision maker in most family affairs. At times, especially when a young emperor was on the throne, she was the de facto ruler. The emperor’s children, the princes and princesses, were often referred to by their order of birth, e.g., Eldest Prince, Third Princess, etc.
