Chinese emperor
''Huangdi'' (), translated into English as Emperor, was the superlative title held by monarchs of China who ruled various imperial regimes in Chinese history. In traditional Chinese political theory, the emperor was considered the Son of Heaven ...
s to officials, ostensibly to reward them for their accomplishments. While the nature of the bestowments was probably established during the
Zhou Dynasty
The Zhou dynasty ( ; Old Chinese ( B&S): *''tiw'') was a royal dynasty of China that followed the Shang dynasty. Having lasted 789 years, the Zhou dynasty was the longest dynastic regime in Chinese history. The military control of China by th ...
, there was no record of anyone receiving them until
Wang Mang
Wang Mang () (c. 45 – 6 October 23 CE), courtesy name Jujun (), was the founder and the only Emperor of China, emperor of the short-lived Chinese Xin dynasty. He was originally an official and consort kin of the Han dynasty and later ...
. Thereafter, the nine bestowments became typically a sign of a powerful official showing off his complete control of the emperor and establishing his intent to usurp the throne. For the rest of Chinese history, it became rare for a usurpation to happen without the nine bestowments having been given sometime before. It was almost as rare for the nine bestowments to be given without an usurpation happening, though it did happen (as when
Cao Pi
Cao Pi () ( – 29 June 226), courtesy name Zihuan, was the first emperor of the state of Cao Wei in the Three Kingdoms period of China. He was the second son of Cao Cao, a warlord who lived in the late Eastern Han dynasty, but the eldest son ...
gave
Sun Quan
Sun Quan (, Chinese: 孫權) (183 – 21 May 252), courtesy name Zhongmou (), posthumously known as Emperor Da of Wu, was the founder of the Eastern Wu dynasty, one of the Three Kingdoms of China. He inherited control of the warlord regime es ...
's vassal). Conversely, officials who made important contributions and were offered the nine bestowments would decline them to show their loyalty and lack of intention to usurp the throne.
The nine bestowments
The nine bestowments according to the ''Classic of Rites'', and their meanings, explained in the Han dynasty commentary ''
Bai Hu Tong
''Bai Hu Tong'' (, also , ) is a Confucian text based on the held in 79 CE.
History
The traditional view of this text is that it was compiled by Ban Gu (32–92 CE) on the orders of the Emperor Zhang of Han (57-88 CE). The name is derived fro ...
'':
# Gift of a wagon and horses: when the official is appropriate in his modesty and walking in an appropriate manner, so that he does not need to walk any more.
# Gift of clothes: when the official writes well and appropriately, to show his good deeds.
# Gift of armed guards: when the official is brave and willing to speak the truth, so that he can be protected.
# Gift of written music: when the official has love in his heart, so that he can teach the music to his people.
# Gift of a ramp: when the official is appropriate in his acts, so that he can walk on the ramp and maintain his strength.
# Gift of a red door: when the official maintains his household well, so that his household can be shown to be different.
# Gift of arms, bow, and arrows: when the official has good conscience and follows what is right, so that he can represent the central government to stamp out treason.
# Gift of an axe: when the official is strong, wise, and loyal to the imperial household, so that he can execute the wicked.
# Gift of wine: when the official is filially pious, so that he can sacrifice the wine to his ancestors.
Pronunciation
The reason why the character 錫 (usually pronounced ''xī'' in modern
Mandarin
Mandarin or The Mandarin may refer to:
Language
* Mandarin Chinese, branch of Chinese originally spoken in northern parts of the country
** Standard Chinese or Modern Standard Mandarin, the official language of China
** Taiwanese Mandarin, Stand ...
and meaning "
tin
Tin is a chemical element with the symbol Sn (from la, stannum) and atomic number 50. Tin is a silvery-coloured metal.
Tin is soft enough to be cut with little force and a bar of tin can be bent by hand with little effort. When bent, t ...
") is used, rather than the expected 賜 (''cì'', meaning "bestowment"), is that 錫 was used as a ''jiajie'' (假借, '
rebus
A rebus () is a puzzle device that combines the use of illustrated pictures with individual letters to depict words or phrases. For example: the word "been" might be depicted by a rebus showing an illustrated bumblebee next to a plus sign (+) ...
') character for "bestowment", interchangeably with 賜 during the times when the ceremonies were first established in the ''
Classic of Rites
The ''Book of Rites'', also known as the ''Liji'', is a collection of texts describing the social forms, administration, and ceremonial rites of the Zhou dynasty as they were understood in the Warring States and the early Han periods. The ''Book o ...
''. Thus, the semantically correct modern reading should be ''jiǔ cì'' and not ''jiǔ xī''.For several examples of the usage of 錫 to mean "bestowment" in the received classics, see the ''
Shujing
The ''Book of Documents'' (''Shūjīng'', earlier ''Shu King'') or ''Classic of History'', also known as the ''Shangshu'' (“Venerated Documents”), is one of the Five Classics of ancient Chinese literature. It is a collection of rhetorica ...
'', "Hong Fan" chapter (dating from the late Spring and Autumn or early Warring States period): e.g., 乃錫禹洪範九疇 and 汝則錫之福. For this particular meaning, the authoritative '' Wang Li Character Dictionary of Ancient Chinese'' (p. 1533) and ''Dictionary of Commonly Used Characters in Ancient Chinese'' (p. 369) both give the modern reading cì, with the former giving the ''
fanqie
''Fanqie'' ( zh, t= 反切, p=fǎnqiè) is a method in traditional Chinese lexicography to indicate the pronunciation of a monosyllabic character by using two other characters, one with the same initial consonant as the desired syllable and one w ...
'' reading 斯義切 (quoting the ''
Jiyun
The ''Jiyun'' (''Chi-yun''; ) is a Chinese rime dictionary published in 1037 during the Song Dynasty. The chief editor Ding Du (丁度) and others expanded and revised the '' Guangyun''. It is possible, according to Teng and Biggerstaff (1971:147) ...
''), indicating that an alternative reading for 錫 already existed by the Song dynasty. However, dictionaries of modern Chinese like the ''Xinhua'' ''Dictionary'' (p. 530, 锡/錫) only give the definition "tin" and the reading xī and do not give this alternative reading or the definition of "bestowment".
Nine familial exterminations
The nine familial exterminations or nine kinship exterminations or execution of nine relations, also known by the names ''zuzhu'' ("family execution") and ''miezu'' ("family extermination"), was the most severe punishment for a capital offense in ...