List of Emperors of The Song Dynasty - Titles and Names

Titles and Names

From the Qin Dynasty (221–206 BC) until the Qing Dynasty (1644–1912), the ruling head of state was known as huangdi, or emperor. In Chinese historical texts, emperors of the Song Dynasty, along with the Tang and Yuan, are referred to by their temple names. Before the Tang Dynasty (618–907), emperors were generally referred to in historical texts by their posthumous names. During the Ming (1368–1644) and Qing dynasties, emperors were exclusively referred to in historical texts by their single era name, whereas emperors of previous dynasties, including Song, usually had multiple era names. The amount of written characters used in posthumous names grew steadily larger from the Han Dynasty (202 BC – 220 AD) onwards and thus became tedious when referring to sovereigns. For example, the posthumous name of Nurhaci (r. 1616–1626), founder of the northern Manchu state which would eventually establish the Qing Dynasty, contained 29 written characters. By the Tang Dynasty, much shorter temple names were preferred when referring to the emperor, a preference that was carried into the Song Dynasty. Each emperor also had a tomb name (Ling hao 陵號) and various other honorific titles.