Emperor and Nine

In ancient China, the number nine was regarded as the extreme of positive numbers, i.e. the maximum of singular. For this reason, it was associated with emperors and matters connected with emperors. The imperial throne was named nine and five. An emperor was called honor of nine and five. Other matters concerning the number nine are listed below:

There was a kind of bronze cooking vessel with nine legs, and emperors established a system of nine ministers.

Of the ancient feudal government officials, there was one called nine-level; there were nine capital armies in the capital city.

There were nine thousand nine hundred and ninety and a half houses in the Forbidden City.

Gate tower of the Tian'an Men has nine bays in width and in length.

Gates of Chinese Forbidden City, imperial gardens and Xanadus were decorated with nine road nail, which meant there were nine doornails both vertically and horizontally in one door, altogether 81 nails.

In the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), the maharajas of different tribes were required to submit to the emperor eight white horses and one white camel annually, which were named nine white tributes. Most often, other articles of tribute were calculated with reference of the number nine. For instance, in the 13thyear during the reign of Emperor Kangxi, he stipulated that Banners like Ke'erqin Banner should submit to the royalty the following articles of tribute in the quantity of twelve times nine: 108 goats, 108 bottles of koumiss annually; Banners like Erdos should submit 81 goats and 81 bottles of koumiss annually.

During the construction of temples in ancient China weight of golden Buddha was also calculated in nine, usually 81jin(half kilogram) or 72jin, and quantity of figures of Buddha was calculated in nine. For example, in the 45thyear during the reign of Emperor Kangxi, 2,299 times 9 figures of Buddha were built (altogether 20,691) to celebrate his 70th birthday.

The feasts of annual festivals of royal court of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) consisted of 99 kinds of foods including fruit, succade and snacks.

Upon emperors' birthday in the Qing Dynasty, entertainment activities including acrobatics performance, lighting up eternity spring lamps, and so on, would be performed. There should be 9*9 (81) kinds of such entertaining activities, named nine nine big celebration. Foods, entertaining programs and tributes from governmental officials for emperors' birthday and Chinese Spring Festival in the Qing Dynasty were also numbered in nine, meaning to wish the emperor long life. Gradually, the number nine was exclusively used by the emperor; as a result, the ordinary people including high-ranking officials and royal family members were prohibited from using the number nine in their daily life.

Alternative Names of Emperors

In the ages of feudal societies, though emperor was a very distinguished title, his liegemen usually called the emperor his alternative name with his presence, instead of calling him emperor directly.

In the Eastern Han Dynasty (25 -220), the emperor was called the state, for the reason that in the old time, seigneurs were called the state, and officials were called the family; later on people generally called a country state, and since the emperor was an incarnation of a country, people called the emperor state. In the Jin Dynasty (265-420), the appellation was stilled used.

In the Tang Dynasty (618-907), the emperor was called the saint and the dwelling place within the basilica, because his power was as supreme as to taking the whole country as his dwelling place.

In the Song Dynasty (960-1127), the emperors were called by temple and ancestor; for instance, Song Emperor Shenzong and Song Emperor Renzong were referred to as divine ancestor and merciful temple. Apart from this, people called the emperor governor or officer, for there was a Chinese saying Five Emperors governed the whole country, and Three Kings took in charge of the whole nation.

Besides, alternative names of an emperor include a Son of Heaven, your majesty, sovereign, king, flying dragon, head of a county, carriage, gharry, long live, long live sir, supreme honor, master of human being, the sacred, house (in the Northern Dynasty), master of man (in the Liao Dynasty and the Jin Dynasty), etc. Also, name of the year could be used as alternative names for emperors.

History of the Word 'Emperor'

The earliest appellation Emperor was a general designation of Three Kings and Five Emperors. Three Kings were referred to Emperor of Heaven, Emperor of Earth and Emperor of Human, the three ancient emperors in Chinese legends. Originally, Emperor was referred to Emperor of Heaven, the sovereign ruler of everything on earth. Later on, after wars occurred between many states, their rulers called themselves emperor, such as Western Emperor, Eastern Emperor, Mid Emperor, Northern Emperor, and so on, which made the Emperors in the heaven come down into the world and thus became a honorific title in the world. (There was another saying that Five Emperors were referred to the Yellow Emperor, Emperor Yan, Emperor Ciyou, etc. in the tribe age.)
After the first emperor of the Qin Dynasty (221-206BC) unified the whole country, he regarded himself having more virtues than 'Three Kings' and obtaining more achievements than 'Five Emperors', and combined King and Emperor, the two superlative titles in the world, and took it as his appellation. From then on, the Sons of Heaven were called Emperors.

A Kingdom Lost for a Concubine's Smile

King You. last ruler of the Western Zhou dynasty (11th century - 771 BC) had a penchant for beautiful women. One of the court sycophants. who wanted to curry favour with him. suggested ``The women of the court are becoming old. It`s about time we chose some younger ones from the neighbouring states``.
It happened that a very small vassal state named Bao. having failed to send in its tribute in time. was being attacked by Zhou troops. A compromise was arranged in which Bao provided ten beautiful women instead.
The most dazzling of the ten. whose name was Baosi. became the king`s favourite. He took her everywhere with him. even on hunting expeditions. Baosi had one strange characteristic. She never smiled. However. she let it be known that she liked to hear the sound of tearing silk. so the king ordered that every day a hundred bolts of silk be torn before her by strong housemaids. Still this did not bring a smile to her face. The king dethroned his queen and her son the prince and placed Baosi and her infant child in their stead. but still she did not smileOne day the king took Baosi on an excursion to the Lishan Mountains east of his capital Haojing (west of today`s Xi`an). There she showed interest in a beacon tower which was used to alert nearby vassal states to send troops to the aid of Zhou. Hoping to please Baosi. the king ordered the beacon fire lit. When the vassal troops gathered at the foot of Lishan they found no sign nor sound of battle. but only the music of lusheng pipes as King You disported with Baosi. The dukes of the vassal states were extremely angry. As they lowered their banners. muffled their retreat from the tower. Baosi let out a peal of laughter. King You was so pleased that after that he often took her to Lisahn and lit the beacon fire. Soon it became meaningless as an alarm.
In 771 BC Zhou rule was under attack from the Quanrong tribesmen in the north. In conspiracy with troops inside Zhou under the leadership of the brother of the dethroned queen. they approached the capital Haojing. King You ordered the beacon fire lighted. but the neighbouring dukes ignored it and the Quanrong captured Haojing. King You and Baosi were captured. The king was killed at the foot of Lishan Mountains and the latter given to the Quanrong king.
Editor`s Notes
A modern reader might well ask whether Baosi. resenting having been sent to the king. acted as she did for revenge. but ancient historians do not tell us this. In keeping with their anti-female bias. she was blamed for the fall of the dynasty.

The Death of the First Emperor

In July of 210 BC a grand procession started out from Pingxiang (in today`s Hebei province) and began moving slowly toward Xianyang. the capital city north of today`s Xi`an. It was a royal entourage. accompanied by eunuchs and guarded by many soldiers.
The centre of all this pomp was an elaborate closed chariot. Court retainers periodically took food to it and brought back orders. But the chariot`s sole occupant would never eat or issue orders again - it was the body of Emperor Qin Shi Huang. who had been ill and had died. The ruse was part of a plot by high officials to delay discovery of his death so that they could take power.

Qin Shi Huang is widely known today for the giant pottery army created by his order. excavated in the 1970s in the vicinity of his tomb near Xi`an in Shaanxi province. Historians recognise the extraordinary achievements of his 37 year reign. Succeeding his father as king of the State of Qin at the age of 13. he became in 221 BC the first great unifier of China by conquering and bringing under one rule the seven major states which had been fighting for hegemony for two and a half centuries. He built the Great Wall (by joining a number of smaller local walls). unified the currency and the system of writing and weights and measures.

But Qin Shi Huang`s contemporaries came to hate him as a tyrant. In his last days he became secretive and suspicious. fearing assassination and searching for an elixir of immortality. He had reason to fear. His enemies included those who resented his conquest of the other states and the families of the tens of thousands who had suffered and died working in labour gangs on the Great Wall and other grandiose projects.


His rule was also noted for the burning of the books and the burying of scholars. The emperor ordered these actions at the instigation of his prime minister. Li Si. who thus sought to silence opposition to centralised rule. In 213 BC. throughout the states. all histories and writings other than the official Qin history and books on topics such as medicine and agriculture were collected and burned. though copies were securely locked up in the imperial library.

Confucian scholars had been particularly active in opposing the emperor. using quotations from the classics. A year after the book-burning. the scholars themselves were rounded up. along with alchemists and makers of immortality pills. whose ineffectiveness had displeased the emperor. Some 400 persons were buried alive as a lesson to any who thought of speaking out against the regime. When the emperor`s eldest son Fu Su objected. he was banished to a border region.

Hence many had reason to hope for the end of this cruel emperor. One legend has it that the autumn before his death one of his attendants encountered an old man with a piece of white jade in his hand (signifying that he had immortal connections). The old man had a message for Qin Shi Huang: the Primal Dragon will die this year.

Others took more direct measures. One of those making an attempt on his life was Zhang Liang. from a noble family in the former State of Han (he later became an influential counsellor in the Western Han dynasty. founded in 206 BC). Zhang enlisted a man of extraordinary strength to make a heavy iron hammer and strike the emperor with it while he was on tour near Kaifeng in Henan province. The attack failed. and an imperial retainer was killed instead.

In his last years. the fearful emperor forbade anyone to mention the word death in his presence. Around his capital Xianyang he is said to have built 270 small palaces. many connected by covered passages and bridges. He moved from one to the other in secrecy. and no one was permitted to reveal where he was on penalty of execution.

One `security leak` brought harsh punisment. Seeing the retinue of Prime Minister Li Si on the road one day. the emperor commented on its size. Li Si received word of this through one of the emperor`s eunuchs and immediately cut the number of his attendants. When the emperor heard of it he was furious - undoubtedly someone had repeated his words. and he hated the idea. When no one would confess. he ordered everyone who had been with him on that fateful day killed.

A year before his death. a meteorite fell near Puyang in today`s Henan province. On it someone carved seven big characters implying that after the conqueror`s death the country would revert to separate states. Again. when no one in the district would admit the deed. he had all those questioned executed.

The secrecy and plotting that characterised his final years followed his body on its last long journey from Pingxiang to Xianyang. The weather was hot and the body began to decompose; baskets of fish were placed around it to hide the smell. The only ones who knew of his death were Prime Minister Li Si. the emperor`s second son Hu Hai. the powerful court eunuch Zhao and a few others. In part they feared an uprising in the former independent states. but they also wanted to further their own ends.

They destroyed a letter the emperor had written to his eldest son telling his to return to the capital. and instead forged documents charging Fu Su (and his ally general Meng Tian. who had supervised work on the Great Wall) with a serious crime and ordering their deaths. At the same time they forged a decree making Hu Hai successor to the throne.


When the party reached Xianyang. the death of the emperor was announced and Hu Hai was crowned Second Emperor. In the ninth month the First Emperor was buried in the magnificent tomb on Mount Lishan which he had built for himself by 710.000 conscript labourers.

The tomb was an underground palace and. according to the Historical Records of the later historian Sima Qian. included a banquet hall for a hundred officials. In the centre of the tomb chamber was a model of the topography of China. The rivers reproduced in mercury were. by some mechanical means. made to flow into the ocean. In them were waterfowl made of gold and silver. The ceiling reproduced the heavens with pearls set in as the sun. moon and stars. The tomb was filled with models of palaces and pavilions. precious stones and other rarities. In it burned lamps of salamander oil. thought to provide illumination for the longest possible time.

Hidden bows and arrows had been installed which would be triggered off automatically and kill anyone who disturbed the objects. Someone pointed out that the artisans and labourers who made the tomb might reveal what treasure was in it. so after the burial the gates were closed. imprisoning them inside. Hu Huai also ordered that the palace women who had not given birth to boys be shut in the tomb. Trees and grass were planted over the mausoleum to make it look like a hill.

Though adjuncts to it have been excavated. the tomb has not. It is doubtful whether all the fine things in it remain. for despite the elaborate precautions. it is generally believed to have been robbed.

It was Qin Shi Huang`s hope that his dynasty would be carried on for ten thousands years. Actually it lasted for only two generations. It was overthrown by a peasant rebellion begun in 209 BC by Chen Sheng and Wu Guang. two conscripts for the Great Wall.

Huang Di

The Chinese people often refer to themselves as the descendants of Huang Di. the Yellow Emperor. a part-real. part-legendary personage who is credited with founding the Chinese nation around 4.000 BC. He is known as the Yellow Emperor for his imperial colour. chosen for the tones of the yellow earth. Many extravagant tales have grown up around him. A collection of legends written down in the Warring States period (475-221 BC) gives the following account.
Huang Di lived in a magnificent palace in the Kunlun Mountains in the west. with a heavenly door keeper who had the face of a man. the body of a tiger and nine tails. The Kunlun Mountains were full of rare birds and animals and exotic flowers and plants. and Huang Di had a pet bird that helped take care of his clothes and personal effects.
To Huang Di was attributed the invention of the cart. the boat and the south-pointing chariot- a chariot with a gear mechanism that enabled a pointer to always indicate south no matter which way the cart turned. Huang Di is said to have taken one with him in battle. He is credited with the laws of astronomy and drawing up the first calendar used by the Chinese people. His supposed conversations on diagnosis and treatment with the physician Qi Bo are contained in China`s first medical book. Nei Jing (The Yellow Emperor`s Canon of Medicine).
Lei Zu. Huang Di`s wife. is said to have taught the people to raise silkworms and weave beautiful silk fabrics. Apparently. encouragement of the initiative of talented persons was a thing as much desired then as it is now. for the Warring States account mentions that this was one of Huang Di`s strong points. As a result. a whole list of men are credited with inventions. Cang Jie of pictographs; Ling Lun. the twelve tone musical scale; Li Shou. various measuring instruments; and the craftsman Fang Bo who actually built the south-pointing chariot. These things all did come into existence four or five thousand years ago. so in this way the Yellow Emperor has become the symbol of the culture of the Chinese nation and representative of its talents. A pavilion on cypress-covered Mount Qiaoshan in Huangling county on the road north from Xi`an is Shananxi province marks the place said to be his grave. There ceremonies have been performed honouring him as the founder of the Chinese nation. A theory has been advanced that Huang Di may represent a real leader of a tribal confederation of the Yangshao Neolithic culture.
A story which may originate in a memory of tribal wars between Huang Di and Chi You is related in the Taiping Yulan compiled by Li Feng and others between 977 and 981. (Chi You is described therein as a god. and in other sources as leader of tribe). He had 72 brothers (81 by some accounts). all of them with ferocious visages such as a head of bronze and forehead of iron. a human face and the body of an animal. He was skilled at making weapons and casting bronze. and his arrows. axes and spears were unparalleled. He took his men to Shangdong and attacked the tribe of Yan Di. driving him into Huang Di`s territory around Zhuolu in northwestern Hebei province. The latter was angered and went battle with Chi You.
He was no rival for Chi You and at first suffered several defeats. Chi You conjured up a thick fog which blurred the vision of the Yellow Emperor`s men. Luckily the south-pointing chariot helped them know their way. Huang Di also had his men make bugles. There were in Chi You`s army many spirits. but they were afraid of the sound of a certain kind of dragon. So the Yellow Emperor had his men make instruments out of animal horns which duplicated this sound and the demons were paralysed with fear.
Chi You called on a god of wind and rain and blew up a tempest. but Huang Di brought out his daughter who emanated an enormous amount of heat and dried up the storm. Before Chi You`s brothers could recover from their surprise Huang Di`s forces defeated them.The last and decisive battle was fought at Zhuolu. Chi You had gone for help to the Kuafu. a clan of giants in the north (its ancestor was Kuafu who raced with the sun and died of thirst ) and they drove Huang Di back 50 li. But. using strategy learned from the Goddess of the Ninth Heaven. Huang Di finally defeated them. Chi You retreated until he reached what is today`s Shanxi. where he was captured by Huang Di`s men and beheaded. To make sure the head would not reunite with the body. Huang Di sent it to be buried a thousand li away. The place where Chi You was beheaded came to be called Xiexian (xie. to sever. and xian. county) and is still known as that today. Nearby there is a salt lake with water of a reddish colour. tinted. people say. by Chi You`s blood.
After the defeat of Chi You. Huang Di became leader of all the tribes on the central plains. He ruled an area stretching east to the sea. west to todays Gansu province. south to the Changjiang (Yangtze) River and north into todays Shanxi and Hebei provinces. Legend has it that he lived to be 110 years old and then a dragon came and took him back to Heaven where he belonged.