The Han Dynasty is subdivided into the times of the Western and Eastern Han by historians. In Chinese written history, the Western Han (206BCE-9A.D.) was the first long-lasting powerful political period with prosperity. At that time, they were called “Han people” by the other peoples and countries around them, many of whom were eventually incorporated into the Han.
This is why “Han” became the name of China’s majority ethnic group, as it is still called today. And thus, the Chinese language and characters themselves are referred to as “Han Yu” (language) and “Han Zi” (characters) respectively.
The Meaning of the Chinese Word “Han”
The originator of Han dynasty was appointed as “the King of the Han”. And the name of the Han Kingdom(206 BCE-220 A.D.) derives from the “Han River”, a tributary of the Yangtze River with a length of 1532km.
The Chinese character for “han” is a combination of “water” and “a person adorned by grass and leaves”, which at that time was a form of ritual dress wear. Consequently, other than being a proper name, the character “han” means “a good fellow”.
Names of Dynasties are Auspicious Words in the Chinese Language
The initiator of the Wei Dynasty originally was the “Duke of Wei”, one of the well known states of ancient China. The Chinese character for “wei” is made of two main parts: one is “to depute” and the other is “ghost”. The former contains “woman” and “grain”.
In ancient China, grain was stored in homes and cared for by women when male members of the household had to leave on business. A character with “woman” and “grain” thus had the meaning of “depute” or “appoint”.
The latter part of the character “Wei” portrays a dancing Shaman, who wears a big mask and a tail. The meaning of the character “wei” is thus “an executive deputy”, the deputy having the Shaman’s power.
The Chinese Dynasty of Flying Birds
This dynasty only lasted for 45 years (220-265 A.D.). Following Wei was the Jin Dynasty (265-420 A.D.). The creator of the Jin, Si-Ma Zhao, forced the King of the Wei to first grant him the title of “Duke of Jin”, and then, “King of Jin”. Taking it even further, his son, Si-Ma Yan, not only inherited the title “King of Jin”, but also compelled the King of Wei to abdicate the throne in favor of the Si-Ma clan and thus made a new dynasty, Jin.
The Chinese character for “Jin” is a depiction of two birds flying towards the sun, meaning “advancing”, which then became auspiciously synonymous with the instigation of this long lived dynasty.
Change the Chinese Character of the Dynasty
By comparison, the name for the dynasty of Sui, was originally taken from the region “Sui”, as the father of the founder was the Duke of Sui. It means “following”, implying the dynasty would be gone very soon. With a similar sound of “Sui”, it was changed to another character by losing the radical “go”, hoping thus arriving at an auspicious meaning. Regrettably, Sui Dynasty was one of the shortest lived regimes (589-618 A.D.).
To the Chinese, names influence on their subject matters tremendously. Therefore, an auspicious name for a regime was certainly crucial. But, the propitious words chosen for dynasties in the Chinese history did not always, as promising as they appeared to be, guarantee the expected success.
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