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APPENDIX I

THE ESTABLISHMENT OF YEAR-PERIODS

Before Han times, there were no named year-periods. For the reigns
of Emperors Kao, Hsiao-hui, and the Empress of the Kao-tsu, there were
also no named year-periods. In the reigns of Emperors Wen and Ching,
we find merely more than one beginning of the count of years, no named
year-periods. Emperor Wen began the count of years twice, the second
time seemingly under the influence of Hsin-yüan P'ing, with the notion
that his reign would be thereby lengthened (cf. 4: 16a & HFHD I,
260, n. 1). Emperor Ching began the count of years thrice. Named
year-periods are first found in the reign of Emperor Wu. This conclusion
must be inferred from the scant information given us; namely, a record of
an imperial order by Emperor Wu ordering that a new beginning should
be made in the count of years, and a memorial requesting the establishment
of the first named year-period.

In SC 28: 55 (= Mh III, 474), there is the following statement,
"In the third year after [114 B.C.], a high official said that it was proper
for the first years to be called by some manifestation of heavenly favor,
and it was not proper [for them to be called merely] by the numbers
First, Second, [etc.]. The first first year (yüan) should be called Chien
(inaugurate); the second first year should be called Kuang (splendor),
because of the long comet; the third first year should be called Shou
(animal), because the animal with [only] one horn was obtained for
the suburban sacrifice."

From the above statement, Wu Jen-chieh (1137-1199) in his Liang-Han
K'an-wu Pu-yi 2: 2a, b, deduces that, in the first part of his reign,
Emperor Wu merely continued the practise of his predecessors in
beginning anew the count of years in his reign, without giving any special
name to these periods.

Emperor Wu was only fifteen and a half years of age when he came
to the throne; by 114 B.C. (the twenty-seventh year of his reign), he
had already begun the count of years at least thrice and was destined
to reign an equally long period in the future. These periods had previously
been called merely by numbers, the First, the Second, and the
Third first years. To only three periods could the words ch'ien, chung,
and hou be (retrospectively) applied, as was the case in the reign of
Emperor Ching; since it was not known how many times Emperor Wu
would change the count of years, when it seemed likely in 114 B.C.

that he would want to begin the count of years again, the suggestion
was made that these periods be named in accordance with some outstanding
supernatural event that had happened in the period. The
official who made this suggestion also suggested names for three year-periods;
when names were actually given, it was decided to start a new
period every six years, so the period Yüan-so was interpolated, which
seems not to have previously been counted. The precious tripod, after
which the fifth period was named, was probably not found until the fourth
year of that period (113 B.C.; cf. 6: 19b & n. 17.9), hence that year-period
must also have been retrospectively named.

The named year-periods then originated in 114 or 113 B.C., when
Emperor Wu had begun the count of years in his reign at least three
times already and was thinking of beginning the count again. At least
the first five names were retrospectively given to periods which previously
had no name, only numbers, and, in the case of one period, seem not to
have previously been counted. The first year-period for which we have
an imperial edict ordaining its name is that of 110 B.C. (cf. 6: 26a).
This one was not named until the sixth month in that calendar year,
and the naming of Emperor Wu's last year period seems to have been
delayed until after his death (cf. n. 38.1). The practise of naming year-periods
continued to the end of the Ch'ing dynasty with only one important
change; beginning with the Ming dynasty, the name of the year-period
was not altered except at the accession of a new emperor. (Cf.
also Chavannes, "Le Traité sur les sacrifices fong et chan," in Jour.
Peking Or. Soc'y, 1890, III, no. 1, p. 56, n. 1; Mh I, c, n. 1; HS 6: 1b;
SC 28: 55; Nien-erh Shih Cha-chi 2: 11b.)