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Literary noble titles

The use of literary titles for nobles, rather than titles drawn from their
fiefs, seems also to have been a specifically Confucian practise. Emperor

Kao gave a few such literary titles before he acquired any secure territory,
such as that of Baronet Enlarging Our Territory, given to Li Yi-chi.
Li Yi-chi was the first Confucian whom Emperor Kao was able to endure.
When this emperor later took the throne, with characteristic common
sense, he gave only titles taken from some fief. There were a few other
literary titles, all of which were similarly unimportant. The first important
and permanent literary title in Han times was Emperor Wu's title
for the noble he enfeoffed to carry on the sacrifices to the Chou dynasty,
the Baronet Baron Descendant of the Chou Dynasty. The practise of
enfeoffing a descendant of a supplanted dynasty to carry on the ancestral
sacrifices of that dynasty is itself Confucian and this practise is recorded
in the Confucian Classics as having been performed by the founders of
the Chou dynasty. In the course of time, as Confucian influence became
stronger, more and more literary titles appeared. When Emperor Yüan
took the throne, he appointed K'ung Pa, a descendant of Confucius who
had been this Emperor's teacher, as Baronet in Recompense for [Confucius']
Perfection (81: 15a). He also raised the title for the descendant
of the Chou dynasty to be that of marquis. Emperor Ch'eng furthermore
appointed a Marquis Continuing and Honoring the Ancestral
Sacrifices of the Yin Dynasty, and then raised both these last two marquises
to the rank of duke.

Wang Mang at first continued this practise of giving literary titles
only to those nobles continuing ancient lines. In A.D. 1, Confucius was
posthumously made Duke Hsüan-ni as Recompense for Perfection. As
time went on, the Confucian literary flavor of such titles attracted him
more and more, and the magical properties of such names made them
important. Confucius was said to have emphasized the "rectification of
names". That statement was now taken to imply the giving of magically
effective titles. After he came to the throne, Wang Mang used almost
none but literary titles for his nobles, his officials, and his generals. I
have attempted the difficult and dubious task of translating them, in
order to indicate their literary and magical flavor.

Wang Mang changed the titles of his officials to phrases found in the
Confucian classics. These titles are sometimes curious, but always
literary. Since it takes at least two words to make an unmistakable
title, and since, in a speech of Shun, the Book of History contains the
phrase "my forester," Wang Mang entitled one of his officials, the My
Forester. The Chinese phrase, because of the cryptic nature of Chinese
words, does not openly convey the nonsensical connotation of the
English, but the meaning is exactly as I have translated it. In the titles
of his generals, magical connotations seem to have overbalanced purely
literary ones; Wang Mang seems indeed to have relied largely upon his

literary-magical titles for military success. That was a legitimate conclusion
from the strain of Confucianism he had imbibed.

Towards the end of his reign, the grandiose tendency of literary titles
resulted in the multiplication of generalissimos and commanders-in-chief,
a tendency continued in the early days of the Later Han dynasty. Indeed,
Wang Mang's literary titles made such an impression on his age
that the rebels against him imitated his titles. They were in good Confucian
tradition.