Translators' Note
[1]
The Zhonghua shuju reprintings of the San guo zhi often exhibit differences
in punctuation, for example. Cf. Nienhauser, The Grand Scribe's Records,
1:xv.
[2]
On this 1982 edition of the San guo zhi, which corrects mistakes from the
earlier one but also introduces some of its own, see Fang, "San guo zhi biaodian
shangque;" Sgz jiaogu, "Qianyan" [OMITTED] [Foreword] 1-5; "Fanli" [OMITTED] [User's
Guide] 1-4; 343-349.
[3]
Where we have actually quoted a translation, it is the first item in the
accompanying note. Where we simply refer to the existence of another
translation, the item is generally preceded by "cf." in the accompanying note.
[4]
Cao Cao was given the temple name Taizu (Grand Progenitor) in 237, over
a decade and a half after his death (Sgz, 3.109; Fang, The Chronicle of the
Three Kingdoms, 1:544).
[5]
Bo hu tong [OMITTED] [Comprehensive Discussions in the White Tiger Hall]
contains the following definition of the word shi (posthumous name):
Shi `to bestow a posthumous name' means yin [[OMITTED]] `to extend'; to
extend and display the vestiges of one's conduct in order to stimulate
the perfection of spiritual power, and to induce the superior to the
cultivation of probity. Therefore, the Li jiao te sheng says: "Anciently
those who had no rank during their life did not receive a posthumous
name at death either". This means that he who had a rank during
his life ought to receive a posthumous name at death.
(Tjan,
Po hu
t'ung, 2:369)
The quotation from the "Jiao te sheng" [OMITTED] [Use a Single Victim at the
Suburban Sacrifice] chapter of the Li ji [OMITTED] [Book of Rites] can be found
in Lj, 26.16a. Cf. Legge, Lî Kî, 1:438.
[7]
For instance, after Jia Chong's [OMITTED] (217-282) death in 282, officials
deliberated on a posthumous title for him. In what was likely a reflection of
the factional struggles involving the Jia family at the Jin court (see Chapter
5 below), Erudit (boshi [OMITTED]) Qin Xiu [OMITTED] suggested the name Huang [OMITTED]
(the Uncultivated). The emperor rejected this suggestion, whereupon Erudit
Duan Chang [OMITTED], falling in with the ruler's wishes, suggested the posthumous
title Wu [OMITTED] (the Martial), which was accepted (Js, 40.1171).
[8]
The stock of posthumous names was first inventoried in the Zhou shu [OMITTED]
[Zhou Documents], or Yi Zhou shu [OMITTED] [Lost Zhou Documents], in a
section attributed to the Duke of Zhou [OMITTED] called "Shi fa" [OMITTED] [Conventions
for Posthumous Names] (see YZs, 6.17b-25b). Works in this tradition were
done by Liu Xi [OMITTED] (fl. A.D. 200) and others (see LXSf; Shen, Shi fa kao;
He, Shi fa; Skqszm, 82.62). Prominent among these are a section of Cai Yong's
[OMITTED] (133-192) Du duan [OMITTED] [Solitary Judgments] and Su Xun's [OMITTED] (1009-1066)
imperially ordered Shi fa (see Dd, B.14a-15a and Sf in our Bibliography).
Extremely useful is Wang, Shi fa yanjiu.
[9]
See Fang, "Some Reflections on the Difficulty of Translation," 116-117.
[10]
Wu is the normal designation for the first ruler or father of the first ruler of
a dynasty during the early medieval period (Liu Naihe [OMITTED], "Xu" [OMITTED]
[Preface], 1, in Wang, Shi fa yanjiu).
[11]
Another method would have been to use the format adopted by Fang in The
Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms, in which case the name would be given as
Empress Xuan, née Bian, Consort of Wudi. Cf. Fang, The Chronicle of the
Three Kingdoms, 1:41.
[12]
Bielenstein's translations of Han official titles are based on those of Homer
H. Dubs. See de Crespigny, Official Titles of the Former Han Dynasty.
