Editing Chinese name (section)

===Era name===
{{Main|Chinese era name|Table of Chinese monarchs}}

The era name ({{zhi|c=年號|p=niánhào}}) arose from the custom of dating years by the reigns of the ruling emperors. Under the [[Han dynasty|Han]], the practice began of changing [[regnal name]]s as means of dispensing with bad luck and attracting better. Almost all era names were literary and employed exactly two characters. By the [[Ming dynasty|Ming]] and [[Qing dynasty|Qing]] dynasties, emperors had largely dispensed with the practice and kept a single era name during their reign, such that it is customary to refer to Ming and Qing emperors by their era names.