Editing Temple name (section)

==History==
Temple names trace their origins to the Shang dynasty of China. In earlier times, temple names were exclusively assigned to competent rulers after their death.

The temple name system established during the Shang period utilized only four adjectives:
* 太 (''tài''; "grand"): honored to dynastic founders;
* 高 (''gāo''; "high"): honored to monarchs with great achievements;
* 世 (''shì''; "eternal"): honored to rulers deemed worthy of eternal remembrance; and
* 中 (''zhōng''; "resurgent"): honored to sovereigns who revitalized their realm following a period of decline.

Chinese monarchs of the [[Zhou dynasty]] were given posthumous names but not temple names. During the [[Qin dynasty]], the practices both of assigning temple names and posthumous names was abandoned. The [[Han dynasty]] reintroduced both titles, although temple names were assigned sporadically and remained more exclusive than posthumous names. It was also during the Han era that other adjectives aside from the four listed above began appearing in temple names. Numerous Han emperors had their temple names removed by Emperor Xian of Han, Liu Xie, in AD 190.

Initially, in deciding whether a monarch should be honored as "祖" (''zǔ''; "progenitor") or "宗" (''zōng''; "ancestor"), a principle was strictly adhered to: "祖" was to be given to accomplished rulers while "宗" was to be assigned to virtuous rulers. However, this principle was effectively abandoned during the [[Sixteen Kingdoms]] era with the ubiquitous usage of "祖" by various non-[[Han Chinese|Han]] regimes.

Temple names became widespread from the Tang dynasty onwards. Apart from the final ruler of a dynasty, monarchs who died prematurely, or monarchs who were deposed, most Chinese monarchs were given temple names by their descendants.

The practice of honoring rulers with temple names had since been adopted by other dynastic regimes within the East Asian cultural sphere|Sinosphere, including those based on the Korean Peninsula and in Vietnam. Japan, while having adopted both posthumous names and [[Japanese era name|era name]]s from China, did not assign temple names to its monarchs.