Editing Emperor of China (section)

== Styles, names and forms of address ==
{{Further|Chinese sovereign}}
As the emperor had, by law, an absolute position not to be challenged by anyone else, his subjects were to show the utmost respect in his presence, whether in direct conversation or otherwise. When approaching the imperial throne, one was expected to [[kowtow]] before the emperor. In a conversation with the emperor, it was considered a crime to compare oneself to the emperor in any way. It was [[naming taboo|taboo]] to refer to the emperor by his given name, even for the emperor's own mother, who instead was to use ''Huangdi'' ({{lang|zh|皇帝}}), or simply ''Er'' ({{zhi|t=兒|s=儿}} 'son', for a male emperor). The given names of all the emperor's deceased male ancestors were forbidden from being written, and were avoided ({{lang|zh|避諱}}) by the use of synonyms, homophones, or leaving out the final stroke of the taboo character. This linguistic feature can sometimes be used to date historical texts, by noting which words in parallel texts are altered.

The emperor was never to be addressed as ''you''. Instead, one used ''Bixia'' ({{lang|zh|陛下}} 'bottom of the steps'), corresponding to "Your Imperial Majesty" and originally referring to his attendants, ''Huangshang'' ({{lang|zh|皇上}} 'imperial highness', ''Shengshang'' ({{zhi|t=聖上|s=圣上}} 'holy highness') or ''Tianzi'' ({{lang|zh|天子}} 'Son of Heaven'). The emperor was also alluded to indirectly through reference to the [[Chinese dragon#Symbol of imperial authority|imperial dragon symbology]]. Servants often addressed the emperor as ''Wansuiye'' ({{zhi|t=萬歲爺|s=万岁爷}} 'lord of [[ten thousand years]]'). The emperor referred to himself as ''zhen'' ({{lang|zh|朕}}), the original Chinese first-person singular pronoun arrogated by Qin Shi Huang, functioning as an equivalent to the [[royal we]]. In front of subjects, the emperor may also refer to themselves self-deprecatingly as ''Guaren'' ({{lang|zh|寡人}} 'the morally-deficient one') or ''Gu'' ({{lang|zh|孤}} 'lonely one').

In contrast to the Western convention of using a regnal or personal name (e.g. George V) to refer to a sovereign, the emperor was referred to in the third person simply as ''Huangdi Bixia'' ({{lang|zh|皇帝陛下}} 'His Majesty the Emperor') or ''Dangjin Huangshang'' ({{zhi|t=當今皇上|s=当今皇上}} 'present emperor above'). Under the Qing, the emperor was usually styled 'His Imperial Majesty the Emperor of the Great Qing Dynasty, [[Son of Heaven]], Lord of [[Ten Thousand Years]]', though this varied considerably. In historical texts, the present emperor was almost universally referred to as ''Shang'' ({{lang|zh|上}}).

Generally, emperors also ruled with an [[Chinese era name|era name]] ({{zhi|t=年號|s=年号|hp=nián hào}}). Since the adoption of era names by [[Emperor Wu of Han]] and up until the [[Ming dynasty]], the sovereign conventionally changed the era name semi-regularly during his reign. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, emperors simply chose one era name for their entire reign, and people often referred to past emperors with that title. In earlier dynasties, the emperors were known with a [[temple name]] given after their death. Most emperors were also given a [[posthumous name]] which was sometimes combined with the temple name (e.g. Emperor Shengzu Ren {{zhi|t=聖祖仁皇帝|s=圣祖仁皇帝}} for the Kangxi Emperor). The passing of an emperor was referred to as ''Jiabeng'' ({{zhi|t=駕崩|s=驾崩}} 'collapse of the imperial chariot') and an emperor that had just died was referred to as ''Daixing Huangdi'' ({{lang|zh|大行皇帝}} 'the emperor of the great journey').