The legal heirs of emperors and princes in Shang and Zhou Dynasties were called princes or princes.
In the Han Dynasty, both the emperor and the heir of the prince were called "Prince", but the Crown Prince was called "Crown Prince".
After the Han Dynasty, the heirs of princes were renamed as "Prince", and "Prince" became the unique title of the heir to the throne. The prince of feudal society, second only to the emperor, has the right to supervise the country and has officials of the Eastern Palace similar to the imperial court.
It should be pointed out that the "prince" is not an innate identity, but an identity given by the emperor. Only by "conferring" (see below) can you obtain the status of a prince.
Because of the different relationship between the canonized and the emperor, the titles similar to those of the prince are "grandson", "granduncle" and "granduncle". Most princes are sons of the emperor, and a few are nephews or adopted sons of the emperor.
The Yuan Dynasty was not familiar with the etiquette of the Central Plains, which led to the joke that the younger brother was the eldest brother "Prince".
In the Jin and Yuan Dynasties, princes who were not heirs were sometimes called "princes", such as "Four Princes Wu Shu (only princes)", which was a common name among the people, but it was not a system.
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The conferring of the prince:
The inheritance system in ancient China was the eldest son inheritance system, and women had no inheritance right. The principle of heirs is: "Stand tall and grow big", that is to say, the order of inheritance is the younger son first and the eldest son first.
Among the eldest son [the son born to the wife (queen)], the oldest is the first heir. If there is no eldest son, the middle-aged elder born to an illegitimate child (not the first son) is the heir. In another case, if Di Zi dies young, he will make his son his heir. For example, after the death of Prince Zhu Biao, Zhu Yuanzhang made his son Zhu Yunwen his great-grandson.
In addition to the principle of "stand on your own feet and grow up", there is also the principle of "stand on your own merits", that is, it depends on the virtue of your common sons. The most important thing is that the emperor "allocates money to love", that is, which son the emperor likes best, he will be named prince. Although this method has existed in history, it is rare, and it is easy to trigger a power struggle in the imperial court.
The relationship between the prince and the emperor in history is extremely complicated and contradictory. On the one hand, the emperor needs an heir, but the existence of the heir will pose a certain threat to the imperial power.
Because the crown prince has great power, he often conflicts with the emperor, resulting in being abolished or killed. For example, Emperor Jing of Han Dynasty abolished Rong, Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty abolished Ji, and Emperor Wen of Sui Dynasty abolished the Prince. However, the powerful crown prince rebelled and even killed the king because he was dissatisfied with the emperor's constraints.
Such as Shao who was killed. On the other hand, because of coveting the position of the Crown Prince, the sons of the emperor often love each other and even fight with each other, which is more common.
Usually, due to the above reasons, it is rare for a crown prince to successfully establish a title and inherit the throne. With the continuous strengthening of the emperor's power, the power of the crown prince is weakening. But on the other hand, it is precisely because the power of the crown prince no longer poses a threat to the emperor, and the emperor has enough power to restrain other sons, so there are more successors in the later period.
Because of the special and sensitive relationship between the prince and the emperor. Ministers must be careful when dealing with related affairs. They dare not disobey the emperor's orders and are unwilling to offend the prince.
The Biography of the Qing Dynasty recorded such a thing. In the thirty-third year of Kangxi, the Ministry of Rites wrote a note to Emperor Kangxi when offering sacrifices in Fengxian Hall, in order to put the mattress offered by Crown Prince Yin Ren in the sill.
The emperor ordered Shamuha, a senior minister, to set the prince's worship mattress outside the sill. Shamuha asked Emperor Kangxi to record this matter in the archives, but Emperor Kangxi ordered Shamuha to take his official position.
In view of the lessons learned by the Crown Prince during the Kangxi period, Emperor Sejong of the Qing Dynasty officially announced the decision to unfairly open a crown prince.
It was changed to a secret custody system: before the emperor died, he put the testamentary edict containing the candidate of the Crown Prince into an urn and hid it in the "aboveboard" plaque in Gan Qing Palace. After the emperor died, Minister Gu Ming took it out and announced it.
In the late Qing Dynasty, the emperors Tongzhi, Guangxu and Xuan Tong were childless, and the secret storage system existed in name only. After Emperor Guangxu failed to preside over the Reform Movement of 1898, Empress Dowager Cixi negotiated with Rong Lu to depose Guangxu and made her 15-year-old son Dipper emperor.
On December 24th, 25th year of Guangxu, Dipper was called into the palace and became a master elder brother. Cixi planned to hold a Guangxu Zen ceremony in the 26th year of Guangxu (1900) and changed the year number to "Baoqing". But inside and outside the capital, there are many discussions. Rong Lu, the great scholar, and Yi Kuang, the prince of Qing Dynasty, disagreed with the envoys of various countries, and various forces also opposed it. Empress Dowager Cixi was forced to stop abolishing the plan.
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