0273 Chinese Era Names

As if keeping track of the more than 20 Chinese dynasties weren’t hard enough, scholars of Chinese history also have to keep track of “era titles,” arbitrarily assigned names given to a set of years by the dynastic ruler of the time. Era titles were a kind of Ancient Chinese spin technique used to affirm a ruler’s sovereignty and manipulate the masses into having positive feelings about a particular time regardless of what was actually going on. Emperors could change these era titles…well, whenever: to mark a new beginning or to commemorate a successful military campaign or because the stars were aligned just so. Wu Zetian, the one woman supreme ruler, referred to two of her eras as Heavenly Granted and Perfect Satisfaction. I know, right? There were over 500 rulers in dynastic China. Do the math and be glad that this practice was discontinued. #ceas #hacker #china