Chapter 15 Section 5 Taboo and Prohibition

Taboos appeared about two or three thousand years ago in the Zhou Dynasty. It was formally established in the Qin Dynasty. The practice of avoiding taboos prevailed in the Tang Dynasty, but the most stringent was in the Kang, Yong, and Qiang periods of the Qing Dynasty. , will not be punished.In addition to the taboo of the original character of the monarch's name and characters with the same pronunciation or similar shape, the names of foreign relatives, foreign rulers, Dacheng's most holy teacher Confucius, and the names of fathers and ancestors must also be tabooed.The methods of avoiding taboo are usually changing characters, changing pronunciation, missing strokes, blank characters, and writing "taboo" characters instead.This special cultural phenomenon has been pervasive in people's daily life and documents handed down from generation to generation before the Revolution of 1911. Of course, genealogy, one of the ancient documents, is no exception.

Taboos in genealogy have appeared in the Han Dynasty, as can be seen from the "Sun Shuao Stele" and "Zhao Kuan Stele" erected in the Eastern Han Dynasty that have been preserved to this day.These two steles were erected by others, and most of the characters described in the writing are called by their characters but not their names. This is a common way for people in the Han Dynasty to avoid taboos.In the more than 1,000 years after the Han Dynasty, the only thing that needs to be paid attention to in the editing of musical notation is the problem of avoiding taboos.However, in the Qing Dynasty, the situation changed. Not only did the government have to pay attention to avoiding taboos when compiling genealogy books, but the government also had some specific requirements on the content and format of genealogy books. Some contents were strictly prohibited and could not be violated.The tentacles of the imperial power finally extended into the corner of this purely private family, which is what people usually call "Public Ban".

Intervention in the compilation of private genealogy first occurred in the 29th year of Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty (AD 1764). The provincial capital or prefectural capital jointly established a ancestral hall to worship the so-called common ancestors in order to collect money, which led to increasing disputes over ancestral hall property.At the same time, influenced by the atmosphere at that time, when compiling the genealogy, most of the families took the ancient monarchs as their ancestors. Everyone regarded themselves as Chinese emperors, and some presumptuous words often appeared in the writing.This situation attracted the attention of Fude, the governor of Jiangxi. According to his memorial, Emperor Qianlong asked local officials to review the content of the genealogy in their area, and expressly prohibited the establishment of family temples in provincial capitals and prefectural cities.Originally, the Shunzhi, Kangxi, and Yongzheng emperors in the early Qing Dynasty, out of the need to maintain feudal rule, enthusiastically encouraged each family to compile genealogy. purpose of social order.But I never expected that some of the negative consequences that emerged in the end went to the point of having to use political power to intervene.

The content of spectrum prohibition in Qing Dynasty is mainly manifested in the following aspects: First of all, if the name of the ancestors violates the taboo of the temple name, royal name, prince's name and even the name of Confucius, the homonym should be changed to avoid it.That is to say, many people want to change the names of their ancestors. This is a very uncomfortable thing, but there is no way. The real head and job are more important than the names of the dead ancestors.Of course, the taboo is not aimed at ordinary people. Even if it is the emperor's family tree, the name of the emperor must be taboo, or the name should be covered with a piece of yellow silk, or only the temple name and posthumous name should be written.

Secondly, when tracing ancestors, it is not allowed to climb up on your own. You can only take the fifth ancestor as the ancestor, or the ancestor who led the whole family or moved to the local area as the ancestor.In the Qing Dynasty, only the royal family was the most noble, and the rest of the people were all the people under the rule. If the ancestors who climbed dozens of generations or hundreds of generations were also emperors, wouldn’t it confuse the public and cause confusion if they claimed to be the imperial family?Taking the fifth generation ancestor or the ancestor who moved to the local area as the upper limit of the ancestors of the family, all families can only be wealthy families at most, and the ancestors are also citizens, and they are still citizens now, with peace of mind and no evil thoughts.

Third, terms such as "Shibiao" and "Chuanzan" are not allowed to appear in the structure of the genealogy book, so as to conform to the identity of the common people.Shi Biao, Chuan Zan, etc. are the styles of history books. Shi Biao can only be used for relatives of the emperor, high-ranking officials and dignitaries in history books, and Chuan Zan should not be used by ordinary people's homes.For this reason, all Shibiao were changed to Shipu, and Chuanzan was cancelled.At the same time, it is not allowed to publish portraits of ancestors in the spectrum.In addition, the preposterous words that are often used in genealogy since the Ming Dynasty and are only used to describe ancient emperors and princes, such as Kaiji for Shiqian, Entrepreneurship for buying a property, Qiyu for building a house, ZTE for revival, etc., will be restored to the original. say.

Fourth, when encountering the reign title of the Qing Dynasty in the writing, it needs to be written in a new line and raised one space. Sometimes, considering that the continuous line break is too wasteful of paper, it can also be written with a space in the line to show respect.In the text, if there is a year name of the late Ming Dynasty, it will be deleted and converted into a Qing Dynasty name, or directly write a certain year of Tang Wang or Gui Wang. In addition, literati get into trouble all at the end of the pen. Therefore, the art and literature articles in the genealogy must be strictly censored. As long as they violate the text, they will be corrected. There are many new genealogies that are newly revised at this time, and the content in this aspect will be deleted , not art and literature, to be safe.

During the period when genealogy was strictly prohibited, many families respectfully submitted their genealogies to local officials for review in order to ensure safety, regardless of the rule that the genealogy should not be passed on to the outside world. However, the genealogies after the Song Dynasty were all compiled and collected by private individuals, and rarely circulated.Besides, changing the names of ancestors by descendants does not conform to traditional moral principles. The preface, biography, and art of genealogy are usually used by people who edit genealogy to show off their family background and cannot be whitewashed. To be honest, how can they be proud? people.The portraits of the ancestors were originally one of the characteristics of the family tree, and it would be regrettable if they were removed.Therefore, even in the most severe period of genealogy prohibition, except for some families who were more cautious, or those who were officials in the court, most of the general families did not strictly abide by it.Especially after Jiaqing and Daoguang, the rulers gradually loosened their control over ideology and culture, coupled with the surge in the number of new genealogies across the country, no matter what aspect it was, it was no longer possible or possible to review all genealogies one by one. The traditional spectrum ban was gradually lifted.