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Appendix I. The Establishment of Year-Periods

Before Han times, there were no named year-periods. For the reigns of Emperors Kao, Hsiao-hui, and the Empress of the Kao-tsu, there were also no named year-periods. In the reigns of Emperors Wen and Ching, we find merely more than one beginning of the count of years, no named year-periods. Emperor Wen began the count of years twice, the second time seemingly under the influence of Hsin-Yüan P'ing, with the notion that his reign would be thereby lengthened (cf. 4: 16a and HFHD I, 260, n. 1). Emperor Ching began the count of years thrice. Named year-periods are first found in the reign of Emperor Wu. This conclusion must be inferred from the scant information given us; namely, a record of an imperial order by Emperor Wu ordering that a new beginning should be made in the count of years, and a memorial requesting the establishment of the first named year-period.

In SC 28: 55 (= Mh III, 474), there is the following statement, "In the third year after [114 B.C.], a high official said that it was proper for the first years to be called by some manifestation of heavenly favor, and it was not proper [for them to be called merely] by the numbers First, Second, [etc]. The first first year (yüan) should be called Chien (inaugurate); the second first year should be called Kuang (splendor), because of the long comet; the third first year should be called Shou (animal), because the animal with [only] one horn was obtained for the suburban sacrifice."

From the above statement, Wu Jen-chieh (1137-1199) in his Liang-Han K'an-wu Pu-yi 2: 2a, b, deduces that, in the first part of his reign, Emperor Wu merely continued the practise of his predecessors in beginning anew the count of years in his reign, without giving any special name to these periods.

Emperor Wu was only fifteen and a half years of age when he came to the throne; by 114 B.C. (the twenty-seventh year of his reign), he had already begun the count of years at least thrice and was destined to reign an equally long period in the future. These periods had previously been called merely by numbers, the First, the Second, and the Third first years. To only three periods could the words ch'ien, chung, and hou be (retrospectively) applied, as was the case in the reign of Emperor Ching; since it was not known how many times Emperor Wu would change the count of years, when it seemed likely in 114 B.C. that he would want to begin the count of years again, the suggestion was made that these periods be named in accordance with some outstanding supernatural event that had happened in the period. The official who made this suggestion also suggested names for three year-periods; when names were actually given, it was decided to start a new period every six years, so the period Yüan-so was interpolated, which seems not to have previously been counted. The precious tripod, after which the fifth period was named, was probably not found until the fourth year of that period (113 B.C.; cf. 6: 19b and n. 17.9), hence that year-period must also have been retrospectively named.

The named year-periods then originated in 114 or 113 B.C., when Emperor Wu had begun the count of years in his reign at least three times already and was thinking of beginning the count again. At least the first five names were retrospectively given to periods which previously had no name, only numbers, and, in the case of one period, seem not to have previously been counted. The first year-period for which we have an imperial edict ordaining its name is that of 110 B.C. (cf. 6: 26a). This one was not named until the sixth month in that calendar year, and the naming of Emperor Wu's last year period seems to have been delayed until after his death (cf. n. 38.1). The practise of naming year-periods continued to the end of the Ch'ing dynasty with only one important change; beginning with the Ming dynasty, the name of the year-period was not altered except at the accession of a new emperor. (Cf. also Chavannes, "Le Traité sur les sacrifices fong et chan," in Jour. Peking Or. Soc'y, 1890, III, no. 1, p. 56, n. 1; Mh I, c, n. 1; HS 6: 1b; SC 28: 55; Nien-erh Shih Cha-chi 2: 11b.)

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