The Study On The Title Inheritance System In The Song Dynasty

The Title System can traced back to the ancient Shang and Zhou Dynasties. And it Can be extended to the establishment of the provisional government of the Republic of China after the revolution of Xin Hai.The Title System in Song Dynasty is an integral part of this framework.To a certain extent,because the Song Dynasty inherited the Tang Dynasty system, the power of awarding the title was firmly in the hands of the Emperor.The Secretariat, the Chancellery and Shang shu province were the implementation of specific institutions in charge of awarding the tile. With the Changing of the imperial edict and the decree in different periods, the name, rank and level of the title presented unique characteristics, which also didn’t rigidly adhere to the inherent laws and decrees, but greatly showed its reality and flexibility in the actual operation process.On the title system of succession, the title of the imperial succession system had experienced many changes, which included two most important in them. Once in Song Ren zong period, the emperor ruled that only descendants of the ten kings could inherit the title. In Song Shen zong period, the emperor further reformed the imperial successive system, which was to control the number of imperial succession in the extremely limited range. When it came to the southern Song Dynasty, Song Gao zong had slightly adjusted to the succession system. It hadn’t make a significant change and was basically in accordance with the implementation of the system in Shen zong period. In addition, in order to promote the contribution of the ancestors who established the country, Song Shen zong appointed another title of An Ding Jun Wang to make it hand down from generation to generation. Moreover, Song Dynasty appointed another four titles of Si Wang successively, because of Imperial descendants’ being the emperors. This would make their position more honorable as well as excellent. The successors and their descendants certainly would enjoy more additional privileges and actual benefits than those who didn’t have the right of succession. Under the background of the government of Song Dynasty’s strictly controlling the succession of the title, the other social groups who could have the right of succession as well were the descendants of Zhou Shi Zong and Confucius except for the imperial descendants. To a great extent, this was a good means for Song government to win the hearts of the people and maintain the feudal rule.