Son of Heaven

Son of Heaven
Son of Heaven
Chinese name
Chinese	天子
Hanyu Pinyin
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyin	Tiānzǐ
Middle Chinese
Middle Chinese	tʰen t͡sɨX
Old Chinese
Baxter–Sagart (2014)	l̥ˤin tsəʔ
Vietnamese name
Vietnamese alphabet	Thiên tử
Chữ Hán	天子
Korean name
Hangul	천자
Hanja	天子
Japanese name
Kanji	天子
Hiragana	てんし
Romanization
Transcriptions
Romanization	tenshi

Son of Heaven, or Tianzi (Chinese: 天子; pinyin: Tiānzǐ), was the sacred monarchial and imperial title of the Chinese sovereign. It originated with the Zhou dynasty^[1] and was founded on the political and spiritual doctrine of the Mandate of Heaven. Since the Qin dynasty, the secular imperial title of the Son of Heaven was "Huangdi".

The title, "Son of Heaven", was subsequently adopted by other Sinospheric monarchs to justify their rule. The name Celestial Empire (or "Heavenly Dynasty") was also used in reference to the status of the Chinese emperor as the Son of Heaven in the Sinosphere.

The Son of Heaven was the supreme universal monarch, who ruled tianxia (means "all under heaven"). His status is rendered in English as "ruler of the whole world."^[2] The title, "Son of Heaven", was interpreted literally only in China and Japan, whose monarchs were referred to as demigods, deities, or "living gods", chosen by the gods and goddesses of heaven.^[3]

^ Eno, Robert (2012). "Inscriptional records of the Western Zhou". IUScholarWorks. p. 18. Archived from the original on Oct 16, 2023. Note that it is during the reign of King Kang that the custom of referring to the King as the Son of Heaven (Tian) first begins.
^ Ebrey 2010, p. 179.
^ Dull 1990, p. 59.

[eno-1] Eno, Robert (2012). "Inscriptional records of the Western Zhou". IUScholarWorks. p. 18. Archived from the original on Oct 16, 2023. Note that it is during the reign of King Kang that the custom of referring to the King as the Son of Heaven (Tian) first begins.

[FOOTNOTEEbrey2010179-2] Ebrey 2010, p. 179.

[FOOTNOTEDull199059-3] Dull 1990, p. 59.

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