A Study Of The System Of The Ming Dynasty To Grant Royal Titles To The Forefathers Of The Civil Officials

The practice of the Ming Dynasty to grant royal titles to the forefathers of governmental officials, including their parents, grand parents, or great grand parents, was called as Fengzeng(封赠),which was based on the rank and performance of the officials. Feng(封) meant to grant royal titles to the living people, while Zeng(赠) meant to grant royal titles to the departed peoples. The royal title granting system, as one of the main systems of the Ming Dynasty, ran through two channels. One was Kaoman Fengzeng(考满封赠, granting titles after a satisfied regular evaluation of the officials). This was the most commonly and frequently practiced way of granting royal titles to the families of the civil officials. The second channel was Teli Fengzeng(特例封赠, irregular practice of granting royal titles). This was the practice happened to encourage the significant loyalty or contribution of the subjects, or because of a major royal celebration. The practices of irregular title granting activities were taken usually as responses to the officials'appeals for such titles, which reflects the influences of the general political cultural of the Ming to the civil officials. Since the minimum ranking level of the officials whose forefather could be granted were lower than the previous dynasties, usually grand seven and in special cases might go down to grand nine, comparing to the previous dynasties, this practice was carried out the most commonly during the Ming period.Through this system,the forefathers of the officials would receive particular imperial decrees, hats and costumes particularly for the officials,which were the credentials and symbols of their honors. At the same times the titled people would also get certain privileges, such as setting up memorial archways and getting consoling ceremonies when they die. The granted honors realize the expectation of Confucian scholar-bureaucratic for brings honor to their ancestors and clans. The granted officials must fulfill certain obligations and abide the rules of governmental etiquette to secure their titles from being striped of.Fundamentally speaking, the royal title granting system's function depends upon the interaction between the bureaucratic group and the royal court. On one hand, the civil officers who want their ancestors to be entitled have to do their duties and serving the emperor with all efforts. On the other hand, the royal court grants titles to the civil officers'ancestors in order to motivate them to serve their duties. Because there are always higher honors for the civil officers to pursue, this system helped to make the civil officers to keep dedicated to their duties. The diffusion of those stories of royal titles among the commonality also inspires the other people to made efforts for such titles.