Why did ancient literati call themselves by place names?

In addition to their real names, ancient literati generally had many nicknames. For example, Han Yu's posthumous title includes Mr. Changli, Han Libu and Han Changli. Friends who live in Hebei should be very curious. Changli is a place name, which now belongs to Qinhuangdao City, Hebei Province. Why did Han Yu take a place name as his own name? In fact, these names are not random, and Han Yu is not the only one who pretends to be Lu. Today, I'm going to tell you what the nicknames of the ancients were. Interested friends can come and have a look, which will definitely help you increase your knowledge.

1, place name reference

This includes county, place of birth, place of residence, place of employment and so on.

Han Yu, a writer in the Tang Dynasty, was born in Heyang, Henan (now south of Mengzhou, Henan). He often calls himself Changli. Changli (now Yixian County, Liaoning Province) is the seat of the Korean aristocratic family, so the deceased called it "Han Changli".

Liu Zongyuan was called "Liuhe East" in the Tang Dynasty. Place names such as "Changli" and "Hedong" are the "county hope" of a family.

The so-called "county hope" and "county" are administrative divisions, and "hope" is an aristocratic family.

"County Hope" refers to a famous family in a certain region, that is, a county hope that lives in the world, which is looked up to by the local people and is different from other people with the same surname.

In ancient times, people were called by their native place or birthplace to show respect, which was called "looking at the land".

For example, Meng Haoran, a poet in the Tang Dynasty, was from Xiangyang, known as "Meng Xiangyang". Zhang Jiuling is a native of Qujiang, known as "Zhang Qujiang"; Wang Anshi, a politician in the Northern Song Dynasty, and Tang Xianzu, a dramatist in the Ming Dynasty, were both from Linchuan, Jiangxi Province, so they were called "Wang Linchuan" and "Tang Linchuan" respectively. Gu, a beginner in Qing Dynasty, was born in Kunshan Town, Jiangsu Province, and was called "Gu". In the late Qing Dynasty, Kang Youwei was a native of Nanhai, Guangdong Province, known as "Kang Nanhai"; Yuan Shikai, a native of Xiangcheng, Henan Province, was called "Yuan Xiangcheng" and so on.

In addition, Li Hongzhang is called "Li Hefei", Weng Tonghe is called "Weng Changshu" and Liang Qichao is called "Liang Xinhui", all of which are commensurate with their native places.

Others use the names of places where they work.

In the Han Dynasty, Jia Yi was once demoted as the master of Changsha King, and was called "Jia Changsha" in the world. Kong Rong used to be a member of the North Sea and was called "Kong Beihai". Tao Yuanming was once the magistrate of Pengze County in Jin Dynasty and was called "Tao Pengze" by the world. In the Tang Dynasty, Luo served as the magistrate of Linhai County, and was known as "Luo Linhai". Cen Can used to be a secretariat, known as "Cenjiazhou"; Wei was once the secretariat of Suzhou, known as "Wei Suzhou" in the world; Liu Zongyuan used to be the secretariat of Liuzhou, and was called "Liu Liuzhou" internationally; Jia Dao used to be the main book of the Yangtze River, and was called "Jia Changjiang" internationally.

2. Charges against official titles, including official names and titles.

Official titles are honorifics, which are used by others or future generations to show respect and admiration for the addressed person, but the addressed person cannot use them himself.

Use formal name matching, abbreviation or reduction. For example, in the Han Dynasty, Jia Yi was once demoted to Changsha, and was called "Master Jia" in the world. Ban Gu used to be the historical governor of Lantai, because he was called "Ban Lantai"; Cai Yong was the commander-in-chief of Zuo, because he was called "Cai Zhonglang"; In the Eastern Han Dynasty, Ma Yuan served as a general and was internationally known as the "horse"; Wang Xizhi, a calligrapher in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, was a general of the right army and was called "Wang Youjun" by the world.

For example, Ban Chao, who joined the army in the Han Dynasty, was named Dingyuan Hou, and the world called him "Ban Dingyuan". Xie Lingyun, a poet in the Southern Dynasties and the Song Dynasty, once criticized Jin Daigong, so he was called "Xie". In the Tang Dynasty, Zhang called himself Duke of Yan, so he called himself Duke of Zhang Yan. Yan Zhenqing, a great calligrapher in the Tang Dynasty, was called Lu Gong. In the Song Dynasty, Wang Anshi once sealed Jing Guogong, so he was called "Wang". Sima Guang chased Wen Guogong, so he was called "Sima Wengong".

3. The first reference in the line

The so-called rank is the ranking order of someone in the family.

In the Tang dynasty, people's behavior order was not according to the brothers born by a father, but according to the birth order of the cousins of the same great-grandfather. There are often examples of calling each other by rank in anthologies of Tang poetry, such as Don't Move Big, Send Yuan Er to An, Nine Books of Jade Yuan, Drunk with Li Eleven to Remember Yuan Jiu, Answer Wang Twelve, A Suggestion for My Friend Liu, etc.

Among friends, Li Bai was called Li Twelve, Du Er, Gao Shi Gao Wu, Han Yuhan Eighteen, Liu Zongyuan Liu Ba, Yuan Zhen Yuan Jiu and Zhang, which was a popular habit at that time. Song Dynasty also followed this custom, such as Chyi Chin (Qin Guan), European wine (Ouyang Xiu) and yellow wine (Huang Tingjian).

According to this comparison, what should you call it?

Author's brief introduction Tan is a professor at School of International Education and Exchange, Tianjin Normal University, chairman of Chinese Education Committee of China Language Modernization Society, member of Tianjin Language Working Committee, and consultant of Tianjin Language Society.