A Chinese era name (traditional Chinese: 年號; simplified Chinese: 年号; pinyin: niánhào) is the era name, reign period, or regnal title used when traditionally numbering years in an emperor's reign and naming certain Chinese rulers (see the conventions). Some emperors have several era names, one after another, where each beginning of a new era resets the numbering of the year back to year one or yuán (元). The numbering of the year increases on the f...
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A Chinese era name (traditional Chinese: 年號; simplified Chinese: 年号; pinyin: niánhào) is the era name, reign period, or regnal title used when traditionally numbering years in an emperor's reign and naming certain Chinese rulers (see the conventions). Some emperors have several era names, one after another, where each beginning of a new era resets the numbering of the year back to year one or yuán (元). The numbering of the year increases on the first day of the Chinese calendar each year. The era name originated as a motto or slogan chosen by an emperor.
Emperor Wu of Han (Han Wudi) was conventionally regarded as the first emperor to declare an era name; however he was only the first to use an era name in every year of his reign. His grandfather and father also employed era names, though not continuously. Han Wudi changed period titles every five years or so, going through a total of eleven reigning slogans during his reign from 140 BC to 87 BC.
Each era name has a literary meaning....
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