Son of Heaven

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

The Son of Heaven was a title given to the Chinese ruler who was considered sacred and had power over everything under the sky. This title started with the Zhou dynasty and was based on the idea that the ruler had a mandate from heaven. Later, the title was used by other monarchs in the same region to support their own rule. The Son of Heaven was seen as the most important ruler who had power over everything.^[1] In some places, like China and Japan, the ruler was thought of as a god or a chosen one.^[2]

Related pages

• Emperor of China

Sources

1. Ebrey, Patricia Buckley (2010) [1996]. The Cambridge Illustrated History of China (2nd ed.). Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-12433-1.
2. Dull, Jack (1990). "The Evolution of Government in China". Heritage of China: Contemporary Perspectives on Chinese Civilization. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-06441-6.