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Woo Tshung-Zuh, The Rule of Succession to the Throne in China, 9 Chinese Soc. & Pol.
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and Political Science Review, 9(4), 626-634.

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 The Rule of Succession to the
Throne in China
By Woo Tshung=zuh (i JJ * f)
The rule of succession of the ruling families in Euro-
pean countries is definite and simple, while that of imperial
China was very indefinite and complex. In European
countries the eldest son of the ruler becomes his succes-
sor. If the ruler has no son at all, his eldest daughter
will ordinarily succeed to the crown; if there is neither a
son nor a daughter, the crown goes to the nearest relative.
In China, on the contrary, beginning from Huang-ti (I
#) in 2697 B. C. to the end of the Ch'ing (j ) dynasty
in 1911 A. D., there was no definite rule for royal succes-
sion to be followed by all dynasties. Generally we may
classify the types of succession, which were followed for
such a long period of time, under three headings. In the
first place, the emperor might choose any one to be his
successor who had ability and character, though he might
not even be one of the relatives of the emperor himself.
This rule was used by the Five Emperors beginning from
Huang-ti in 2697 B. C. to Yi ( P ) in 2198 B. C. The
second rule of succession was that the eldest son of the
emperor should become his successor. This rule came into
existence with the succession of Chi ( O ) in 2 19o B. C.
of the HLia ( ]Xl) dynasty and continued to exist till the
end of the Ming (l0l]) dynasty in 1643 A. D. The third
rule was that the emperor might choose secretly any one
among his sons to succeed him. But this rule was applied
only under the Ch'ing ( g ) dynasty, 1644-1911.

626
 Rule of Succession 627

We shall try to follow a twofold purpose in consider-

ing the three rules. Starting with an explanation of the
rules themselves, we shall proceed to show which rule was
the typical and which was, on the whole, the best.
The first rule of succession was that not only a son or
relative might have the chance of becoming the successor,
but that a common man might, if he were regarded by the
emperor, ministers, officials and people as the ablest,
wisest, and best man of the time. This rule is explained
by Mr. Hu Hsung-hu ( i ' M ) in "The General His-
tory of China" ( M ). 'The Five Emperors regarded
the government as the government of the people...........a
government of the people is secured by the succession to
the throne of a wise man."'
However, the first rule cannot be regarded as ex-
pedient. Before going further, let us recall the peculiar
circumstances in which the successor was secured in the
time of the Five Emperors. If the emperor chose one of
his sons, a relative, an official or a man of the people to
be his successor, popularity among the dukes and the
common people was necessary to ensure the succession.
For example, Emperor Yao ( ) selected one of his
people, Shun ( ) to be his successor : Shun was
popular among the dukes and the common people and was
held to be the wisest man of his age. His succession was
assured. But if the man selected by the emperor was nol
popular among the dukes and the common people, he

1 See Wang Feng-Chow and Yuan Liao-fan's "The General Hi-tory

of China" ( M A T Lt ), Vol. 1,. heet
II.
Wang Feng Chow: a prominent historian of Feng Chow
( At ) during the reign of Wan Li ( AjO ) of the K1ing
dynasty, who wa, named after Iiis birth-olace. Yuan Liao-fan
is the honorable title given to Yuan Huang-hib ( .2 X l ),
a well-know~n hist)rian in the reign of Wan Li of the 'Ming
d~nstxy
628 T7he Chinese Social and Political Science Reviewv

might be rejected after the death of the ruler either by the

dukes or by the common people or by both. For in-
stance, Emperor Kao ( ) selected Chih ( ) to be the
future ruler of the land, but Chih was not popular among
the dukes; so after the death of IKao, Chih was driven
away by the dukes after nine years of rule, and Yao was
put on the throne in his place. Again, in 2198 B. C.
Emperor Yi selected Pai I ( fAf g ) to be his successor.
But as Pai I was neither popular nor regarded as the wisest
man by the dukes and common people, all the common
people shouted for Chi, the son of Emperor Yfi, to be
their ruler as soon as Yii died, whereas Pai I, who had
been chosen by Yii, was disgraced by the people. We
can see clearly that the government existing in the tinie
of the Five Emperors was not an hereditary but an elective
monarchy of a primitive form. This rule was applied
only for a short period of time-about 500 years-and
often resulted in disorders at the time of succession ; it
was, therefore, not an expedient rule and cannot be con-
sidered as the typical rule of succession in China.
The second rule for succession in China was that the
eldest son of the emperor should become his successor. By
this is not meant that the eldest son among all the sons of
the empress and concubines, but only the eldest son of the
empress. In case the latter had no son, the emperor
might choose the son who was considered ablest, wisest
and best among those born by his concubines. This rule
is explained by Mr. Yu Shih-nan ( JI
l ) in his "The
Literary Collection of the Northern Chamber" ( 1'A O
S. ), which says: "From Ti ( AA ), sons from the queen,
choose the eldest; while from Shu ( Ift! ) or sons from the
concubines of the emperor, the ablest is to be chosen."'

1 See Yu Shih-nan's "The Literary Collection of Northern

Chamber," Vd. 20, Sheet 4 Yu was the royal secretary of the Sni
( P1 ) dynasty for a time.
 Rule of 'uecession 629

Of course, the second device was used only when the

queen had no son at all. This rule is further explained by
Mr. Yuan Liao-fan ( AT fL ) in his "General History of
China". "If the empress has a son, no matter how
young and foolish he is, he should become the successor
of the emperor. And if the empress has no son, the
ablest son among the sons of the wives and concubines
should be chosen. If the sons of the wives and concubines
have the same ability, choose the successor by lot; the son
thus chosen is considered by the emperor as the choice by
the will of Heaven."' From these two extracts it may be
seen that the succession to the throne was partly based
upon the age of the son and partly upon the position of the.
mother.
Before we discuss this rule further we might classify
the wives and the concubines according to their position or
order.
Generally, there were only three classes. First, there
was the wife, designated as empress. Her son was the
heir apparent although he might be very young. If the
empress had more than one son, the eldest should succeed
his father. The second class included the thirty-six
Kung (7g) or palaces where thirty-six wives lived. If the
first wife had no son at all, the eldest son from the thirty-
six Kung was to be chosen. The third class was the
seventy-two Yuan (1k ) or subpalaces wher - concubines
lived. In case the empress and all the other thirty-six
wives had no sons, the ablest son among those of the
seventy-two Yuan was to be selected as the successor.
This order of wives and concubines was used by all the
dynasties beginning from the Hsia dynasty to the Ming.
However, there was a slight change in the second class
beginning from the Yuan () dynasty and continuing
\eang
w Feng-chow and Yuan iUao-fan's l'The C eneral History
of China, Vol. 1, Sheet 15.
6 ?o The Chinese Social and Political Science Review

under the Ming. This is shown by Mr. Chao I (M _) in

"An Outline History of Twenty-two Dynasties" (i-' =
P) "All the dynasties before the Yuan had only one
empress. From the Yuan to the 1VMing dynasty, besides the
empress (whom the writer has classified by herself in the
first class), there were two more empresses selected from
the second class: one was called the second empress and
lived in the Tung Kung (*A)1 or Eastern Palace, while
ti e other was called the third empress and lived in the
Hsi Kung (PEfl )l or Western Palace."' -
According to this classification of wives, if the first
empress had no son the son of the Tung Kung was to
succeed the emperor; and if she had more than one son,
the eldest was to succeed his father. If both the first
and the second wives had no son, the son of the Hsi
Kung would be the successor to the emperor. If the Hsi-
Kung had more than one son, the same rule was applied.
If none of the three empresses had a son, the ablest son
among the other thirty-six Kung should be chosen; and
if they had no son, the ablest son among those of the
seventy-two Yuan was to be selected as the successor.
From the rules laid down by this writer, one can
form a general idea of the second rule of succession and
the position of the wives and concubines of the emperor.
Let us now trace the development of this rule (1) from
its origin, (2) during its probational period, and (3)
through its full development.

1 Tung Kung was the name of a place, where the second wife
lived.
2 Hsi Kung was also the name of a palace where the third wife
lived.
3 See Chao Is " An Outline History of Twenty-two Dynasties," Vol.
29, Seeet 25. Chao I: a native of Yang Hu ( WA) who served as
defence coninisioner of Kwangtung and Rneichow during the
reign of Chia Ching ( of the Ch'ing dynasty.
 Rule of Succession 631

The origin oF the rule: "This rule was established in

the Hsia dynasty by Emperor Chi in the year 2190
B.C."' and was followed by his successors throughout the
dynasty with the exception of two emperors, Pu Chiang
(f IM) who made his brother Tsing (Q) his successor in
1922 B.C., and Chin (0) who appointed his cousin K'ung
Chia (4L 1P) to occupy the throne after his dcath.
The probational period : This period covers nearly
the whole Shang (jil) dynasty, 1783-1135 B.C. Sometimes
an emperor selected a son or nephew to be his success-
or ; sometimes he selected a brother or a cousin. But, as
a whole, about one-half of the emperors of the Shang
dynasty made their brothers their successors.
The full development of the rule: This rule was fully
developed in the Chow (JXJ) period, I 135 B.C. to 246 A.D.
The son, who was chosen by the emperor, was called
Tai-tse (*Y-), the heir apparent, which means the eldest
son of the emperor and the empress. Tai-tse had to live
in the Tung Kung and be educated by a profoundly learned
tutor called the Tai-fu ( ). The Tai-fu was selected
by the emperor himself.
After the Chow dynasty this rule was generally fol-
lowed by the succeeding dynasties down to the Ch'ing
dynasty. Though the rule was sometimes violated by
certain emperors, usually their ministers tried to stop
such action which they regarded as unlawful. For ex-
ample, under the Chow dynasty, the eldest son of Duke
Hsien (gh) of the vassal state of Chin (N) was Sh~n
Sheng (*Zt), but Duke Hsien liked the youngest, named
Hsi Ch'i ( ), and wanted to choose him as the Tai-tse
instead of Shen Shang. His minister Li K'd )
urged him not to do so. However, Duke Hsien did not

1 The Royal Ristorical Bureau: "The Directory of Royal Activi-

t~e, I ol. 304. Sheet S.
632 The Chinese Social and PoliticalScience Review

take this advice and made Hsi Ch'i his successor.' Again,
in the Shang period, Emperor I ( ) had three sons, of
whom the first and the second were born while their mother
was a concubine, but the yougest was born by the sam3
mother after she had been elevated to the rank of empress.
The emperor wanted the eldest amo g the three sons to be
his successor on account of his ability and generosity.
But rai-Shih (l A), the recorder of the historical events
of the time, a gued that if the empress had a son, no son
of a concubine could be the succeesor. At last, Emperor
I was obliged to obey the rule and made the youngest his
successor.
We may consider this rule the typical one, because it
was adopted by twenty-two dynasties covering a period
of 3848 years.
The third rule for succession was that the emperor
might choose secretly any one of his sons to be h's suc-
cessor. Immediately after the death of an emperor, all
his ministers and officials went to the Chien Chin Palace
( *M ') to open the envelope which had been placed
above the Tablet of Light and Uprightness (iE* ) f
410).' However, this rule cannot be considered typical,
for the reason that it was 3practised only under the Ch'ing
dynasty, 1644-191 [.
Although there are many difference among the three
rules of succession, there is an idea common to them all,
namely, that no female should rule over the country. There
is only one case where a female became the sole ruler, both
name and in fact, in the whole history of China This

1 See Tso Chiu-ming ( 0) 's "Tso Chuan" ( q, Vol. 1,

Sheets 32-36. Tso Chiu-ming is the greatest literary historian of
-- China. He lived in the Chow d1ynasty, ard wrote the famous
"Tso Chuan" after he had been deprived of his sight.
2 See The Royal Historical Bureau: "The Directory of Royal Ac-
tivities," Vol. 304, sheet 4.
 Rule of Snccess1on 6633

woman was Wu Hou (RE) under the T'ang () dynasty.

However, even she was not the lawful ruler, for her suc-
cession to the throne was not by the order of her pre-
decessor, nor according to the law of succession,
Such are the general features of the Chinese law of
imperial succession. Many historical writers have failed
to understand clearly these three rules of success-on. The
radicals who advocate the principle of "Return to nature"
take the first type as the best rule of imperial succession.
Their reasons are that choosing the best man by the dukes
and barons indicates a democratic spirit and eliminates
family prejudice. But, as a matter of fact, the imperial
succession before the Hsia dynasty caused many a civil
war after the death of the emperors. It was not real
wisdom and ability that counted for the imperial succes-
sion but military power and territory. Once a man had
conquered his rivals and made himself the ruler, then the
historians of his age had to comnmend him as the best,
wisest and ablest ruler that could rule according to the
will of Heaven. Of course, the strongest man might also
be the wisest man, as we see in the person of Huang-ti
who conquered all his rivals and made hinself one of the
best rulers of China. But such rulers as Hung-ti could not
be always expected. The succession of Chih after Em-
peror Kao gives a good illustration of th? failure of the
first rule of imperial succession.
The second rule-the succession of the eldest son
of the emperor-was better than the first. Tnis saved
civil war and royal strife after the death of the emperor.
The people could also know what ruler to expect, and
ambitious princes or dukes or courtiers had to give up
their hope of becoming rulers. Nevertheless, the jealousy
among the princes of one fami y often brought treachery
and assassination. History tells us of the assassination of
Prince Clhen-ch'eng (AI) by his brother Tai-tsung (-Aj')
6?I The Chinese Socil and Political Science Review

in the T'ang (P,) period, and the deposition of Chien-wen

(A)by his uncle Yung Lo (71c) in the Ming dynasty.
Things like these can be found in almost every dynasty.
Again, the son of the empress who must succeed as future
ruler was not necessarily the best man. Emperor Chou
( the last ruler of the Shang dynasty, was the only son
of the empress, but he lost the throne through his cruelty.
Furthermore, the preappointment of the successor of the
throne sometimes spoiled the prince who had been ap.
pointed. His followers at times betrayed him, induced
him to act badly and even demanded great power from
him before his inauguration.
Such defects could be partly remedied by the third rule
of royal succession which was practised in the late Ch'ing
era. To keep the appointment secret until the death of
the emperor was the best way to avoid flattery, jealousy
and treachery among the princes and their followers.
In conclusion, we may say that the second rule is the
typical one but not the best, and that the th rd rule was the
best but was not typical. It is by no means rare to find
that the typical and the best are not identical. Psychologic-
ally, human minds are inclined to respect authority and
tradition, and are averse to revolution. The imperial
succession in China is merely one of thousands of in-
stances in the scroll of human activities in proof of
this.