THE  CHINESE  EMPIRE

50
the  son  of  the  decedent  Emperor,  and  so  be  qualified  to
perform  the  due  ceremonies  before  the  ancestral  tablets.
This  principle  was  violated  on  the  death  of  Tungchih  in
January  1875,  the  present  Emperor—adopted  as  his  son
and  successor—being  natally  his  father’s  brother’s  son  ;  and
the  coup  d’état  manqué  of  1898  was  based  upon  the  alleged
necessity  of  providing  an  Emperor  of  the  next  generation
below,  to  carry  on  fitly  the  ancestral  worship,  and  so  to
avert  disaster  from  the  Empire.  Princes  of  the  blood  of
the  same  generation  have  their  first  given  name  the  same
(as  Albert  Edward,  Albert  Henry,  Albert  Charles)  ;  the
Emperor  Tungchih  was  “  christened  ”  Tsai-shun,  and  his
successor,  the  present  Emperor,  Tsai-tien  ;  in  the  next
generation  we  have  the  heir  presumptive,  selected  in  1898,
Pu-chun,  and  the  prince  who  went  to  St.  Louis  in  1903,
Pu-lun.  To  his  people  the  sovereign  is  “The  Emperor,”
“  His  Sacred  Majesty,”  “  Lord  of  a  myriad  years,”  “The
Son  of  Heaven  ”  ;  his  personal  name  is  never  mentioned
from  the  moment  of  his  accession,  and  even  its  distinctive
initial  word  must  be  avoided  for  ever  thereafter,  a  synonym
or  a  modified  form  being  used  :  just  as,  for  example,  with
a  King  Harry,  now  or  at  some  past  time  during  the  present
dynasty  on  the  throne,  it  would  not  be  permissible  to
“  harry  ”  the  enemy,  but  some  synonym,  if  possible  one
having  a  similar  sound,  would  be  used  instead.  Each
Emperor  selects  a  “  year  indicator  ”  or  “  reign  title,”  by
which  to  indicate  the  years  of  his  reign,  1906  being  the
thirty-second  year  of  the  period  Kwanghsii  (Continuation
of  Glory),  and  foreigners,  from  indolence,  commonly  use
this  reign  title  as  if  it  were  the  personal  name  of  the  sovereign, ­
  speaking  ordinarily  of  His  Majesty  Kwanghsii.  Under
previous  dynasties  the  Emperors  frequently  changed  their
reign  title,  but  this  has  happened  only  once  under  Mancho
rule—in  1861,  when  the  first  reign  title  of  the  infant  Emperor ­
  was  changed,  concurrently  with  a  coup  d’état,  from
Kisiang  (Favoring  Fortune),  to  Tungchih  (Peace  and
Order).  On  his  death  the  Emperor  is  canonised,  and  receives ­
  a  temple  name,  by  which  he  is  known  in  history  ;  the