Talk:Chinese era name

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The most relevant meaning of Yuan here is probably "the first", as in Yuan Year (元年). It seems to have taken on the metonymous and secondary meaning of "the era name", but literally, I think yuan isn't a synomyn of "era name" or "nian hao".

For example, Romance of the Three Kingdoms says "All civil and martial officials hail "Long live!". And after the ceremonial dance ended, it was 改元ed into the first tear of Zhangwu period." (文武各官，皆呼萬歲。拜舞禮畢，改元章武元年。) (chapter 80). The quote definitions shows that 改元 was not used literally anymore by the 14th century (2 Yuans), but since we're revealing the literal, original meanings, I think "the first" may be more appropriate here (its real meaning was very clearly stated in the article already).

--Menchi 00:25 13 Jul 2003 (UTC)

Good oberveation. According to dictionary entries, yuan did literally mean the first and, in some instances, isn't a synonym of "era name" as in yuanshi tianzun "元始天尊". But when it comes to gaiyuan or jianyuan, the secondary meaning of era name is also applicable. :) kt2 22:19, 5 Aug 2003 (UTC)

I happened on this article and just couldn't help making some changes in the English. In my minor edits I decided, for consistency, to italicize every occurrence of "nian hao", and to leave it unchanged for the plural.

JerryFriedman 20:55, 8 Jan 2004 (UTC)

The article's second paragraph states:

When an emperor ascended to the throne, he would adopt a throne name (for example, the throne name for Akihito, current Emperor of Japan, is Heisei).

Why, may I ask, is a Japanese example being used on the page about Chinese era names? This is by no means my area of expertise, but perhaps someone who knows more about this subject could replace the reference to Akihito with an equivalent Chinese example.

Alkari 04:22, 16 September 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Done. I picked Zhu Yuanzhang mainly because he was the one who started the system of a single era name for the whole reign. - Roo

Well, the era name thing is actually shared by few of the nations. Just that the title here is abit incline to the Chinese. I guess it is more accurate to title this topic as "Era name", without the "Chinese". Regards ChowHui 10:36, 21 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

The text reads: When more than one monarch used the same motto, the name of the specific monarch or dynasty has to be mentioned.... In traditional literature, one can therefore find references like "the first month of the thirteenth year of Jianyuan" (建元十三年元月).

However, the dynasty is not mentioned here. How is it expressed? (Furthermore, I have never come across 元月. Is that correct, or is it a mistake for 正月?)Stone-turner (talk) 14:08, 28 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]

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In English era means a very long period of time — tens or hunderds of years. But so called Chinese eras (年號) are quite short periods of time — from several days to several years. How can one call them eras, when they do not corespond with meaning and usage of the word era? These periods are barely any eras at all. There should be better naming for 年號. --126.148.144.250 (talk) 05:41, 21 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]

I've never heard it called that; and not even the article it links to uses that term. Yes, Dionysius Exiguus originated the Anno Domini system of reckoning; but he still managed to get Jesus' year of birth wrong, or at least inexact. Nuttyskin (talk) 15:05, 18 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]