The brand of dynasties in the history of "Qing Dynasty" and the surge of Huang Taiji are of far-reaching significance.

The word "Qing" means "Qing" and represents the color of the East. Because the sun rises in the east, "Qing" also symbolizes the rise of Manchu and Qing to the red sun and shines on the earth. At the same time, the birthplace and base camp of the Manchu Dynasty were in the east of China, which also indicated that the Qing Dynasty would start from the east. Huang taiji, who advocated Confucianism and Central Plains culture since childhood, wanted to put out the fire of the sun and the moon in the Ming Dynasty with the surging meaning of the word "Qing".

Daikin became the Qing Dynasty.

After the Mongols in the Yuan Dynasty, another tough people on horseback-Manchu-was about to enter the Central Plains.

16 16 years, Nurhachi was named Khan after the founding of the People's Republic of China, with the title of "Daikin". 1636, Huang taiji acceded to the throne and changed the country name to "Qing". 1644, Li Zicheng led Dashun army to capture Beijing, and Emperor Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty hanged himself in Jingshan (then called Jingshan Park) behind the imperial city. The Regent of the Qing Dynasty, Dourgen, commanded the Eight Banners, led Wu Sangui, who surrendered in the Ming Dynasty, to enter the customs, defeated the peasant army of Dashun and occupied Beijing. In the same year, the emperor shunzhi, the ninth son of Huang Taiji, moved to Beijing to pay homage to the ancestors of heaven and earth and announced his arrival in China.

At the beginning of establishing political power in Qing Dynasty, it used the name of "Jin Guo" established by its immediate ancestor Nuzhen in the early12nd century. The reason is the custom and tradition of advocating force, because metal is closely related to weapons. Then, when the founding fathers of the Qing Dynasty were full of ambitions and pointed their swords at the Central Plains, how did they suddenly change their gender and choose the word "Qing" next to Sanshui as their name, from an iron horse to tenderness?

In fact, it was not the Qing rulers who changed their temperament at all, but there was another meaning in it.

First of all, the "Jin Guo" established by Akuta Wan Yan caused great dissatisfaction among the people in the Central Plains because of its actions in the Song Dynasty. Therefore, changing the country name is helpful to show goodwill to the people of the Central Plains. Secondly, the pronunciation of "Jin" and "Qing" in Manchu and Chinese is very close, which will not make people feel like starting a new stove; Furthermore, according to the five elements of "golden water", the change from "golden" to "clear" is only a natural continuation in line with the laws of heaven and earth.

Speaking of which, Huang taiji really has some brains to change the name of the country.

However, according to some legends and historical records, Huang Taiji took "Qing" as the name of the DPRK, and the reasons were not limited to the above points.

The first statement comes from gossip, which roughly means that Huang Taiji's father Nurhachi was rescued by a Xiaoqing horse in an escape before he became famous, but Xiaoqing horse died to save him. Therefore, Nurhachi vowed to come to the world one day and must take the title of "Qing" to commemorate Xiaoqing Horse. Therefore, Huang Taiji changed his name to fulfill his father's last wish.

And according to the tradition of embellishing folk stories, the version of this story is far more and more complicated than what we say here. Some versions also involve a maid named Xiaoqing, a rhubarb dog and a flock of crows, so these versions also infer that Manchu people don't eat dog meat, and the custom of being kind to crows began here.

Of course, although folklore is beautiful, it is often too watery. So, what other historical records are related to the names of the Qing Dynasty?

Let's first look at a passage from Huang Taiji recorded in A Record of Emperor Taizong of Qing Dynasty: "The original names of Manchuria, Hada, Wula, Yehe and Huifa in China are often called Shen Zhu. The name applied by the husband is the descendant of Siebel Zhao Morgan and has nothing to do with China. China has a long history of building Manchuria, which is said to be a game. From now on, everyone will only call me Manchuria by my real name, and I can't call me before. "

These names mentioned by Huang taiji are actually the tribal names of the early Jurchen nationality, which can also be said to be surnames. Among them, "Zhu Shen" is another way of saying that "Nuzhen" appeared in the documents in the early years of Qing Dynasty, such as "Man Wen Lao Dang": "This woman provoked the country that applied for Shen Shen with slanderers, which led to the beginning of the war." And "Jurchen" is undoubtedly the main source of Manchu later. Of course, in Huang Taiji, Manchu is no longer a single nation. This ethnic group should be a new ethnic group * * * with the Nuzhen in Jianzhou and the Nuzhen in Haixi as the main body, absorbing the Nuzhen, Han, Mongolian, Korean and other ethnic groups in the East China Sea. Among them, Jianzhou Nuzhen is considered to be orthodox Manchu, known as "Buddha Manchuria"; Other ethnic groups are called "Che Yi Manchuria". At that time, "Buddha" and "Che Yi" respectively meant "old" and "new" in Manchu.

According to Huang Taiji, first of all, he denied that Manchu was from Jurchen, because it is said that he also made it clear that "I am not a descendant of the late Ming Dynasty". Secondly, he made it clear that "Manchuria" is the only national name in the future. And the two Chinese characters in this name, like "Qing", are beside the three-point water, indicating the close relationship with water.

Qingming dispute

In fact, the word "Manchuria" first appeared in15th century Korean Xu's Miscellaneous Notes in Pen Garden, which can be pushed forward by about 150 years before Huang Taiji was named "Manchuria". Moreover, according to "Old Documents of the Qing Dynasty", this statement also appeared in the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty. Therefore, it seems that "Manchuria" as a racial name is not an invention and patent of Huang Taiji. But the fact that it is clearly defined as Manchu name should undoubtedly be recorded in Huang Taiji's name.

Then, why did Huang Taiji change his surname to "Manchuria"? There are probably many reasons. If we only guess from the perspective of "five elements of good and bad luck", the most likely reason may be the "golden water" we just mentioned. However, this is only one aspect of the matter; On the other hand, in the face of the once prosperous Ming Dynasty, how could Huang Taiji forget this opponent? So, what is the relationship between "water" and the Ming Dynasty?

Now let's go back a little. As I said just now, according to the theory of "five elements of good and bad luck" of Yin and Yang, the Ming Dynasty was a "fire virtue", so it suppressed the "Jinde" of the Yuan Dynasty. However, Zhu Yuanzhang doesn't seem to have the ability to predict things like a god, and he also ignores the folk creed of revenge. He didn't expect mantis to catch cicada and yellowbird, and Huang Taiji advocated Confucianism and Central Plains culture since childhood, and also knew the way of Yin and Yang and the five elements, so it was possible to deal with a man as he deals with you. He took his surname and country name as water, which meant to put out the fire of the Ming Dynasty with a raging flood.

It is true that by the time of the Qing Dynasty, the theory of "five elements of good and bad luck" had declined very much, and it should be said that it had completely lost its former glory. However, as we said before, prosperity and decline are one thing, and being or not is another. Therefore, although the Qing Dynasty paid little attention to the inheritance of "auspiciousness", it did not mean that the ruling group represented by Huang Taiji did not understand this theory and did not use it, not to mention the relevant contents in a large number of documents of the previous dynasty, especially the very useful information that the Ming Dynasty belonged to "fire virtue".

Naturally, some people will question whether Huang taiji really took water when he took his surname and the name of the founding of the country. Because coincidence does exist. So, how should we treat this situation?

Let's say the literal meaning first. First of all, regardless of the words "full" and "clear" for the time being, from the word "continent" alone, it originally refers to the land in rivers, lakes and seas, and the original glyph is not divided into three parts, but written as "state". After the word "Zhou" with three drops of water came into being, "Zhou" no longer represents the land in the water, but basically only represents some administrative divisions, such as the "prefecture and county" system in the Ming Dynasty and the "prefecture and county" system in the Qing Dynasty.

Secondly, as far as the origin of Manchu is concerned, most of the places where they have lived for generations are mountains and vast grasslands. Even though it has been traced back to the "new floating culture" in the Neolithic Age, according to textual research, the "Sushen" people, as the ancestors of Manchu, once made a living by fishing and hunting, but in general, they are not relatively pure ethnic groups along rivers and lakes. Then, if Huang taiji chooses "Manchuria" as his surname, it seems reasonable, because "Zhou" only refers to a certain area, and Jianzhou Nuzhen, known as "Buddha Manchuria", is called "Zhou" in her own surname. But Huang taiji's final choice was to abandon "Zhou" and use "Zhou". This will make people feel a little strange and incredible: why did he add these drops of water?

Therefore, a more reasonable explanation is that "water" must be meaningful to him, and it is always meaningful and unreasonable to human beings.

Of course, due to the Manchu pronunciation of the name "Manchuria", there has always been a meaning similar to "Schumann" in Chinese. For those who believe in and understand Buddhism, "Manjusri" is like thunder, because it is the "Manjusri Bodhisattva" who has taught and extradited countless monks that has achieved positive results and reached the other side. Therefore, Manjusri Bodhisattva became the embodiment of wisdom and clarity. Therefore, there are also views that Huang Taiji named his surname "Manchuria", which probably means "the master of the spirit".

Various meanings of "Qing"

In addition, there is another opinion that the meaning of "Qing" is directly from the direction because of the trouble of water.

We know that according to the matching relationship between the four directions and colors in the Five Elements Theory, the East is blue. Just like the explanation of "Qing" in Shuo Wen Jie Zi: Oriental color is also. At that time, the birthplace and base camp of Manchu were in the east of China. So the point of this opinion is that "Qing" and "Qing" are interlinked. Therefore, the title of "Qing" not only means the birthplace of Manchu, but also symbolizes that Manchu, like before, rose to the red sun, shining all over the earth, and its vitality is getting stronger and stronger.

However, from today's scientific perspective, I am afraid that all this can only be a means of self-comfort, or it may be a trick to confuse people. Because, no means can stop the decline of any dynasty, Qin Huang Hanwu, Tang Zongsong Zu, a generation of Tianjiao Genghis Khan, and many talented and courageous emperors and Jie Jun have all become passing clouds in the long river of history.