经典据依式改名治理 / Classics-Based Naming Governance

Definition

经典据依式改名治理 / Classics-based naming governance is the pattern where a ruler turns a textual or ritual claim about proper names into compulsory administrative naming policy and symbolic hierarchy.

Current Synthesis

Classics-based naming governance is visible when 王莽 uses the “二名非礼” reading from the Gongyang tradition to order that Chinese subjects not have two-character given names. Hanji 614 treats the move as more than antiquarian pedantry: classical learning becomes an enforceable rule that changes personal names and makes the court look like the guardian of proper order.

The mechanism also has a frontier-performance layer through 匈奴. Wang Mang’s envoys prompt the chanyu to express admiration for Han culture and change a multi-character name to the single-character “Zhi.” That makes naming governance diplomatic as well as domestic: the court stages non-Han compliance with Han ritual culture as proof that symbolic order extends outward.

Key Claims

• Naming policy can turn classical interpretation into direct state compulsion.
• A personal name can become a public marker of ritual correctness rather than a private identifier alone.
• Frontier name changes can be staged as cultural submission to the imperial center.
• The mechanism belongs with Wang Mang’s broader habit of translating classical order into administrative and diplomatic form.
• Naming governance can produce legitimacy theater while leaving implementation costs and genuine acceptance source-scoped.

Evidence

• Classical basis: Hanji 614 says Wang Mang relies on “二名非礼” to argue that two-character given names violate ritual propriety.
• Administrative command: Hanji 614 says the 2 CE decree requires people with two-character names to change to single-character names.
• Diplomatic staging: Hanji 614 says Wang Mang’s envoy prompts the Xiongnu chanyu to submit a request expressing admiration for Han customs and to change his name.
• Rewarded recognition: Hanji 614 says Wang Mang reports the chanyu’s name change to Wang Zhengjun and sends generous rewards.

Counterevidence & Qualifications

The concept currently rests on one episode note and should not be generalized into a full history of Chinese naming law. The exact Gongyang interpretive tradition, the range of people forced to change names, the Xiongnu chanyu’s own motive, and practical compliance remain source-scoped. The source also predates Wang Mang’s later Xin-era administrative renaming surge, so this concept should be linked to but not collapsed into 行政改名过度.

What Changed

• Initial concept created from Hanji 614’s single-name decree and Xiongnu name-change performance.

Related Concepts

• 礼制政治秩序 - naming policy is justified as ritual correctness.
• 帝国符号标准化 - naming reform is a symbolic standardization mechanism, though this case is grounded in Wang Mang rather than Qin.
• 行政改名过度 - later Xin-era place and office renaming is a downstream adjacent pattern.
• 象征性名分降格反噬 - later Xiongnu seal and title downgrades show a coercive symbolic-order policy backfiring.
• 王莽改制 - broader reform field where classical restoration becomes coercive administration.