thumb|Inscription on Heng [[Gui (vessel)|gui's lid (), from Western Zhou period. Framed are the graphs in bronze script.]]
Son of Heaven, or Tianzi (), was the sacred monarchial and imperial title of the Chinese sovereign. It originated with the Zhou dynasty and was founded on the political and spiritual doctrine of the Mandate of Heaven. Since the Qin dynasty, the secular imperial title of the Son of Heaven was "Huangdi".
The title, "Son of Heaven", was subsequently adopted by other Sinospheric monarchs to justify their rule. The name Celestial Empire (or "Heavenly Dynasty") was also used in reference to the status of the Chinese emperor as the Son of Heaven in the Sinosphere.
The Son of Heaven was the supreme universal monarch, who ruled tianxia ("all under heaven"). His status is rendered in English as "ruler of the whole world." The title, "Son of Heaven", was interpreted literally only in China and Japan, whose monarchs were referred to as demigods, deities, or "living gods", chosen by the gods and goddesses of heaven.
History and adoption
thumb|120px|Son of Heaven was a title of the [[King Wu of Zhou and subsequent Chinese sovereigns.]]
The title "Son of Heaven" (; Middle Chinese: ; Old Chinese (B-S): ) is attested earliest in bronze inscriptions dated to the reign of King Kang of Zhou. The rulers of Goryeo used the titles of Holy Emperor-King () and Son of Heaven and positioned Goryeo at the center of the Haedong (; "East of the Sea") tianxia, which encompassed the historical domain of the "Samhan", another name for the Three Kingdoms of Korea.
The title was also adopted in Vietnam, known in Vietnamese as Thiên tử (Chữ Hán: ). A divine mandate gave the Vietnamese emperor the right to rule, based not on his lineage but on his competence to govern. Vietnam's adoption of a Confucian bureaucracy, presided over by Vietnam's Son of Heaven, led to the creation of a Vietnamese tributary system in Southeast Asia, modeled after the Chinese Sinocentric system in East Asia.
See also
- Chinese sovereign
- Emperor of China
- Monarchy of China
- Emperor of Japan (Tennō)
- Emperor at home, king abroad
- Little China (ideology)
- Manifestation of God (Baháʼí Faith)
- Devaraja
- Divine Right of Kings
- Sinocentrism
- Chinese Tributary System
- Pax Sinica ("Chinese peace")
- Tian (Heaven) / Shangdi (God)
- Tian Xia (All under Heaven)
- Tian Chao (Dynasty of Heaven)
- Tian Kehan (Khan of Heaven)
- Tian Ming (Mandate of Heaven)
- Tian Zi (Son of Heaven)
- Zhou dynasty
- Chanyu, title used by the Xiongnu's supreme leaders, prefaced with Chinese transcription which was glossed as "Son of Heaven" by Book of Han.