Why could the emperors of the Ming and Qing Dynasties in Chinese history only use one year title?

Answer 1

The emperors of the Ming and Qing Dynasties in Chinese history could only use one year title because these emperors usually had only one common goal during their reign, which was to maintain their rule and ensure the stability of the country. Since these emperors were usually inherited by a family, they needed to ensure that their family could continue to rule, so they used the same year number to mark their reign.

For example, among the 13 emperors of the Ming Dynasty, only Zhu Yuanzhang, the founder of the Ming Dynasty, used different year names. The other emperors all used "Ming" as their year names. Among the 16 emperors of the Qing Dynasty, only Emperor Shunzhi and Emperor Kangxi used different year titles. The other emperors all used "Qing" as their year title.

In addition, these emperors usually used a year title to indicate their reign. For example, the Wanli Emperor used Wanli as his year title, and the Jiajing Emperor used Jiajing as his year title. This would make it easier for the government and the people to record and mark the years during the reign of the emperor.