Ancient Official Titles

Answer 1

There were a lot of details about the titles of officials in ancient times. The way officials addressed each other was not only a form of etiquette and norms, but also a reflection of their identity and status. In ancient officialdom, the accuracy of the address was very important, because a wrong address could offend a large group of people. It was especially important for subordinates to pay attention to how they addressed their superiors. Whether they were officials from their own camp or not, they could not address them wrongly. Generally speaking, the way a subordinate addressed a superior depended on the occasion. If it was an official of their own camp, they would usually address him as "Old Master". For officials from other camps, they were usually addressed by official titles, such as Division Lord, Deputy Lord, and so on. If he was an absolute confidant, there were other titles. For example, Yan Song's absolute confidant could call him " Elder ". The appellation of the ancient officialdom was not only a habit of the officialdom, but also a common term among the people. It had even been used until today. For example," doctor " and " doctor " were originally official titles, and their ranks were not low. However, in the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang issued a strict ban on the use of these titles, but the actual effect was not ideal. Instead, more official titles appeared. In short, the titles used in ancient officialdom were very complicated. They needed to be addressed according to the status and identity of the officials to avoid offending others.