Son of Heaven
| Son of Heaven | |||||||||||||||
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The Son of Heaven escorted on the Yulu (玉輅), the carriage used exclusively by monarchs | |||||||||||||||
| Chinese name | |||||||||||||||
| Chinese | 天子 | ||||||||||||||
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| Vietnamese name | |||||||||||||||
| Vietnamese alphabet | Thiên tử | ||||||||||||||
| Chữ Hán | 天子 | ||||||||||||||
| Korean name | |||||||||||||||
| Hangul | 천자 | ||||||||||||||
| Hanja | 天子 | ||||||||||||||
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| Japanese name | |||||||||||||||
| Kanji | 天子 | ||||||||||||||
| Hiragana | てんし | ||||||||||||||
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| Manchu name | |||||||||||||||
| Manchu script | ᠠᠪᡴᠠᡳ ᠵᡠᡳ | ||||||||||||||
| Möllendorff | abkai jui | ||||||||||||||
Son of Heaven, or Tianzi (Chinese: 天子; pinyin: Tiānzǐ), 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 (means "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.