The posthumous title (谥号 shìhào) was an honourific name granted after death to rulers and sometimes high nobles. It aimed to summarise the person’s reign or character in one or two characters chosen from a conventional set.
Convention and meaning
Titles were chosen from a fixed vocabulary. 武 (wǔ, ‘martial’) indicated military achievement; 文 (wén, ‘civil’) learning and administration; 明 (míng, ‘bright’) wisdom; 哀 (āi, ‘lamentable’) a tragic or cut-short reign. The court or successor decided the title, so it could be used to praise or subtly criticise. Cao Cao was posthumously Emperor Wu of Wei (魏武帝); Liu Bei was Emperor Zhaolie of Shu Han (漢昭烈帝); Sun Quan was Emperor Da of Wu (吳大帝).
In this wiki
Character articles for rulers include the posthumous title in the identity section (e.g. under ‘posthumous’) with Chinese, pinyin, and a short note where relevant.