The lineage of emperors descended from a paternal family line constituted a dynasty, and succession in most cases theoretically followed agnatic primogeniture.

The absolute authority of the emperor came with a variety of governing duties and moral obligations; failure to uphold these was thought to remove the dynasty's Mandate of Heaven and to justify its overthrow.

An emperor was also constrained by filial obligations to his ancestors' policies and dynastic traditions, such as those first detailed in the Ming-era Huang-Ming Zuxun (Ancestral Instructions).

[8] Alternate English translations of the word include "The August Ancestor", "The Holy Ruler", or "The Divine Lord".

The practice was initiated by Qin Shi Huang, who gave the title as a posthumous name to his own father, as was already common for monarchs of any stratum of power.

In 1911, the title of Prime Minister of the Imperial Cabinet was created to rule alongside the emperor, as part of an attempt to turn China into a constitutional monarchy.

Puyi, who had reigned as the Xuantong Emperor, abdicated on 12 February 1912, ending the Qing dynasty as well as the imperial tradition altogether, after more than 2100 years.

Yuan Shikai, former President of the Republic of China, attempted to restore dynastic rule with himself as the Hongxian Emperor, however he abdicated the throne on 22 March 1916 after only 83 days.

[16] The emperor's words were considered sacred edicts (圣旨; 聖旨), and his written proclamations were called 'directives from above' (上谕; 上諭).

After a sufficient period of time, their loyalty could no longer be assured, and the taxes they collected sapped the imperial coffers.

This led to situations like the reign of Emperor Wu of Han, who disenfranchised and annihilated the nobilities of virtually all imperial relatives whose forebears had been enfeoffed by his own ancestor, Gaozu.

[17]: 76–84 Apart from a few very energetic monarchs, the emperor usually delegated the majority of decision making to the civil bureaucracy (chiefly the chancellery and the Central Secretariat), the military, and in some periods the censorate.

During minority reigns, the Empress Dowager, the emperor's mother, would usually possess significant political power, along with the male members of her birth family.

In fact, the vast majority of female rulers throughout Chinese Imperial history came to power by ruling as regents on behalf of their sons; prominent examples include Empress Lü Zhi of the Han, as well as the empress dowagers Cixi and Ci'an during the Qing, who for a time ruled jointly as co-regents.

Where Empresses Dowager were too weak to assume power, or her family too strongly opposed, court officials often seized control.

By convention in most dynasties, the eldest son born to the Empress consort (嫡长子; 嫡長子) succeeded to the throne.

Unlike, for example, the Japanese monarchy, Chinese political theory allowed for a change in the ruling house.

The theory behind this was that the Chinese emperor acted as the "Son of Heaven" and held a mandate to rule over everyone else in the world; but only as long as he served the people well.

If the quality of rule became questionable because of repeated natural disasters such as flood or famine, or for other reasons, then rebellion was justified.

As the emperor had, by law, an absolute position not to be challenged by anyone else, his subjects were to show the utmost respect in his presence, whether in direct conversation or otherwise.

The given names of all the emperor's deceased male ancestors were forbidden from being written, and were avoided (避諱) by the use of synonyms, homophones, or leaving out the final stroke of the taboo character.

The emperor referred to himself as zhen (朕), the original Chinese first-person singular pronoun arrogated by Qin Shi Huang, functioning as an equivalent to the royal we.

[19][20] The imperial family was made up of the emperor and the empress (皇后) as the primary consort and Mother of the Nation (国母; 國母).

In addition, the emperor would typically have several other consorts and concubines (嫔妃; 嬪妃), ranked by importance into a harem, in which the Empress was supreme.

Although the emperor had the highest status by law, by tradition and precedent the empress dowager (皇太后) usually received the greatest respect in the palace and was the decision maker in most family affairs.

The revisionist New Qing History school, however, argues that the interaction between politics and ethnicity was far more complex and that elements of these dynasties differed from and altered "native Chinese" traditions concerning imperial rule.