Editing Generation name (section)

== Generation poem ==
The sequence of generation names is typically prescribed and kept in record by a '''generation poem''' ({{lang-zh|t=班次聯}} {{transliteration |zh|pinyin|bāncì lián}} or {{lang-zh|t=派字歌}} {{Transliteration |zh|pinyin|pàizì gē}}) specific to each lineage. While it may have a [[Mnemonic device|mnemonic function]], these poems can vary in length from around a dozen characters to hundreds of characters. Each successive character becomes the generation name for successive generations.<ref>{{cite book | last = Michener | first = James A. | author-link = James A. Michener | title = [[Hawaii (novel)|Hawaii]] | year = 1959 | series = [[Fawcett Publications|Fawcett Crest Book]] | publisher = [[Ballantine Books]] | location = New York | isbn = 0-449-21335-8 | pages = [https://archive.org/details/hawaii00mich_0/page/480 480–85] | chapter = IV: From the starving village }}</ref> After the last character of the poem is reached, the poem is usually recycled, though occasionally it may be extended.

Generation poems were usually composed by a committee of family elders whenever a new lineage was established through geographical emigration or social elevation. Thus families sharing a common generation poem are considered to also share a common ancestor and have originated from a common geographical location.

Certain groups of generation names are grouped into 5 characters in order for one to remember the generation poem in the historic past before writing was abundantly available. Each hand's 5 fingers therefore represent one group of generation names. Committees of Family Elders can be seen counting & pronouncing each generation name with their hands & fingers.

Important examples are the generation poems of the descendants of the [[Four Sages]] ([[Confucius]], [[Mencius]], [[Yan Hui]], [[Zengzi]]): the [[Kong (surname)|Kong]], [[Meng (surname) |Meng]], [[Yan (surname) |Yan]], and [[Zeng]] families (the Four Families, [[w:zh:四氏|四氏]]). During the [[Ming dynasty]],  [[Jianwen Emperor|Emperor Jianwen]] respected [[Confucius]] and [[Mencius]] so much that he honored their families with generation poems. These generation poems were extended with the permission of the [[Chongzhen Emperor]] of the Ming dynasty, the [[Tongzhi Emperor]] of the [[Qing dynasty]], and the Ministry of Interior of the [[Beiyang government]].<ref>{{in lang|zh}} [http://www.ndcnc.gov.cn/datalib/2004/HundredName/DL/DL-20031203183333/ 孔姓 (The Kong family, descendants of Confucius)] {{webarchive |url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110903010033/http://www.ndcnc.gov.cn/datalib/2004/HundredName/DL/DL-20031203183333/ |date= September 3, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{in lang|zh}} [http://www.ndcnc.gov.cn/datalib/2004/HundredName/DL/DL-20040216142301 孟姓 (The Meng family, descendants of Mencius)] {{webarchive |url= https://web.archive.org/web/20060116060231/http://www.ndcnc.gov.cn/datalib/2004/HundredName/DL/DL-20040216142301 |date= January 16, 2006}}</ref>
{{quote|<poem>
希言公彥承，宏聞貞尚衍；
興毓傳繼廣，昭憲慶繁祥；
令德維垂佑，欽紹念顯揚；
建道敦安定，懋修肇彝常；
裕文煥景瑞，永錫世緒昌。
</poem>}}

The generation poem used by the [[Song dynasty]] [[House of Zhao]] was "若夫，元德允克、令德宜崇、師古希孟、時順光宗、良友彥士、登汝必公、不惟世子、與善之從、伯仲叔季、承嗣由同。"<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://blog.sina.com.cn/zjf895|title=浙江趙建飛_新浪博客}}</ref><ref name="梁永樂、趙公梃2014">{{cite book |author=梁永樂、趙公梃|title=八爪魚家長──孩子愛玩不是罪 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=5Y9gBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA107 |date=1 July 2014 |publisher=明窗 |isbn= 978-988-8287-38-3 |pages= 107–}}</ref><ref name= "Chaffee1999">{{cite book | last = Chaffee | first = John W |author-link = John W. Chaffee |title=Branches of Heaven: A History of the Imperial Clan of Sung China |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=sEvQbGpqQG0C&pg=PA25 |year=1999 |publisher=Harvard Univ Asia Center |isbn=978-0-674-08049-2 |pages= 25}}</ref> The 42 characters were split into three groups of 14 for the offspring of Song Taizu and his two brothers.<ref name= "Lee2004">{{cite book | first = Thomas H. C. | last = Lee |title= The New and the Multiple: Sung Senses of the Past |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=WMhzF0OfadwC&pg=PA357 |date= January 2004 |publisher=Chinese University Press |isbn= 978-962-996-096-4 |pages= 357–}}</ref>

Another notable generation poem is the [[Nguyễn dynasty]]'s ''[[:s:vi:Đế hệ thi|Đế hệ thi]]'' (帝係詩 'Poem of the Generations of the Imperial Family'), created by Emperor [[Minh Mạng]].