Wade–Giles ( /ˌweɪd ˈdʒaɪlz/; simplified Chinese: 韦氏拼音; traditional Chinese: 韋氏拼音; pinyin: Wéi-Shì Pīnyīn ; Wade–Giles: Wei²-Shi⁴ P'in¹-yin¹), sometimes abbreviated Wade, is a romanization system for the Mandarin Chinese language. It developed from a system produced by Thomas Wade during the mid-19th century (simplified Chinese: 威妥玛拼音; traditional Chinese: 威妥瑪拼音; pinyin: Wēituǒmǎ Pīnyīn ; Wade–Giles: Wei¹-t'o³-ma³ P'in¹-yin¹), and was given completed form with Herbert Giles' Chinese–English dictionary of 1892.

Wade–Giles was the most widely-used system of transcription in the English-speaking world for most of the 20th century, used in several standard reference books and in all books about China published in western countries before 1979. It replaced the Nanjing-based romanization systems that had been common until late in the 19th century. It has been entirely replaced by the pinyin system in mainland China. Outside mainland China, it has mostly been replaced by the pinyin system (developed by the Chinese government and approved during 1958), but remains common in history books, particularly those about Imperial China. Additionally, its legacy can be felt in the common English names of certain individuals and locations (e.g. Mao Tse-tung).

Cao Xueqin (Chinese: 曹雪芹; pinyin: Cáo Xuěqín; Wade–Giles: Ts'ao Hsueh-ch'in, 1715 or 1724 — 1763 or 1764) was a Qing Dynasty Chinese writer, best known as the author of Dream of the Red Chamber, one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature. His given name was Cao Zhan (曹霑) and his courtesy name is Mengruan (夢阮; 梦阮; literally "Dream about Ruan" or "Dream of Ruan").

Cao was born to a Han Chinese clan that was forced into slavery (as booi aha or bondservants) to the Manchu royalty in the late 1610s, his ancestors distinguished themselves through military service in the Plain White Branch (正白旗) of the Eight Banners and subsequently held posts as officials.

During the Kangxi Emperor's reign, the clan's prestige and power reached its height. Cao's grandfather, Cao Yin (曹寅), was a childhood playmate to Kangxi while Cao Yin's mother, Lady Sun (孫氏), was Kangxi's wet nurse. Two years after his ascension, Kangxi appointed Cao's great-grandfather, Cao Xi (曹璽), as the Commissioner of Imperial Textiles (織造) in Jiangning, and the family relocated there.

Bumin Qaghan (Old Turkic: , Bumïn qaγan, aka Bumın Kagan) or Illig Qaghan (Chinese: 伊利可汗, Pinyin: yīlì kěhàn, Wade-Giles: i-li k'o-han, death: 552 AD) was the founder of the Turkic Khaganate. He was the eldest son of Ashina Tuwu (吐務 / 吐务) He was the chieftain of the Turkic people who was so-called "blacksmith slave" (鍛奴 / 锻奴, Pinyin: duàn nú, Wade-Giles: tuan-nu) under the sovereignty of Rouran Khaganate. He is also mentioned as "Tumen" (土門, 吐門, commander of ten thousand) of the Rouran Khaganate.

According to History of Northern Dynasties and Zizhi Tongjian, in 545 Tumen's tribe started to rise and frequently invaded the western frontier of Wei. The chancellor of Western Wei Yuwen Tai sent An Nuopanto (Nanai-Banda, a Sogdian from Bukhara) to Kök Türks to greet its chieftain Tumen to try to establish commercial relationship. In 546, Tumen presented tribute to Western Wei.

And in the same year he put down a revolt of the Tiele tribes against their overlords the Rouran Khaganate. He took advantage of this success and requested a Rouran princess in marriage. But the qaghan of Rouran Anagui refused this request and sent to Bumin a mission and message: You are my blacksmith slave. How dare you utter these words?. Bumin got angry and killed Anagui's mission and cut all relationship with Rouran Khaganate.

The Emperor of China (Chinese: 皇帝; pinyin: Huángdì, pronounced [xu̯ɑ̌ŋ tî]) refers to any sovereign of Imperial China reigning between the founding of Qin Dynasty of China, united by the King of Qin in 221 BCE, and the fall of Yuan Shikai's Empire of China in 1916. When referred to as the Son of Heaven (Chinese: 天子; pinyin: tiānzǐ, pronounced [ti̯ɛ́n tsɨ̀]), a title that predates the Qin unification, the Emperor was recognized as the ruler of "All under heaven" (i.e., the world). In practice not every Emperor held supreme power, though this was most often the case.^{[citation needed]}

Emperors from the same family are generally classified in historical periods known as Dynasties. Most of China's imperial rulers have commonly been considered members of the Han ethnicity, although recent scholarship tends to be wary of applying current ethnic categories to historical situations. During the Yuan and Qing dynasties China was ruled by ethnic Mongols and Manchus respectively after being conquered by them. The orthodox historical view over the years sees these as non-native dynasties that were sinicized over time, though some more recent scholars argue that the interaction between politics and ethnicity was far more complex. Nevertheless, in both cases these rulers had claimed the Mandate of Heaven to assume the role of traditional emperors in order to rule over China proper.