By Bruce A. Heard and John Yu

Apparently, RW Chinese were using titles of nobility roughly comparable to those used in Europe, although these had more to do with the number of generations through which the titles were allowed to be inherited. Thus, the pedigrees of the descendants of Confucius were said to go back 2,500 years.

(Source: Titles, How the King became His Majesty, by L.G. Pine; 1992 Barnes & Nobles).

According to the same source we end up with Koong (Duke), How (Marquis), Paak (Count), Tze (Viscount), and Nan (Baron), in addition to the Emperor and Princes. Earl in dictionary is generally translated as an English Paak, and Baronet is generally translated to be lower rank than Nan (the Chinese translation of that book seems to be based on Cantonese instead of Mandarian). Tze and Nan might not existed until Ching Dynasty (the last one). And the titles doesn't quite work the same way as in western counterpart. It is not the duke control over several count who each control several barons who each has the law enforcement power over his land.

Often the title is just a title, with no power associated to it. The Emperor just grant them out to people who done service for him, which happen most often when he comes to power or after a major war (or at the start of a dynasty, which have both of the above). The title could come with a grant of land, but the noble just own the property of that area of land but generally don't have law enforcement power upon it. The power of law is held by various levels of magistrates, who achieve their position through examinations and promotions (ideally, in less enlighten time, it is through bribry and other means).

The system of examination for government post is set up at least by the time of Tang Dynasty, and might even be earlier. Also, I don't think nobility title is generally heritatory, but I could be wrong on that. Sometime the title of King, "Wong", is given out and that could come with law enforcement power over an area of land, generally away from the capital near the border, as he going to have a decent amount of military power too.

Chinese titles changes through out the dynasty. For example, during Eun Dynasty (Mongols), the nobility titles were quite different. And with the function of nobility is different between Chinese and the West, the translation is just the best match between similar terms. Grand Duke can be translated to Da-Koong (Big Duke). Western prince is translated into "Wong Tzu" (King Son), however, I don't think that term is generally used by Chinese, as prince is son of the Emperor. The crown Prince is called "Tai Tzu" and the Princess is "Koong Chou", whereas the husband of Princess is "Phou Ma".

Military titles are often also given out by the Emperor, and titles generally come with a very flowery name, such as "Din Kuo Koong" (Duke who anchor the country), "Ping Shi How" (Marquis who stabilized the west), "Shao Ewo How" (Marquis who is relaxing, definatly a title without any power). The full name of those title could be over twenty characters long.