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(B) Shrines and temples created for earth and grain gods, mountain and river gods, gods in nine celestial palaces, Confucius and Jiang Ziya

In the Imperial city, prefectures and counties, the ceremonies of sacrificing to earth and grain gods were held. At the state level, the Imperial Court held ceremonies of sacrificing to the earth and grain gods in the second months of spring and autumn, and on the eighth day of the twelfth month; but at the local level, the ceremony was held in the spring and autumn respectively in prefectures and counties. In the prefecture- and county-ceremony, the earth and grain gods were offered one complete set of sacrificed pig, ox and ram, and the offering act would be repeated three times. Originally, the stone tablet dedicated to gods was not used in local ceremonies. However, in order to connect the vital breath of Heaven and earth, the earth and grain gods’ altar was not walled, leaving it exposed to wind, rain, frost and dew. the Imperil Agency of Rites suggested it would be better for the altar to adopt the stone tablet because the stone ones were much durable. The size of local stone tablet could be half of the Imperial one.

Where the ceremonies dedicated to gods of mountains, seas and rivers were concerned, the following ceremonies were performed: on the first day of spring, the sacrificial agents sacrificed to the Grandest Eastern Mountain, i.e. Mount Tai in Prefecture Yan, the Chief Eastern Mount Yi in Prefecture Yi, the East Sea in Prefecture Lai, and the River Huai in Prefecture Tang; on the first day of summer, sacrifices were made to the Grandest Southern Mount, i.e. Mount Heng (Hunan) in Prefecture Heng, the Chief Southern Mount Guiji in Prefecture Yue, the South Sea in Prefecture Guang, and the Yangtze(?) River in Prefecture Chengdu; on the first day of autumn, sacrifices were made to the Grandest Western Mount, i.e. Mt Hua in Prefecture Hua, the Chief Western Mount Wu in Prefecture Long, and the West Sea and Yellow Rivers in Prefecture Hezhong; on the first day of winter, sacrifices were made to the Grandest Northern Mount, i.e. Mt Heng (Shanxi) and the Chief Northern Mount Yiwulü in Prefecture Ding, and the North Sea and River Ji in Prefecture Meng; and on the day of the Earth King, sacrifices were made to the Grandest Middle Mount, i.e. Mount Song in Prefecture Henan, and the Chief Middle Mount Huo in Jin Prefecture. Emperor Zhen conferred the following titles: “Benevolent and Sagacious Emperor Equaling Heaven” was conferred upon Mount Tai; the “Luminous and Sagacious Emperor Superintending Heaven” was conferred upon (the south) Mount Heng; the “Harmonious and Sagacious Emperor Gilding Heaven” was conferred upon Mount Hua; the “Primordial and Sagacious Emperor Pacifying Heaven” was conferred upon (the north) Mount Heng; and the “Lofty and Sagacious Emperor Centering Heaven” upon Mount Song. In the same vein, Emperor Ren later conferred the following titles on rivers and mountains: the title of “King of Broad Resources” was conferred upon the Yangtze River, “King of Manifest Sagaciousness and Spiritual Resources” was conferred upon the Yellow River; “King of Unexhausted Resources” was conferred upon the River Huai; and “King of Pure Resources” was conferred upon the River Ji. Moreover, he conferred other prestigious titles: the “King Deepening Sagaciousness and Extending Virtues” was conferred upon the East Sea; the “King Magnifying Sagaciousness and Spreading Benevolence” was conferred upon the South Sea; the “King Interconnecting Sagaciousness and Expanding Nurture” was conferred upon the West Sea; and the “King Rejuvenating Sagaciousness and Disseminating Benefit” was conferred upon the North Sea.

There were ceremonies of sacrificing to the prestigious Grand Unity and deities in the Heavenly Palaces. In the past, Emperor Wu of Western Han sacrificed to the Grand Unity, and Emperor Xuan of Tang sacrificed to gods of Eight Palaces. The Chinese put these supernatural beings together and called them the “prestigious deities of Nine Palaces.” The nine deities were: Taiyi (Grand Unity); Zhaoyao (Flickering Light, a Star’s name); Xuanyuan (i.e. Yellow Emperor, also a Star’s name); Tianfu (Heavenly Symbol); Sheti (a Star’s name; Xianchi (Sacred Pond, a Star’s name); and Qinglong (Blue Dragon). All of these were deities in charge of natural disasters that were caused by wind, rain, frost, snow and hail. The ceremonies dedicated to these gods were categorized into the “grand” ones.

Where the ceremony of sacrificing to Confucius, or King of Luminous Cultural Attainment, was concerned, it was upgraded to a medium sacrificial activity and some renowned Confucians were chosen as the correlates of Confucius in the late Kaiyuan reign of Tang. In the Period of Five Dynasties, the correlates were abolished. In Song dynasty, the statues of Confucius, Mencius and ten of the most well-known disciples of Confucius were built. Images of 72 renowned Confucians and 21 Confucian scholars in previous dynasties were depicted on the eastern and western wooden walls of the main lobby of the Grand Temple of Confucius. Both the founding Emperor and his immediate successor, Emperor Tai, visited the Temple in person three times. In the first year of Dazhong, Xiangfu Emperor Zhen finished the grandest Feng and Shan sacrificial ceremonies and then went to Qufu. Here he paid a formal visit to the Temple of King of Luminous Cultural Attainment and conferred a much more prestigious title upon Confucius—The Profoundest Sage and King of Luminous Cultural Attainment. The following year, Emperor Zhen venerated the ten reputable disciples of Confucius—Yan Yuan, Min Ziqian, Ran Boniu, Zhong Gong, Zai Wo, Zi Gong, Ran You, Ji Lu, Zi You and Zi Xia—as the “Dukes” and Confucius’s 72 students as “Marquises.” After that, all Emperors would visit the Temple of Confucius. Moreover, the candidates who passed the Imperial examination at the provincial level would go the Temple and show reverence towards Confucius. It was a regular ceremoniy for the Chinese literati. In the Zhenghe reign Wang Anshi, a renowned Confucian scholar and senior minister, was correlated to Confucius in the sacrificial ceremony. In the Shaoxing reign the ceremony of sacrificing to Confucius was elevated to a grand rite. In the Chunhu rein Emperor Li reorganized the sacrificial correlates, among whom Zhou Dunyi, Zhang Zai, Cheng Hao, Cheng Yi and Zhu Xi, all of whom were leading Confucian scholars in Song, other than Wang Anshi, were the chosen candidates. Later, Zhang Shi and Lü Zuqian, two influential Confucians, were added into the group of correlates in the Jingding reign.

Additionally, in the early Song, the Temple of Jiang Ziya, or the King of Military Accomplishment, which was just opposite the Imperial Academy, was rebuilt. Like Tang, Song also sacrificed to the Sun, Moon, Gaoyong (probably a deity in relation to foods), Divine Farmer, Goddess of Silk, God of Longevity, God of Agriculture and Masters of Wind and Rain.

(C) Ancestral temples and the code with regard to mourning apparel

In the Jianlong reign four temples were built for remote ancestors: Xi, or Zhao Tiao, who was the founding Emperor’s great-great-grandfather; Shun, or Zhao Ting, the great-grandfather of founding Emperor; Yi, or Zhao Jing, the grandfather of founding Emperor; and Xuan, the founding Emperor’s father. In second year of Taiping Xingguo (977 A.D.), a new hall, wherein a tablet dedicated to the founding Emperor was worshipped, was built inside the established Imperial ancestral temple. In the Zhidao reign, the tablet of Emperor Tai was positioned in the ancestral temple. A controversy over the position of tablets of the founding Emperor and Emperor Tai was aroused. Some held that the issue should have been handled in accordance with the principle of “zhao-mu,” in which the [tablets of] father and son would always be positioned on the “zhao” (left) and “mu” (right) sides respectively, and the grandfather and grandson be positioned on the same side. Some contended that inasmuch as Emperor Tai was not the son but the younger brother of the founding Emperor, the “zhao-mu” principle was not applicable to the first two Emperors of Song. Finally, a solution was found to perform a combined sacrificial ceremony, in which the tablets of the two Emperors were separately placed on the same position.

Later, there was a fierce debate over who should be considered the earliest and founding fathers. Some held that Xi be the earliest father just like Houji who was the most remote ancestor of the Zhou people; the founding Emperor was like the sagacious King Wen of [Western] Zhou, and Emperor Tai was the counterpart of the brilliant King Wu of [Western] Zhou. Zhu Xi, the most renowned Song Confucian, was the leading defender. Some, meanwhile, argued that the founding Emperor be the true “primogenitor” of Song, on the grounds that it was him who founded the dynasty and Xi should not be compared to Houji, the legendary first father of Zhou people. Dong Fen was the leading figure in defense of such an idea. The debates even continued into the Southern Song time. In many cases the Imperial court could not decide which group was more convincing and had to give up positioning the ancestral tablet facing to the east. The traditional principle of “zhao-mu” was consequently inapplicable to Song’s Imperial ancestral temple. In Chongning reign of Emperor Hui, the ancestral temple was enlarged to include ten separate halls. In the Shaoxi reign of Emperor Guang of Southern Song, another two halls were built for the huge architecture. When Emperor Guang’s tablet was included in the Temple, the grandest building dedicated to the ancestral spirits of the royal family had tablets of nine-generations of ancestors and 12 sacrificial halls in total. As a result, the founding Emperor was positioned as the “primogenitor” of Great Song. In the Qingyuan reign the court built a special temple, in which the remoter ancestors such as Xi, Shun, Yi and Xuan were worshipped.

The sacrificial ceremonies pertaining to the worship of ancestral spirits were held in the Imperial ancestral temple in the first month of each season. A grand combined ceremony of sacrificing to all ancestral spirits was performed every three years. Every five years a grander ceremony was held, by which the incumbent Emperor showed reverence towards the founding Emperor. The rite of offering sacrifices to ancestors played a quite important role in consolidating the royal family. The Song politicians had a very clear understanding of the importance of sacrificing to ancestral spirits. For example, in the fifth year of Daguan, Dong Fen, a senior minister in charge of manpower, had said, “I heard that war and sacrifice were the most significant things to a state. Among such acts, the rite of offering sacrifices to ancestors in the Imperial ancestral temple was of sovereign importance.”17 Dong’s statement was an embodiment of the idea that prevailed so much in the ruling hierarchy.

In the Shaoxing reign of Southern Song some officials debated over the practice of cremation. Fan Tong, the superintendent of department of dealing with officials’ complaints, said,

At present it is commonplace to see the dead being cremated. When the cremated was still alive, his family members paid him filial piety as far as possible. When he was dead, the family members burned him and throw away the bone ashes. Why do people pay excessive attention to the living and look down on the dead so much? Some even went to extremes in burning the dead in the river. People who saw this felt deeply sad.

At that time the destitute could not afford burial, so that the cremation became an alternative. “Such practice prevailed day by day.” Fan held that the cremation would “impact decency and should be banned.” He suggested that the leading officers of prefectures and counties allocate pieces of wasted land to the destitute for funeral use. Rong Ni, the Vice Minister of Revenue, thought differently. He held that cremation could not be abolished immediately on the grounds that the destitute had no alternative but to choose it. In one of his memoranda to the throne, Rong wrote:

It is heard that the cost of burial in regions of Wu and Yue [i.e. the lower reaches of Yangtze River] is startlingly high. For the ordinary people, they must save money in order to bury the dead decently. For those suffering from poverty, they have to handle the funeral affairs as thriftily as possible. So that the destitute always chooses the cremation. As time goes by, the cremation has become a custom that is so popular that cannot be abolished easily.18

Due to the growing population, the land was too hard to be obtained by the poor residents. He continued, “Consequently, there is not the burial ground for the poor people. In view of this situation, it will be unreasonable if the practice of cremation is banned suddenly.” Rather, as the Minister Rong suggested, the destitute and the travelers could take their own decisions in the matter of burial.19 In the light of these records, we know that burial prevailed in the top echelons of society and the popularity of cremation among the poor residents resulted from poverty and ordinary people’s very limited ownership of land. In fact, the matter of cremation could not be solved simply by administrative means.

In Song the dress code in relation to funerary rites followed the ancient traditions, to which some appropriate adaptations were made. The Son of Heaven, or the Emperor, would observe a three-year mourning for his parents. In the Outer Court, the observance of mourning would be on a daily rather than on monthly basis (viz., that one day would be tantamount to one month in the course of observance). In the inner court, the observance would be performed regularly. When the Emperor was holding court, he needed to put on clothes with a light (yellow) color. Usually the Emperor would accommodate the codes to circumstances. In the case that the ministers observed mourning for the dead Emperor, there was a three-day observance, which was split into three levels. In Song it was stipulated that the officials at every level must observe the three-year mourning for their parents. In one of his edicts, Emperor Tai said, “The filial piety is the pillar of all human behaviors. The three-year observance of mourning for parents has been recorded in the [Confucian] classics and plays a great role in perfecting the human moralities and ethics.” The stipulation was, however, flexible. For officials who worked in the border areas were allowed to take their own decisions in how to observe mourning. Some official could observe morning without leaving their positions. The leading regional officials could restore their original positions after a 100-day observance, if he obtained the Emperor’s approval. The stipulation concerning the three-year observance was strictly applied to officials who worked in the Imperial capital and in prefectures and counties.

In the case of the individual household, the son could temporarily leave his official position and observe deep mourning without putting on the mourning apparel when his mother, who had already remarried, passed away. Moreover, the son, if he was not the child of his father’s first wife but chosen as the head of household after the father’s death, should wear mourning apparel made of fine linen for three months if the father’s first wife was still alive. He could also temporarily leave his position in order to express his deep mourning. If the son did not play a leading role in the household, he should wear the even-edged sackcloth for three years for his own mother. Such rites made a clear distinction between the children of the father’s first wife and those who were sons of the father’s concubine(s). In the case that the wife observes the mourning for [her husband’s] uncle or aunt, she should “treat the uncle and aunt as her own father and mother,” as required by the “Inner Principle” of Liji (Book of Rites). According to the principle, the wife needs to wear the even-edged sackcloth for three years. In short, she must do the same thing as her husband does, for the uncle or aunt. In addition, the grandson, whose father died earlier than his grandparents, was obliged to play the leading role in sacrificial activities when the grandparents passed away. He was called the “load-bearing” grandson. Overall, the codes in relation to funerary rites were increasingly strict in the Northern and Southern Song dynasties.

(D) Sacrificial ceremonies in prefectures and counties

The ceremonies that were held in prefectures and counties were a part of official sacrificial activities. In comparison with those at the central level, the regional ceremonies were downgraded to the rites of sacrificing to the grain and earth gods and deities of mountain, river, wind and rain and endowed with more regional features. Among the regional sacrificial institutions, Jinci, or the Temple of Duke of Jin [an ancient state], was the most remarkable. The temple had a very long history and combined the official sacrifice rituals with popular religions. It was a vivid demonstration of the traditional faith of the Han people.

The temple was dedicated to Shuyu, who was enfeoffed with the region of Tang and later became the founding Duke of Jin. In Northern Qi dynasty, the temple was named “Great Worship of Emperor.” The original name—Temple of Jin—was restored in Tang. In Song it was renamed “Benefiting Faraway Places.” Since Ming dynasty the temple was always called “Jin.” The extant architecture of the temple was built in the early Taiping Xinguo reign of Northern Song. In the Tiansheng reign the architectural pattern that was centered on the Palace of Sacred Mother was created. In the following dynasties—Jin, Yuan, Ming and Qing—more architecture was added on, and connected with the original complex. As a consequence, there was the grand Temple of Jin that we can still visit in present-day Shanxi.

In the Palace of Sacred Mother, Yi Jiang, who was the daughter of Duke Jiang and the mother of Shuyu, was enshrined. In Song dynasty, Yi Jiang was given the prestigious title of “The Luminous Sacred Mother of Universal Benevolence and Deliverance.” The predominance of the goddess in the Temple of Jin was particularly remarkable in ancient China. Not only did the worship of Yi Jiang result from the eminence of Shuyu but it also played a great role in promoting the morality and ethics that were exclusively applicable to women in Imperial China. Additionally, the local residents venerated the Sacred Mother as the goddess of rivers, in expectation of good harvests, because the temple was very close to the Jin River, one of the most significant local agricultural resources. Due to these facts, the Palace of Sacred Mother assumed the sovereign importance in the Temple and was built at the very center. The Hall of Shuyu, meanwhile, was positioned to the less significant left side.

In the Temple there was the shrine of Supreme Heavenly God. The Emperors of Song had a very strong belief in the Great Emperor of Jade. Consequently, the traditional Lord Above of Vast Heaven and the Jade Emperor were united and renamed the Highest Jade Emperor of Golden Palace of Vast Heaven. In this shrine the Three Pristine Ones and Emperor Guan were also worshipped. The shrine was actually a compound wherein the official religion, Daoism and popular religions interacted with each other. Originally the temple was an ancestral hall, in which the Jin people sacrificed to their ancestral spirits. In this sense, it could be categorized into the system of the ancestral temple. Later the shrines of Lord Above of Vast Heaven, Sacred Mother and River Goddess were added into the temple, which were consequently turned into a site of offering sacrifices to Heavenly and natural gods. As the fusion of Confucianism, Buddhism and Daoism and polytheism among the ordinary people continuously grew, a great variety of supernatural beings were imported into the temple. It was believed that here the gods settled down and coexisted peacefully. The aggregation of various gods within the one Temple was very convenient for the residents to worship their patrons. In the temple followers of greatly-diversified faiths could find their gods, to which they prayed in hope for the fulfillment of their wishes. To put it concretely, there were: Daoist shrines such as the Grotto of Grand Supreme Elderly Lord; the Pavilion of the Immortal Lü Dongbin; the Hall of the God of Eastern Mountain and the Palace of Brilliant Literary Attainment. There were Buddhist shrines such as the Pagoda of Imperishable Buddha’s Relics and the Temple of Consecrating the Sacred. There were also the Confucian shrines, consisting of the House of Sharing Happiness and the Platform for Reading. Apart from the sacrificial buildings devoted to the three great teachings, there was also the Tri-King Shrine dedicated to the Medicine King, True Lord and Bian Que, all of whom were legendary physicians. In addition, there were buildings created for Taidai (a legendary figure who fought against flood), Gongshu Zi (i.e. Lu Ban, the most prestigious patriarch of ancient Chinese architects), Wang Qiong (one of the leading ministers in the mid-Ming), the Goddess of Fertility and the Fortune God, all of whom were leading figures in popular religions and local beliefs.

The Temple of Jin was an embodiment of the pluralism, syncretism and instability of faith among the Han people. It revealed the kaleidoscopic character of religious faith of Han people. The Temple’s regional features were also quite distinct. Throughout the ages the Temple was a favorite of the authorities and the royal families. Of course, it gave expression to the ruling nobles’ wishes. But on the other hand, the Temple was a symbol of Jin culture and embodied the wisdom and artistic creativity of the ancient Chinese. For example, the “Flying bridge over fish pond” is an invaluable work and its rood-beam pattern is unique in the history of Chinese bridges; the Song-made statues of beautiful ladies in the Palace of Sacred Mother differ from each other in postures so vivid that they are one of the most distinguished works in the history of Chinese sculpture. The iron warriors that were positioned on the Terrace of Golden Men magnificently mark the sophisticated metallurgy in Song.