The origin of etiquette

The origin of etiquette is that it originated from sacrifice or custom, or existed to express one's feelings.

There are three views about the origin of etiquette:

1. Etiquette originated from sacrifice.

The explanation of the word "Li" in Xu Shen's Shuo Wen Jie Zi in the Eastern Han Dynasty is: "It is also a blessing of God, so it is also heard from the explanation." It means to put the agreed things into practice and show them to the gods for blessing. The word "Li" is a knowing word, and "Shi" refers to the gods. From this, it can be analyzed that the word "Li" is related to the ancient ritual of offering sacrifices to the gods.

2. Etiquette exists to express one's feelings.

When there is no etiquette, people can't express their awe by offering sacrifices to heaven and earth. Then etiquette appeared, just like language, because it was necessary. Later, it expanded and began to salute its elders to show its respect. In the later aristocratic class, it distorted the meaning of etiquette and made it used disrespectfully to highlight its status. As a result, etiquette lost its essence and became etiquette. Showing respect and courtesy is the real ceremony.

3. Etiquette originates from custom.

People can't leave society and groups. In the long-term communication activities, people gradually have some established habits. Over time, these habits have become the norms of interpersonal communication. When these communication habits are recorded in writing and consciously observed by people, they gradually become the fixed etiquette of people's communication.

The origin and development of etiquette;

Chinese etiquette originated before the Xia Dynasty. In the long-term social development, people have gradually formed certain moral norms. Due to the low productivity of primitive society, people can't explain many social phenomena, so they take it for granted that this is the role of supernatural forces. So the worship of ghosts and gods came into being, and religion came into being. With the standardization of this worship, etiquette came into being.

Accordingly, with the development of society, the relationships among members of society are becoming increasingly complex, and different social classes and classes have emerged, as well as various relationships rooted in blood. Society urgently needs a habit to restrain the relationship between people, and etiquette has developed accordingly.

Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties are the era of great development of Chinese etiquette. In Erlitou culture period, represented by Xia culture, there was a complete set of ritual vessels and etiquette system. Some people speculate that the large palace site in Erlitou is a ceremonial ancestral temple site. The appearance of a large number of ritual vessels shows that the ritual system has become an important social system at that time.

In Shang dynasty, there was a strong worship of ghosts and gods. Bronze ware has always been regarded as an important symbol of China's entry into civilized society. Bronzes were popular in Shang dynasty, and historians think that they were mostly used for sacrifice, which shows that the etiquette of Shang dynasty has developed greatly on the basis of sacrifice. In addition, there is the rise of music ceremony, that is, music marks the social status of all classes and regulates the relationship between members of the upper ruling class.

In the Western Zhou Dynasty, China's etiquette was normalized. It is said that the author of Zhou Li is Duke Zhou. After thousands of years of evolution, China has formed a relatively complete national etiquette system for the first time. Ancient etiquette books were also written and revised during this period. For example, Zhou Li, Yi Li and Li Ji in the Zhou Dynasty are the earliest etiquette monographs in China. In the history of more than 2,000 years after the Han Dynasty, they have always been the classic works of the state in formulating etiquette systems, and are called the Book of Rites.

During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, Chinese etiquette experienced an era of so-called "ritual collapse and bad music", and academic circles contended. A hundred schools of thought, represented by Confucius, Mencius and Xunzi, studied and developed etiquette, systematically expounded the origin, essence and function of etiquette, and comprehensively and profoundly discussed the division and significance of social hierarchical order in theory for the first time.

In the next 2,000 years, most parts of China were bound by Confucian ethics, especially after the Song Dynasty, ethics and feudal ethics were integrated, that is, ethics and ethics were mixed, which became one of the effective tools to promote ethics.

It was not until modern times that etiquette was really reformed. Whether it is the etiquette of national political life or people's life, it has become the new content of the theory of no ghosts, thus becoming the etiquette of modern civilization.