A Cultural View of Traditional Etiquette Presented in Ancient Court Dramas (III)

Ancient Chinese etiquette is the rituals and ceremonies. In ancient China, there are "five rites", sacrificial matters for auspicious rites, the crown marriage for Jia Li, guests for the guest rites, military matters for military rites, funeral matters for bad rites. Folklore circles believe that rituals include four kinds of life rituals: birth, crown, marriage and funeral. In fact, rituals can be divided into two categories: political and life. Political rituals include sacrifices to heaven, earth, temples and ancestral temples, sacrifices to ancestors and saints, honoring teachers, drinking rituals, meeting rituals, military rituals, and so on. The origin of life rituals, according to Xunzi's statement, there are "three books" that is, "the birth of heaven and earth," "the ancestor of the class of this," "the ruler of the division of this ".

Among the rituals, funeral rites are the earliest. Funeral rites for the dead is to appease their ghosts, in the living has become a rite of passage to distinguish between the young and the old, and to fulfill the filial piety of the human family. In the process of establishing and implementing rituals, the Chinese patriarchal system (see Chinese Patriarchy) was birthed. The essence of rituals is the way to rule people, a derivative of the belief in ghosts and gods. It is believed that all things are manipulated by invisible ghosts and gods, and that the performance of rituals is a way of pleasing the ghosts and gods for good fortune. Therefore, etiquette originated from the belief in ghosts and gods, and is a special form of manifestation of the belief in ghosts and gods.

The emergence of the "Three Rites" (Yi Li, Li Ji, and Zhou Li) marked a mature stage in the development of etiquette. During the Song Dynasty, the rituals were integrated with the feudal ethical and moral sermons, i.e., the rituals were intermingled with the rites and became one of the powerful tools for the implementation of the rites and teachings. Rites were performed in the service of persuading virtue, and red tape was used to the best of its ability. It was not until modern times that the rituals were truly reformed, both the rituals of the country's political life and the rituals of the people's life were changed into new contents without ghosts and gods, thus becoming modern civilized rituals.

Ancient Political Etiquette

1) Sacrifice to Heaven. Beginning in the Zhou Dynasty, the sacrifice to heaven is also called the suburban sacrifice, which is held on the day of the winter solstice in the southern suburb of Huanqiu, the capital of the country. Ancient people first emphasized the entity worship, the worship of the sky is also reflected in the worship of the moon and the worship of the stars. All of these specific worship, after reaching a certain number of abstraction for the worship of the sky. Zhou Dynasty people worship the sky, from the Yin Dynasty, "emperor" worship development, the highest ruler for the son of heaven, the divine right of kings, sacrifices to the sky is for the service of the supreme ruler, therefore, sacrifices to the sky prevalent in the Qing Dynasty came to an end.

② Sacrifice. Summer solstice is the day of sacrifice, rituals and sacrifices to the sky is more or less the same. The Han Dynasty called the earth god as the mother of the earth, said she is the goddess of blessings to mankind, also known as the god of society. The earliest sacrifice to the earth is blood sacrifice. After the Han Dynasty, the Feng Shui belief that it was inappropriate to move the earth prevailed. The rituals of land sacrifice also include sacrificing mountains and rivers, sacrificing the God of the earth, the God of the valley, and the God of the earth and grain.

③ Sacrifice of the clan and temple. The clan-temple system is a product of ancestor worship. People in the sunshine for the dead spirit of the establishment of the host that is the ancestral temple. The emperor's temple system is the son of seven temples, the vassal five temples, the three temples, the scholar a temple. According to the Book of Rites - Qu Li, the ancestors of the emperors such as Emperor ?ào, Yao, Shun, Yu, Huangdi, Wen Wang, Wu Wang and so on, were all sacrificed to the people. Since the Han Dynasty, mausoleums and shrines have been built to honor the former emperors. In the Ming Dynasty, Emperor Taizu created a temple for all the emperors in Kyoto. Jiajing in Beijing Fuchengmen established the temple of the emperors and kings, dedicated to the first king of the 36 emperors.

④ Sacrifices to the ancestors. After the Han and Wei Dynasties, the Duke of Zhou was the first saint, and Confucius was the first teacher; in the Tang Dynasty, Confucius was honored as the first saint, and Yan Hui was the first teacher. After the Tang and Song dynasties, the "Shi Dian" ritual (set up a recommended altar and food and sacrifice, with music and no body) has been used as a school ritual, but also as a Confucian ritual. In the North and South Dynasties, the ceremony was held twice a year in spring and fall, and the temples of Confucius and Yan were set up in the county schools around the country. The Ming Dynasty called Confucius as "the most sacred teacher". Qing Dynasty, Shengjing (Shenyang, Liaoning Province) has a Confucian temple, after the capital of Beijing, the capital of Guozijian for the Imperial College, the establishment of the Temple of Literature, Confucius said, "Dacheng to the Sage Wenxuan Xianshi". The temple system, sacrificial vessels, musical instruments and rituals in Qufu were based on the Beijing Imperial College. The ritual of drinking wine in the countryside is a product of the worship of the late master and the late saint.

⑤ Meeting ceremony. Lower to the superior to pay their respects to the worship ceremony, officials between the bowing ceremony, public, marquis, extra horse harnessed by the side of a team to meet the two worship ceremony, the lower level in the west first worship, the superior in the east to answer the worship. When civilians meet each other, they salute each other according to their age and the younger ones salute each other. The outer part of the four salute, the near part of the bowing ceremony.

⑥ military ceremony. Including conquest, taxation, hunting, camping and so on.

Ancient Life Rites

①Birth Rites. From the seeking of a child when a woman is not pregnant to the baby's first birthday, all rituals are centered on the theme of long life. The sacrifice of the High-requesting Sacrifice is the rite of begging for a son. Since ancient times, there has been a tendency to give preference to male children over female children in the birth ceremony. Birth rites also include the "Three Dynasties", "Full Moon", "Hundred Days", "Weekly Age" and so on. The "Three Rites of Passage" is when a baby is born on the third day of life and receives congratulatory gifts from all quarters. "When a baby reaches the age of one month, he or she has his or her hair shaved. "On the 100th day, the baby is given the rite of recognizing his or her uncle and the rite of naming him or her. "When the baby turns one year old, he or she is given the ceremony to predict the fate of the child's life and his or her career.

②Coming-of-age ceremony, also known as the crown ceremony, is to cross into the ranks of adults, the man crowned ceremony. Crown ceremony from the clan society prevails in the young men and women to participate in the development of maturity into the ceremony evolved. During the Han Dynasty, the crown rite system was inherited from the Zhou Dynasty. In the Wei and Jin Dynasties, the crown ceremony began to be accompanied by music. The Tang, Song, Yuan and Ming dynasties all practiced crown rites, which were abolished in the Qing Dynasty. Many regions of China's ethnic minorities still retain ancient rites of passage, such as the rituals of tooth extraction, tooth dyeing, wearing skirts and pants, and coiling the hair in a bun.

③Enjoyment of Yan food rituals. The ceremony was held in the Imperial Temple, cooking Taijun to drink guests, focusing on ceremonial exchanges and not in the diet, Yan that is, the feast, Yan rituals held in the chambers, the guest of honor can be open to drink. The Yan ceremony had a profound influence on the formation of Chinese food culture. Festivals set feasts in the Chinese folk food customs on the formation of festive food etiquette. Banquet seating, the order of food, persuade, toast etiquette, but also have the social customs of men and women, inferiority and superiority, the relationship between the eldest and youngest and the requirements of the blessing of avoidance.

④ Bingli. Mainly for the guests of the gift of hospitality. Gift etiquette with the guests have a hierarchical difference. Shi met, the guest to see the host to the pheasant Zhi; under the doctor to meet, to the goose Zhi; on the doctor to meet, to the lamb Zhi.

⑤ Five sacrifices. Refers to the sacrifice of the door, household, well, stove, in (in the room). In the Zhou Dynasty, it was to sacrifice to the household in spring, to the stove in summer, to the dripping of rain in June, to the door in autumn, and to the well in winter. In the Han and Wei Dynasties, five sacrifices were performed according to the seasons, and in March of the winter, "five sacrifices were performed", with a total of one sacrifice. Tang, Song, Yuan, the use of "Son of Heaven seven sacrifices," said, sacrificing life (small gods in the palace), in the country, the door, the country line, Tai Li (wild ghosts), household, stove. Ming and Qing dynasties are still sacrificing five sacrifices, after the Qing Kangxi, strike the door, the household, in the well of the special sacrifices, only in the December 23rd sacrificial stove, and the folklore of the Zao Wangzhi Lunar New Year's Eve twenty-fourth towards the sky to say things, the national rituals used in the form of folklore.

⑥ Nuo Yi. Goblet in prehistory, prevalent in the Shang and Zhou. Nuo instrument of the Zhou Dynasty is the four seasons to drive away evil spirits and epidemics. Zhou people believe that the functioning of nature and the personnel of the lucky and lucky are closely related. Seasonal transition, the variation of heat and cold, the plague epidemic, the ghosts take advantage of the situation, so must be timely to chase the evil Nuo. Nuo instrument in the main God is Fang Xiangshi. Two Han, Nuo instrument appeared in the twelve beasts matched with the Fang Xiangshi. Wei, Jin, North and South Dynasties, Sui and Tang inherited the Han system, Nuo instrument to join the entertainment component, Fang Xiang's and the role of the twelve beasts, played by musicians. So far there are still remnants of Guizhou Tujia Nuo Nuo instrument is the most complete and typical.