In the etiquette system of the Tang Dynasty, what are the hand-crossing ceremony, the name-handing ceremony and the bow-down ceremony?

China has been a country of etiquette since ancient times, and ancient people were deeply influenced by Confucian culture, Confucius and Laozi. Among them, the scholars showed the traditional etiquette incisively and vividly, and most of them were modest, polite and bowed to others. Then, as the representative of China's cultural prosperity in past dynasties, what was the specific etiquette of the Tang Dynasty?

In the etiquette system of the Tang Dynasty, what are the hand-crossing ceremony, the name-handing ceremony and the bow-down ceremony? How do they operate?

It is said that people in the Tang Dynasty paid great attention to etiquette and customs at every moment. In ancient times, the daily time was divided into twelve hours, instead of the modern 24 hours. People in the Tang Dynasty always have different traditional customs and habits according to different times. Twelve-hour system originated in the Western Zhou Dynasty and was always used by the ancients, especially in the Tang Dynasty.

Like the Tang Dynasty? A gift? Its etiquette was popular in the Tang and Song Dynasties, which belongs to the respect etiquette of the younger generation to the elders. When they meet, the younger generation will raise their hands, cross their hands, and face the body with their palms facing each other. Scholars in the Song Dynasty once wrote an ancient book called "Guang Ji of Shilin", describing the process of changing hands:

In any method of crossing hands, the left hand holds the thumb of the right hand, the little finger of the left hand faces the right wrist, the thumb of the left hand faces up, and the four fingers of the right hand are straight. If you cover your chest with your right hand, don't be too close to your chest, about two to three inches away. This is the fork? .

Handmade ceremony

It became popular in the Tang Dynasty and followed in the Song Dynasty. Especially in some government agencies, when supervising executives to assign tasks to lower-level officials, subordinate officials need to cross salute and then answer:? Hey? , with modern:? what's up In the same way. This is not just Nuo Nuo's promise. How to pronounce correctly? Provocative? . I guess I want to express that Xiaguan also started this matter. The longest day in Chang 'an, which is popular recently, has you seen this kind of Tang Dynasty? A gift? Interested friends can go and have a look.

Named thorn

Due to the economic prosperity and peace in the Tang Dynasty, interpersonal communication began to be frequent. At this time, people with status and positions in the Tang Dynasty will have someone specially to make an identity card that symbolizes identity and occupation. Name thorn? . This kind of etiquette, which attaches importance to politeness, has generally become a way for literati in the Tang Dynasty to introduce themselves. Many times, when visiting someone's house, the servant doesn't know the new person, and he can't let them in directly, so the visitor gives the servant a name thorn and asks the servant to tell the master who the new person is after reading it.

In addition, some scholars often give each other names in order to impress the invigilators and let them take care of themselves. In other words, at that time, a scholar from Qilu, in order to improve himself, ran around with hundreds of famous thorns every day. Whenever he met a powerful and influential person, he went forward to exchange names with others, and finally got to know an invigilator in this way, which made him get good grades in the imperial examination and became a court official. It seems that it is really important to hand over business cards as a polite way of communication from ancient times to the present.

In addition, in the Tang Dynasty, people also paid great attention to all kinds of etiquette in dress. At that time, China's culture was relatively developed, and the field of culture and art was relatively prosperous. Therefore, costumes in the Tang Dynasty also paid great attention to embodying traditional etiquette.

Dress etiquette, a male and female in Tang Dynasty

Usually, men in the Tang Dynasty usually wear round neck robes, often round neck, sleeves and skirts. Civil servants in the imperial court should wear robes that reach to the feet, and military officers should wear robes that reach to the knees, which are almost the same as modern suits, almost alone. Whenever there is a festive festival or feast in the Tang Dynasty, people of the whole dynasty will wear robes to attend, including the emperor, civil and military officials, ordinary people and so on. If you don't wear robes, it's a sign of impoliteness, and it's easy to be regarded as a different kind by people in the Tang Dynasty.

In the Tang Dynasty, men wore robes and women wore mattress skirts.

Women in the Tang Dynasty were generally controlled by feudal ethics, and they accepted ethics to a greater extent than men. Whenever they meet men or elders, they have all kinds of rules and regulations. And wear clothes on weekdays, but also pay attention. The mattress skirt in the Tang Dynasty was also a fashionable women's dress at that time. The length of the skirt extends to the waist position, which belongs to women's wear consisting of ultra-short tops and long skirts. Collar types include: straight collar, oblique collar, square collar, round neck, bare collar and heart-shaped collar. Wearing this kind of skirt belongs to the basic respect for traditional etiquette of women in Tang Dynasty.

In terms of court etiquette, it is worth mentioning that everyone is familiar with it? Three worships and nine knocks. The three worships and nine knocks in Tang Dynasty are different from those in Qing Dynasty. Although this etiquette system was only recorded in the literature of the Qing Dynasty, it does not mean that it did not exist in the Tang Dynasty. But ancient officials were more popular? Kowtowing again? Etiquette, which is commonly used in the Tang Dynasty.

Mainly visited the emperor of the Tang Dynasty for three times. Usually in the Tang Dynasty, hundreds of civil and military officials heard the drums and went into the temple to hold court sessions. First, they bowed to the emperor twice. After the worship, many officials and ministers stood up and lined up, and then they were among the prime ministers? Shi Zhong? The minister stepped forward to accept the emperor's imperial edict, then retreated to the northeast of Guanbai, facing west, and shouted: Is there a system? It means that the emperor has a will. After shouting, all the officials had to bow down to the emperor once again. Later, the middle-level scholar began to read the contents of the imperial edict.

Generally, kowtowing and bowing is to bend your head to the ground, and then press your left hand to make a fist. When you worship, you are also very particular. First, stand upside down to form a prone position, then stretch out your hands and surrender to the ground. At this time, you can't let go of your hands. Put your hands in front of your knees and your head in front of your hands. Therefore, it is a minister's respect and etiquette to complete the worship ceremony in one go.

Bowing ceremony

In the Tang dynasty, in addition to the official kowtowing to the emperor, people usually bow down when they meet. In ancient times, people liked to sit on the floor, with their hips next to their heels. When saluting, they raise their waists so that their hips leave their heels, then bend their knees forward and kneel to the ground to complete the bow ceremony. Zhou Li, an ancient book, describes that the ancient people's worship etiquette can be roughly divided into nine types: kowtowing, empty worship, good worship, vibration worship, fierce worship, worship, praise worship, and nodding and strange worship. However, I later learned the bow-down ceremony of the Tang Dynasty in Japan. Generally, there are no stools in their house, but they all sit on the floor, and the ceremony of bowing down is similar to that mentioned above.

There is also a bow, which is a kind of etiquette when the host and guest meet, and is usually not used in formal occasions. For example, friends, neighbors, colleagues, classmates, etc. If you have a good relationship, you will give up or bow when you meet. Hand in hand generally means to show respect, usually with the right hand inside and the left hand outside. If the other party suffers heavy losses, the opposite is true, that is, the left hand is inside and the right hand is outside. Longbow is a relatively relaxed respect etiquette, which can be used by men, women and children.

Usually when the big arm is open, the sleeves are thrown up and the hands are raised into hands. If it is very high, it salutes from top to bottom, so it is called longbow. Singing promises is an upgraded version of bowing. In the novel "The Water Margin", we often see that when heroes meet, they like to sing "The Promise" in addition to bowing. For example, when Song Wu cut Ximen Qing and became a monk, after meeting Song Jiang, he first said that his younger brother would sing a promise to his younger brother. In fact, this kind of etiquette belonging to the Song Dynasty was very popular and fashionable for men to bow to others at that time, so we often see it in the chapters of novels.

In the Tang dynasty, men liked to bow and sing promises when they met, but women didn't. They have their own traditional etiquette, called. Dao Wanfu? . In the Tang and Song Dynasties, when women meet people, they will hold a tribute ceremony, with their fingers clasped and gently moved to the right side of their waist. Then bow gracefully, bow slightly to salute people and say:? Wanfu? . However, there were many ceremonies in the prosperous period of the Tang Dynasty, such as what festivals to celebrate, what clothes to wear, what sacrificial activities to carry out, what food to eat and so on. It is recorded in ancient books.

References: The Tale of the Stone Forest, The Water Margin and Zhou Li.