[Wang Xiaobing] Contemporary inheritance of national ritual heritage
Abstract: As an important means of ritual politics, the national ritual lost its original political and social functions after the end of the dynastic era, and became a public cultural heritage.
How should contemporary people protect and utilize this heritage so that it can not only play the role of inheriting culture, but also adapt to the needs of social development? The practice of worshiping Confucius in modern times in China, Japan and South Korea respectively represents three inheritance models of national ritual ceremonies: South Korea's national ritual model with the purpose of inheriting ancient rituals, Japan's completely folk model, and the semi-official and semi-civilian local public ritual model in the mainland of China and Taiwan.
Through comparison, the author believes that the public memorial model in the mainland of China and Taiwan is not only the result of historical development, but also the result of cultural choice.
Local public sacrifices have their own rationality.
As long as they are properly operated, they can give full play to their historical function of inheriting the cultural memory of the Chinese nation.
Keywords: National ceremony, intangible cultural heritage, Confucius ceremony, local public ceremonies, China, Japan and South Korea
* This article is one of the phased results of the major project "Intangible Cultural Heritage and Folk Beliefs" Project Approval No.: 12JJD780007) of the Key Research Base of the Humanities and Social Sciences of the Ministry of Education.
1.
Raising questions
Ancient dynasties in China were based on etiquette.
There was a Rites Department in the court to manage the etiquette and behavior of the emperor and officials.
All sacrificial ceremonies uniformly formulated by the Ministry of Rites and performed by the emperor himself or selected officials can be called national sacrificial ceremonies.
Its function is to demonstrate the ideology of the country, pray for the country's destiny and the people, and at the same time set a model of etiquette for the people of the world.
Although the Qing Dynasty, the last dynasty in China, was ruled by foreigners, it had achieved great achievements in etiquette.
From "Zhi 57" to "Zhi 68" in the "History of the Qing Dynasty", a total of five categories of national etiquette are recorded: auspicious rites (six volumes), auspicious rites (two volumes), ceremonial rites (one volume), guest rites (one volume), and fierce rites (two volumes).
Among them, the national ceremonies of "sacrificial ceremonies" are divided into three categories: large sacrifices, medium sacrifices and group sacrifices.
The emperor personally presided over the grand ceremony, and if there are special circumstances that cannot attend, officials will be sent to replace them; the middle ceremony can also be dedicated to the ceremony in person or officials will be sent; officials will be sent to all groups of ceremonies.
The objects of the great sacrifice include Huanqiu, Fangze, Qizhou, Ancestral Temple, and Sheji.
The objects of the middle sacrifice include gods, Houtu, Taisui, Asahi, Xiyue, emperors of past dynasties, ancestors, ancestors, etc.
The temples of Xian Yi and Xianliang and Zhaozhong all belong to the group sacrifice.
During the Qianlong period, the constant sacrifice was added as a major sacrifice, and the first silkworm sacrifice was made as a central sacrifice.
During the Xianfeng period, Guan Sheng and Wenchang were changed to the central rites.
During the Guangxu period, the etiquette of paying homage to the former teacher Confucius was elevated to a grand ceremony.
As an important means of ritual politics, the court has detailed regulations on these rituals in terms of time and space, sacrificial vessels, sacrifices, ritual procedures, costumes, music and dance, etc.
These "red tape" symbolizes the strict hierarchical social order of an autocratic country on the one hand, but on the other hand, they also have extremely high cultural content and are the crystallization of the ritual and music civilization of the Chinese nation for thousands of years.
Including the sacrifice itself, it does not exist simply to promote feudal patriarchal concepts and maintain imperial rule.
The concepts of yin and yang and the five elements and the pursuit of the unity of nature and nature reflected in it are not only typical manifestations of the Chinese nation's view of nature and the world, but also a large part of them are in tune with modern consciousness.
Because of this, after the Revolution of 1911, although all kinds of national ceremonies were abolished, some Chinese people vaguely realized that it was a very regrettable thing to bury this heritage completely with the past political system.
For this reason, people have been constantly trying to restore some of these rituals for a hundred years.
Some of the attempts of our predecessors have failed and some have been successful; today's explorations are still in progress, just like the activities of public sacrifices to the ancestors and sages of the nation that are spread all over the country today.
Due to the variety of forms of public sacrifices, they have also attracted criticism from all walks of life in recent years.
[①] How should national ritual heritage be inherited and developed? Should we preserve the form of national etiquette, or should we try to choose a folk path? This article will take the Confucius sacrificial rituals in modern times in the mainland of China, Taiwan, Japan, and South Korea as examples to discuss the inheritance model of this kind of heritage in contemporary society.
2.
Reform of worshipping Confucius during the Republic of China
As we all know, Yuan Shikai, the first president after the founding of the Republic of China, tried to preserve some national rituals, including the rituals of worshipping Confucius.
In June 1913, he issued an "Order to Respect Confucius and Sacrifice Confucius", claiming that Confucius was a "teacher for all generations".
His teachings were like "the sun and moon are not harmed, and the rivers are not wasted" and "all over the world are true." On September 17, the Ministry of Education of Yuan Shikai's government telegraphed to all provinces to designate August 27 of the old calendar, Confucius's birthday calculated by later generations, as a "Holy Day".
Each school would have a day off, and teachers and students would salute on campus.
At the beginning of 1914, it was decided by the Political Conference that the "Great Sacrifice" would still be held in the Confucian Temple in the Capital on the Shangding Day of the Second Midmonth of the Spring and Autumn Period, under the chairmanship of the President.
The etiquette, costumes, sacrifices, etc.
were the same as those of worshipping heaven.
In August of the same year, the Rites Department of the Political Affairs Hall formulated and promulgated the "Confucius Sacrifice Ceremony." September 28 coincided with Shangding Day in the mid-autumn month.) Yuan's family personally offered sacrifices to Confucius, kneeling three times and nine kowtowing ceremonies.
[②]
Obviously, what Yuan Shikai pursued was to preserve and inherit the etiquette of worshipping Confucius in an institutionalized form of national sacrifice.
If his original motives were pure and indeed just to preserve the fine traditions of the Chinese nation, this might be a good policy.
However, Yuan Shikai's heart was not to inherit culture, but to restore the imperial system he dreamed of.
As a result, with the end of his political career, even the rituals such as offering sacrifices to heaven and Confucius that he admired were marked with "restoration" and became notorious.
However, after the failure of Yuan's restoration, the Beiyang government continued to worship Confucius.
Every time on the Shangding Day of the Second Midmonth of the Spring and Autumn Period, a "Presidential Order" would be issued in advance to inform the date of the Confucius Sacrifice and the names of the officials present.
Official Confucian temples in various places also followed the practice of the Spring and Autumn Annals in accordance with the practice of the previous Qing Dynasty.
In 1928, shortly after the founding of the Kuomintang's Nanjing government, Cai Yuanpei, president of the University College, issued Instruction No.
169, announcing that "all old canons of worshiping Confucius in the Spring and Autumn Period will be abolished." [③] After the instructions were issued, opposition letters from all walks of life flew to the Nanjing Executive Yuan and University College like snowflakes.
It is said that at that time, Confucian scholars also committed suicide by diving into the water to protest.
[④] Resistance comes not only from literati and academic circles, but also from the military.
For example, the Headquarters of the Seventh Division of the 20th Army of the National Revolutionary Army sent a message to the National Government Secretariat to the University College, requesting the cancellation of the university college order, ordering that no troops should be stationed in the Confucius Temple across the country in the future, and that "more statues of Confucius should be printed and distributed to the people so that they can buy one at home and pay homage to it." [③] The retro faction took the opportunity to propose restoring the national sacrifice, and that Confucius and Sun Yat-sen, the founder of the Republic of China, should be put together for the sacrifice.
[④] Due to pressure from public opinion, the Nanjing government approved in 1929 to designate August 27 of the old calendar every year as the "Anniversary of Confucius 'Birthday", and all walks of life can hold commemorative speeches on their own.
In 1934, Chiang Kai-shek launched the "New Life Movement" in Nanchang, Jiangxi Province due to the needs of internal affairs.
The "four-dimensional" etiquette, righteousness, integrity and shame) and the "eight virtues" of loyalty, filial piety, love, faith and peace) advocated by him all come from Confucian moral and ethical thoughts.
In the same year, the Central Executive Committee of the Kuomintang Party changed the "Memorial Day of Confucius 'Birthday" to August 27 in the Western calendar, and the government came forward to host commemorative activities.
As a result, the official sacrifice, which had been suspended for several years, began to flourish again.
At the same time, in the puppet Manchukuo in Northeast China, Puyi still held traditional national ceremonies to worship Confucius, promoting the idea of "king politics" and emphasizing the legitimacy of his regime.
[7] In Japanese-occupied areas such as Taiwan, the Japanese also continued to promote the use of official ceremonies to worship Confucius and directly intervened in the ceremonies.
According to textual research, from 1931 to 1935, the governor of Taipei Prefecture served as the chief sacrifice ceremony at the Confucius Temple every year.
In four of these years, the Japanese governor came to pay incense, and some of the positions of sacrificial officials were also held by Japanese.
Including the Wang puppet government established in 1940, it also held government-run memorial ceremonies to Confucius many times on August 27 in the old calendar.
However, most of the above rituals do not copy ancient rituals, but have improved the etiquette to varying degrees, such as replacing traditional sacrifices with flowers, and using bows instead of kneeling and kowtowing when saluting.
[⑧]
In the 28th year of the Republic of China, i.e.
1939, the Chiang Kai-shek government moved Teachers 'Day to the "Confucius' Birthday Day".
From then on, the commemoration of Confucius has been combined with the celebration of Teachers 'Day.
While paying tribute to Confucius, meetings are held to praise advanced teachers.
This tradition remains in Taiwan to this day, although the dates have changed.
In 1952, Chiang Kai-shek changed Confucius's "birthday" from August 27 to September 28 in the Gregorian calendar based on local traditions in Taiwan.
In 1968, during the implementation of the "Chinese Cultural Renaissance Movement" in Taiwan, Chiang Kai-shek, feeling that all aspects of the Confucius Sacrifice Ceremony symbolizing the Chinese cultural tradition, were greatly distorted.
On February 22, Chiang Kai-shek issued a handwritten edict, emphasizing that attention should be paid to the Confucian Temple.
The production and research of elegant music, Confucius Sacrifice instruments, dances, costumes, etc., in order to restore the foundation of ancient rites and music.
On September 10 of the same year, the "Confucius Sacrifice Rites and Music Working Committee" composed of the Ministry of the Interior, the Department of Civil Affairs of Taiwan Province, the Department of Education, the Civil Affairs Bureau of Taipei City, the Education Bureau, Confucius Decheng's memorial officer and expert Zhuang Benli, and Gu Weifu, a descendant of the Confucius Temple donor, was established.
Jiang Fucong, President of Sun Yat-sen Museum, served as chairman.
[⑨]
From 1968 to 1970, after three years of improvement in rites and music, the Confucius sacrificial ceremonies in Taiwan, including ceremonies, music, musical instruments, spatial configuration, dance, costumes, etc., have basically returned to the style of the Ming and Qing Dynasties.
Of course, in every actual performance, the parties involved will still make some adjustments based on the specific situation.
Take the 2010 Spring Sacrifice Ceremony of the Confucius Temple in Taipei that the author personally witnessed as an example.
The event was sponsored and organized by the Taipei City Government.
The deputy mayor served as the chief tribute officer, the director of the Civil Affairs Bureau served as the chief tribute officer, and the other officials before the case of sages and scholars in the east and west chapters were held by officials of the Municipal Bureau, members of the Confucius Temple Management Committee, foreign envoys and principals of foreign schools.
The ritual, music and dance parts are performed by local primary and secondary school students in Taipei.
Hundreds of representatives from all walks of life, tourists and overseas people attended the ceremony.
3.
Attempts by folk to worship Confucius
Since the feudal dynasty for which the national sacrificial rites served has been destroyed, the inheritance of the ceremonial culture of worshipping Confucius can of course be carried out in a completely folk way.
The so-called civil sacrifice is a sacrifice planned and hosted by non-governmental organizations.
However, it does not rule out that these organizations have received financial or other assistance from the government, nor does it rule out that government officials participate in the ceremony in their personal capacity.
In fact, after the Nanjing government issued the order to abolish the worship of Confucius in 1928, there was an idea of changing the worship of officials to the people.
Yan Xishan, then commander-in-chief of the Northern National Revolutionary Army, once said in an interview with reporters: "The Spring and Autumn Festival sacrifices are official sacrifices, and the people of the Republic of China are the main ones.
It is very appropriate to abolish official sacrifices and allow the people to freely sacrifice." [] However, the "people" in Yan Xishan's so-called "People's Freedom Sacrifice" may not refer to the vast majority of ordinary people, but to non-governmental religious organizations such as the "Confucius Church", because Yan himself was a strong supporter of this organization and its Shanxi branch, the "Zongsheng Hui", in the early days of the Republic of China.
As early as 1897, Kang Youwei established the "Holy Society" in Guangxi.
The following year, he wrote a letter,"Chen asked to abolish the Bagu and Confucian churches, take Yan Shenggong as the president, listen to the world's membership, and order God and Jesus Church to establish presidents and agree on the canon." All teaching plans should be negotiated and handled by the church in accordance with the agreed canons, and the state will not hear about them." [] After the Revolution of 1911, Kang Youwei promoted Chen Huanzhang to establish the "Confucian Church" in Shanghai in 1912.
He himself was elected president the following year.
At that time, one of the most important innovations of the "Confucian Church" was the establishment of China's "Christmas", which was a festival commemorating the birth of Confucius on August 27 of the old calendar, also known as the "Dacheng Festival." However, while Kang and Chen were committed to the sectionalization of Confucianism, they still dreamed of restoring Confucianism's central position in national ideology.
Therefore, they kept submitting proposals to Parliament, requesting that Confucianism be established as the state religion.
The latter was repeatedly rejected out of the idea of religious equality.
From today's perspective, Kang Chen's decision has in fact determined the ultimate failure of the Confucian movement.
Because the efforts to establish Confucianism as the state religion were, on the one hand, inconsistent with the political system of the Republic of China and impossible to succeed; on the other hand, they prevented the Confucian movement from completely embarking on a path of folk and religious orientation, thus losing the mass foundation for survival.
In 1929, when the Nanjing government approved all walks of life to hold their own commemorative activities on the "Memorial Day of Confucius", this was originally a good opportunity to develop folk sacrifices to Confucius.
However, since Kang Youwei passed away in 1927, Chen Huanzhang moved to Hong Kong in 1929 to settle down and founded the Confucian Academy in Hong Kong.
Kong Decheng, the "Yan Sheng Gong" of Qufu, was not yet an adult, so the Confucius Church's activities during this period were quite withered and failed to form any momentum.
Despite this, folk sacrifices to Confucius still appear in various forms among Chinese communities in mainland China, Taiwan and overseas today, such as "worshiping Confucius" activities in Chinese communities in Southeast Asia,"family sacrifices" for children with the surname of Confucius in the mainland of China, etc.
Including some government-run ceremonies, some folk measures were also deliberately taken.
For example, in order to make it easier for ordinary citizens to watch the ceremony, Taipei City made some adjustments to the establishment of the Confucian Temple, removing the railings around the Danchi Yi Tai), making it an open stage; before each ceremony, all the door panels of Dacheng Hall were removed to open up the sacrificial space outside the hall; a Lesheng Platform was added next to the Yi Tai to transfer the Lesheng who were originally playing in the hall outside the hall to enhance the viewing.
[] Not only that, the Confucius Temple in Taipei will also design some people-friendly activities after the ceremony.
For example, after the 2010 Spring Sacrifice Ceremony, the Confucian Temple presented the "wisdom cakes" and "wisdom pens" prepared in advance to the people who came to watch the ceremony, and invited Kong Chuichang, a descendant of the 79th generation Confucius and a memorial official, to provide students with a visa for the majority of young students and wish them success in taking the exam.
4.
Local public ceremonies in mainland China
The Confucius sacrificial activities in the mainland of China were basically in a dormant stage from 1949 to 1984.
Music and dances to worship Confucius are only occasionally performed on some special occasions.
[] In the 1980s, with the implementation of the reform and opening up policy, the Confucian Temple, which had been silent for many years, began to attract the attention of the world.
A large number of people at home and abroad flocked to Qufu, the hometown of Confucius, for sightseeing and pilgrimage.
To meet the needs of the situation, the Qufu County Government took the lead in resuming activities to commemorate Confucius in the name of "Confucius 'Birthplace Tour" since 1984.
At the beginning, the time is still based on August 27 in the old calendar, and the time varies every year; the format is mainly costume performances.
Officials generally do not participate in the sacrifice, and the main ceremony is performed by actors dressed as ancient emperors.
The earliest location was in the Confucian Mansion, and the following year, he moved into the Confucian Temple and climbed onto the Yitai, but the door of Dacheng Hall was tightly closed; During this period, most of the attendees at the ceremony were guests at home and abroad.
Out of their admiration for Confucius, they often came to the Dacheng Hall in private capacity to worship Confucius after the performance.
[⑮]
In 1989, with the approval of the Shandong Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China, the Shandong People's Government and relevant central departments, the "Confucius 'Birthplace Tour" was officially renamed the "China Qufu International Confucius Cultural Festival." At the same time, the anniversary of Confucius's birthday was changed from August 27 in the old calendar to September 28 in the Gregorian calendar every year, and the activities of the Cultural Festival began on September 26 and continued on October 10.
Like the "Hometown" in the previous stage, the main purpose of holding the cultural festival is to develop tourism resources and promote economic development.This is also reflected in the themes of each year, such as "Using culture as the medium, combining culture and economics, culture as the stage, and economic and trade singing opera" in 1991,"Marriage of culture and economy, traditional culture serves the modern economy" in 1994,"Culture sets the stage, tourism affects, and economic and trade singing opera" in 1996.
Of course, we should also see that behind these appearances, there is indeed a strong Chinese cultural complex and an inherent sense of identity with Confucianism, which have always played a role in fueling the flames.
If during the ten years from 1984 to 1994, the mainland's offering to Confucius was, at least on the surface, nothing more than a local act to promote tourism and develop the economy, then in the mid-1990s, the nature of this activity began to undergo fundamental changes.
With the quietly rising trend of thought to revitalize Chinese studies and local traditions in mainland China, the status and value of Confucianism in China culture have also been recognized by more and more Chinese people.
It is reflected in the etiquette of offering sacrifices to Confucius that the Chinese nation's cultural consciousness has become increasingly obvious.
For example, in the "Confucius Cultural Festival" in 1998, the theme slogan "Promote the excellent national culture with Confucius and Confucianism as the mainstream" appeared for the first time; the theme of 2006,"Same roots, Same roots, Shared sacrifices on both sides of the Taiwan Strait" and "In 2007," Approaching Confucius, Welcoming the Olympics, Same roots, and Building Harmony Together "all have a strong sense of the times and national consciousness.
Driven by this trend of the times, officials no longer had any concerns and began to calmly climb the altar.
In 2004, the first public memorial ceremony for Confucius hosted by the Municipal Party Committees and People's Governments of Jining City and Qufu City was held in the Dacheng Hall of Confucius Temple in Qufu.
The mayor of Qufu City read the memorial in person.
The door of Dacheng Hall was also opened from then on, the sacrifices were moved from outside the hall to the hall, and the heads of the three animals began to face Confucius.
Since then, the annual "9.28 Memorial Ceremony to Confucius" has become a common practice and was included in the "National Material Cultural Heritage List" in 2006 for protection.
Although the public memorial culture in mainland China today still has many questionable aspects in terms of form, it adopts the basic model of using the local government as the main sacrifice, represented by all walks of life in agriculture, industry and commerce, and being open to people at home and abroad., it is still worthy of recognition and persistence.
5.
Contemporary offerings to Confucius in South Korea and Japan
Let's take a look at the situation of neighboring countries, Japan and South Korea.
What the two countries have in common is that ceremonies were first introduced from China and were initially held in the form of official ceremonies.
However, in the subsequent inheritance, two completely different traditions were formed.
South Korea has maintained the form of official ceremonies to this day, using elegant music and Yi dance, striving to pursue continuity of inheritance.
According to textual research, South Korea established Chinese studies in 682, during the rule of King Shinwen of Silla.
Chinese studies were equivalent to the later Imperial College, where officials were trained.
In 983, the second year of Chengzong in Koryo, a man named Ren Chenglao brought back a painting of "The Temple of the King of Wenxuan", a volume of "The Painting of Sacrificial Vessels" and "The Praise of the Seventy-Two Sages" from the Song Dynasty and dedicated it to the king.
This became a copy of the Confucian Temple in Koryo.
In 993, Cheng Zong founded the Imperial College.
In 1020, Xianzong appointed Cui Zhiyuan, assistant minister of Silla State, to enjoy the Confucian Temple.
In 1022, Xue Cong, the Hanlin of Silla State, was awarded the Confucian Temple and was awarded the title of Marquis Hongru.
In 1129, Emperor Renzong of Goryeo was lucky to visit Chinese studies and gave a memorial ceremony to Confucius.
In 1319, the late Zhongzan An Yu worshipped the Temple of King Wenxuan.
In 1392, North Korea moved its capital to Seoul and built a new Confucian Temple and Chinese Studies.
The buildings are still today, namely, Sungkyunkwan University and its Confucian Temple in Seoul, the capital of South Korea.
In 1409, Taizong ordered Xu Chou, the official book of Chengjunguan, to interpret the ceremony.
This ceremony has been used to this day and is protected as an "important intangible cultural asset" of the country.
[] The memorial ceremony held every year at the Songkyunkwan Confucian Temple on the first day of the middle month of the Spring and Autumn Period is attended by officials at the ministerial level and above.
The general picture is similar to the ceremony of the Ming and Qing Dynasties in China, except for differences in details.
At Sungkyunkwan University, a group of scholars specializing in Confucianism, Buddhist rituals, elegant music and Yi dance are gathered.
The Dance Department also has college students and graduate students specializing in Yi dance.
A few years ago, they also took the lead in establishing an "International Society of Interpretations and Dien".
According to eyewitness reports, South Korea's Shi-lian ritual strictly follows ancient rituals, so much so that some people commented: "In comparison, the Shi-lian ritual held in South Korea is more Confucian orthodoxy." [⑱]
Unlike South Korea, which strives to practice elegant palace music and promote classical Buddhist rites, Japan's worship to Confucius has been completely transformed into folk behavior.
Japan introduced Confucianism from China earlier than South Korea, and is said to date back to the third century AD.
During the Heian Era of Nara (794 - 1192), the country already established "university halls" and "national studies" to cultivate laws and regulations and local officials through Confucian education.
At the end of the Heian Era, this system was abandoned, and Confucianism failed to enter the political field for a long time.
Until the Edo period, Tokugawa Ieyasu and several generations of generals after him were enthusiastic about Confucianism, especially Zhu Zixue.
In 1683, the fifth-generation general Gangji implemented a policy of using Confucian ethics to educate the people.
In 1688, he also participated in the memorial ceremony of Confucian scholar Lin Fenggang for the first time.
In 1690, the Tokugawa shogunate built the Confucius Temple on Yujima Terrace to hold regular libation ceremonies.
This is the "Yujima Temple" located in Ichome, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo today.
In the later period, the shogunate implemented "lenient reform" and promulgated the "Ban on Different Studies" in 1790, prohibiting all "different studies" other than "upright studies" of Zhu Zixue.
"Yujima Temple" and the "Changping-Ban Institute of Studies", which was originally a private school of Lin Fenggang's family, became the two major research centers of Zhu Zixue for a time.
It was not until the first year of Meiji (1868) that the Japanese government changed the "Changping-Ban Institute of Studies" into a university.
Three years later (1871), the university school was abolished and the Ministry of Education and Culture was established.
The history of "Yujima Temple" as an official school ended.
The libation ceremony as an official sacrifice was also suspended.
[⑲]
About ten years later, in 1880, under the promotion of some people with lofty ideals, the "Wen Society" with the main purpose of promoting Confucianism was established.
In 1906, staff at the Tokyo Higher Normal School, which was responsible for managing Yujima Temple, determined to resume the ceremony.
With the support of aristocrat and industrialist Eiichi Shibuzawa, they founded a "Confucius Festival Society", which merged with the consortium "Wenhui" the following year.
In 1919, the "Sven Society" began to publish the magazine "Sven", and from the following year, it held an annual memorial ceremony and a commemorative lecture at Yudao Temple.
Today's Yujima Temple Building was renovated on a large scale by the Ministry of Culture from 1986 to 1993, and was granted management by the Japanese Cultural Protection Committee.
The "Confucius Festival" is held here every year on the last Sunday of late April.
As a folk ritual, the "Tangdao Temple" worshiping Confucius, on the basis of deleting ancient rituals, added "harmony" etiquette such as inviting clergy from the shrine to preside over the sacrifice, and family yuan with pine breeze and flowers flowing in the moon to present tea to Confucius.
It is obvious that we must be more flexible and more localized in our way of doing things.
[⑳]
6.
Conclusion
Summarizing the practice of worshipping Confucius in modern times in Chinese mainland, Taiwan, Japan and South Korea, we can conclude the following three basic models for inheriting national worshipping ceremonies:
The first is the model of national ceremonies, which is to say, like South Korea, with the direct support of the state, the Sungkyunkwan University, which was originally the Imperial College, and a group of scholars gathered here who have in-depth research on classical Confucianism, elegant music and Yi dance, are responsible for inheriting the ritual ceremonies.
The superiority of this model lies in that it can ensure the quality of inheritance and the continuity of culture, but the participation of the public is relatively low, which makes the etiquette of worshipping Confucius separated from contemporary society and preserved as representative works of classical court art.
The second is a completely folk model, that is, like Japan, a non-governmental group composed of social elites is responsible for inheriting historical national rituals.
Its strength lies in its folk nature and flexibility: anyone can participate as long as they are enthusiastic, and there is no need to stick to rules in the sacrificial methods.
However, due to the relatively limited membership, financial resources and influence of non-governmental organizations, the Confucius Sacrifice Ceremony of Yujima Temple, like today's Japanese Confucianism, is obviously in a "marginalized" state-not only have very few participants, but also in society It will not cause any repercussions.
The third is a semi-official and semi-civilian local public memorial model in Chinese mainland and Taiwan, which means that local governments will fund and organize experts to develop classical ritual and music culture, while mobilizing all sectors of society and the general public to actively participate in performances and ceremony viewing activities.
Its strength lies in that it can take into account the protection and inheritance of cultural heritage and serve society, and adjust the official and folk nature of the festival in a timely manner.
The above three national ritual inheritance models have developed in different historical contexts in China, Japan and South Korea since modern times.
They all have their own rationality and advantages.
Of course, there must be points worth learning from each other.
Through a vertical and horizontal comparison, we can see that my country's use of local public sacrifices as the main form of inheriting the national ritual culture is not only the result of historical development, but also the result of a cultural choice.
Although the current public memorial behavior still has some shortcomings, it fundamentally adapts to the needs of contemporary China's social and cultural development.
Therefore, as long as the way of doing things, especially the details, can be continuously improved, it should be able to become a kind of representative and vitality.
The new tradition plays its historical role in carrying forward the past and inheriting the cultural memory of the Chinese nation in practice.
Notes:
[①] After collecting many articles questioning public sacrifices, Du Songqi summarized his criticisms into the following six items: first, a waste of money; second, pursuing interests in the name of promoting culture; third, robbing ancestors and lacking awe; Fourth, they did not abide by the rules, and there were too many and too many public sacrifices; fifth, the rituals were similar and had no cultural content; sixth, the ancestors of humanity could not represent the Chinese nation.
See Du Songqi: "Questions and Comments on Public Sacrifice Activities", Gansu Social Science, No.
4, 2008, pp.
147 - 149.
[②] See Hou Yijie: "The Life of Yuan Shikai", Henan People's Publishing House, 1984, pp.
360 - 363.
[③] Quoted from "The Abolition of the Old Code of Sacrifice to Confucius in the Spring and Autumn Period", Education Journal of the Republic of China, Volume 23, No.
3,"Education News", page 7.
[④] According to textual research, they were: Yu Weichen, from Shangyu, Zhejiang Province, who took the memorial tablet of Confucius in the Confucian Temple on September 13, 1938 and threw it into the sea; and Han Zhenying, from Nangong, Hebei Province, who "wanted to respect Confucius, but now because of the abolition of the ceremony, the atmosphere fills the chest, and she threw herself into the well." See Xu Guolei above: "A Historical Survey of the Nanjing National Government's Activities to Commemorate the Birth of Confucius in 1934", Master's Thesis of Sichuan University, 2007, p.
17.
[④] Quoted from the Second National Historical Archives,"Groups established in various places to respect Confucius and Mencius and Oppose the abolition of Confucius worship instructions in universities".
Archive number: Full file number 1, file number 1757, microfilm number 16J-2313.
[④] See Xu Guolei: "A Historical Investigation of the Nanjing National Government's Activities to Commemorate the Birth of Confucius in 1934", Master's Thesis of Sichuan University, 2007, pp.
17 - 18.
[7] See Fang Yanhua,"On the Decline and Variation of the Puppet Manchuria Ceremony of Worship to Confucius-Also on the Historical Fate of" King Way Politics ", Journal of Liaoning Normal University, Social Science Edition), No.
6, 2007, pp.
116 - 119.
[] See Du Meifen,"A Study on the Humanities and Ritual Space of Confucius Worship-Taking the Confucius Temple in Taipei as an Example", Master's Degree Thesis, Chung Yuan Christian University, 1992, pp.
162 - 188.
[] Ibid., pages 190 - 191.
[] Quoted from "Yan Xishan's Talk on Abolishing the Sacrifice to Confucius", published in Xinyi Bao, 16 (1928), p.
176.
[] Quoted from Zhang Songzhi: "A Survey of the Beginning and End of the Confucian Church", Wen, Shi and Zhe, No.
1, 2008, p.
65.
[Flash] Li Zhuoran: "Worrying Confucius and Enlightening Wisdom: Chinese Sacrifice to Confucius in Xinma and Malaysia," published by the Confucius Temple Management Committee of Taipei City,"Proceedings of the International Academic Symposium on" Confucius in the World: Confucius Temple and Sacrifice Ceremony ", 1999, pp.
130 - 152.
[] Du Meifen: "The Establishment and Evolution of the Confucian Temple in Taipei","Proceedings of the First East Asian Regional Symposium on Confucian Temple and Confucianism", Compiled and published by the Department of History, Fo Guang University, 1992, p.
116.
[] During this period, two Confucius ceremonies were held at the Confucius Temple in Qufu: one was when Liu Shaoqi visited the Confucius Temple in Qufu in 1951, and the other was in 1957, when Wu Xiaobang, chairman of the "China Dance Research Association", and his party went to Qufu to shoot the documentary "Music and Dance in Sacrifice to Confucius."
[] See the editor-in-chief of the Confucius Cultural Festival Office of Jining City,"Oriental Cultural Festival·1984 - 2008·Record of the International Confucius Cultural Festival in Qufu, China," Jinan: Qilu Book Society, 2009.
[] See Wang Xiaobing: "On the Standards for Measuring the Authenticity of Intangible Cultural Heritage-Taking the Confucius Sacrifice Ceremony as an Example", Cultural Heritage, No.
4, 2010, pp.
8 - 17.
[] See Xu Juanzhu: "On Korean National Studies and the History of Confucian Temples","Proceedings of the First East Asian Regional Symposium on Confucian Temples and Confucianism", compiled and published by the Department of History, Fo Guang University, 1992, pp.
145 - 154.
[] Quoted from Planting Lotus: "Korea and Japan's Confucius Sacrifice Activities", World Expo, No.
7, 2007, p.
33.
[] See Tadahisa Ishikawa: "Yujima Temple Interpretation-From the Edo Period to Modern Times","Proceedings of the First East Asian Regional Symposium on Confucian Temples and Confucianism", compiled and published by the Department of History, Fo Guang University, 1992, pp.
63 - 68.
[] For details, please refer to the official website of "Yujima Shengtang" at http://www.seido.or.jp/cl02/detail-6.html2011/6/28).
This article was originally published in Shandong Social Sciences, No.
5, 2012, pages 82 - 86)