Title

The System of Major, Medium and Minor Sacrifices
During the Tang and Northern Song Dynasties

Author

Yi Zhu

Genre

Article  

Pages

287-324   

Download

PDF

Language

Chinese

Key words

Tang Dynasty, Northern Song Dynasty, System of Major,
Medium, and Minor Sacrifices, propitious rituals     

Abstract

   With the establishment of the System of Major, Medium, and Minor Sacrifices in the Sui Dynasty, the concept of sacrificial hierarchy in Zhou Li was realized. However, the sacrificial hierarchy was not completely carried out in the state sacrificial rituals, and only a few official, propitious rituals were included in the System.

However, during the Tang and the Northern Song: the sacrificial hierarchy was put into effect on a much larger scale. In addition, more regular sacrifices were incorporated into the System starting with the reign of Daoism, the Theory of the Five Elements, the personal preferences of emperors, etc. By categorizing these sacritices by rank, the court contirmed the importance of these rituals and codified them. In the end, a new system of state deities arose at the end of the Northern Song Dynasty.