Chu Hsi's Family Rituals: A Twelfth-Century Chinese Manual for the Performance of Cappings, Weddings, Funerals, and Ancestral Rites 0691031495, 9780691031491

Citation preview

CHU HSI'S FAMILY RITUALS

PRINCETON LIBRARY OF ASIAN TRANSLATIONS

i

I

•

CHU HSI'S FA

ILY RITUALS •••• •

A Twelfth-Century Chinese Manual for the Performance of Cappings, Weddings, Funerals, and Ancestral Rites •••••

TRANSLATED, WITH ANNOTATION AND INTRODUCTION, BY

Patricia Buckley Ebrey

PRINCETON UNIVERSITY

PRESS

PRINCETON, NEW JERSEY

© 1991 by Princeton University Press

Copyright

Published by Princeton University Press, 4 1 William Street, Princeton, New Jersey 08540 In the United Kingdom: Princeton University Press, Oxford

All Rights Reserved Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Chu, Hsi, 1 1 30-1 200. [Chia Ii. English] Chu Hsi's family rituals : a twelfth-century Chinese manual for the performance of cappings, weddings, funerals, and ancestral rites / translated, with annotation and introduction by

Patricia Buckley Ebrey. p . cm.-(Princeton library of Asian translations) Includes original Chinese text. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-69 1 -03 149-5 I. Rites and ceremonies

China.

2 . Manners and customs-China. 1. Ebrey, Patricia

3 . China-Social life and customs-960- 1644. Buckley, 1 947- . III. Title.

II. Chu, Hsi, 1 1 30- 1 200.

Chia Ii.

IV. Title: Family rituals.

V. Series.

English.

1991

GN635. C5C48 1 3 392' .095 1 -dc20

90-44943

The preparation of this volume was made possible by a grant from the Translation Program of the National Endowment for the Humanities , an independent federal agency. This book has been composed in Linotron Times Roman Princeton University Press books are printed on acid-free paper, and meet the guidelines for permanence and durability of the Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the Council on Library Resources Printed in the United States of America by Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey 2

4

6

8

10

9

7

5

3

I

CONTENTS

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Vll

TRANSLATOR 'S PREFACE

IX

ABBREVIATIONS

XI

INTRODUCTION

. .

•

•

Xlll • • •

PREFACE

3

CHAPTER ONE: General Principles of Ritual

5

CHAPTER Two: The Capping Ceremony

35

CHAPTER THREE: Weddings

48

CHAPTER FOUR: Funerals

65

CHAPTER FIVE: Sacrificial Rites

153

ApPENDIX A: Editions of Chu Hsi's Family Rituals

179

ApPENDIX B: Chinese Text of Chu Hsi's Family Rituals

183

GLOSSARY

213

SOURCES CITED

221

INDEX

229

�-----

LI S T O F ILLUS TR A TI O N S

1. Two Views of an Offering Hall

7

2. Layout of the Offering Hall for Visits

13

3. Men in Official Robes with Plaques and Scarf-caps

16

4. Scholar's Robe, Official Robe, and Woman's Jacket

18

5. Long Garment, Large Belt, Black Shoes, and Head-Wrap

22

6. Layout for the Capping Ceremony

41

7. Layout for Dressing the Body and the Soul Seat

75

8. Men in Untrimmed Sackcloth and Even Sackcloth Mourning

Garments

87

9. Mourning Grades for Agnatic Kinsmen

90

10. Mourning for Relatives through Mother, Sister, Father's Sister,

Wife, or Husband

93

11. Catafalque and Coffin Cover

111

12. Funeral Procession: Demon-Quellers , Incense Table, Grave

Goods, Inscribed Banner, and Food Table

118

13. Funeral Procession: Soul Carriage, Shades , Streamers , and Coffin

119

14. Layout of Burial Ceremonies

120

15. Layout for the Sacrifice of Repose

127

16. Placement of Food Offerings Before Each Ancestor's and

Ancestress's Seat at the Seasonal Sacrifice

VII .

.

161

,

T R A N S LA T O R 'S P R E F A C E

IN imperial China four rites performed at home were classed as family rituals. Three were rites of passage of the sort common in many societies: initiations, weddings, and funerals. The fourth was service to ancestral spirits . Taken together, these rites constituted the cult of the ancestors, or perhaps the cult of the family. In these rituals the family in the person of its ritual head mediated the relations between the living and the dead. Just as the emperor mediated between his subjects and heaven and earth, and officials mediated between the local population and its local gods and nature spirits , so the ritual head of a family mediated between the family's members and their ancestors. Ancestors were, in a sense, created through family rites. Ancestors in tum validated the patterns of authority in the family. Participants in Chinese family rituals would come to take moral values such as filial piety and wifely submission as part of the cosmic order linking the living and the dead. In China, family rituals were considered Confucian rituals, and the author­ itative sources for how they should be done were above all the Confucian ritual classics . From the thirteenth century on , however, people were more likely to tum to the more accessible liturgy compiled by Chu Hsi (1130-1200), the text translated here . The first chapter of this manual concerns setting up an ances­ tral altar, the more routine ways to serve the ancestors there , and other general points in family etiquette. The second chapter, the briefest, describes how to perform the ancient initiation ceremonies, capping for young men and pinning for young women . The third chapter describes wedding procedures from the time the family seniors decide a child is old enough to be betrothed, through engagement, exchange of gifts , the wedding day, and visits to the bride's natal family a few days after the wedding. The fourth and longest chapter taking up almost half the book concerns death rituals: mourning procedures, prep­ aration of the body for burial, preparation of the grave and grave goods, and the funerary sacrifices through which the dead person is transformed into an ancestor. The fifth chapter gives the steps for several different types of ances­ tral rites , including both domestic rites and rites at graves. In compiling the Family Rituals, Chu Hsi drew on Confucian ritual scholarship going back to the classics but also incorporated many modifications and adjustments . His goal was to encourage performance of more authentically Confucian forms of the rituals and thus combat the popularity of customs he considered vulgar or superstitious. In preparing this translation of Chu Hsi's Family Rituals, I have incurred many debts . A translation grant from the National Endowment for the Human­ ities allowed me to devote 1986 to this project. A grant from the Committee IX .

T R A N SLATOR'S P R E FA C E

on Scholarly Exchange with the People' s Republic of China for the summer of 1988 made it possible for me to examine more than a dozen revised versions of this text found only in China. Libraries in Japan, Taiwan, and the United States were generous in letting me see and often copy rare editions of these books. The library of the National Palace Museum in Taiwan provided the copy of the earliest surviving edition of the Family Rituals, which has been reproduced as Appendix B of this book. Chiu-yiieh Lai assisted me in compil­ ing the bibliography and comparing versions of the text. Professor Frederic Mote suggested induding the Chinese text with the translation and prodded me into basing the translation on the earliest edition of the text. Professor Wing-tsit Chan performed the especially valuable service of checking the translation against the Chinese original. To all of these institutions and indi­ viduals I am grateful .

x

A B B R E V I A T IO N S

ARCLIC CHWLHI CL C LCS CLHT C LIC

The anonymous revised CLIC, reprinted in 1770

H LTCEV

Cheng-ho wu-Ii hsin-i Chu Tzu chia-Ii Chia-Ii chi-shuo Chia-li hui-t' ung Chia-Ii i-chieh (Ch'iu

ICC KYL MLL SHT SKCS S LI S MSSI SS TCMHL TSCC TH YIP WC YL

expanded version

Chlin 's) CTC CTCS C YTFS L

Chang Tsai chi Chu Tzu ch' eng-shu Ch' ing-yuan t'iao-fa shih-

lei ECC HLTC

Hsing-Ii ta-ch' uan,

Erh Ch' eng chi Hsing-Ii ta-ch'uan, 1 41 5

ed.

I-chien chih Ta-T' ang K' ai-yuan Ii Meng-liang lu Sung hsing-t' ung Ssu-k' u ch'iian-shu Ssu-Ii i Ssu-ma-shih shu-i Sung shih Tung-ching meng-hua lu Ts' ung-shu chi-ch' eng Ta-hsueh yen-i pu Chu Wen-kung wen-chi Chu Tzu yu-lei

Citations of the classics generally give first an indication of the chapter or section, numbered in the Analects and Mencius but romanized in the other classics . A fter this is given a page re ference to the Shih-san ching chu-shu edition. When available, trans­ lations are also cited. This citation, however, is for reference only; the translations given in this book are my own and sometimes di ffer in significant ways from the cited translations. For full bibliographic in formation, see Sources Cited .

XI •

I N TR O D UC TI O N

THE Family Rituals, compiled by the great Neo-Confucian philosopher Chu

Hsi ( 1 1 30- 1 200) , is a manual for the private performance of the standard Chi­ nese family rituals: initiations, weddings, funerals , and sacrifices to ancestral spirits. It was among the best-known books of late imperial China. In the 1 720s the French missionary Jean-Francois Foucquet ( 1 665- 1 74 1 ) reported that the book was second in popularity only to the Analects, and that copies of it could be found in almost every home in China.! In the 1 880s Charles de Harlez said the Family Rituals was one of the best known of Chu Hsi' s works and a great favorite of the Chinese literati.2 J.J .M. de Groot, a Dutch scholar who made a close study of religious life around Amoy in the late nineteenth century, referred to the Family Rituals as the" chief vademecum of the people for their domestic rites and ceremonies. "3 Chinese scholars also often used hyperbolic language, stating either that "everyone" or "all scholars" used the Family Rituals. Hsii San-li ( 1 625- 1 69 1 ) , for instance, said that Confucians living in rural areas all used the old text of the Family Rituals rather than the recently issued Ch'ing dynasty regulations.4 Indeed, its influence was not lim­ ited to China. "As Chu Hsi's learning spread to Vietnam, Korea, and Japan, Chu Hsi's Family Rituals came to be honored not only in China, but in all of these countries. "5 As a book, Chu Hsi's Family Rituals went through many transformations. Almost from the time it first appeared, those scholars who saw in it a guide for their own self-cultivation thought that it needed to be supplemented. They wrote commentaries that explained the origins of ritual practices and the rea­ sons for Chu Hsi 's modifications of them. By contrast, those who saw in the Family Rituals a convenient manual for encouraging proper rituals among the less educated instead produced simplified and abbreviated versions that they believed better served Chu Hsi's true intentions . By the sixteenth century there were undoubtedly many more copies of revised versions of the book in circu­ lation than of Chu Hsi 's original text. From the sixteenth century on, the Chu Hsi's Family Rituals was a contro­ versial book. Some scholars thought Chu Hsi had not gone far enough in mak­ ing adjustments to the realities of their times. Others criticized him as too I Witek, Controversial Ideas in China and Europe, pp. 285-86 n.90. 2 De Harlez , Kia-Ii, pp. 1 , 7 . These remarks were made in the introduction to his translation of an unidentified abbreviated version of the Family Rituals into French. 3 de Groot, The Religious System o/China, 3 : 832. 4 Huang-ch' ao ching-shih wen-pien 62: 16b. 5 Saeki, So no shinbunka, p. 377. On its influence in Japan and Korea , see Makino, Kinsei ChUgoku sozoku kenkyCt, pp. 28-39. XIII .

.

.

INTRODUCTION

original: He had been too free in departing from the classics to adjust to the practices of his day . Some of those who took a literal approach to using the book, undoubtedly always a small minority, found the mourning austerities beyond their endurance. In the eighteenth century , a great admirer of Chu Hsi' s philosophy, Wang Mao-hung ( 1 668- 1 741), finding the Family Rituals unsuited to kinship organization as he knew it, decided the book could not be by a person as intelligent as Chu Hsi. Wang wrote a highly polemical attack on the authenticity of the Family Rituals, opening with the declaration, " The Family Rituals is not Master Chu 's book."6 His conclusion had considerable influence in academic circles for the next two centuries, but it does not seem to have dampened the general enthusiasm for the text as a guide to practice. Even if his charges were true, which they were not, they would not diminish the historical significance of the Family Rituals in shaping ritual behavior. 7 The Family Rituals deserves careful reading above all because of the im­ portance of the rituals described in it. These rituals expressed and reproduced the key principles underlying the family system: the relationships between an­ cestors and descendants, men and women, parents and children, and families linked through marriage . As in most other societies, certain key transitions in people 's lives required ritual elaboration , especially marriage and death. In addition, the links of the living and the dead needed to be renewed on a fixed schedule through offerings and sacrifices to ancestors . Chu Hsi's Family Rit­ uals is admittedly not a perfect source for these rituals; it is a liturgical text, specifying the steps to be followed in the rites, not an ethnographic description of how anyone actually performed them. Nevertheless, much can be inferred from its contents , not only about the rules that came to be accepted as ortho­ dox , but also about the ways these rules most widely diverged from contem­ porary customs at various social levels. The continuing encounter and mutual modification of ideas of classical origin and customs strongly rooted in social life can be seen in the history of the Family Rituals, both in the specific steps prescribed in it and in the way they were adapted or altered by later authors . The history of Chu Hsi' s Family Rituals thus provides a lens through which to view the interaction of ideas, rituals , power, and social life in Chinese history. In a companion volume, Corifucianism and Family Rituals in Imperial China: A Social History of Writing about Rites, I trace the history of the Family Rituals to bring out these interactions. The following brief discussion of the historical context in which the Family Rituals was written, used, and revised is based on that book, which may be consulted for fuller docu­ mentation. 6 Ssu-k'u ch'iian-shu tsung-mu 22: 1 80. 7

For refutations of his charges, see Ch'ien,

Chu Tzu hsin hsiieh-an, 4: 1 65-73, Ueyama,

"Shushi no 'Karei' to 'Girei ky6den tSiikai , ' " and Ch'en Lai, "Chu Tzu 'Chia-li' chen­ wei k ' ao-i . " XIV •

I NT R O D U C T I O N

Social and Intellectual Background

Any reader of Chu Hsi's Family Rituals will quickly recognize that it is a militantly Confucian book, designed to promote the practice of rituals mod­ eled on revered Confucian sources and to combat the practice of Buddhist rites or other rites that could not be reinterpreted as Confucian. Its author, Chu Hsi, was committed to working for the strengthening of Confucian values and prac­ tices .s Chu Hsi was an immensely learned man, fully conversant in the clas­ sics, histories, earlier ritual texts, and the writings of his predecessors in the Neo-Confucian movement in the Northern Sung (960- 1 1 26) . In writing his Family Rituals, he drew particularly on two of these predecessors, Ch'eng I ( 1 033-1 107) and Ssu-ma Kuang ( 1 0 1 9- 1 086). Kao Ming has recently stated that "the most important achievement of Chu Hsi' s study of propriety [i. e . , Ii, or ritual] lies in his association and synthesis of, on the one hand, principles with rules, and on the other, theories with practice. "9 By this he meant, I think, that Chu Hsi combined Ch'eng I's concern with the meaning of rites with Ssu-ma Kuang' s respect for the established liturgies, while going further than either in his efforts to deal with the problem of how to get people to perform the rites . The mutual dependence of the living and the dead, of ancestors and their descendants, had been a central feature of Chinese culture from ancient times. Rituals that brought the living into communication with their ancestors con­ veyed understandings of social and cosmic realms and made these ideas com­ pelling . Confucianism as a school of thought exalted the value of ritual and ritualized behavior in general . Confucius once identified his highest moral value of humanity (jen) with overcoming oneself and returning to ritual . 10 By the late Chou period ( 1032-256 B.C.), the Confucian tradition had come to be identified with punctilious performance of rites, especially funerals and ances­ tral rites. Early theorizing on the meaning of ritual by the Confucian thinker Hsiin Tzu (ca. 3 1 O-ca. 220 B .C.) stressed how ritual served to express social differentiation. Variations by rank and station, such as the gradation of mourn­ ing obligations by kinship proximity or the gradation in the depth of ancestors worshipped by political rank, were to Hsiin Tzu essential features of ritual. Even if one discounted all belief that rituals had an effect on spiritual beings, as Hsiin Tzu tended to do, rituals had to be preserved and performed because of their social , political , and psychological uses . 8 Any history o f Chinese philosophy will devote considerable space to Chu Hsi. For some recent studies o f his work, see Chan, ed. , Chu Hsi and Neo-Corifucianism; Munro, Images of Human Nature; and de Bary and Chaffee, eds . , Neo-Confucian Education. 9 Kao, "Chu Hsi's Discipline o f Propriety ," p. 3 1 9. 1 0 Analects 12: l a; Waley, p. 1 62 . For a stimulating interpretation o f Confucius's views on ritual, see Fingarette, Confucius-the Secular as Sacred. For some counterarguments, see Schwartz, The World of Thought in Ancient China, pp. 6 7-75. xv

I NTR O D U CTI O N

The earliest surviving Confucian liturgy for family rituals is the classical I­ Ii [Etiquette and ritual] , reconstructed in the Han dynasty (206 B .C.-A .D. 220) but purporting to describe the rites of the Chou period. The I-Ii provides de­ scriptions of the steps to be taken in various rituals, with little or no explana­ tion of why these steps were the appropriate ones . I I The basic structure and symbolic content of the rites , however, can be discerned, especially when supplemented with relevant passages in the Li-chi [Record of ritual] , another classic on ritual . The ancestors depended on their descendants for food; the living could benefit from the blessings of their ancestors . Those in charge of states, fiefs, and families were privileged and obliged to serve their ancestors in hierarchically appropriate ways, and those not so privileged were obliged to assist in whatever capacity was appropriate to them. In these texts , the living communicate with their ancestors through divina­ tion, reports , prayers , and offerings of wine and food. The head of the political unit (state, fief, and so on) officiated at the rites. The more important the oc­ casion, the greater the necessity for the chief sacrificer to purify himself in advance through abstinence of varying duration. At the appointed time, he would enter a consecrated place, bow, prostrate himself, and make offerings of food and wine. He was assisted by a variety of attendants , including those who prepared the food, took charge of the utensils, performed divinations, and pronounced prayers. During major rituals, one boy or man, preferably a son of the chief sacrificer, would act as a vessel for the spirit of the ancestors . This impersonator also needed to undergo purification before the rite . He would drink the wine offered to the ancestors and in trance-like fashion pas­ sively allow the spirits to animate him. A ritual expert would interpret for those attending the ancestor's wishes , which in the standard liturgy of the I-Ii was to convey blessings. In the ritual classics, death and ancestors were in significant ways opposed categories . Those bereaved by a death could not be purified in order to com­ municate with their ancestors. For lengths of time determined by their kinship connection to the deceased, they abstained from comforts , devoting them­ selves to the care of the corpse and expressions of grief. Those in mourning had to be constantly mindful of their status; they had to alter almost all details of daily living to make their behavior distinct. Only after the dead were trans­ formed into ancestors through burial and a series of sacrifices held over a pe­ riod of more than two years were the living free of ritual restrictions. Cappings and weddings are presented in the ritual classics as primarily con­ cerned with assuring continuation of ancestral rites . Cappings were performed in the ancestral shrine. A boy was transformed into a man capable of serving the ancestors by the act of dressing him in adult clothing. Weddings were needed to continue the family line . Each step involved in arranging a marriage II

It is translated in full by John Steele as The I-Ii. or Book of Etiquette and Ceremonial . XVI •

--

I N T R O D U CT I O N

had to be reported to the ancestors. The wedding culminated with the intro­ duction of the bride herself to her husband's ancestors in their shrine three months after the wedding day. Besides conveying conceptions of the relationships of the living and the dead, the family rituals described in the classics clearly expressed principles of hierarchy and organization among the living . People of unequal rank did not perform rites the same way. For instance, the size of a coffin, the numbers and quality of the objects buried with it, even the date of burial varied accord­ ing to the political rank of the deceased from the ruler, to nobles, to high officials, to low officials, to commoners . The number of generations of ances­ tors a man could worship, the number of times a year he would perform sac­ rifices , and the types of foods he could offer similarly varied by rank. Kinship position also mattered. Ancestral rites were the responsibility of the eldest son of the wife, and after his death they were to be taken over not by his brothers but by his own eldest son, and so on, indefinitely . It was assumed that political headship also passed along these lines, and the classics do not portray lords attending ancestral rites presided over by their uncles or elder brothers . Be­ yond these clearly specified principles of differentiation were others implicit in the structure of the rites. Only men , for instance , addressed the ancestors and ancestresses, though women could offer them food. As a guide to practice, the I-Ii is an incomplete book, containing liturgies for ordinary officers (shih) , but not for rulers , nobles , or common people . From Han times on, ritual scholars in the employ of various dynasties formu­ lated rituals for the imperial house by scaling up the rites in the I-Ii. Confucian scholars, believing that the rituals performed by the ruler affected the welfare of the entire cosmos, treated this work as one of their most important respon­ sibilities. 12 At the same time, the Confucian tradition recognized that men make rituals. Rituals were not seen as the creations of gods , conveyed to hu­ mans through revelation. Human sages who understood the social and psycho­ logical needs of people had designed them. Many scholars recognized that circumstances change and new forms might better achieve the true purposes of the rituals than old forms . Thus every step, procedure , and distinction in the liturgies in the I-Ii and later books could be questioned as a guideline for current performance and modified if need be. 1 3 12

For ritual scholarship at court and the pol itics of ritual controversies, see , for the Han, Bil sky, The State Religion of Ancient China, pp. 287-330, and Loewe, Crisis and Conflict in Han China, pp. 1 64--92; and, for the T'ang, Wech sler, Offerings of Jade and Silk, and McMullen, State and Scholars in T' ang China, pp. 1 1 3-58. 13 The Confucian tradition seems to have been quite sophisticated in thi s regard . Anthro­ pological work on ritual often stre sse s that ritual "banishes from consideration the basic questions raised by the made-upne ss of culture" and that the ultimate danger for ritual s i s the discovery that they are arbitrary invention s o f mortal s (Moore and Meyerhoff, Secular Ritual, pp. 1 6- 1 8 ). XVll .

.

-

- ----------

I N T R O D U CT I O N

The only imperial ritual guide to survive from the T'ang period (61 8-906) or earlier is the 150-chUan Ta-T'ang K'ai-yuan Ii [Ritual of the K'ai-yiian period of the great T'ang] , issued in 732. Besides describing the rituals per­ formed by the emperor and other members of the imperial family, this manual specified the steps in family rituals that officials should perform at home. For each rite three versions were provided: one for officials rank three and up, one for rank four and five officials , and one for officials rank six to nine. The prescriptions are clearly based on the relevant chapters in the I-Ii but are better organized and include relatively modest modernizations. The K ' ai-yuan Ii largely reiterated the basic principles concerning the rela­ tions of the living and the dead conveyed in the I-Ii and Li-chi, with the excep­ tion that impersonators were eliminated from all ceremonies. Indeed, its con­ servatism was probably its greatest shortcoming. In a time when much of the population had privately accepted Buddhist or Taoist universalistic notions of afterlife and salvation, the K' ai-yuan Ii adhered to the view that the relations of the living and the dead depended on the social and political status of the living. This lopsided emphasis on the political side of rites was probably the result of the text being written as a scholastic exercise, detached from actual ritual performances, even of high officials. Rather than tum to the K' ai-yuan Ii, officials and educated families more generally turned to privately written liturgies. Meng Hsien, a high official in the late seventh and early eighth centuries, is said to have written three such books, a Chia-Ii [Family ritual] , a Chi-Ii [Sacrificial ritual] , and a Sang-fu yao [Essentials of mourning gatments] . He is known, for instance, to have sched­ uled seasonal ancestral rites at the spring and fall equinoxes and the summer and winter solstices, adopting what was by then the custom. Other T'ang eti­ quette books contained descriptions of popular customs at considerable odds from the classics, such as "ghost marriages" and tossing seeds and coins on the bed in the nuptial chamber. It seems that the authors of these books were concerned above all with what leading families actually did. Following a ca­ nonical practice that had not been seen for decades or centuries would have appeared unsophisticated; true refinement required understanding the subtle­ ties of the behavior then observed. 1 4 To put this another way, following tra­ dition was important, but tradition was not confined to the classics; it encom­ passed practices that had gained acceptability among the social and political elite. The scholars active in the revival of Confucianism in the eleventh century took a narrower view of authoritative sources for family rituals. They were thus more troubled by the discrepancy between what people commonly did and what the I-Ii and Li-chi specified. Ou-yang Hsiu (1007- 1072) urged thor­ ough reexamination of family rituals in his famous essay, "On Fundamen14

See Ebrey, "T'ang Guide s to Verbal Etiquette . " X Vll1 .

.

.

INTRODUCTION

tals. " To loosen the hold of Buddhism on the general public, local officials needed to promote the practice of Confucian rituals, including weddings, fu­ nerals, and ancestral rites . It was only because of the decay of these rituals , he argued, that Buddhism had found an opening into the daily lives of the common people. Instructing people in these rituals "not only would prevent disorder but also would teach them to distinguish superior and inferior, old and young, and the ethics of social relations . " 1 5 , Many Sung scholars tried to revive or revitalize truly Confucian rituals by writing new liturgies suited to their age . In the Northern Sung period, Tu Yen (978- 1 057), Han Ch'i ( 1 008-1 075), Ssu-ma Kuang ( 1 0 1 9-1 086), Chang Tsai ( 1 020-1077), Ch'eng I ( 1 033- 1 1 07) , Fan Tsu-yii ( 1 04 1 - 1098), and Lii Ta­ fang ( 1 027-1 097) all wrote manuals or treatises on ancestral rites or family rituals more generally. Chang Tsai was particularly credited by his contem­ poraries with leading a revival of ancient ancestral and funerary rites. He had argued that the practice of correct rituals provided excellent discipline for the student intent on self-cultivation because it freed one from the entanglements of conventional social life. But Chang Tsai envisioned students progressing beyond mere submission to outward authority toward a selective evaluation of the rituals to follow: "Once a person understands the principles he can insti­ tute rituals. " 16 In terms of influence on Chu Hsi's Family Rituals, Ssu-ma Kuang and Ch'eng I are the most important of the Northern Sung scholars who wrote on ritual . Ssu-ma Kuang, best known today as a statesman and historian, wrote a full-length liturgy for family rituals, his Shu-i [Letters and etiquette] . I? To prepare this book, he consulted T'ang etiquette books but preferred the autho­ rized liturgies the I-Ii and the K' ai-yuan Ii. He also systematically evaluated the acceptability of the practices people actually performed, something not generally done by his predecessors. He was willing to accept modifications of classical prescriptions to reduce the cost of rites but was strongly opposed to Buddhist practices and to customs he saw as vulgar, superstitious, or ignorant. Ch'eng I is known today as a philosopher, as an original thinker who de­ veloped new principles of metaphysics. IS He often discussed rituals, but his surviving works include no systematic treatises on the subject. His views on rites were closer to those of Chang Tsai than Ssu-ma Kuang in that he was more interested in the idea or principle behind rites than the details of what had been done in classical times. He warned of the dangers of sticking too closely to ancient forms and asserted that it was possible to create new ritual forms on the basis of moral principles . He evaluated practices of his day not 1 5 Ou-yang Hsiu ch'uan-chi, ChU-shih chi 1 7, p . 1 22; partially translated in de B ary et aI. , Sources of Chinese Tradition, pp. 441-45. 1 6 CTC, pp. 265, 326-2 7, 330. Cf. Kassoff, The Thought of Chang Tsai, pp. 8 1-82. 17 Ssu-ma-shih shu-i. 18 On Ch'eng I's philosophy, see Graham , Two Chinese Philosophers . XIX •

INTRODUCTION

merely on the basis of their canonical roots, but also on how well they matched human feelings and whether or not they harmed morality . Both Ch'eng I and Ssu-ma Kuang saw much to condemn in common funeral and burial practices. Over the centuries, mortuary practices had drawn ele­ ments from divergent traditions, including Buddhist teachings about death, karma, transmigration, and heaven and hell, much of which had by Sung times also been adopted by Taoists; indigenous ideas about Yin-Yang, auspicious­ ness and inauspiciousness of times, places, and activities that were vaguely associated with shamans and geomancers; as well as indigenous ideas about ghosts of ancient origins that had been modified over time by Buddhist and Taoist conceptions of the fate of the dead. To Ch'eng I and Ssu-ma Kuang, almost all non-Confucian funerary practices were objectionable; especially reprehensible were lengthy delays in burial , often motivated by geomancy, and cremation , viewed as a desecration of the corpse. Ancestral rites posed different problems. People's practices were uncanon­ ical, but not so clearly reprehensible, since they could be interpreted as an excess of filial piety. People largely ignored the classical distinctions concern­ ing who could make sacrifices to whom and how often. They made offerings to an ancestor on the anniversary of his or her death and at popular festivals such as New Year, the Clear and Bright festival in the spring, the Buddhist ghost festival in the seventh month, and the Buddhist stove-lighting festival on the first of the tenth month. At home people commonly made offerings to two or three generations of ancestors , and at graves they would also make offerings to more distant ancestors . As the moral issues were unclear, how Confucians should sacrifice to their ancestors was widely debated in the North­ ern Sung. Officials sensed that they should have distinctly Confucian ancestral rites rather than follow the eclectic ways of commoners but were not sure how far they had to go in observing canonical status distinctions. Chang Tsai and Ch'eng I took particular interest in reviving the tsung or descent-line system, which meant limiting officiating at ancestral rites to el­ dest sons and the primary line of their descendants . On the other hand, neither Chang Tsai nor Ch'eng I insisted on retaining all canonical distinctions . To the contrary , they worked hard to relabel as Confucian much of what people actually did in their time, such as ancestral rites at home at New Year and on death-day anniversaries. Ch'eng I took the bold step of rejecting status dis­ tinctions altogether on the issue of how many ancestors could receive sacri­ fices; he asserted that everyone should be able to sacrifice to four generations of ancestors . These accommodations allowed the Neo-Confucian effort to re­ form ancestral rites to graft itself onto already well-developed religious senti­ ments and practices. But they were directly opposed to the K' ai-yuan Ii and other government manuals that emphasized the ways the graduated perfor­ mance of ancestral rites represented the graduated political importance of those performing them. To Ch'eng I what mattered in ancestral rites was the xx

I NTR O D U C T I O N

personal connection all men had with their ancestors, not their differing polit­ ical rank. Chu Hsi's Family Rituals is the culmination of these efforts to revive, pu­ rify, and expand Confucian family rituals . Chu Hsi began by revising Ssu-ma Kuang's Shu-i to incorporate Ch'eng I's proposals and to make the book ac­ cessible to wider audiences. Chu Hsi took a personal interest in the project but probably had students draft parts. Ssu-ma Kuang's discussions of classical precedents were excised and the text reorganized into five chapters , an intro­ ductory one on routine service to ancestors in the ancestral hall and general family etiquette, and one chapter on each of the family rites (cappings, wed­ dings, funerals, and ancestral sacrifices). Much more of the detail, including words to be spoken, descriptions of objects to be used, and so on, was put in small characters where it could easily be skipped. Ch'eng I's proposals to do away with status distinctions in ancestral rites were incorporated, as were his accommodation of rites at graves and at death-day anniversaries. Moreover, the text was rewritten in telms of the descent-line system, so emphasized by Chang Tsai and Ch' eng I. Chu Hsi worried more than his Northern Sung predecessors about the prob­ lem of getting people to carry out refOlmed rites. In this regard he may have been influenced by a new government manual , the Cheng-ho wu-li hsin-i [New fOlms for the five categories of rites of the Cheng-ho period] , issued in 1 1 1 3 . This manual included liturgies for common people's perfOlmances of cap­ pings, weddings , and funerals , something no earlier government manual had done. After the book was issued, officials were appointed to give advice to both commoners and gentlemen on the new forms for rites, and the adminis­ trator of the capital was ordered to edit a version that would be suitable for common use and print it for general dissemination. When Chu Hsi served as an official a few decades later, he tried to revive use of the Cheng-ho wu-li hsin-i's liturgies for common people's rituals . Moreover, he repeatedly noted the need for guides to rituals easy enough for both rich and poor to follow. Unlike many of his predecessors, Chu Hsi explicitly commended compromise or balance as the basis on which to make choices about ritual practices. Despite his concern with making rituals easy to practice, Chu Hsi (or one of his students) did restructure Ssu-ma Kuang's liturgies in telms of the de­ scent-line heir system. Sacrifices to any given ancestor were to be presided over by his eldest son, who would be succeeded by his own eldest son, who would then perfolm sacrifices to both his father and grandfather, and so on for up to four generations. In cases where a married couple did not leave an heir, offerings would be made to them by a collateral relative at the shrine to the man's grandfather. The depth of the rites perfOlmed would thus vary from one to four generations from household to household, and households headed by younger sons would not perfOlm rites at all. The younger son whose father, grandfather, and great-grandfather had all been younger sons would have to XXI •

INTRODUCTION

go to different households to participate in separate ceremonies for each of his own ancestors . The diagram below shows what would happen in the hypo­ thetical case of each man having two sons, with only the last generation (and their unlisted children) living. 1

I

1

2

I

I

1

I

2

3

I

I

I

I

I

I

4

I

I

I

1

5

3

6

2

7

4

8

n

n

n

n

n

n

n

n

A Y E Y

C Y

F Y B Y

G Y

D Y H Y

Primary line, ancestors whose sacrifices are presided over by the descent-line heir to four generations, A . 2 Earliest collateral line, ancestors whose sacrifices are presided over by the de­ scent-line heir to three generations, B. 3 and 4 Further collateral lines, ancestors whose sacrifices are presided over by a descent-line heir to two generations, C and D respectively. 5 , 6, 7, and 8 Shortest collateral lines, ancestors whose sacrifices are presided over by their res pective eldest sons E, F, G , and H . Y Younger brothers who partici pate as observers . 1

=

=

=

=

=

In the Family Rituals, cappings and weddings were also recast in terms of the descent-line system. When a child of any of those on this diagram was to be capped or married, A was supposed to preside or, if unavailable, the next most senior descent-line heir. That is, if H's daughter was to be married, he would first ask A , then B , then D to preside, only taking on the task himself if none of them could. The Rites Described in the Family Rituals

The Family Rituals specifies how to perfOIm a set of rites that played important roles in Chinese culture. As a prescriptive, programmatic text, it reveals the patterns of distinction and elaboration underlying these rites . Although few people would have perfolllled the rites exactly as prescribed, this logic still had much to do with what they actually did. The overall scheme of the rites in the Family Rituals can be described in tellllS of the shifting relations of the living and the dead. Once an adult man died, his descendants had to begin immediately to care for his needs . 1 9 They 19 The

se quence

would largely be the same for the wife o f this man, with XXIl . .

the exception

I NTR O D U CT I O N

first had to wash, dress , and encoffin him. From that point until his burial, he would be represented by a strip of cloth called a soul cloth set near his coffin. His descendants , led by his eldest son, the chief mourner, would change into mourning clothes and wail before this symbol. People other than his own de­ scendants (servants or a liturgist) would set out meat, other food , and wine at least twice a day before the soul cloth. The mourners would deprive them­ selves of most comforts and limit themselves to coarse vegetarian food. They would cut themselves off from routine, auspicious rituals, especially from sac­ rifices to their earlier ancestors, weddings, and cappings. Before the burial took place, the family would have to prepare a wooden tablet inscribed with the dead man's name and the name of his descent-line heir. The soul cloth would be buried with the body, and from that point on the dead would be represented by the wooden tablet. After the burial, the mourn­ ers would all bathe and perfonn the first funerary sacrifice before this tablet. The chief mourner would invoke the spirit of the ancestor with a libation of wine, then with the help of attendants he would make three offerings of food. A liturgist and female attendant would handle the tablets, and the liturgist would read the prayer. The other mourners, arranged in rows by degree of mourning with the males on the east and the females on the west, would form the audience. During the next couple of weeks , four more similar sacrifices would be held, the last of which would be done in the ancestral hall in the presence of all the ancestors residing there (that is, the tablets for the recently deceased's father, grandfather, and so on, depending on how many were eldest sons) . These tablets would be handled by a liturgist and female attendants, rather than the descendants still in mourning, with the descent-line heir of the most remote ancestor (not necessarily the chief mourner) presiding over the sacrifice, as he would from that point on. On the first anniversary of this man' s death, a sacrifice would be held to mark a major transition in the obligations of the mourners . The mourners would bathe and change their garments and then , with the help of a liturgist, perform a sacrifice much like the preceding ones . On the second anniversary, a sacrifice would be held to change the status of the dead; on this occasion his tablet would be pennanently installed. If he had been an eldest son, his tablet would be moved to the offering hall , possibly forcing the rearrangement of the old tablets and the retirement of his great-great-grandfather's tablet if it had been housed there. If he had been a younger son, his tablet would be installed in a newly created shrine. A couple of months after the second anniversary of the death, the final funerary sacrifice would be held, marking the end of mourning for the children and widow of the deceased. The descendants not that if she died before him she would not gain a regular place on the ance stral altar until after he died. Moreover, her tablet would be taken out for his death-day anniversary, but not his for her death-day anniversary . XXIII .

.

.

INTRODUCTION

only washed and resumed normal clothing but were free to participate in aus­ picious rituals. In Chu Hsi 's Family Rituals the ancestral shrine is called the offering hall, and it is described as a room in the house. Its size could vary , but it was to have an inner area that could be closed off by a door or curtain. Within the inner area would be room for an incense stand, a table or tables that could hold all the tablets, normally kept in boxes, plus cups for wine and tea and bowls of fruit. When the tablets were laid out, they would be arranged in order of seniority, the earliest ancestor at the extreme west, his wife next to him, then his son, and so on. The inner part of the offering hall would also have to be big enough for three people to stand. The outer area, ideally conceived as the courtyard in front of it, should be large enough for immediate family members to stand in rows. Some ceremonies were held inside the offering hall and some just outside its door. The more major ones , such as encoffining ceremonies, funeral sacrifices, and the seasonal sacrifices, however, were held in the larg­ est room of the house. This main hall also had to have an inner and outer area. Preferably the inner area would be a raised hall and the outer one its adjacent courtyard so that those approaching the ancestral altar would walk up a few steps. They could make do, however, by drawing steps with chalk on the floor to divide a large space into an imagined inner/higher section and an outer/ lower section. Once his tablet was installed in the offering hall, the dead person had in a sense entered the phase of prime ancestorhood. As long as his eldest son lived, this son would preside over all regular service to him as his descent-line heir. During the course of a year, simple offerings would alternate with elaborate rites. Every day someone would look in; twice a month, wine and fruit or tea would be offered; and five or six times a year, special foods would be pre­ sented to mark holidays . Four times a year, once in each season, major ances­ tral rites would be performed. In the third month a sacrifice would be held at the ancestor' s grave on a date chosen by divination . In addition, he would receive a special , individual sacrifice on the anniversary of his death. Also during this first generation of ancestorhood he would receive an individual sacrifice in the fall . Visits, reports , offerings, and sacrifices can be seen as more or less elabo­ rated versions of a basic structure. All resembled in broad outline the visit of a junior to a senior: the junior would enter, greet the elder with a bow, conduct the business, and bow to take leave. All also resembled in similar broad terms the ways people approached gods: the person would bow, bum incense, make a report, query, or plea, sometimes accompanied by food and drink, and bow again. Additional elements were added as the service became less routine. For instance, when the presiding man expected to be away ten days or longer, before departing he was to open the outer door of the shrine, bow twice, bum incense, report his plan, and bow twice again. When he would be away a XXIV •

INTR O D U CTI O N ,

month or longer, he was to open the inner door, bow twice while still in the outer area, ascend the stairs , bum incense, report his plan, bow twice, go down the stairs, face the shrine again, and bow twice more. For the twice­ monthly visits , this basic structure was elaborated with the addition of a pre­ paratory stage involving abstinence and the cleaning of equipment, hand washings, the opening of the tablet cases, place settings, the presentation of food and drink in front of the tablets , and the attendance of all the men and women. Those attending would be ordered by gender, generation, and age, the men on the west, women on the east, the senior generations in more for­ ward rows, each row with the eldest toward the center. Everyone attending would bow, those making the libation of wine would kneel, and the presiding man alone would prostrate himself. Full sacrifices involved further additions. Purification lasted three nights, not one as in visits . A dozen or more types of food, including rice , soup, meat , and vegetables, are presented at sacrifices, compared to one or two at visits and offerings. At visits a single joint libation was made to all the ancestors and ancestresses, but at sacrifices each pair was approached separately, lengthening the ceremony . Various people were needed to assist the presiding man in major ceremo­ nies. For all ceremonies that required touching the ancestral tablets he had to be assisted by a woman, usually his wife, to handle the tablets for female ancestors . For any ceremony involving the reading of a prayer, a liturgist was required, who always read it from a kneeling position. For any ceremony in­ volving the pouring of liquids (wine, water, or tea) , attendants had to assist. The nOllnal assumption seems to have been that servants filled this role best. Perhaps it was to the glory of the ancestors to have servants attend them, as it would be to the living . When his eldest son died, the ancestor would be promoted, passing from "father" to " grandfather" among the ancestors at this shrine. (That is, the man thought of as the great-grandfather of the family's new baby on his death becomes the ancestor in the father generation . ) Although the emotional ties must always have been strongest to the more recent dead, the most senior generation of ancestors had to be treated with greatest deference and was al­ ways served first . Each time an ancestor was promoted , part of his tablet would have to be repainted, showing that he was no longer served by his son so-and-so, but by his grandson so-and-so. After his promotion to great-great­ grandfather among the ancestors he could be promoted only to the vague cat­ egory of early ancestors who indefinitely received a common offering in the spring. This sacrifice to early ancestors bore many similarities to the seasonal sacrifices of prime ancestorhood but would involve uncooked offerings (blood , hair, heart , lungs , intestines) in addition to cooked ones and would not be followed by a family feast. Ancestors promoted to "early ancestors" could also continue to receive annual sacrifices at their graves in the third month . Cappings and weddings were of course more than occasions for reports to xxv

I NT R O D U CTI O N

ancestors. Both were typical rites of passage, rituals marking and creating changes in the status of individuals . As such they had many features common to such ceremonies elsewhere, such as a liminal phase when the person whose status is being changed wears distinctive clothing and is treated as though occupying a more exalted social position than he or she would before or after the ceremony. At the same time, cappings and weddings shared many features with ancestral rites. They all employed similar spatial arrangements , all were presided over by the descent-line heir, and all involved bowing and prostra­ tions. Both weddings and cappings involved pledging the young (a senior giv­ ing the young person wine and instructing him or her) and introducing young members to the ancestors and to family seniors. Food and drink played roles in all the ceremonies and were used to indicate the importance of the occasion and the nature of the ritual act being performed. Food was offered both to people and to spirits. Wine was .used to pledge ini­ tiants, brides, and grooms. Gifts of food between families signaled agreement to marriage proposals. Sharing wine and food marked the union of husband and wife . Gifts of food between parents-in-law and the new bride demon­ strated her inclusion in the household. Offerings of food and drink were the central acts of ancestral rites. The kinds and quantities offered indicated not merely the importance of the occasion but also the distance between the an­ cestors and their descendants . None of the ceremonies described in Chu Hsi' s Family Rituals departed very far from ordinary life. They involved no weird symbolisms or improbable juxtapositions, no dancing, trances, or violence. No one did anything that could not be done in nonritual contexts. The power of these rituals to convey basic principles of cosmic order that legitimated those in authority probably derived not so much from the power of individual ceremonies as from the power of the entire scheme of the rites, the ways even a simple "looking in" or "visit" to the ancestral altar reminded one of the more elaborate ceremomeso •

Influence of the Family Rituals after Its Publication

As a guide to practice, Chu Hsi' s Family Rituals was well received from the start. Demand for this sort of liturgy, much simpler than the classics or gov­ ernment manuals and attributed to a revered scholar, was apparently strong enough for it to be printed many times, in a variety of places. (See appendix A . ) Ch'en Ch'un ( 1 1 53-1 2 1 7) wrote two colophons for an edition published between 1 2 1 6 and 1 223 in Yen-ling (Chekiang). The first asserted, "This book selectively brings the ancient into the present. Arranged with sections and titles , it is simple and clear. Because it is of the greatest significance for moral education, everyone ought to learn it, and every family ought to teach XXVI •

I NTR O D U CT I O N

and practice it. " 20 In the second colophon Ch' en discussed the limits of a literal approach even to this text. For instance, for burial Chu Hsi used lime, which was not available in some localities . In such cases , people should de­ cide what to do by thinking about the main meaning of the whole text. If they did so the book would be of use in refOIming the ritual and custom of the age. 2 1 None of the thirteenth-century printings of the Family Rituals survives, though later editions were based on them. The earliest surviving complete text of the Family Rituals, the one used for this translation, was in a compendium of Chu Hsi' s books , the Chu Tzu ch' eng-shu [Master Chu' s completed books] first published in 1 305 and reissued in 1 34 1 . 22 It is reproduced here as Appendix B. Within a couple of decades of the first printing of the Family Rituals, com­ mentators took to supplementing it. From the evidence of the commentaries by Chu Hsi' s disciple Yang Fu and two later followers, Liu Kai-sun and Liu Chang, the major problem for Sung and Yiian scholars was adjusting to Chu Hsi' s relatively simple and straightforward description of family rituals. Over and over again they cited the classical precedent for a step or quoted from Chu Hsi' s conversations or writings to reveal his justification for a departure. The Family Rituals received political support in the Yiian ( 1 2 1 5- 1 368) and early Ming ( 1 368-1644), and was included in full in a widely circulated com­ pendium of Neo-Confucian writings, the Hsing-li ta-ch'uan [Great compen­ dium on nature and principle] , issued in 1 4 1 5 . In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, many people attempted to use it as a guide to their own family prac­ tices. To overcome the problems such people encountered, scholars began writing rearranged, simplified, elaborated, or otherwise altered versions of Chu Hsi' s Family Rituals, presenting their books not as new liturgies, but as edited versions of Chu Hsi ' s text. The most important of the revised editions of the fifteenth century were those by Feng Shan, T'ang To, and Ch'iu Chiin, published in 1434, 1450, and 1474. All of these books were easier to consult than Chu Hsi's original , making ample use of subheadings, diagrams, and illustrations . Chu Hsi' s language in the large type was usually retained, but the small type was freely paraphrased, abridged, or even omitted, and numer­ ous passages from other people' s writings were added. Authors of revised versions generally paid close attention to Ming government ritual regulations, citing them at length. In the late Ming, many brief versions of the Family Rituals appeared, most of them especially accommodating to popular custom. The production of these books was probably stimulated by the growth in the segment of the population 20 21

Pei-hsi ta-ch'uan-chi 1 4:6a-b.

Ibid. 1 4:5Ir-6a. 22 Surviving copies o f the 1305 edition are mis sing parts o f the Family Rituals. The 1 3 41 edition, preserved in the rare-book collection o f the National Palace Mu seum, Taipei, i s the earliest surviving complete text I have found. X XV I I •

•

I NT R O D U C T I O N

with enough education to read books of a general nature but who had not received the sort of classical education needed as preparation for the exami­ nations. At the same time, such guides were useful to local officials and local teachers who wished to promote classical rituals . Such men often argued that it was more important to eliminate vile practices, such as leaving bodies un­ buried for years, than ones that were merely uncanonical, like burning moCk money as offerings to the dead. Of the authors frequently cited in the notes to the translation, Sung Hslin (d. 1 559), Lli K'un ( 1 536- 1 6 1 8) , and Lli Wei-ch'i ( 1 587-164 1 ) are representative of this trend. All revised versions altered in some way how the rites were performed. Ch'iu Chlin added masters of ceremony to call out the steps of the rites, and a large part of his book consists of a detailed script for the masters of ceremonies to use. Most of the lengthy revised versions written after his time reproduce these scripts or versions of them . Many revised versions altered Chu Hsi' s arrangement of ancestral tablets, with the most senior generation on the west. Authors would either recommend the plan of the Cheng communal family, which added a tablet for the first ancestor in the center, then had ancestors on the west, the most senior toward the middle, and the ancestresses on the east, in similar order, or the plan given by Ch'iu Chlin and adopted in the Ta-Ming hui-tien [Comprehensive institutions of the great Ming dynasty] , in which the two more senior generations were in the center, flanked by the two more junior generations. Divining for the dates for seasonal sacrifices also proved unpop­ ular. Several authors suggested holding these sacrifices on the solstices and equinoxes. T'ang To went so far as to suggest that the sacrifices could be held on popular festivals so long as there was one in each season. Ch'iu Chlin, and most of those after him, curtailed the overlay of the descent-line system, al­ lowing fathers who were not descent-line heirs to preside at their children's cappings , pinnings, and weddings. He also added a full description of proce­ dures for reburials and for domestic rites to the stove god, drawing on the Ming chi-Ii [Collected rituals of the Ming dynasty] . Other common accommodations were introducing the bride to the ancestors on the second day of the wedding and allowing the bride and groom to travel together to visit her parents after the wedding. The wide circulation of revised versions of the Family Rituals shows that people wanted ritual manuals that were simultaneously orthodox, universal , and comfortable. Books that purported to be updated versions of Chu Hsi' s Family Rituals dominated the market, undoubtedly because this text was the approved one. Even though family rituals were performed at home, in dis­ tinctly local contexts, people did not want local handbooks, explicitly pre­ sented as guides to the performance of rituals as done in Fukien or Shantung; rather, they wanted ones that presented rituals correct for everyone . Yet re­ vised versions were preferred to the original text, probably because these books went further in labeling as orthodox what people commonly did. x x Vll1 "

.

INTRODUCTION

It should not be forgotten, however, that many features of Chu Hsi's Family Rituals were not changed by authors of revised versions. None of them al­ lowed Buddhist ceremonies to be incorporated into the funeral sequence . The structure of sacrifices was not altered; that is, none of them omitted purifica­ tion, invoking the spirits , pouring libations of wine to them, triple offerings, use of written prayers, or providing a varied meal induding meat, grain, and vegetables. Nor did the revised versions alter the emphasis on differentiation among family members by gender, generation, and age in all ceremonies . In other words, no major alterations in the overall structure or symbolic content of these rites were made. The impact of the Family Rituals in its various versions on the culture of late imperial China lay above all in providing standardized liturgies that were considerably easier to follow than the I-Ii or government manualsY By the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Chinese in different parts of the country and of differing statuses perfOImed weddings, funerals, and ancestral rites in remarkably similar ways.24 Some of this unifOImity undoubtedly de­ rives from the circulation of liturgies based on common sources, especially Chu Hsi's Family Rituals and through it the I-Ii. 25 How people used Chu Hsi' s liturgy naturally depended on their own circum­ stances and needs . Many people felt free to pick and choose from it, using it for particular rites, or even for rites placed in new contexts . The Ming govern­ ment used it to provide a minimal definition of valid marriages. It also used it in fOImulating its own ritual guides, but without the overlay of the descent­ line system. Lineages often used its sacrificial liturgies , even when they held rites to much more distant ancestors than Chu Hsi had considered proper. The educated often used the Family Rituals as a means through which to assert literatus status, confOIIlling to more conspicuous elements in order that their ritual conduct would be distinct. Local officials sometimes gave instruction in its provisions, believing that they were thereby raising the general cultural level and moral standards of the populace of the area. Local literati frequently used it as a reference book to give advice to friends and neighbors who in­ quired about the proper procedure to follow. Through these various uses the circulation of the Family Rituals facilitated the standardization of Chinese rit­ ual behavior and thereby helped shape some key conceptions about cosmic and social order. 23

On the historical significance of the standardization of Chinese ritual behavior, see Watson and Rawski, eds. , Death Ritual in Late Imperial and Modern China. 24 See, for instance, Doolittle, Social Life of the Chinese, 1 :65-98, 1 68-235; de Groot, The Religious System of China; Gray , China; pp. 84-85, 1 8 9-2 12, 2 78-322. 2S Another source of uniformity was the family system itself, firmly rooted in property and criminal law and the political economy more generally. Family rituals helped reproduce this family system and make it seem natural, but they were not the only social or cultural element serving to reproduce the family system . XXIX •

-

INTRODUCTION

A Note on the Annotation and Illustration of the Translation

Notes have been added to the translation to serve two main purposes. The first is to clarify what the text meant in Chu Hsi' s time. Toward this end I have drawn attention to Chu Hsi 's comments elsewhere and his selective use of earlier writings on ritual, especially those by Ssu-ma Kuang, Ch'eng I, and Chang Tsai. I have also introduced evidence of Sung customs when they help explain what Chu Hsi was doing, whether rejecting current practice or accom­ modating it. A second major goal has been to show how the text was used and interpreted after it was written. Thus I have cited seven commentaries to the Family Rit­ uals to show which elements in the Family Rituals were felt to need explana­ tion. The earliest of these commentaries is by Yang Fu, a disciple of Chu Hsi. His commentary to the Family Rituals was published in one of its first editions, already a standard text by 1 245. The next three commentaries, by Liu Kai-sun (late Sung) , Liu Chang (Yuan or early Ming), and Huang Jui-chieh (early Yuan) are less interesting. 26 By contrast, the anonymous author of the Pu-chu commentary to the expanded edition of the Hsing-li ta-ch'uan, first printed in 1 534 or earlier (here cited as "Ming commentator") , often included obser­ vations concerning contemporary practices. Of similar value are the notes in­ serted by five collaborators to their 1 732 edition of the Family Rituals and the detailed scholarly commentary written by Li Wen-chao ( 1672- 1 735). In the notes I have also cited many revised versions of the Family Rituals, for these reveal where later writers thought ritual procedures ought to be al­ tered or simplified. The most frequently cited are the following: Feng Shan (early fifteenth century) , author of Chia-li chi-shuo , 1434. Wang Yuan (early fifteenth century), author of Chia-li i-Ian, destroyed before 1 450, but quoted in Chia-li hui-t'ung. T'ang To (fifteenth century) , author of Chia-li hui-t' ung, 1450. Ch'iu Chun ( 1420-1 495), author of Chia-li chi-chieh, 1474. Teng Yuan-hsi ( 1 529- 1 593), author of Chia-li ch'uan-pu . 26

A small part of Yang's commentary was copied into the Chu Tzu ch' eng-shu edition of the CL, and all of it was copied into the Hsing-li ta-ch'uan (HLTC). It also survived in the ten-chuan Sung, Yuan, and Ming editions of Family Rituals. Most citations to Chu Hsi's conversations in HLTC seem to be based on Yang Fu's commentary. Liu Kai-sun 's com­ mentary was included in Yuan and early Ming editions of the Family Rituals along with Yang's, and some rare-book catalogues list Sung editions with these two commentaries. A few passages from it were copied into the Chu Tzu ch' eng-shu in 1 305 and the full text into HLTC . Liu Chang's commentary is included with Yang's and Liu Kai-sun's in the ten­ chapter Ming edition o f the Family Rituals, and also in HLTC . Citations to the Yang, Liu, and Liu 'commentaries here are to HLTC . Huang 's occasional notes are in his Chu Tzu ch' eng-shu edition o f the CL. xxx

INTRO D U C T I O N

Sung Hsiin (d. 1 559), author of Ssu-li ch'u-kao ( 1 573) . Lii K'un ( 1 53 6- 1 6 1 8), author of Ssu-li i. Weng Cheng-ch'un ( 1 553- 1 627), author of Weng T' ai-shih pu-hsiian wen-kung chia-li. Lii Wei-ch'i ( 1 587- 1 64 1 ) , author of Ssu-Ii yiieh-yen. Sun Ch'i-feng ( 1 585-1 675), author of Chia-li cho, 1 67 l . Wu Hsien-shen, author of Chia-Ii chi-i, 1 793 . Ku Kuang-yii ( 1 800-- 1 867) , author of Ssu-/i ch'iieh-i. Li Yiian-ch'un (nineteenth century) , author of Ssu-Ii pien-su. My notes by no means cover every point made by commentators and revis­ ers. To have done so would have made the annotation many times longer than the translation. In particular, I have not followed their lead in tracing the clas­ sical origins of the elements in the Family Rituals. This can be done fairly easily by comparing the Family Rituals to the relevant chapters in the I-Ii and to Ssu-ma Kuang' s Shu-i, which in its notes regularly identifies canonical sources, especially ones that are not from the I-Ii (such as those from the Tso­ chuan, Li-chi, and Chou-Ii). The commentaries in the Hsing-Ii ta-ch' iian are also useful in this regard, as is the Ssu-/i ch'iieh-i by the Ch'ing author Ku Kuang-yii. The Tu-Ii t' ung-k' ao by Hsii Ch'ien-hsiieh is exceptionally detailed on classical origins but only covers funeral rituals. The Wu-Ii t' ung-k' ao by Ch'in Hui-t'ien covers the other rites, though not in as great detail. A more minor purpose served by the notes is to indicate when I have not followed the reading of the 1 34 1 Chu Tzu ch' eng-shu edition of the Family Rituals, the earliest surviving full text. To detect misprints and textual vari­ ants, each passage was checked in three other versions: the 1 4 1 5 Hsing-Ii ta­ ch' iian, a 1 732 edition whose editors compared several versions including at least one Sung one, and the 1 781 Ssu-k' u ch' iian-shu edition, said to be based on a reprint of a Sung edition. (See Appendix A for the various editions of the Family Rituals. ) Most of the variation among these editions is on the order of miscopied characters. There do not appear to be any surviving editions of Chu Hsi's Family Rituals that differ significantly in content or organization from the edition used here . Illustrations have been added to the translation to facilitate visualizing the objects and spatial arrangements described in the text. Most editions and re­ visions of the Family Rituals added from twenty to fifty illustrations . To give some sense of what these books looked like and the range in quality of their printing art, I have reproduced illustrations from several different ones. Dia­ grams, however, have been redrawn, generally after comparing several illus­ trations . To illustrate costumes , rather than use only the illustrations in the Family Rituals, designed to show how to construct them, I have also added illustrations from a Sung painting and a Ming pictorial encyclopedia showing costumes being worn. XXXI •

S 7 Vfl .L H I 7. 7/ W Vd S . I S H fl H ;)

•

2!

P R E FA C E

RITUAL "has fundamental elements and elaborations . ' " From the perspec­

tive of how ritual is carried out at home, the fundamental elements are to preserve status responsibilities and give concrete fOlm to love and respect; the elaborations are the proprieties and specifications for capping, weddings, fu­ nerals, and ancestral rites. The fundamental elements are the daily courtesies of householders , the things they must not fail to perform even a single day. The elaborations serve further to regulate the beginning and ending of human affairs . Even though the elaborations are only perfOlmed at particular times and places , unless one discusses them clearly and practices them until they become familiar, when the need arises one will not be able to do what is right and fitting. Thus one must also daily discuss and practice the elaborations . During the three ancient dynasties2 the classical texts of the rituals were fully adequate. But in the texts that survive today, the regulations on dwell­ ings, utensils, and clothes, and the instructions on matters like coming and going, rising and sitting are no longer suited to our age. Even when contem­ porary men of virtue (chun-tzu) accommodate the changes from antiquity to the present to formulate a temporary system for today, they still may not attain the proper balance, with some parts too detailed and some too sketchy. It can reach the point where they omit the fundamental elements and concentrate on the secondary ones, showing indifference to the substance but concern about the elaborations. Thus, committed scholars who are fond of ritual [because they are misled by them] may still fail to perform the essential parts . And those who suffer from poverty have the added worry that they will not have the means to fulfill the ritual . In my ignorance, I have suffered from both [lack of clear guidance and lack of funds] , so I once took on the task of reviewing the ancient and recent texts [on ritual] . I started by identifying the major structures that cannot be changed and made minor emendations, my purpose being to put together a manual for one school of thought. In general I paid careful attention to status responsibil­ ities and gave a high place to love and respect, considering them to be the fundamental elements. As for the situations in which these values are put into practice, I have been sketchy on the frivolous elaborations, concentrating on the fundamental substance. In writing this book, I presume to follow Confucius' s idea of carrying on what came from our predecessors . I sincerely hope to be able to discuss these matters fully with some like-minded gentlemen and make every effort to put I

2

Allusion to Li-chi, "Li-ch'i" 23:2a; Legge, 1 : 3 94-95 . That is, Hsia, Shang, and Chou, the period described in the classics. 3

PREFACE

them into practice. That way we might possibly again see the way the ancients "cultivated themselves and regulated their families" 3 and the heart that is "at­ tentive to deaths and remembers for a long time."4 Moreover, this book might make a small contribution to the state's effort to transform and lead the peo­ ple . 5 Allusion to Li-chi, "Ta-hsiieh" 60: l a-b; Legge , 2 : 41 1 . 4 Slight variant of a phrase in Lun-yu 1 : 9, 1 :6b; Waley , p. 85. 5 This preface is also found in we 75 : 1 8a-b , with a few textual variants.

3

4

C H A P TE R O N E )

General Principles of Ritual •••••

A B S T R A C T>

i . The Offering Hall When a man of virtue builds a house his first task is always to set up an offering hall to the east of the main room of his house. For this hall four altars to hold the spirit tablets of the ancestors are made; collateral relatives who died without de­ scendants may have associated offerings made to them there according to their generational seniority . Sacrificial fields should be established and sacrificial uten­ sils prepared . Once the hall is completed , early each morning the master enters the outer gate to pay a visit. All comings and goings are reported there . On New Year' s Day, the solstices, and each new and full moon , visits are made. On the customary festivals , seasonal foods are offered, and when an event occurs, reports are made . Should there be flood, fire, robbers , or bandits, the offering hall is the first thing to be saved. The spirit tablets, inherited manuscripts, and then the sacrificial uten­ sils should be moved; only afterward may the family ' s valuables be taken . As one generation succeeds another, the spirit tablets are reinscribed and moved to their new places.

2 . The Method of Fashioning the Long Garment Fine cloth is used for the material and the finger-based foot for the measurements. The bodice uses four pieces of cloth and extends from the chest down to where the skirt is attached. The skirt is constructed of twelve pieces of cloth. At the top it attaches to the bodice, and it extends to the ankles. The garment has round sleeves, a square-angled neckline, a curved overlap , and a black border. With it are worn a large belt, a black silk cap, a head wrap , and black shoes.

3. Miscellaneous instructions on Family Life ofMr. Ssu-ma [No abstract provided . ]

•••••

I The CTCS edition does not divide the CL into chapters . Here I follow the most common division used in editions that circulated as independent works. 2 The abstracts in this and subsequent chapters are based on the ' 'large type" of the text, which in many reference books appeared without the small type and which, even with inter­ spersed small type , could easily be read straight through. Some of the revised and simplified versions of the CL, such as CLHT, give the full text o f the "large type" be fore giving details.

5

C H A PT E R O N E

The content of this chapter is devoted to the regular forms of the daily cour­ tesies of families, the ones that cannot be neglected for even one day . •

1.

TH E OFFERING H ALL

This section originally was part of the chapter on sacrificial rites. 3 Now I have purposely placed it here, making it the first subject, because its contents form the heart of "repaying one's roots and returning to the beginning ,"4 the es­ sence of "honoring ancestors and respecting agnatic kin,"5 the true means of preserving status responsibilities in the family, and the foundation for estab­ lishing a heritage and transmitting it to later generations. My arrangement will let the reader sense that what is placed first is the most important. 6 This chapter provides the basis for understanding the fine points in the later chapters con­ cerning movements and postures, for walking here and there, getting up and down, going in and out, and facing various directions. The ancient system of ancestral shrines (miao) does not appear in the clas­ sics. 7 Moreover, there are elements of it not permitted to the lower ranks of today's gentlemen (shih) and commoners .s Therefore, I have specially named the room the "offering hall" and extensively adapted customary rituals in formulating its procedures.9 3

In the SMSSI 10: 120--2 1 . Actually most of this section appears to be original to Chu Hsi and bears much less resemblance to Ssu-ma Kuang's text than other sections of CL. 4 Allusion to Li-chi, "Chiao t'e-hsing" 25:20b, 26:7a; Legge , 1 :425-26, 43 1 . 5 Allusion to Li-chi, "Ta chuan" 34: lOb, 13a; Legge , 2:65 , 66-67 . 6 In this chapter the more routine activities in the offering hall are described. Chu Hsi retains a chapter on sacrificial rites, however, that is largely devoted to the four seasonal sacrifices based on classical prescriptions. Most of the activities described in the present chapter have only loose classical precedents. 7 Why Chu Hsi would say this is not clear. See the "Wang-chih" and "Chi-fa" sections of the Li-chi 12: 1 3b-21b; 46: 8a-b; Legge , 1 :223-26, 2:204-206. Generally speaking, in the classics the number of ancestral shrines (miao) was governed by rank; for instance, great officers (ta-fu) could have three shrines at which they could make offerings to their three ascendant ancestors. The "Wang-chih" passage says that gentlemen (shih) could have one shrine and commoners none; the "Chi-fa" passage divides gentlemen into three levels, the highest of which could have two shrines, for offerings to their fathers and grandfathers , the middle with one shrine for their fathers, and the "commoner gentlemen" with no shrines. 8 In the Sung only high-ranking officials were permitted to construct chia miao (SS 109:2632). On legislation restricting the construction of miao by political rank, see Wen­ hsien t'ung-k'ao 1 04:945-48; 105:951-54. 9 Chu Hsi was the first one to use the term "offering hall" (tz 'u-t' ang) for the place within a home where sacrifices to ancestors were offered . Ssu-ma Kuang had called it an "image hall" (ying-t'ang), a term Chu Hsi also used in referring to other people's halls (e . g . , WC 90: 1 3a). Ying-t' ang was also used by Ch'eng I, who, however, objected to the use of images (portraits) (ECC, i-shu 6:90; 22A:286). Chu Hsi probably adopted tz' u-t' ang, a term used earlier for temples dedicated to sages or worthies, to avoid the term image. Images, or portraits , however, never lost their popularity . T'ang To (CLHT 1 : l Oa) said they should be brought out at major sacrifices, and Hsti Ch' ien-hstieh argued that they were no more unca­ nonical than many other accepted practices (Tu-li t'ung-k' ao 56:36-46).

6

G E N E R A L P R I N C I P L E S O F R ITU A L •

When a man of virtue (chun-tzu) plans to build a house , his first task is always to set up an offering hall to the east of the main room of his house . \0

In setting up the offering hall use a room three chien wide. I I In front of the altars is the inner door and in front of it the two staircases, each with three steps . The one on the east is called the ceremonial stairs, the one on the west the western stairs . Depending on how much space is available, below the steps should be a covered area, large enough for all the family members to stand in rows . On the east there should be a closet for books, clothes, and sacrificial vessels inherited from the ancestors , and a spirit pantry. 1 2 Have the wall go around them and add an outer door, which should normally be kept bolted. If the family is poor and its space cramped, set up a one-chien-wide offering hall, without the closet and pantry. As substitutes, cases may be put at the

1•

·

•

•

• • •

I

r

I. I

•

'.:? •

1.

Two Views of an Offering Hall, from CLHT

10

-

1 :2b and CL (1602 ed.) 7:78a

In the seventeenth century Sun Ch'i-feng stressed that those whose resources were in­ adequate. could simply sweep a room and set out the ancestral tablets there . A separate building was not necessary (Chia-li cho, 7a). I I A chien was a unit used to measure the size of rooms, being the space between two pillars. 12 The commentator in the 1732 ed. said the spirit pantry held the dishes used for the spirits . 7

C H A PT E R O N E

base of the east and west walls. In the western one store the inherited books and clothes and in the eastern one the sacrificial vessels. The main room refers to the front hall. When space is limited [and there is no front hall] , it is also acceptable to make the offering hall to the east of the reception room. 1 3 As a general rule, the house with the offering hall should remain in the possession of the descent-line heirl4 generation after generation, and not be subject to partition. IS Here and throughout this book, in organizing the room, no matter which direction it actually faces, treat the front as south, the rear as north , the left as east, and the right as west. 16 •

Make four altars to hold the spirit tablets of the ancestors . n Inside the offering hall, near the north end, have a stand for the four altars . Inside each altar, put a table. 18 In the case of a great line, or a lesser line that is heir to a great-great-grandfather, 19 the great-great-grandfather is furthest to the west, with the great-grandfather next to him, the grandfather next, and the father last. 20 A lesser-line succeeding to a great-grandfather does not presume 1 3 In YL 90:2304, Chu Hsi described a small family shrine (chia miao) he wished to construct, with four altars, large enough for minor sacrifices, but not for the major ones, which would be held in the hall. 1 4 The descent-line heir (tsung-tzu) is the eldest son, generally in a line of eldest sons. 1 5 That is, division among brothers when the family property is divided. 16 That is, as though one was in the room with one's back to the altars looking out toward the steps and courtyard. 1 7 Ssu-ma Kuang (SMSSI 10: 1 1 6), Chang Tsai (CTC, p. 292), and Lii Tsu-ch'ien (Tung­ lai chi, pien 4: la) each had tablets for only three ancestors . Here Chu Hsi is following Ch'eng I (ECC, i-shu 1 5 : 1 67). 18 ARCLIC ( l :3b) rewrote this to mean that each altar is put on a table , which makes more sense than the original . Illustrations also make this assumption. 1 9 A great line (ta-tsung) is the line of eldest sons continuing indefinitely from a founding ancestor. A lesser line is the line of eldest sons going back no more than five generations. Great lines and lesser lines continually spin off new lesser lines, founded by younger sons. In the diagram given in the introduction, the lesser-line heir to a great-great-grandfather is headed by A . 20 In the classics, tablets were not arranged chronologically from the west; rather, the central position was for the " first ancestor," then all the others were put to his right and left in alternate generations (chao-mu order) . The Ming commentator (HLTCEV 19:5a) suggests that because commoners could not have an altar for a first ancestor, Chu Hsi thought a different arrangement would be preferable. In WC 58:26a Chu Hsi wrote that ' 'public and private" ancestral halls in his day all were arranged with west as the highest-ranking posi­ tion, so presumably he was conforming to what he saw as the established custom. Cf. WC 49:6a-b . See also YL 90:23 14, in which he said that west was the most senior place for guests and so tablets are graded from the wes�. Ch'iu Chiin (CLIC 1 :42b-43b) included a diagram of the rearrangement of the Cheng communal family (with the first ancestor in the middle) and one of his own that preserved chao-mu order (from west to east: father, great8

A

G E N E R A L P R I N C I P L E S O F R IT U A L

to sacrifice to a great-great-grandfather, and so leaves the westernmost of the altars empty . Likewise, a lesser-line heir to a grandfather does not presume to sacrifice to a great-grandfather, and so leaves the two western altars empty; and a lesser-line heir to a father does not presume to sacrifice to the grandfa­ ther, and so leaves the three western altars empty. If a great line has a gap in its generations , a western altar is also left empty, as in a lesser line. 21 The spirit tablets are all stored in a case and placed on the table, the front to the south. Hang a short curtain in front of each altar. In front of these altars , set up an incense table in the center of the room, with incense burners and incense boxes on it. 22 Set up another, similar incense table in the space be­ tween the staircases. Anyone who is not the eldest main-line son does not presume to sacrifice to his father.23 After a younger brother dies, his sons and grandsons, if they live with the eldest brother, will set up an offering hall for him in their private apartment, adding new altars each generation.24 When they leave and set up a separate residence, they will set up a full offering hall. If the younger son lives separately during his own lifetime, he can set up a study where he lives, on the model of an offering hall . After his death, his descendants can tum it into an offering hall. 25 On the fOlmat of spirit tablets, see the section on "preparing for the burial" in the chapter on funerals [4, 1 0] . 26 grandfather, great-great-grandfather, and grandfather) . On historical changes in the ordering of tablets, see Ku Kuang-yii, Ssu-/i ch'iieh-i 7: 3b-5b, and Tu-li t'ung-k' ao 1 20: l a-34b. 2 1 The gaps in generations probably refer to cases where information about an ancestor had been lost, much more likely in a great line than a short lesser line. 22 Burning incense was not a part of classical rites but seems to have entered Chinese ancestral rites through imitation of Buddhist worship ceremonies (cf. YL 90:23 1 5 ) . Burning incense was a standard element of all worship activities by Sung times. 23 "Main-line" sons are sons of the legal wife. Thus, sons of concubines, even if older than sons of the wife, do not take charge of the sacrifices to their father. Nor do younger sons of the wife. Ssu-ma Kuang (SMSSI 10: 1 1 3) defended allowing younger sons to per­ form sacrifices since through official service they often were scattered about the country. In a letter Chu Hsi wrote that in such cases they could perform a modified rite without tablets but with a paper list of ancestors (WC 62:24a-b). On the ritual restrictions on concubines and their children in the Sung, see Ebrey, "Concubines in Sung China," pp. 3-5 . 24 Chu Hsi offered another solution to large complex families in YL 90:23 1 6 . The most senior descent-line heir would sacrifice to his ancestors the first day in the offering hall, then the second day the heir of the younger uncle (or younger great uncle) would offer sacrifices in the hall, and so on, all using the hall, but on different days. 25 Many later authors played down these strict rules of the descent-line system. Sun Ch'i­ feng, for instance, in the seventeenth century , argued that the classical descent-line system was tied to the feudal system of antiquity and in their day compromises were needed, such as having the highest-ranking or wisest descendant take charge of the rites (Chia-/i cho, 3 1 b-32b). 26 This last sentence follows the reading in the SKCS edition of CL 1 :2b. The CTCS and HLTC eds. have "see the chapter on funerals and the diagram above. "

9

C H A PT E R O N E •

Collateral relatives who died without descendants may have associated offerings made to them there according to their generational seniority . 27

Associate a great uncle and his wife with the great-great-grandfather. As­ sociate an uncle and his wife with the great-grandfather. Associate one's wife, a brother, or a brother's wife with one' s grandfather. Associate one's son or nephew with one' s father. 28 All these tablets should face west. The tablet cases for them should be like the standard ones. If a nephew' s father later sets up an offering hall, his tablet should be moved there. Master Ch'eng [I] said that when children die so young that there is no mourning for them, no sacrifices are made either. When they die in early youth, sacrifices are performed only during the lifetime of their parents .29 When they die in middle youth, mourning continues through the lifetime of their brothers . When they die in late youth, mourning continues through the lifetime of their fraternal nephews . When adults die without heirs, sacrifices are made through the lifetime of their brothers' grandsons . 30 These rules were all created on the basis of moral principles. 3 1 •

Establish sacrificial fields.

On first erecting an offering hall, calculate the size of the current fields and for each altar set aside one part in twenty as sacrificial fields. When "kinship is exhausted"32 for any ancestor, convert the specified hmd into grave fields. 33 27

Ssu-ma Kuang said nothing of sacrifices to collateral relatives without heirs, but Chang Tsai (CTC, p. 292) and Ch'eng I (ECC, i-shu 1 8 :240) had both advocated it. See also Ch'en Ch'un in Chan, trans. , Neo-Confucian Terms Explained, pp. 150-52 . 28 The pattern here is to associate each person with the main-line ancestor two generations senior to him or her. Cf. YL 90:23 14. As implied here, there were separate tablets for wives [see chapter 4, 10] , which were placed next to the tablets of their husbands. In the classics only the first wife had a tablet at the main altar next to her husband , and Ch'eng I retained the principle that only one wife's tablet could be matched to the husband's though he allowed that this could be a second wife (taken after the first wife died) if she were the mother of the heir. Chu Hsi held similar views in the 1 1 70s (see WC 43:5b--6a) but later disagreed, pre­ ferring the T'ang practice of allowing the tablet of any full wife (i.e . , still excluding con­ cubines) (YL 90:23 1 9--20). 29 The CTCS edition miscopies "father," fu, as "person ," jen. 30 From ECC, i-shu 1 8:245. Ch'eng I defined those too young for mourning as seven sui and younger, early youth as eight, middle youth as fourteen, and late youth as nineteen. Other sources give eight to eleven as early, twelve to fifteen as middle , and sixteen to nine­ teen as late . 3 1 I.e . , they are not given in the classics. 32 That is, after four generations, when the ancestor is no closer than great-great-great­ grandfather to anyone still alive. 33 These fields are not grave sites, but crop fields whose income is dedicated to supporting the rituals performed at graves.

10

G E N E R AL P R I N C I PL E S O F R I T U A L

Later on, do the same for each regular or associated ancestor. The descent-line heir manages the property to supply the expenses of the sacrifices. If earlier generations did not set aside any fields, then gather the descen­ dants together at the grave site, calculate the size of their total land, and take a share. 34 The descendants should write an agreement and inform the authori­ ties. Neither mortgaging nor sale of the sacrificial fields is allowed. 35 •

Prepare sacrificial utens ils. Suitable numbers of benches , mats , armrests, tables, wash basins, braziers , and dishes for wine and food should be prepared and stored in the closet. They should be kept locked up and not used for other purposes. In the absence of a closet they may be kept in a case. Those that cannot be stored may be lined up along the inside of the outer gate . 36

•

Early each morning the presiding man enters the outer gate to look inY The presiding man here is the descent-line heir who is in charge of the sac­ rifices of this hall. When he looks in in the morning he wears the long garment, bums incense, and bows twice.38

•

All comings and goings must be reported. When the presiding man and presiding woman are about to go some place, before departing they enter the outer door of the offering hall and perform the "respectful look. " They do the same on returning. After they return from staying away overnight, they bum incense and bow twice. When they will go far or will stay away more than ten days, before leaving they bow twice, bum incense, and report, "So and so is about to go to such a place and presumes to report it," then repeat the double bow. They do the same on their return, except they say , " Today A returned from such a place and presumes to appear 34 Feng Shan (CLCS 8b) and T' ang To (CLHT 1 : l Oa) propose that sacrifices be financed another way when family members do not have land, even, as each says, the poor contrib­ uting what they collect in the hills or catch in the water. Wang Mao-hung , Po-t'ien ts' ao­ t' ang ts' un-kao 2:7b-8a, expressed great disbelief that anyone could get kinsmen to give shares of their property for ancestral rites . 35 Sacrificial fields modeled in part on this passage became a major feature of lineage organization from the Sung period on. On this development, see Ebrey, "Early Stages in the Development of Descent Group Organization," pp. 40 44 , and Shimizu, Chugoku zo­

kusan seido k6. 36 CLIC I :2a-b gives a much fuller list of the utensils to prepare. 37 That is, he does not climb the steps or enter the inner doors . Chu Hsi is said to have made daily visits of this sort (Chu Tzu nien-p'u 4B:230). 38 Lii K 'un (SLI 1 :9b) thought it excessive to bow every day , since the living only bowed to their parents at the new and full moons . The long garment is described below.

11

C H A PT E R O N E

here. " If they are gone for a month, they open the inner doors, bow twice at the bottom of the stairs, then ascend the ceremonial staircase and bum incense. When their report is completed, they bow twice, go down, resume their earlier places, and bow twice again. Other family members do the same but do not open the inner door. Here and elsewhere in this book the following conventions are followed. The presiding woman is the wife of the presiding man. 39 Only the presiding man uses the ceremonial steps to go up and down; the presiding woman and other people, even seniors, use the western steps .4O For bowing , men bow two times and women four times, in either case called a double bow. This is also the practice when men and women bow to each other. 4 1 •

On New Year's D ay , the solstice , and each new and full moon, make a visit. 42 A day before New Year, the solstice, and the new or full moons , wash, sweep, and practice purification for a night. 43 The next morning get up at dawn, open the door [of the offering hall] , roll up the curtains [in front of the altar] , and set a large dish of fresh fruit on the table in front of each altar. Put a tea cup, a tray, and a wine cup and saucer by each place. In front of the box of spirit tablets, set a bundle of reeds. Pile some sand in front of the incense table. Place another table above the ceremonial steps . On it place a wine de­ canter, a cup and saucer, and a wine bottle to its west. Two wash basins and towels go at the southeast base of the ceremonial steps. The basin with a rack on the west is to be used by the presiding man and his relatives . The one without a rack on the east is for the attendants . The towels are all in the north.44 The participants , in full attire , from the presiding man on down, all enter the gate and take up their places. The presiding man faces north at the base of the ceremonial staircase. The presiding woman faces north at the base of the 39 Except for the funeral rituals, when she is the widow of the deceased, if surviving .

40

There are exceptions in the wedding rites.

41 See also YL 9 1 :233 1-32. 42 The solstice in question was the winter solstice. The phrase ' 'new and full moon" could also have been translated " first and fifteenth of each month" since the Chinese used true lunar months. 43 According to the Li-chi, "Chi-t'ung" 49:4b--5a; Legge, 2:239 40, the purification aimed at purifying one's thoughts to be ready to perform the sacrifice. In chapter 5 , no. I , where a three-day purification before the seasonal sacrifices is required, all the men sleep in the outer quarters while the women stay in the inner quarters. Each group would bathe and change their clothes, observe some restrictions on eating and drinking, and avoid contact with those in mourning. 44 These attendants are family servants or possibly younger brothers or sons of the presid­ ing man. See how they are charged with the preparations for the seasonal sacrifices in chap­ ' ter 5 , no. ! .

12

G E N E R AL PR I N C I PL E S

greatgreatgrandfather tea wme •

greatgreatgrandmother tea wme •

'"

'"

great- greatgrand- grandfather mother

R IT U AL

grand- grandfather mother

'"

father mother '"

-

'"

-

..

..

..

,Q

-

"" '" -

.

..

u 0 '" '"

tea wme •

-

tea wine

"" '" -

..

u 0 '" '"

fruit

-

,Q

tea wine

,Q

-

-

tea wme

"" '"

tea wme

•

-

..

u 0 '" '"

•

.-

.-

..

'"

-

-

,Q

tea wine

'"

'"

-

-

-

fruit

OF

fruit

..

..

-

"" '"

...

fruit

..

sand and reeds

inner door

wme •

table with cups, saucers, decanter

wash stands Incense Table mother aunts and uncles' wives elder sisters and sisters-in-law presiding woman younger sisters and sisters-in-law daughters and sons' wives granddaughters and grandsons' wives female attendants

.

uncles elder brothers presiding man younger brothers sons grandsons male a ttendan ts ....

outer door 2.

::::::.

Layout of the Offering Hall for Visits

13

u 0 '" '"

-

Incense Table

.:::::

-

..

CHA PTER ONE

western steps. When the presiding man's mother is alive, she assumes a spe­ cial place in front of the presiding woman. If the presiding man has uncles or elder brothers,45 they stand to his right, slightly in front of him, in rows in order of rank with the most senior at the west end. When there are uncles' wives, aunts , wives of elder brothers , or elder sisters , they stand to the left and slightly in front of the presiding woman, in rows in order of rank with the most senior at the east end. The younger brothers are on the presiding man's right, slightly behind him. Sons, grandsons, and male attendants are in back of the presiding man in rows in order of rank with the most senior at the west­ ern end. The wives of the presiding man's younger brothers and his younger sisters are slightly behind the wife, to her left. The wives of sons and grand­ sons, daughters, and female attendants are to the rear of the presiding woman in rows with the most senior at the eastern end. 46 When everyone is in place, the presiding man washes his hands, dries them, goes up the stairs, and inserts his official plaqueY He opens the tablet case, takes the spirit tablets of his ancestors , and puts them in front of the case. The presiding woman washes, dries, goes up the stairs , and takes the spirit tablets of the ancestresses and sets them to the east of the men's tablets . Next they take out the associated tablets in the same way. An order is given to the eldest son and his wife or the eldest daughter48 to wash, dry, and come up. Starting with the lowest-ranking ones, they set out the associated tablets one by one, in the way described above. When this is completed, everyone from the pre­ siding woman down returns to his or her place on the lower level. The presiding man proceeds to the front of the incense table where he in­ vokes the spirits, inserts his plaque, bums incense, bows twice, and steps back a little . The attendants then wash, dry , and come up. After taking the top off the wine jar and filling the decanter, one attendant carries the decanter to the right of the presiding man and another takes the cup and saucer to the left of the presiding man. The presiding man kneels, followed by both attendants . The presiding man takes the decanter, pours the wine, and hands the decanter back. Then he takes the cup and saucer, the saucer in his left hand, the cup in 45 Elder brothers would presumably be sons of concubines. Or the term might be loosely used for cousins older in age but whose father was younger than the presiding man's father. 46 To visualize this more simply, all the women are on the west and men on the east. Except for the presiding man and woman, they are all in rows by generation, the most senior generation closest to the altars . Within each row, the men and women are arranged according to age (or husband's age), the oldest closest to the center of the room. Chang Tsai (CTC, p. 295) said having the men on the east and women on the west was based on "human feel­ ings ," so presumably it was the custom of the time. On changes in the meanings given left and right, see Ch' i-tung yeh-yu 10: 172-73 . 47 The SKCS ed. omits this and subsequent references here to the official plaque. 48 If the eldest son is not yet married. 14

GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF RITUAL

his right. After he pours the wine out in libation on top of the reeds, he then hands the cup and saucer to an attendant. After taking out his official plaque, he prostrates himself. On rising, he retreats slightly before bowing twice, then goes down the stairs and back to his place. At this point he greets the spirit by bowing twice with all those in line. Then the presiding man goes up the steps, inserts his official plaque, takes the decanter, and pours wine, first for the principal ancestor, then for the associated ones. Next he orders his eldest son to pour for all the lower-ranking associated ones. The presiding woman comes up and takes the tea whisk.49 An attendant follows her with the bottle of hot water. They pour the tea, following the steps given above. As in the prior case, she orders the senior daughter-in-law or the eldest daughter to continue. The sons, wives, and attendants leave first, re­ turning to their places below. The presiding man takes out his official plaque. He and the presiding woman stand in front of the incense table on the east and west respectively. 50 After bowing twice they go back down to their places. With all those in line they take their leave of the spirit with two bows. 51 With that they leave the hall. At the winter solstice, make a sacrifice to the first ancestor, carrying out the ritual as given above. 52 On the day of the full moon, everything is as in the previous ceremony except for these changes: wine is not set out, nor are the tablets taken out; the presiding man pours the tea, his eldest son assisting him; the son goes down first and the presiding man, standing to the south of the incense table, bows twice , then comes down . According to the Ritual, "when the father-in-law has died the mother-in­ law retires," 53 so the presiding man's mother does not take part in the sacri­ fice. It is also said, "A younger son does not make sacrifices ."54 Therefore , today sacrifices are managed by the appropriate descent-line heir and his wife, who act as presiding man and presiding woman. 55 When he has a mother, 49 For making whipped tea. so T'ang To (CLHT 1 : 12b) incorporated the popular practice of burning paper money here. 5 1 The commentator in the 1 732 edition of the CL noted that the text should add here that the tablets are put back in the case . 52 This ceremony is described in chapter 5 , no. 2, where "earliest" (ch'u) is used instead of "first" (hsien). In Sung usage, "first ancestor" generally meant the first ancestor to move to a particular area, which differs from the meaning given "earliest ancestor" in chapter 5 . 53 From Li-chi, "Nei-tse" 27: 1 1a (Legge,I :457) . 54 From Li-chi, "Ch'ii-li" 5 : 1 9b; 12: 1 1a (Legge, I : I I 6- 1 7 , 223). 55 That is, if possible they are performed by the descent-line heir of a great-great-grand­ father; if not possible, then by the descent-line heir of a great-grandfather, and so on. 15

CHAPTER ONE

uncle, uncle' s wife, elder brother, or elder brother's wife, then special places are reserved for them in the front, as described above . Here and elsewhere in this book, "in full attire" means that those in office wear a scarf-cap,56 official robes , a belt, boots, and hold official plaques . 57 Chin-shih degree-holders wear scarf-caps, scholar's robes,58 and belts. Un­ employed gentlemen wear scarf-caps, black robes, and belts . Those without official status all wear hats , robes, and belts. Those unable to manage all of this may wear the long garment or light robes. 59 Those with office may also

3 . Men in Official Robes with Plaques and Scarf-caps , from Liao-ning-sheng po-wu-kuan ts' ang-hua chi, p . 43

56 "Scarf-caps" were standard male headgear, derived originally from scarfs wrapped around the head and tied at the back. By S ung times they were fully fashioned hats with two vestigial ties extending from the left and right sides. See figure 3 . Chu Hsi disc ussed the history of scarf-caps in YL 9 1 : 2327-28. 57 These oblong plaques were a part of official insignia since ancient times . In the' S ung they were to be made of wood or ivory , depending on rank (SS 153 :3569). 58 This type of robe is described in SS 1 5 3 : 3579 as follows: " It is made of fine white cloth with a round collar and large sleeves. At the bottom it extends out to make a skirt. At the waist there are pleats. Chin-shih and students in the National Academy or local schools wear it . " Chin-shih were those qualified for office by passing the civil service examination given once every three years in the capital. 59 The method of making the long garment is described in the following section. "Light

16

GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF RITUAL

wear hats and so on, but this is not full attire . Wives wear headdresses, large dresses, and long skirts. Unmarried daughters wear hats and jackets. Concu­ bines wear headdresses and jackets . •

On the customary festivals, make offerings of seasonal foods .

The festivals are those locally observed, such as Clear and Bright, cold food, double five, Middle Origin, and double nine.60 The foods offered are the local specialties enjoyed at those festivals, like rice dumplings. They are presented on a large plate accompanied by vegetables and fruit, with the same sort of ceremony as at New Year, the solstice, and new moons. 61 •

When an event occurs , make

a report. 62

Follow the same ceremonial as at New Year, the solstice, and new moons, but stop after presenting tea and wine and bowing twice. After the presiding woman goes back down to her place, the presiding man stands to the south of the incense table. The liturgist63 takes the board and stands to the left of the presiding man, where he kneels to read it. When finished, he rises. The pre­ siding man bows twice, and goes back down to his place. The rest is the same. To report appointment to office, the prayer board reads: On the first day of this month of this year, year-cycle, your filial son A, of such office, presumes to announce clearly to his honor, his late such-type relative, of such office, title, and appellation and his late such­ type relative [wife of the fonner] of such title and family name, that on such day of such month he has had conferred on him such post. Due to the teachings of his ancestors , he now enjoys rank and salary. For the benefits he has received, he is overcome by gratitude and admiration. Earnestly, with wine and fruit, he extends this devout report. 64 robes" are described in 55 153:3578 as similar to the purple robe, originally a military dress. When the purple robe was prohibited to nonmilitary men in 1 156, shih-ta-fu took to wearing "light robes," which were white . Later, however, people objected that these looked too much like mourning garments, and wearing purple robes was again permitted. Chu Hsi referred to light robes as common shih clothing in YL 9 1 :2325. 60 On these festivals, see Gernet, Daily Life in China on the Eve afthe Mongol Invasion, pp. 1 91-97. Their dates were in the third, fifth, seventh, and ninth months, respectively. 6 1 Cf. Nan-hsuan chi 20:2b-3b, WC 30:29a-30a, and YL 90:23 1 4 on ancestral rites at customary festivals. 62 Making reports of these sorts in an offering hall does not seem to have been the com­ mon practice in Chu Hsi's time. He is quoted as saying that most people made reports at the ancestors' graves (HLTC 1 9 : 8a). 63 This would not be a professional priest, but a relative, such as a younger brother or son, who reads or chants prayers and reports to the ancestors. 64 This form gives the minimum that should be said, with the formal polite language to 17

CHAPTER ONE

1

, : -L---

4. Scholar's Robe, Official Robe, and Woman's Jacket, from San-ts' ai t' u-hui i-fu 2: I I b , 3 :3a, 4a

To report a dismissal or demotion, say one was "dismissed from such a post, that having discarded the ancestral teachings, one is in trepidation and uneasy. Earnestly, . . . . " If the person concerned is one's son or younger brother, then say, "A's such-type relative . . . . " To report a posthumous title, make the report only to the altar of the spirit receiving the honor. 65 Set an incense table in front of the altar and another be used. The reports themselves could be longer and more informative, as can be seen from the ones Chu .Hsi saved in his WC 86: 15b- 1 7a . 6S Officials could petition for posthumous titles for their deceased parents and grandparents, the rank of the title depending on their own official rank. See SS 170:4083-84. 18

GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF RITUAL

table to the east. Set out clean water, powder, a cup, brush, inkstone, ink, and pen on it. The rest is the same , except the prayer board reads: On such day of such month we received an edict conferring on our late such-type relative such office and on our late such-type relative [his wife] such a title. A, due to the instruction he received from his ancestors , holds a position at court beyond what he deserves . Through the grace of the sovereign, this honor has been conferred. A' s salary came too late to support his parent, which leaves him unable to choke back his tears. Ear­ nestly, . . . . If the title was conferred because of a particular achievement, write a sep­ arate explanation of it. When the report is complete, bow twice. The presiding man advances to take the spirit tablet and put it on the table. The attendant scrubs off the old characters and smears over the tablet with the powder. After letting it dry, someone good at calligraphy is told to rein scribe the tablet with the newly conferred office and title . The recessed center is not changed. 66 Use the wash water to wash the walls of the offering hall. The presiding man takes the tablet and puts it where it was, then returns to his place. The rest of the ceremony is the same as the others. When the first main-line son of the presiding man is born, he is presented when he is a full month 01d. 67 The ceremony is like the one above , but no liturgist is used. The presiding man stands in front of the incense table and reports: A's wife, of B surname, on such day of such month, bore a son named C. We presume to present him. When the report is over, he stands to the southeast of the incense table and faces south. The presiding woman with the child in her arms comes forward to stand in the space between the steps and bow twice. The presiding man comes down to resume his place. The rest of the ceremony is the same . For the reports at cappings and weddings, see their respective chapters [2 and 3] . Here and elsewhere in this book, for the prayer board, use a board a foot long and five inches wide. Write the words on a piece of paper and paste it on the board. After it has been used, tear off [the paper] and bum it. The opening and closing of the prayers are all like the first example above, except that to address a late great-great-grandfather or grandmother, one refers to oneself as a filial great-great-grandson; to address a late great-grandfather or great-grand66

On the two types of inscriptions on spirit tablets, see chapter 4, no. 20.

67 In this text, only the birth of the eldest son is reported. This son will one day be a descent-line heir, and so his birth is of particular interest to the ancestors since he will serve them. However, some ceremonial observance of the first-month birthday for all children was a common custom of the period (see TCMHL 5:32). T'ang To (CLHT 1 : 15a) allowed this ceremony for the birth of any son.

19

..

-

CHAPTER ONE

mother, one refers to oneself as a filial great-grandson; to address a late grand­ father or grandmother, one calls oneself a filial grandson; and to address a late father or mother, one calls oneself a filial son. One uses any offices, titles, and appellations the ancestor had. If he had none, one uses the number of his generational seniority while alive before the telm "his honor. " 68 For an an­ cestress , one uses "madame of such family name. " Generally, in referring to oneself, say "filial" only if one is the descent-line heir. For the prayers at reports of events , there should be a single board for all four generations. The telms of reference should be based on the earliest an­ cestor. 69 Reports are addressed only to principal ancestors , not to associated ones . Set out both tea and wine. •

Should there b e flood, fire, robbers, or bandits , the first thing to save i s the offering hall . Move the spirit tablets and inherited manuscripts , then the sacrificial utensils . 70 Only afterward take the family' s valuables . A s one generation succeeds another, reinscribe the spirit tablets and move them to their new places . For the ceremonies for reinscribing and moving the tablets, see the section on the second sacrifice of good fortune in the chapter on funerals [4, 20] . In the family of a great descent line, when the kinship of the first ancestor is exhausted, his tablet is stored at his grave, and the great descent line manages his grave field in order to offer the grave sacrifice, once each year leading the agnates to make a sacrifice there.7 1 This does not change though a hundred generations go by. When ancestors from the second generation on down have their kinship exhausted, or in ordinary lesser descent line families when the great-great-grandfather has his kinship exhausted, then the tablet is removed and buried. The ancestor' s grave fields are managed in rotation by the various units , who once each year lead the descendants to make a sacrifice. 72 This also does not change though a hundred generations go by. 73 68 That is, if he was the twenty-third boy in the generation according to age, he would have been called "23" while alive and after death can be called "His honor 23." 69 I . e . , whether one calls oneself a son, grandson, etc. 70

Some authors argue that these must have included genealogies, as Chu Hsi's plan for

descent-line organization implies genealogical knowledge. See

Chia-li cha, 7b-8a.

71 Yang Fu says that since this tablet is " stored," not "buried," great descent lines must

have a second offering hall at the first ancestor' s grave (HLTC 19:9a). Whether or not Yang Fu is reading Chu Hsi correctly, this belief conformed well to the practices of descent groups of the thirteenth century .

72 " Units" (wei) here is a vague term, which may refer to households or to collateral lines. The latter, however, is usually referred to asfang , branches of a descent group . Man­ aging sacrificial fields by rotation was indeed a common custom. Note that earlier, under " Establish sacrificial fields ," the descent-line heir was said to manage the sacrificial fields, and rotation was not mentioned .

73 Grave rites are described in chapter 5 , no. 6. 20

GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF RITUAL

•

2 . TH E

M E T H O D O F F A S H I O N I N G T H E L O N G G A R M E N T . 74

This section was originally at the end of the chapter on the capping ritual. 75 Since the previous section has already referred to long garments, and because they are everyday clothes, I have placed the section here . •

Use fine cloth for the material and the finger-based foot for the measurements.

That is, the middle-section of the middle-finger equals an inch. 76 •

The bodice uses four pieces of cloth . In length it extends from the chest down to where the skirt is attached .

Use two pieces of cloth and fold them in the middle with the free ends hanging loose in front and back so that altogether there are four pieces, like the set-collar robes of today. But do not cut holes for the arms. Where the bodice will attach to the skirt is about seven feet two inches in circumference. Each piece of the bodice will have three pieces of the skirt attached to it. •

The skirt is fashioned of twelve pieces of cloth. At the top it attaches to the bodice, and it is long enough to reach the ankles .

Use six pieces of cloth, each of which should be cut to make two pieces, one end wide and the other narrow. The narrow end should be about half as wide as the wide end. Put the narrow ends toward the top, connect their seams, and sew them to the bodice. Where the two parts are joined should be about 74

In the

Li-chi there is a brief chapter on the "long garment" (Li-chi, "Shen-i" 58:5b-

9b; Legge, 2:395-96), which describes it in general terms, stressing the symbolism of com­ bining circles , squares , straight lines, and symmetry. The construction of this garment is also described briefly in another chapter

(Li-chi, "Yii-ts'ao" 29: 1 9a-b; Legge 2 : 1 0) . In

ancient times this garment was considered casual wear and could be worn by men of any rank. By Sung times, several details of the ancient method of making this garment were poorly understood. Ssu-ma Kuang described a way to make one and is said to have made

(Shao-shih wen-chien lu 1 9 : 2 10). Chu Hsi is also said to have worn it at home (Mien-chai chi 36:4 1 b) . Ch'iu Chiin (CLIC 1 :28a-29a) said that Chu Hsi

one he wore in retirement

and other Sung literati did not wear the long garment while in office, but only in retirement at home, which would also be appropriate in his time . According to SS 1 5 3 :3578 ,

shih-ta­

fu wore the long garment for "capping, marriage, sacrifices, parties, and visiting. " Chu Hsi did not follow Ssu-ma Kuang's method closely; instead, according to Ch'iu Chiin (CLIC 1 :24a) , he adapted the method used in a treatise by Wang P'u written in the Shao-hsing period ( 1 1 3 1-1 162). Chu Hsi also described how to fashion the long garment in WC 68:8a­ lOb in language very close to that used here. He discussed the problems in understanding the ancient texts on the long garment in WC 37:44a-b. Chu Hsi's distaste for the non­ Chinese origins of the "light robe" standard among the Sung elite is found in YL 9 1 :232428.

7� In SMSSI 2:25-28. 76 This would yield a " foot" tailored to each person's dimensions. Several commentators

argue, however, that it is easier simply to measure the person's height. •

21

CHAPTER ONE

seven feet two inches in circumference. Three pieces of the skirt connect to one piece of the bodice. The circumference at the lower edge by the ankles is about fourteen feet four inches. •

The g arment has round sleeves.

To make them, use two pieces of cloth, each folded in the middle, as long as the ones for the bodice. Attach them to the left and right edges of the bodice and sew the bottom edges together to make sleeves . Where they are attached

Long Garment, Large Belt, Black Shoes, and Head-Wrap, from 5.

Tsuan-t' u chi-chu wen-kung chia-li, 3a, 4a-b 22

GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF RITUAL

they are as wide as the bodice is long, but the width is progressively reduced, curving up so that the opening of the sleeve is one foot two inches. •

It has a square-angled neckline . This is made where the two lapels cross each other, going under the aIms. Thus the neckline edges from either side make a square angle where they meet.

•

There is a curved overlap . 77 To make it use pieces of cloth as long as the skirt. Put them together and cut them as in the method for the skirt. Put the wide end at the top and the edge of the cloth at the outside. The left crosses over the right and hangs down like a swallow's tail in shape. Also trim the lower third of the inner edge to make it gradually like a fish's stomach and its end like a bird's beak. On the inside sew it to the right side of the skirt.

•

Make a black border. For the border use black silk. At the collar the inside and outside should each be two inches wide. At the opening of the sleeves and the hem the inside and outside should each be one-and-a-half inches wide. For the sleeve turn the edge of the cloth to the outside, as wide as the border.

•

Make a large belt. For the belt use white silk, four inches wide. Sew it doubled. It should be long enough to go around the waist, be tied in the front winding twice, and making two loops , the remaining portions fonning sashes hanging to the bot­ tom of the robe. Where the sashes are tied, they are decorated with black silk and colored ribbons about three-tenths of an inch wide and about as long as the sashes.

•

Make a black silk cap . 78 Paste paper to make it. The rolled brim is an inch or more high, three inches wide, and four inches long. At the top make five "bridges" as wide as the 77 This section puzzled most commentators (e. g . , Yang Fu, HLTC 19: l Oa-b) . The "curved overlap" seems to take the place of a fastening device described in the Li-chi. My best guess is that the front and back of the skirt

are

not sewn together, and this "overlap" is

sewn to one edge so that undergarments are not visible while walking. According to Ts'ai Yiian ( 1 148- 1 236), Chu Hsi later made a new interpretation of the overlap that did not get incorporated into the Family Rituals (HLTC 19: 1 Oa). Yang Fu (HLTC 19: l Oa) said that the long garment Chu Hsi wore in his late years did not have the curved overlap . Feng Shan (CLCS 14b) gives none of the description of the curved overlap, quoting Ts'ai Yiian on Chu Hsi ' s later rejection of it. Ch'iu Chiin (CLIC 1 : 25a) simply omitted the entire description of the curved overlap . Illustrated editions of the CL do, however, provide diagrams of its di­ mensions, though some mark it "not to be used. "

78 This cap is mentioned in Lj·chi, "Yii-ts 'ao" 29:17a; Legge,2:9, as one that could be 23

C H A PTER ONE

brim' s length and eight inches long, passing them over the peak in front and back down to the brim. Fold their two ends each a half inch under toward the inside and coat them with black lacquer above a half inch on both sides of the brim. Make a hole for the hatpin, which should be a white object, perhaps ivory or bone. •

Make a head wrap . Use black silk six feet or a little longer. Fold it in the middle. At the place of the fold take the right edge to make a band at right angles to the fold. On the left side reverse fold from the left a space of four or five inches and sew on a slant toward the left in a curve and down. Then follow the left side to the two ends. Tum it inside out, and make the rest of the silk go on the inside. The band should be in the front of the forehead; from inside it extends to each temple, where ties two inches wide and two feet long are attached. From the outside of the cloth these ties pass behind the head, where they are fastened, the ends dangling.

•

Make black shoes. The shoes have white hooks and laces, rim, and straps.

•

3.

M I S C E L L A N E O U S E T I Q U E T T E F O R F A M I LY L I F E BY

MR .

S S U - M A 79

This section was originally at the end of the chapter on weddings . 80 It concerns ordinary matters of living at home and deals with the basis for rectifying per­ sonal relationships and principles and deepening kindness and love. Indeed, their foundation is entirely here. Only someone who has mastered what is described here will have attractive ceremonial behavior. Otherwise, even if the details are fully provided for, the basic essence will be missed, something no man of virtue can respect. Therefore, I have also put this essay in the first chapter so that readers will recognize priorities. worn by everyone from feudal lords on down at the capping ceremony. Ch'iu Chiin notes that even though this was not an everyday hat in ancient times, Ssu-ma Kuang and Chu Hsi wore it with the long garment (CLIC 1 :32a-b) . 79

This is directly from SMSSI, though it is not identical to the corresponding part of

SMSSI as it now survives. Because the main text is much longer than the annotation, only longer parts are put in smaller type. Shorter ones are in parentheses. The content of this essay is discussed in Ebrey,

Family and Property in Sung China, pp. 3 1-5 1 , as an example

of classicists' views on family relations and family management. In general , Ssucma Kuang based himself on the "Domestic Regulations"

(Nei-tse) chapter of the Li-chi, modernizing

where he felt appropriate. See also Yamane Mitsuyoshi, " Shiba Ko no 'Kyoka zogi' ni tsuite , " which traces the classical origins of many of the items . 80

In SMSSI 4:4 1-46. 24

GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF RITUAL •

Heads of families should make every effort to adhere to correct manners so that they can discipline their children and other members of the family . To each of them the head assigns specific duties and responsibilities (such as managing the storerooms , stables , kitchen, house properties , fields, or gardens) and sees to it that the tasks are carried out successfully (including both routine and exceptional tasks) . He should establish a budget for the household based on its income and resources in order to provide food and clothing for everyone in the family and the expenses of marriages and funerals . Outlays should be graded according to the recipient ' s rank, in an equitable way . Unnecessary expenses should be cut, extravagances prohibited , and some savings put aside for emergencies . Younger members of the family should always obtain permission fro m the family head for anything they do, large or small , and at no time act on their own. The Changes says , "Family members have a stern ruler."81 This is a refer­ ence to the parents. When there is a stern ruler above them, how could those below dare to act willfully and inconsiderately? Even when there is not a par­ ent, pellnission should be obtained from whomever is at that time the family head. When that is done, orders will come from only one person, which is the prerequisite for family administration.

•

Sons and daughters-in-law must never keep private property . All income , whether from salary or landed property , should be handed over to their parents . When they have expenses , they ask the parents for money. At no time should they lend or give money to anyone without the knowledge of their parents . The "Domestic Regulations" says,

"A daughter-in-law should have noth­

ing of her own, neither personal savings, nor private belongings. She dare not make gifts or loans on her own. If she has received gifts from others of food, clothing, fabrics, ornaments, or accessories, she should offer them to her fa­ ther-in-Iaw and mother-in-law. If the parents-in-law accept the gifts, she should rejoice as if she herself had been given them again; if the parents-in­ law return the gifts to her, she should decline to accept. If, however, the par­ ents-in-Iaw insist that she take them, then she should keep the gifts and put them away , waiting for need. " Cheng Kang-ch'eng [Hsiian, 1 27-200] com­ mented, "This means waiting for some need on the part of the parents-in-law. Not getting their order means not getting their pellnission ."82 The "Domestic 81

82

From Chou-i, "Chiajen" 4: 16a; Wilhelm, p . 144.

Li-chi, " Nei-tse" 27: l l b and commentary; Legge , 1 :458. 25

C H APTER ONE

Regulations" continues, "If the daughter-in-law intends to give gifts to her own brothers , she should ask her parents-in-law for permission to give the things she herself once received as gifts. ' '83 A person' s body belongs to his parents; since a person does not even dare claim possession of his own body, how can he possess wealth? If father and son were each to own his own property and they borrowed from each other in times of need, then there would be cases where the son was rich while his parents were poor; or where the parents starved for food while their son ate his full what Chia I [20 1 -1 69 B.C.] called "feeling virtuous because you lend your father a hoe, or reprimanding your mother because she takes the dust pan and broom. "84 What could be more unfilial or immoral than this?85 •

Sons who serve their parents (or grandsons who serve their grand­ parents) and sons' wives who serve their parents-in-law (or grandson s

'

wives who serve their grandparents-in-Iaw) should all get up before the sky brightens . 86 They wash their hands, rinse their mouths , comb their hair, and arrange their hats and belts (men wear hats , robes, and belts; women wear hats and jackets) . Once it is daylight (that is, at the moment the sky brightens), they go to the parents ' room and make mqumes. •

•

•

The men say, "At your service," and wives say, "Bless you." Then they ask the parents' attendants whether their night had been peaceful. When the attendants say it was peaceful, they leave. If it was not peaceful, the attendants explain what happened. This is the "morning inquiry" of the RitualY •

When the parents get up, the son gives them their medicines.

Medicines are crucial to protecting the body. A son should do the exami­ nation and diagnosis himself, as well as prepare and serve the medicines. He must not simply delegate these tasks to a servant. If the servant forgot to give the medicine or made a mistake, there could be a disaster of untold dimenstOns. •

•

The daughter-in-law provides the morning nourishment.

In the vernacular this is called "snacks ." The Classic of Changes says, "Inside she prepares the food."88 The Classic of Poetry says, "All she dis83 Ibid . 84 Han shu 48:2244. 85 Here Ssu-ma Kuang gave the pronunciation of two unusual characters . Here and else­ where annotations of pronunciation are omitted in the translation.

86 The passage beginning with this paragraph and continuing through the next four para­ graphs is not found in SMSSI.

87 See Li-chi, "Ch'u-li" l : l 8a; Legge, 1 :67. 88 Chou-i, "Chia-jen" 4: 17a; Wilhelm, p. 145 . 26

GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF RITUAL

cusses is wine and food. ' '89 In general, preparing drinks and meals are the duties of wives. In recent years women have become haughty and unwilling to enter the kitchen. Now, even if they do not personally hold the knife and spoon, they ought to supervise and watch, making sure the food is excellent and clean. •

When the medicine and food have been offered, the sons and daugh­ ters-in-Iaw leave , to take up their respective duties . Before a meal the daughter-in-law asks the family head what he would like . (This means the parents/parents-in-Iaw, or whoever is then family head. No junior can willfully get whatever he wants . ) She then leaves to prepare and present it. Once the seniors pick up their chopsticks , the sons and daughters-in-law leave . When it is their turn to eat, the sons and daughters-in-law set their places elsewhere , sitting in order of age. Their food and drink should all be the same . The children eat in yet another place , sitting on the ground in order of age , boys on the left and girls on the right. The evening meal follows the same pattern. When the parents are ready for bed, the sons and daughters-in-law comfort them and leave . (The men say, " At your service , " the women, "Sleep well . " This is the "evening wishes" of the Ritual.90) Whenever one has nothing to do, he or she should go to wherever the parents are to attend them. Expression and appearance must be respectfu l , handling of affairs must be careful , and statements and answers must be given in a low, pleasant voice . When the parents come or go, rise or sit, one must offer an ann to assist them. One never snivels, spits , or shouts in the presence of parents. One never sits or leaves unless they order it. When a son receives a command from his parents , he must write it down and put it in his belt, so that he can examine it from time to time and carry it out promptly. On completing the errand, he returns and reports . If some part of the errand could not be performed , then with a calm expression and a soft voice he fully explains why it is wrong or hannful . He waits for his parents ' penuission before making any changes. If they do not approve his suggested change , he goes ahead and performs their order somehow unless it would cause great hann. If, because he thinks his parents' command is wrong, he simply does what he considers right, then even though his actions were right, he is still a disobedient son. And how much worse if he was not right! 89 Shih-ching, poem 1 89, 1 18 : 1 1a; Waley, p. 284. 90 See Li-chi, "Ch'ii-li" 1 : 18a; Legge, 1 :67. 27

C H APTER ONE

Whenever parents make a mistake, the son must offer advice in a calm, pleasant, soft voice. Should the parents not take the advice, the son must be more respectful and filial toward them. If his parents are pleased with him, he may try again to advise them. If they are not pleased with him, to avoid offending the community, he should con­ tinue his attempts at persuasion. Should his parents get so angry that they whip him until he bleeds, he must not bear a grudge but be more respectful and filial . Younger members of the family may not act superior to senior relatives . (Acting superior means presuming on their rank or wealth to ignore the etiquette appropriate to a junior. ) Sons must tell their parents when they go out and personally report their return . When they receive their own guests , they do not seat them in the main room. (If they have guests , the guests sit in the study . If they do not have a study they can use the side of the hall . ) They do not tread the eastern steps to the main room to go up and down . They do not mount or dismount their horses in front of the main room . In nothing should they presume to place themselves on a par with their fathers . When their parents are indisposed, sons and daughters-in-law do not leave their side without good reason. They personally prepare, taste , and serve the medicine to them. When a parent is ill, the son should look upset; he should neither amuse himself nor go to parties . Disregarding all other affairs , he devotes himself solely to getting the best doctor, filling the prescription, and preparing the medicine. Only after his parent has recovered may he resume his normal way of life .

The Family Instructions of Mr. Yen says that when a parent is ill, the son invites a doctor to get medicine.9 1 For the parents' survival depends on the doctor. How could he neglect this? •

In his service to his parents , a son should like what his parents like and respect whomever his parents respect. This holds even for dogs and horses , so of course even more for people . In his service to his parents, a son should please them and never act against their will . He should entertain them, provide them with proper lodging, and nourish them with food and drink. The same rule holds whenever younger members of the family serve older ones or lower­ ranking ones serve higher ones . 9 1 Paraphrase of Yen-shih chia-hsiin 3 : 124; Teng, pp. 43 44. 28

G E N E R A L P R I N C I PLES O F R I T U A L

Should their son or daughter-in-law not be respectful or filial, the parents should try not to take an immediate dislike. Instead they should teach him or her. If he or she remains intractable, they should try rebukes. If there is still no improvement, they should try flogging . If, after many floggings, he or she still cannot behave properly, then they should expel their son or have their daughter-in-law divorced. Nevertheless , they should not disclose the specific offense. Even if the son likes his wife very much, if his parents are dis­ pleased with her, he should divorce her. On the other hand, if the son dislikes his wife, yet his parents say she is good at serving them, then the son should fulfill his duty as husband for the rest of his life . In housing, there should be a strict demarcation between the inner and outer parts , with a door separating them. The two parts should share neither a well , a wash room, nor a privy . The men are in charge of all affairs on the outside; the women manage the inside affairs . During the day , without good reason the men do not stay in their pri­ vate rooms nor the women go beyond the inner door. Men who walk around at night must hold a candle. A woman who has to leave the inner quarters must cover her face (for example, with a veil). Menser­ vants do not enter the inner quarters unless to make house repairs or in cases of calamity (such as floods, fires , or robberies). If they must enter, the women should avoid them. If they cannot avoid being seen (as in floods, fires, and robberies), they must cover their faces with their sleeves . Maids should never cross the inner gate without good reason (young slave-girls also); if they must do so, they too should cover their faces . The doorman and old servants serve to pass mes­ sages and objects between the inner and outer quarters of the house , but they must not be allowed to enter rooms or kitchens at will. Juniors should all greet their seniors morning and evening . (Men say "At your service, " women say "Bless you" and " Sleep well . " ) When a senior passes by, juniors who are seated should rise immedi­ ately. When they meet a senior on the road, they should dismount from their horses. In greetings , if they have not seen a senior member of the family in more than two days, they should bow to him two times; in more than five days, four times; in offering congratulations on New Year' s day and at the winter solstice, six times; in greetings at the new and full moons, four times. However, if a senior specifi­ cally orders the junior to stop making bows, he should obey . 92 92 Chu Hsi discusses bowing from the point of view of references in the classics in YL 91 :2230-32. 29

•

C H A PT E R O N E

In our family there are so many relatives living together that we have a mass ceremony in the hall for the winter solstice, New Year, and the new and full moons. (Here I assume that the hall faces south; if it does not, make appropriate adjustments . ) The men ascend the main hall from the western steps and stand on the left; the women as­ cend from the eastern steps and stand on the right (left and right of the family head) . 93 Everyone faces north in line, in order of age (wives are ordered in accordance with their husband's age, not their own). Then all members of the family salute the head of the family together. Afterward, the eldest son goes to the left of the door, and the eldest daughter to the right of the door, both facing south, and all their brothers and sisters bow to them successively. Then each returns to where he or she was. All the husbands go up the western steps and wives go up the eastern steps , where they receive the bows of all the children. (This is because there are too many family members . If each couple were to be bowed to separately, it would become impossibly tiring . ) When this salutation is completed, the elders leave the room and the children step up to the east and west sides of the door and receive bows from their younger brothers and sisters, just as their parents had done . If a young family member has returned from afar and meets more than three of his seniors at the same time, he first bows twice to them; then , after making polite inquiries into their health and comfort, he bows three more times and stops . (For greetings such as "at your service , " "bless you" and "sleep well," it suffices to bow three times when more than three elders are present so that the etiquette does not become a nuisance . ) To receive bows from a son-in-law or sister' s son, one should stand and clasp his ann . To receive those of a daughter' s son, however, standing up is sufficient. Whenever there is a seasonal celebration, a special family banquet, or the birthday of the family head, all the younger members of the family, in full attire, line up in order of rank, as in the ceremony used on the new and full moons of every month . First they bow twice . Then, the oldest of the sons or brothers advances to the front of the family head; a younger one , with his official plaque stuck in his belt and holding a wine cup, goes to his left side; another, also with his 93 This is the reverse of the positions taken by men and women during sacrificial rites, as described above.

30

--------------.........

---

---------------

GENERAL PRINCIPLES O F RITUAL

official plaque stuck in the belt, but holding a wine decanter, goes to his right side . The eldest then sticks his official plaque in his belt, kneels down, pours the wine, and prays: Humbly, I wish that such official [the family head] be endowed with all five blessings ,94 that he protect our kinsmen and benefit our family. After the seniors have all taken a drink, he gives the decanter and the cup back to the two younger ones, who return to where they were . The eldest takes out his official plaque, prostrates once , then rises . He steps back to where he was and bows twice together with all the other juniors . The family head then bids the juniors be seated; they all bow twice and seat themselves. Then the head orders the servants to pour wine for all the juniors . They stand up in order as before, bow twice to the master, then sit again . After the toast, the family head orders them to change their clothes; they leave to change into everyday clothing and return to their seats . 95 If a wetnurse is sought for a newborn son, a woman from a respectable family of a gentle and modest nature should be chosen. (Not only would a bad wet nurse violate family regulations , but she would also influence the temperament and behavior of the child in her care . ) Children old enough to eat should be given food and taught to use their right hands in eating . Those old enough to talk should be . taught their names and greetings such as " at your service ," "bless you ," and " sleep well . " As they gain some understanding , they should be taught to respect their seniors. Anytime they fail to behave properly toward them, they must be scolded and warned not to act that way again. In ancient times even prenatal instruction was practiced, not to mention postnatal education. From the time of a child's birth, even before he can un­ derstand, we familiarize him with the proprieties. How, then, can we ignore proper behavior when he is old enough to understand it? Confucius said that what is fonned in childhood is like part of one's nature , what has been learned through practice becomes like instinct.96 The Family Instructions of Mr. Yen says, "Teach a bride when she first arrives; teach a child while it is still a 94

The five blessings were longevity, wealth , health, virtue, and a complete lifespan. 95 Compare the more detailed description of family toasting under " eat the leftovers" in chapter 5 , no. L 96 This saying is not in the classics, but it was attributed to Confucius by the Han scholar Chia I (Han shu 48:2248) and appears also in Yen-shih chia-hsun 1 : 1 5 ; Teng, p. 3 . Ssu-ma Kuang's quotation is not quite exact.

31

C H A PT E R O N E

baby."97 Therefore, from the time children begin to understand, they must be made to learn the distinctions of etiquette based on age and generation. In cases where they insult their parents or hit their elder brothers and sisters, if their parents laugh and praise them instead of scolding or punishing them, the children, not knowing right from wrong, will think such behavior is natural. By the time they are grown, their habits have been fOlIlled. Their parents now become angry and forbid them to do such things, but they find themselves unable to control them. As a result, the father will hate his son, and the son will resent his father. Cruelty and defiance of any sort can then occur, and all . because the parents were short-sighted and failed to prevent the evil from the beginning; in other words, bad character is nourished by indulgence. 98 •

At the age of six, a child is taught the words for numbers ( l , 10, 100, 1 ,000, 10,000) and directions (east, west, south, north). Boys should begin learning how to write , and girls should b e taught simple wome n ' s work. At the age of seven, boys and girls no longer sit together or eat together. At this age boys recite the Classic of Filial Piety and the Analects . It is a good idea for girls to recite them too. B e fore the seventh year, children are called youngsters; they can go to sleep early, get up late, and eat whenever they wish. B eginning with the eighth year, however, whenever they enter or exit through a doorway or whenever they sit down to eat, they must wait their tum , which will come after all those who are older. A t this age they begin to learn modesty and yielding . Boys recite the Book of Documents and young girls no longer go past the door of the inner quarters . A t nine years boys recite the Spring and Autumn Annals and other histories. The texts are now explained to them, so that they can under­ stand moral principle . At this age girls have explained to them the Analects, the Classic of Filial Piety, and such books as Biographies of Admirable Women and Warningsfor Women99 so that they compre­ hend the main ideas . In ancient times all virtuous women read illustrated histories to educate themselves; some, such as Ts'ao Ta-ku [Pan Chao] , became quite conversant in the classics and could discuss issues intelligently. Nowadays, some people 97 Yen-shih chia-hsun 1 :25; Teng , p. 3 . 98 This passage differs considerably from the corresponding passage in SMSSI. Compare also Yiian Ts'ai on child rearing, in Ebrey , Family and Property, pp. 188-95 . 99 Biographies of Admirable Women was written in the Han period by Liu Hsiang. See O'Hara, The Position of Women in Early China. Warnings for Women by Pan Chao is one of the few books written in premodern China by a woman author. See Swann, Pan Chao. 32

------------�----------------....

--------------

G E N E R A L P R I N C I P L E S O F R IT U A L

teach their daughters to write songs and poems and popular music; these are entirely inappropriate activities. •

At the age of ten, boys ought to go out to study under a school master and should stay in the outer quarters or away from home . They should study the commentaries to the Classic ofPoetry and the Record ofRit­ ual, which will be explained to them by their teacher. They should also be taught the essence of benevolence , moral duty , etiquette , wis­ dom, and faithfulness . From this time on , they can study Meng Tzu , Hsiin Tzu , Yang Tzu , l°O and read widely in other works . The essential ones, however, should be recited . (These include the Record of Ritual's "Record of Learning ," "Great Learning , " "Centrality and Commonality," and " Record of Music . " ) At the same time heretical books not written by sages ought to be prohibited so that the student will not become confused. Not until boys understand all of these books should they begin composition. For girls, at this age instruction in compliance and obedience and the principal household tasks should begin . Household tasks such as breeding silkworms, weaving, sewing, and cook­ ing are the proper duties of a woman. In addition, instruction in them lets a girl learn the hardships through which food and clothing are obtained so that she will not dare to be extravagant. Concerning delicate crafts, however, no instruction is needed.

•

Before they are capped or pinned, \ 0 1 young boys and girls should rise at daybreak, comb their hair into top-knots , wash their faces, and then call on their elders . When assisting their elders at meals or ancestral rites , they should help by holding the food and wine. After the cap­ ping or pinning ceremonies, however, they will be expected to behave with the proper manners of adults and can no longer be regarded as children. The servants of the inner and outer quarters and the concubines all rise at the first crow of the cock. After combing their hair, washing, and getting dressed, the male servants should sweep the halls and front courtyard; the doorman and older servants should sweep the middle courtyard, while the maids sweep the living quarters , arrange the tables and chairs , and prepare for the toilet of the master and mistress. When the master and mistress have risen, the maids should 100

These are major works by the early Confucian masters Mencius, Hsiin Tzu, and Yang Hsiung. 101 On these ceremonies, see chapter 2.

33

C H A PT E R O N E

make their beds, fold their clothes, and wait for orders during their toilet. Afterward they retire to prepare the food . If they have time, they should wash and sew clothes, always tending to the business of their master's household first, their own affairs last. When night falls , they should again make the beds and prepare the night-wear for the master and mistress. During the day each of the servants and concubines performs the task assigned to him or her by the master, so that all the work gets done . The maids call their older counterparts " older sister" when they are of the same rank (servants of several brothers, for instance); lower-ranking servants (those of sons, for instance) call higher­ ranking ones " auntie . "

The "Domestic Regulations" says , "Even the clothes, food, and drink of maids and concubines should vary by seniority. " Cheng Kang-ch'eng [Hsiian] commented, " People must observe ritual regardless of rank; this is the reason the maids and concubines are ranked by seniority. " 102 •

All servants are expected to get along harmoniously . The master and mistress should scold any who quarrel as soon as they hear of it. If the quarreling does not stop, they should beat them with a staff, the one who is in the wrong being beaten more severely. If one is willing to end the quarrel and the other refuses, only the one who refuses should be beaten. Loyal and trustworthy menservants should receive the highest pay; next should be those who are talented at managing family business. Those who are treacherous and selfish, habitual thieves, or disrespect­ ful should be expelled. Female servants should be let go when their contract is up if they do not wish to stay. One should provide a dowry and arrange a marriage for those who are diligent and have made few mistakes. But any who are two-faced, gossipy, or instigate quarrels among relatives , as well as any who are habitual thieves, who are dissolute in behavior, or who are disloyal to the family , must be expelled. 1 03 102 Li-chi, "Nei-tse" 28: lOb; Legge, 1 :47 1 . 103 On management of servants, compare Yuan Ts'ai in Ebrey , Family and Property, pp. 134 44, 289-93.

34

. .

C H A P T E R TWO

The Capping Ceremony •••••

AB STRACT 1.

Capping

Any young man from fifteen to twenty years of age may be capped, provided that his parents are not in mourning for a period of a year or longer. Three days before the event, the presiding man makes a report at the offering hall, then personally invites the sponsor. The day before , he invites the sponsor again and has the equip­ ment arranged. At dawn on the day of the event, the caps and robes are set out. The participants line up, in order, from the presiding man on down. When the sponsor arrives, the presiding man invites him to enter the hall . The sponsor, with a salute , beckons the initiant to go to the mat, then puts the head-cloth on him. The initiant returns to the side room where he puts on the long garment and shoes before reappearing. The second capping entails a hat, black robe, leather belt, and tie shoes. The third capping entails the scarf-cap, official robes , great belt, boots , and official plaque, or alternatively the ordinary robe and boots. After the pledge, the sponsor gives an adult name to the initiant. The participants leave in order, after which the presiding man presents the initiant in the offering hall and then to the elders . The sponsor is then entertained. Afterward , the initiant goes out to be presented to local elders and his father's friends.

2 . Pinning Girls are pinned when they get engaged. The mother acts as presiding woman. Three days before the event the sponsor is invited. One day before , an announce­ ment is sent to the sponsor and the equipment set out. At dawn on the day of the event the clothes are laid out. Everyone gets in line. When the sponsor arrives, the presiding woman invites her to come up into the hall. The sponsor places the cap and hairpin on the initiant, who goes to the side room to put on the jacket. This is followed by the pledge and the giving of the adult name. Finally, the sponsor is entertained just as in the capping ritual .

•••••

35

C H A PT E R TWO

•

•

1.

CAPPI N G

Any young man from fifteen to twenty years of age may be capped. 1 The venerable Ssu-ma [Kuang] said, "The ancients perfonned capping at twenty as a ritual through which a youth was charged with acting as an adult. That is, 'one then expected of the young man the conduct of a son, a younger brother, a subject, and a junior. ' 2 Therefore the ceremony had to be treated seriously. In recent times, people are flippant in their attitude toward it. 3 Very few boys are still wearing 'hair horns ' beyond ten. 4 What can such boys know about expectations of the four kinds of conduct? All too often they are uni­ formly foolish from childhood to maturity, for they know nothing of adult ways. Today, although instant change is not feasible, it should be all right to delay capping the young man until he is fifteen or older and can understand the Classic of Filial Piety and the Analects, and has a rough knowledge of ritual and moral principles. "5

•

The ceremony may not be performed if the young man ' s parents are in mourning for a period of a year or longer. 6 It also may not be performed if they are in " greater processed cloth" [nine­ month] mourning and the burial has not yet taken place. ? 1 Here and elsewhere, ages are in sui, which are at least one and sometimes almost two years higher than the age would be if given in chronological years. 2 From Li-chi, "Kuan-i" 6 1 :2a; Legge, 2:427 . 3 According to Chu Hsi (YL 89:227 1 ) , Chang Shih ( 1 133-1 1 80) omitted the capping ceremony from a compilation he made of rituals on the grounds that it could not be practiced. Chu Hsi countered that it was by far the easiest of the family rituals to practice, since it did not involve other families, like marriage, did not have to be performed while in grief, like funerals, and did not take much time or trouble, like sacrifices. See also Nan-hsuan chi 24:3b-4a.

4 " Hair horns" was a hair style for children, with hair drawn up into two knots. S This is abbreviated from SMSSI 2: 1 9 . Ssu-ma Kuang notes further that the only people he ever heard of carrying out this ceremony were rural villagers, and says that some of his contemporaries even put hats on babies. He recommended waiting until fifteen for capping but set his lower limit at twelve, on the basis of a precedent in the Tso-chuan. In Chu Hsi's own case, he received an informal name from his teacher (a key part of the capping cere­ mony) at about fourteen (Chu Tzu nien-p'u IA:3--4) . In the nineteenth century, Li Yiian­ ch'un saw no harm in holding the capping the day before a young man's wedding, as was the current custom (Ssu-li pien-su, 4a). 6 On the mourning grades, see chapter 4, no. 6. Relatives whose deaths would interfere would include, on the father's side, his parents, his wife, grandparents, brothers and sisters, father's brothers and their wives, brothers' children, father's sisters, and his sons and daugh­ ters, and on the mother's side, her parents or husband. 7 These relatives include first cousins through father's brothers, and the wives of younger sons and brothers' sons. 36

. .

T H E C A PPING C E R E M O N Y •

Three days before the event, the presiding man makes a report at the offering hal l . In the ancient ritual, one chose the day by divination. Today that is not practical, but one may select a day in the first month. 8 The tenn "presiding man" refers to the father or grandfather of the initiant when either of them is the descent-line heir of the great-great-grandfather. Otherwise, the descent­ line heir of the great-great-grandfather must act as presiding man. If circum­ stances prevent this, then one of the successive descent-line heirs may act as presiding man.9 For the ceremony of the report when the father acts as presiding man himself, see the section on the offering hall [chapter 1 , no. 1 ] . The prayer board begins like the ones described there, then has: A's son B , or A's such-relative C's son B , who now has grown older and reached maturity, will have a cap placed on his head on such day of such month. Earnestly, . . . . When someone caps his own son on orders of the descent-line heir, it should still be the descent-line heir who takes charge of the prayer board, saying that a lesser son, C, has been ordered to carry out the ceremony. If the descent-line heir's father and grandfather are both dead and he caps himself, then he also acts as presiding man. The prayer board begins the same, but says, "A will, on such day of such month, place a cap on his own head. Earnestly, . . . ."

•

Personally invite the sponsor. In the ancient ritual, one divined to select the sponsor. Today that is im­ practical, but one may select a friend who is wise and versed in ritual. 10 On that day the presiding man in the long garment goes in person to the gate of the friend he is inviting, who comes out to meet him, as in ordinary etiquette. When they finish their tea, the caller rises and says, "A has a son B (or A's such-relative C has a son B) who will have a cap placed on his head. We would like to have you, sir, instruct him." 1 1 He answers, "I am not quick and fear that, being inadequate to the task, I . will cause you trouble, sir. I presume to decline. " 8 SMSSI 2 : 19 kept the divination but said it would be acceptable to toss divining blocks or coins. Chu T'ien-ch'iu, Chia-li i-chien pien, 3 1 a and some other authors of revised ver­ sions said one could choose a day by consulting a calendar for a suitable day. 9 Ch'iu Chiin (CLIC 2:2a) returned to Ssu-ma Kuang's rule that the presiding man was the family head, whether a parent or grandparent, granting, however, the exception of the orphaned descent-line heir who acts as his own presiding man. 10 SMSSI 2:20 kept the divination. II SMSSI 2:20 said that if the messenger could not memorize the words, he could bring notes or deliver the message as a letter. 37

C H A P T E R TWO The caller responds, " We still would like you, sir, to instruct him." He replies, "As you, sir, have repeated your command, I dare not dis­ obey. ' ' 1 2 If the sponsor lives far away, then write a letter expressing the initial request and send a younger relative to deliver it. When the recipient declines, the messenger insists, at which point he consents . He also writes a reply, saying, "As you, sir, have ordered it, I,

X,

dare not disobey. "

If the descent-line heir is capping himself, then the phrases of the invitation are "A will be placing a cap on his own head. . . . " •

The day before the event, invite the sponsor again . Send a younger relative with a letter reading: Tomorrow A shall place a cap on the head of his son B (or his such­ relative C's son B ' s head) , and he hopes that you, sir, will attend. He dares to inform you. A writes to

X.

The reply reads: I shall rise early.

X

sends to A . 1 3

If the descent-line heir is capping himself, then the phrasing should be al­ tered, as in the first invitation to the sponsor. •

Arrange the equipment. Put the wash basin and wash cloth in the reception room in the same position they occupy during ceremonies in the offering hall. Use screens to make a side room in the northeast comer of the hall. If the hall does not have two stair­ cases, use chalk to draw them. 1 4 These procedures apply for subsequent cere­ monies as well.

•

Rise as soon as the sun is up and set out the cap and robes. Those with government offices use official robes, belts , boots, and official plaques , for which those without offices substitute graduates' robes, belts, and boots. Everyone also uses the black robe, the long garment, the great belt, shoes , comb, and a top-knot string. All of these items are set out on a table in the side room with collars toward the east, arranged from the north on down. 1 5 12 From ibid. , in tum based on /·li, "Shih kuan-li" 3:7a-b; Steele, 1 : 1 3 . 1 3 Adapted from /-li, " Shih kuan-li" 3:7b; Steele, 1 : 1 3 . 1 4 This ceremony is not held in the offering hall, but in the front main room of the house. As Ssu-ma Kuang noted, most people's image halls (his term for offering halls) were too small for ceremonies like cappings, so even though in the classics these were done in the ancestral temples, ordinary rooms would have to be used. 1 5 Ch'en,g I said, "If today in carrying out a capping we use ancient style clothes and caps, these are not regular clothes but artificial ones. One must use the clothes of one's period" (ECC, i-shu 1 7 : 1 80). Official robes, graduates' robes, and black robes were indeed 38

THE CAPPING CEREMONY The wine decanter and the cup and saucer are also arranged on the table to the north of the clothes. The scarf-cap, hat, cap, and cloth are each placed on a separate tray and covered with towels . These are set out on a table at the base of the western steps . An attendant looks after them. 16 If the initiant is an eldest son, then the mat is placed above the ceremonial stairs , to the east and slightly north, facing west. 1 7 If he is a younger son, then it is placed slightly west, facing south. When the descent-line heir caps himself, the mat is like that for an eldest son, but placed further south. •

The participants line up, in order, from the presiding man on down. From the presiding man on down, they take their places in full attire. The presiding man is at the base of the ceremonial steps, a little to the east, facing west. His sons and younger brothers and relatives and menservants , arranged from north to south, are behind him in rows, like him facing west. I S Select a younger relative versed in ritual to act as usher. He should stand outside the gate facing west. The initiant, wearing two hair-knots, pantaloons , leggings, and colored wooden shoes, waits standing in the middle of the side room, facing south. 1 9 The initiant' s father (unless he is himself the descent-line heir) stands to the right of the presiding man. If older than the presiding man, he stands a little in front of him; if junior, slightly behind. When the descent-line heir caps himself, he dresses like an initiant but takes the position of the presiding man.

•

When the sponsor arrives , the presiding man invites him to come into the hall. The sponsor selects for himself a younger relative versed in ritual to act as his assistant in the capping . They both arrive at the gate in full attire and stand facing east, the assistant to the right and slightly behind the sponsor. The usher all common shih-ta-fu clothes of the Sung, more common than the ones listed in SMSSI 2:2 1 . 16 SMSSI 2:20 says the attendant can be either a younger relative or a servant. 17 This ceremony, unlike the others described in this book, unambiguously follows the ancient practice of kneeling on mats on the floor. Whether anyone actually did this in the Sung is unclear. The archaic flavor of this and other details in the capping ritual may reflect the lack of a "living tradition" that Ssu-ma Kuang and Chu Hsi had to take into consider­ ation in formulating their models for the other life-cycle rites. Chang Tsai (CTC, p. 265) said the ancients sat on mats not because they lacked the intelligence to invent chairs, but because it was easier to bow or prostrate oneself while on the floor. Lii K 'un (SLI 2:3a) saw no reason not to use chairs for capping ceremonies. 18 SMSSI 2:21 says only male relatives take part in the ceremony. Capping and pinning are the only family rituals segregated by sex in this way. 19 Ch'iu Chiin (CLIC 2:7b-8a) says these were Sung-period children's clothes, already unintelligible in the Ming. The translation "pantaloons" is speCUlative. 39

C H A P T E R TWO brings them in and infOIms the presiding man. The presiding man goes out to the gate and, standing on its left, turns to face them and bows twice. The sponsor bows in reply. The presiding man salutes the assistant, who salutes in reply. After the presiding man salutes again, he proceeds, with the sponsor and assistant following him through the gate. They cross the courtyard on different sides and, deferring to each other with salutes, reach the steps. After further deferring with salutes they ascend the stairs . The presiding man goes up the ceremonial steps and takes a place slightly to the east where he turns to face south. The sponsor goes next, taking the west steps and placing himself a little to the west of them. He faces east. The assistant, with the wash basin and wash cloth, ascends the western steps and stands in the middle of the side room facing west. The usher places a mat on the eastern side, slightly to the north, facing west. The initiant comes out of the side room and faces the south. The father of the initiant (unless he is himself the descent-line heir) accom­ panies the descent-line heir to welcome the sponsor, and in returning comes up after the sponsor. He stands to the right of the sponsor as before. •

The sponsor, with a salute , beckons the initiant to go to the mat. H e puts the head-cloth on him. The initiant goes to the side room, puts on the long garment and shoes , and reappears . The sponsor, with a salute, beckons the initiant to come out of the side room and stand to the right of the mat, facing it. The assistant takes the comb and top-knot string and puts them to the left of the mat. When he rises, he stands at the initiant's left. The sponsor, with a salute, beckons the initiant to proceed to the mat, tum west, and kneel. The assistant proceeds to the mat, and with­ out changing direction he kneels and combs the initiant' s hair into a knot, releasing the old ones . The sponsor then comes down the stairs, followed by the presiding man. The sponsor washes his hands , after which the presiding man with a salute beckons him to go back up to his place. The attendant comes forward with the tray containing the head-cloth. The sponsor goes down one step to take the cap and hat pin. With a solemn expression he slowly proceeds to the front of the initiant. Facing him he prays: On an excellent day of an auspicious month, you wear head gear for the first time. Set aside your childish ideas and comply with the virtues of manhood. Then your years will be blessed, and your fortune will be great. 20

20 Words from I-Ii, "Shih kuan-li" 3:7b; Steele, I : 14. In YL 89:2272, Chu Hsi said it would be better if the instructions given at cappings and weddings were in the colloquial language so that the recipients could understand them. He did not follow his own advice either here cir in the next chapter. Some revised versions of the CL supply colloquial versions

40

THE CAPPING CEREMONY

table for wine, ladle, cups, meat dish table for garments and footwear

initiant

r------,

mat moved here to pledge eldest son

-

--

-

-

-

mat

-

presidin g man's position

male relatives, in rows male servants

door 6 . Layout for the Capping Ceremony

41

C H A P T E R TWO

Then, kneeling, he places the cap on the initiant. The assistant, kneeling, passes the cloth forward, which the sponsor also puts on the initiant. After he gets up and returns to his place, the sponsor, with a salute, beckons the initiant to go back to the side room. There he takes off his pantaloons and puts on the long garment, adding the large belt and shoes . When he exits the side room, he solemnly stands facing south for some time. If the descent-line heir is capping himself, everything is the same except that the sponsor, with a salute, beckons him to go to the mat, and the presiding man does not go down when the sponsor goes down to wash his hands. •

The second capping entails the hat, black robe , leather belt, and tie shoes . 21 The sponsor, with a salute, beckons the initiant to go to the mat and kneel . An attendant brings the hat on a tray. The sponsor comes down two steps to take it, then carries it to the front of the initiant and prays: At this excellent hour of this auspicious day, we add to your garments. Be careful in your demeanor; be pure in your virtue. Then your years will be everlasting and you will be blessed with good fortune. 22 Then the sponsor kneels and puts the hat on the initiant. On rising, he resumes his place. With a salute, he beckons the initiant to return to the side room, where he takes off the long garment and puts on the black robe, leather belt, and tie shoes. Coming out of the side room, he stands .

•

The third capping entails the scarf-cap, official robes , a leather belt, and boots , and official plaques , or alternatively the scholars ' robe and boots . 23 The ritual is the same as in the second capping, with these exceptions. When the attendant brings the scarf-cap tray, the sponsor comes all the way down the steps to accept it, and the prayer is: In this excellent month of this proper year, we complete your clothing. Your brothers are all here to complete your virtue. May you live forever of these speeches. Li Yiian-ch'un in the nineteenth century advised first reciting the state­ ments in the ancient language and afterward elaborating in the vernacular (Ssu-Ii pien-su 2a, 5b). 21 From Ch'iu Chiin's comments, (CLIC 2:71>--8a) it seems these clothes were no longer in use by the mid-Ming, and he thought they need not be copied. 22 From /-Ii, "Shih kuan-li" 3:71>--8a; Steele, 1 : 14, with slight changes. 23 Ch'iu Chiin (CLIC 2 : 1 3a) notes that no one in his day would hold office before being capped and therefore wear official clothes. This was certainly also true in Sung times. CHWLHI 1 83:6a specified, that however, the sons and grandsons of officials as well as students in the academy could use the clothes and hats listed for officials in this rite. These are given in CHWLHI 183:21>--3a. 42

.�.

THE C APPING CEREMONY until your hair turns from white to yellow; may you receive Heaven' s favor. 24 The assistant removes the hat and the sponsor puts on the scarf-cap. The as­ sistant takes the hat, removes the comb, and enters the side room. •

Perform the pledge . In the case of an eldest son, the usher moves the mat to a point just west of the middle of the hall, facing south. For younger sons the mat is kept where it was. The assistant pours the wine in the side room. He comes out and stands to the left of the initiant. The sponsor, with a salute, beckons the initiant to go to the right of the mat and face south. Then, taking the wine, the sponsor goes to the front of the mat, turns north, and prays: The fine wine is pure. The excellent offerings have superior flavors . Receive them with a bow and offer them in sacrifice to affirm your good fortune. May you receive Heaven's blessings and longevity. 25 The initiant bows twice and steps onto the mat, turning south. He accepts the wine cup. The sponsor returns to his place and turns to face the east, where he returns the bow.26 The initiant moves to the front of the mat and kneels. After he offers the wine in sacrifice, he stands up and moves to the end of the mat, where he kneels. He sips the wine, rises, and steps off the mat, handing the cup to the assistant. Facing south, he bows twice. The sponsor, still facing east, bows in reply. The initiant then bows to the assistant, who is to the left and slightly behind the sponsor, also facing east. The assistant returns the bow.

•

The sponsor gives an adult name

(tzu) to the

initiant. 27

The sponsor comes down the steps and turns east, followed by the presiding man who comes down the steps and turns west to face him. The initiant comes down the western steps , moves slightly toward the east [to place himselfbe­ tween them] , and faces south. The sponsor gives him an adult name, saying: The ceremony is now completed. On this auspicious day of this excel­ lent month, I pronounce your adult name. May this name be greatly hon­ ored, may you be a gentleman and gain eminence, act correctly, and achieve greatness. Preserve forever what you are receiving. 28 Then he calls him elder, middle, young, or youngest son so-and-so, as appro­ priate. The initiant replies: 24 I-Ii, "Shih kuan-li" 3:8a; Steele I : 14. 25 From ibid., with slight changes. 26 The commentator of the 1732 edition of the CL explained that he bows to him because he is now an adult. 27 This is the name the young man would be commonly called from then on, replacing his childhood name. His formal name (ming) was not normally a term of address. 28 From I-Ii, "Shih kuan-li" 3:9a; Steele, 1 : 15. 43

C H A P T E R TWO Although I, so-and-so, am not quick, I dare but reverently obey your instructions morning and evening. The sponsor may say something further to explain the meaning of the name. 29 •

The participants leave in order. The sponsor requests permission to withdraw, at which point the presiding man asks to be allowed to entertain him. The sponsor exits and the others follow, in order of rank.

•

The presiding man presents the initiant in the offering halL The procedure is the same as in the ceremony for presenting an infant de­ scribed in the section on the offering hall [in chapter 1 , no. 1 ] , with these changes: Alter the report to "A's son B (or A's such-relative C's son B) today has had his capping and we presume to present him here" and have the initiant come forward to stand between the two staircases and bow twice. When a descent-line heir is capping himself, the ceremony is identical ex­ cept that the wording is changed to " The capping of A was completed today, and I presume to present myself. " Then he bows twice, goes down the steps, and retakes his place. If the initiant' s home has an offering hall for a great-grandfather, grandfa­ ther, or father, then he should be presented there by the appropriate descent­ line heir. When he is the descent-line heir of any of these ancestors, he pre­ sents himself.

•

The initiant is presented to the elders. His parents sit in the hall, facing south. His younger uncles and elder broth­ ers are on the eastern side, the younger uncles facing south, the elder brothers west. Their wives and daughters are on the western side, the wives of the younger uncles and the aunts facing south, the elder sisters and the wives of elder brothers facing east. The initiant faces north toward his parents and bows to them. They rise for him. 30 If anyone of a senior generation lives with them, then the parents bring the initiant to the senior person' s room to bow to him or her. The senior person 29 Some of the only indications of something resembling the capping ceremony among Sung literati are the explanations of adult names included in many collected works. Several are in ch. 75 and 76 of Chu Hsi's WC. 30 Ssu-ma Kuang (SMSSI 2:23) notes that in the "Meaning of the Capping Ceremony" (Li-chi 6 1 ) , the mother is supposed to bow to her son in response to his bow. Since he thought this would be "difficult to practice" in his day, he suggested rising as the response for any senior relative. CHWLHI 1 83:5a, 185:2b-3a also had the father and mother rise in response to the bow. In YL 85:2196 Chu Hsi urged retaining the classical bow here even though it did not match normal practice. Here, however, he follows Ssu-ma Kuang. 44

T H E C A PP I N G C E R E M O N Y rises for him. After he returns, he goes to the east and west sides, bowing twice for each status category. Those who should return the bow do soY When the initiant is not a son of the descent-line heir, he is presented first to the descent-line heir, then to those who are senior to his father in the hall, then to his parents in a private room, and then to the remaining relatives. 32 When a descent-line heir caps himself, if his mother is alive he is presented to her, as in the ceremonial described here. Other kinsmen ritually subordinate to him all come to see him be presented in the hall. 33 The descent-line heir bows facing west. Each rank of his seniors bows twice. He also accepts the bows of his juniors . •

Next entertain the sponsor. The presiding man invites the sponsor, usher, and assistant to take wine and food. He also presents them with a gratuity, and thanks them with a bow. The size of the gratuity can vary according to circumstances, but the sponsor and his assistant should receive different amounts. 34

•

Afterward, the initiant goes out to be presented to local elders and his father' s friends. When presented, the initiant bows and the elders and friends all return the bow. Should any of them have advice to offer him, the initiant responds as he responded to the sponsor and bows to him. The elder or friend does not return. this bow. 35

•

2.

•

Girls are pinned when they get engaged. 36

PINNING

If they are not yet engaged by age fifteen, they may be pinned then. 3 1 In general, those of equal or lower rank return bows. 32 Wang Mao-hung in the eighteenth century very much objected to having the son pre­ sented to the descent-line heir before his own parents (Po-t'ien ts' ao-t' ang ts' un-kao 2: 12b). 33 These would be all those descended from the ancestor he is heir to, including some senior to him in age and generation, such as his father's younger brothers. 34 SMSSI 2:23 specifies a piece of cloth of variable length, but also says that if the presid­ ing man is really poor, the recipient should decline to receive it. 35 The commentator of the 1732 edition explained that this bow is one accepting the advlce. 36 Pinning is frequently mentioned in Sung epitaphs for women, usually in the phrase, "she married as soon as she was pinned." However, whether pinning was performed as described here or merged with the betrothal process (as it has been in recent times) is un­ clear. In the sixteenth century Ko Yin-sheng moved the pinning ceremony to the day before a girl's wedding and had her father's sister play a major role (Chia-li chai-yao 3:4a). In the nineteenth century, Lu T'ung-shen reported that while capping was defunct, custom in his area captured the spirit of pinning, with girls changing their hairdos when engaged and having special hairpins inserted the night before their weddings (Ssu-li i i-lun, 1). See also •

45

C H A P T E R TWO •

The mother acts as presiding woman. Should she be the wife of the descent-line heir, the ceremony is performed in the central hall. If she is not his wife but lives in his household, the cere­ mony should be conducted in her private room. If she lives elsewhere, the central hall of her home is used. The procedures are the same as those used in cappmg. •

•

Three days before, personally invite the sponsor. One day before , invite the sponsor again. Select a female relative who is wise and decorous to serve as a sponsor. Use ordinary stationery to write the invitation, and send someone to deliver it. The phrasing is the same as in the capping ceremony, but write " daughter" instead of " son," "pinning" instead of "capping," and "such-and-such relative" or "such title " instead of "you, sir. " In general, a woman refers to herself when addressing seniors of her own family as "child" and juniors by her relationship;37 when addressing seniors of her husband' s family as "bride" and juniors as "old wife . " When address­ ing friends who are not related, she uses her relationship. This form should be followed in subsequent sections also.

•

Set out the equipment. The items and procedures are the same as in the capping ritual, but lay out the mat in the central hall in the place used for younger sons.

•

At dawn lay out the clothes. The procedure is the same as in the capping ritual, but use a jacket, cap, and hairpin.

•

Everyone lines up in order. The presiding woman takes the presiding man's place. The initiant wears two hair-knots and a gown and faces south in the middle of the side room.

•

When the sponsor arrives , the presiding woman invites her to come up into the hall. The procedure is the same as in the capping ceremony, but there is no assis­ tant. The presiding woman uses the ceremonial stairs .

•

The sponsor places the cap and hairpin on the initiant, who goes to the side room to put on the j acket. Ku Kuang-yii, Ssu-li ch' iieh-i 2:8a-b, which says girls generally changed their hairdos at thirteen or fourteen. 37 Ssu-ma Kuang (SMSSI 2:24) annotates this as "aunt," "elder sister," etc. 46

T H E C A PP I N G C E R E M O N Y

The procedure is approximately like the capping ritual. However, if one cannot use the phrase ' 'for the first time put on" in the prayer, then omit it. •

This is followed by the pledge . It is the same as in the capping ritual, with identical wording.

•

Next give the adult name . The procedure is the same as in the capping ritual, but change the phrase "gentleman" to "lady. "

•

Finally entertain the sponsor just as in the capping ritual .

47

,

•

!

•

1•

,

CHAPTER

THRE E

l ,

Weddings • • • • •

ABSTRACT 1 . Negotiating the Marriage Men from sixteen to thirty and women from fourteen to twenty are permitted to marry unless they or those presiding at their marriage are in mourning graded at a year or longer. The first requirement is to have an intermediary go back and forth between the families to carry out the negotiations . Once the girl 's family has agreed to the wedding , the betrothal gift may be presented.

2 . Presenting the Betrothal Gift The presiding man prepares the betrothal document and at dawn takes it to make a report at the offering hall . Next he sends a son or younger brother to take a message to the girl ' s family. The presiding man of the girl' s family comes out to meet the messenger. He takes the betrothal document and reports its content at his offering hall. On exiting the hall, he gives the messenger the document of reply, then en­ tertains him. When the messenger returns with the reply, the presiding man of the groom' s family makes another report at the offering hall.

3 . Presenting the Valuables A document listing the valuables is prepared and a messenger is sent with it to the girl ' s family. The girl' s family receives the document and prepares a reply. After they entertain the messenger, he returns with the reply as in presenting the be­ trothal gift.

4 . Welcoming in Person On the day before the wedding, the bride's family sends people to lay out the dowry furnishings in the groom's chamber. At dawn the groom's family sets places in the chamber. Meanwhile , the bride' s family sets up places outside . As the sun goes down, the groom puts on full attire . After the presiding man makes a report at the offering hall, he pledges the groom and orders him to go to fetch the bride . The groom goes out and mounts his horse . When he gets to the bride 's home he waits at his place. The presiding man of the bride' s family makes a report at the offering hall, after which he pledges the bride and instructs her. Then he goes out to greet the groom. When the groom enters, he presents a goose. The duenna takes the girl out to climb into the conveyance . The groom mounts his horse and leads the way for the bridal vehicle. When they arrive at his house he leads the bride in and they

take their seats.

After the eating and drinking are done, the groom leaves

the chamber. On reentering, he takes off his clothes and the candles are removed.

48

,

WEDDINGS

5 . The Bride Is Presented to Her Parents-in-law The next day, having risen at dawn, the bride meets her parents-in-law, who en­ tertain her. Then the bride is presented to the elders . If she is the wife of the eldest son, she serves food to her parents-in-law. Then the parents-in-law feast the bride .

6. Presentation at the Family Shrine On the third day the presiding man takes the bride to be presented at the offering hall .

7. The Groom Is Presented to the Wife's Parents The day after that the groom goes to see his wife ' s parents . Afterward he is pre­ sented to his wife's relatives. The bride ' s family entertains the groom , as in ordi­ nary etiquette .

• • • • •

•

•

1.

N E GO T I AT I N G T H E M A RR I AG E

Men from sixteen to thirty and women from fourteen to twenty are permitted to marry, so long as neither the principals nor those presid­ ing at the marriage are in mourning graded at a year or longer. The venerable Ssu-ma [Kuang] said, "In antiquity men married at thirty and women at twenty. In our current law the minimum permissible age for marriage is fifteen for men and thirteen for women" In setting the ages as I have here , I examined both ancient and recent moral principles, considered the middle ground of the rituals and laws, and tried to accord with natural principles and human feelings. "2 One cannot be the presiding man if in mourning graded at

• •

greater pro­

cessed cloth" until after the burial. 3 I

For antiquity, see Li-chi, "Nei-tse" 28:20b-21b; Legge, 2:478-79; Chou-Ii, "Mei­ shih" 14: 13b. The minimum legal age at marriage had been set at fifteen and thirteen since the mid-T'ang (T' ang hui-yao 83: 1529). For a review of legislation of age at marriage, see Niida, Shina mibunho shi, pp. 548-5 1 . 2 SMSSI 3:29, abridged. Lii K'un (SLI 3 : 1 b) argued that waiting to twenty and thirty was unreasonable because it might lead to the young people dying without heirs. 3 For a list of those relatives whose deaths would interrupt a marriage because they were graded at a year or nine months, see below, chapter 4, no. 6. The law code also enforced the ritual rule against marrying while in mourning for parents, husband, or other relatives graded at a year (SHT 1 3: 16a-b). According to Su Shih ( 1036-1 101), however, in 1 090 this rule was relaxed so that old parents or grandparents who needed to get a spouse for their child or grandchild to help take care of them could arrange a marriage even though the child was in mourning for a parent (Su Shih wen-chi 35: 1 009). Because of the ban on marriage while in mourning, parents and grandparents who anticipated dying would sometimes speed up the marriage of a descendant. See, for instance, Hung-ch' ing chii-shih wen-chi 40:9b. 49

C HAPTER THREE

The man presiding at a wedding is selected on the same principle as a man presiding at a capping, except that if the descent-line heir is the one being married, he should have a senior patrilineal kinsman serve as presiding man.4 •

The first requirement is to have an intermediary go back and forth be­ tween the families to carry out the negotiations. 5 Once the girl 's fam­ ily has agreed to the wedding, the betrothal gift may be presented. The venerable Ssu-ma [Kuang] said, "In negotiating marriages, one ought first to look into the character, behavior, and family traditions of the bride and groom. Do not unreasonably covet wealth and rank. If the groom is worthy, even if he is at present poor and of low rank he may well become rich and high ranking later. But if he is unworthy, even if he is rich and successful now, there is no guarantee that he will not later lose his wealth and rank. Whether a family thrives or declines depends on the wife. A bride chosen because of greediness for transient wealth and rank will seldom fail to presume upon them and treat her husband with contempt and her parents-in-law with disdain. High-handed and jealous streaks of her personality will be fostered, leading one day to disaster. Where will it end? How could a man of spirit retain his pride if he got rich by using his wife's assets or gained high station by relying on her inftuence?6 " The current custom favors engagements entered into lightly while the principals are young, sometimes while they ,are still in diapers. There are even 'pointing to the belly ,' prenatal engagements. 7 Sometimes the engagement is repudiated because after the betrothed grow up, one or the other turns out to be unworthy or unreliable or develops a loathsome disease. Other reasons could be that his or her family is so poor that they are cold and hungry, or successive deaths keep them in mourning, or official service takes them far off. Many such broken engagements lead to lawsuits. For these reasons, my late grandfather, the Grand Commandment, once said, 'In my family the boys and girls must be full grown before their marriage is discussed. Within a few 4 Instead of presiding himself, as he would for a capping, he asks a senior relative such as an uncle to do so. By custom, someone had to preside over each side of a marriage, and the law code recognized that this person was more responsible for an illegal marriage than the principals (SHT 14: l 1b). T'ang To (CLHT 3:6b) had the father or mother preside at weddings and Ch'iu Chiin (CLIC 3: 1 b) the grandfather, father, or whoever was family head, a formulation followed by many other authors of revised editions (e.g. , Chia-li i-chien pien, 6a). The important point, one author stressed, was that neither women nor the groom himself serve as presiding man (Ssu-li pien-su, 5b). 5 Lii Wei-ch'i in the Ming urged getting a respectable, responsible person as an interme­ diary, not a lower-class matchmaker (Ssu-li yueh-yen 3:3a). 6 Cf. Yiian Ts'ai in Ebrey, Family and Property, pp. 221-25. 7 Such engagements are arranged between two men whose wives are both pregnant, con­ tingent on the one bearing a boy and the other a girl. This type of engagement is often mentioned in Sung sources and was even given a separate category in a late-Sung guide to forms used in marriage (Hsin-pien hun-Ii pei-yung yueh-lao hsin-shu, ch. 8). 50

-

--

--------;::--

WEDD INGS

months after the betrothal documents are exchanged, the wedding must take place . This way, they will be spared a lifetime of disappointment. This is the procedure my descendants should follow.' " 8 •

2.

P R E S E N T I N G T H E B ET R OT H A L G I FT9

This is the ritual for accepting the selection, known today, in the vernacular, as the engagement. •

The presiding man prepares the betrothal document. The presiding man is the one presiding over the wedding. For the document use the type of fonnal stationery customarily used. 1 0 If the groom is the son of someone in a secondary descent-line, his father fills out the document and infOlIllS the descent-line heir.

•

At dawn he takes it to make a report in the offering hallY The procedure is the same as in the report in the capping ceremony. The prayer board begins the same way, then reads: A's son B (or A's such-type relative C's son B), of so-many years , is full grown but does not have a mate. We have now made plans to take in marriage the daughter of X, of such office, such prefecture. Today we 8 SMSSI 3:29-30, abridged. His grandfather was Ssu-ma Hsiian. The title given is an honorary, posthumous one. Wang Yiian (CLHT 3:6a) in the early Ming added a further complaint about contemporary engagement practices: people used Yin-Yang specialists to make the choice of spouses, thinking that was the way to prosper. Such specialists presum­ ably compared date and hour of birth, a common custom in later times. 9 No reference is made here to what sort of gift this was. TCMHL 5:30 mentions food­ stuffs such as wine and lamb. MLL 20:304 also mentioning jewelry and clothing. These sources also mention counter (or return) gifts, not referred to here. 10 Marriage documents were not used in ancient times but had become common by the T'ang. Examples of the format used in marriage documents are found in Tun-huang docu­ ments and in several Sung and Yiian encyclopedias. Hsin-pien shih-wen lei-yao ch'i-cha ch'ing-ch'ien, pp. 489-92, has models for the intermediary'S letters; engagement letters listing the three generations of patrilineal ancestors, plus mother's name and all titles; letters that list dowry and engagement gifts; and so on. Ssu-ma Kuang objected to marriage docu­ ments that listed more than dates and the name and office of the presiding man and relegated their exchange to an afterthought in the ritual, not making it the center of the rite as Chu Hsi did (SMSSI 3:31). TCMHL 5:30 and MLL 20:304, however, refer to the use of letters much like those in the encyclopedias as the standard practice. Feng Shan (CLCS , 33a, 35a, 36b) included sample documents in his version of the CL, citing the Yiian reference book, Han­ rno ta-ch'uan. CLHT (3, passim) and CLIC (3 , passim) also include many sample docu­ ments. Chu T'ien-ch'iu, in the Ming, said people often turned to others to compose the letters, seeking greater literary style (Chia-li i-chien pien, 6a). Wu Hsien-shen, in the eigh­ teenth century, said only the educated sent letters, others preparing cards accompanied by food, a practice he considered acceptable (Chia-li chi-i, 9a-b). 1 1 CHWLHI 179: 1b and passim for commoners has all of the reports made only to the deceased father. 51

C HAPTER THREE

present the betrothal gift. Unable to overcome our pious feelings, ear­ nestly . . . . "

If the descent-line heir is the one being married, he makes the report in person. •

Next the presiding man sends a younger relative to take a message to the girl ' s family. 12 The presiding man of the girl ' s family comes out to meet the messenger. The messenger is in full attire when he goes to the girl's family. For the girl's family, it is also the descent-line heir who serves as presiding man. He meets the messenger in full attire. The father of the girl (unless he is himself the descent-line heir) sits to the right of the presiding man. If he is of a senior generation, then he sits forward a little; if of a lower one, then he sits slightly behind. After tea has been served, the messenger stands up and says: �

Your honor is kindly giving a wife to B . My such-type relative A, of such office, following the ancestral rituals, has sent me to ask your acceptance of the betrothal gift. 13 One of those accompanying him hands him the document, which he gives to the presiding man. The presiding man answers: My child (or younger sister, niece, grandchild) is stupid and we have not been able to teach her. If his honor orders it, I dare not decline. 14 He turns north and bows twice. The messenger steps aside and does not return the bow. I S He asks pelmission to leave, and on receiving it he takes his appro­ priate place to wait. If the engaged girl is an aunt or elder sister of the presiding man, then he should not say she is stupid and untaught, but the other phrases should be the same. •

Next the presiding man of the girl' s family takes the betrothal docu­ ment and reports its content in his offering hall . The ceremony is the same as the one followed by the groom's family. The prayer board begins the same, then reads: 12 Ibid. , in the rites for commoners, has the intermediary or matchmaker (mei-shih) act as messenger. Feng Shan (CLCS, 34a) says ' 'in current custom people use the matchmaker to take the letter and lamb, wine, and fruit," and other authors of revised versions also ac­ cepted the substitution of the matchmaker here (e. g . , Chia-Ii i-chien pien, 6a). Ch'iu Chiin (CLIC 3:5a) said a younger relative would not have proper standing, complicating etiquette, and so recommended following the current practice of using a marriage guarantor (pao-ch'in che). 13 From I-Ii, "Shih hun-Ii" 6:8b; Steele, 1:36. 1 4 Ibid. IS Because the bow is not really directed to the messenger, but to the groom's father (SMSSI 3 : 3 1 ) . 52

,

,

,

,

, , ,

, ,

j ,

!,

,

, , ,

i

-� 1

" 1

WEDDINGS

X's number so-many daughter (or such-type relative Y's number so­ many daughter) 16 has grown up and is now promised in marriage to B, the son (or such-type relative) of A, of such office, such prefecture. To­ day the presentation of the betrothal gift has taken place. Unable to over­ come our pious feelings, earnestly . . . . •

He goes out and gives the messenger the document of reply . Then he entertains him.

When the presiding man goes out, he invites the messenger to come up into the hall, where he gives him the document of reply. The messenger takes it and asks penllission to leave. The presiding man invites him to stay as a guest and then brings wine and food to serve to him. From this point on, the mes­ senger exchanges bows and salutes with the presiding man, as in everyday guest-host etiquette. Those accompanying him also are entertained, but in a separate room. They are given gratuities. •

The messenger returns with the reply . The presiding man of the groom' s family makes another report at the offering hall .

No prayer is used on this occasion. • 3 . PRESENTING THE VALUABLES

The ancient ritual included the rites of "asking the name" and "presenting the lucky divination. " These cannot be fully perfonned today . To keep things simple and convenient only "presenting the betrothal gift" and "presenting the valuables" are perfOIIIled. 17 •

Prepare the valuables to be presented.

For the valuables, use between two and ten lengths of colored silk, depend­ ing on how rich the family is. Today people use hairpins , bracelets, lamb , wine, fruit, nuts, or the like, which are acceptable alternatives. 1 8 16 Amending the CTCS edition to accord with the HLTC and SKCS ed. 1 7 Ssu-ma Kuang (SMSSI 3) and Ch'eng I (ECC, wen-chi 10:620-2 1) retained all six of the classical rites of marriage, that is, "presenting the betrothal gift" (na-ts' ai) , "asking the name" (wen-ming), "presenting the lucky divination" (na-chi), "presenting the evidence" (na-cheng), "requesting the date" (ch'ing-ch'i) , and "welcoming in person" (ch' in-ying). Chu Hsi may have found a precedent in CHWLHI 179, which reduced the six rites to four, combining rites one and two and rites three and four. As Yang Fu (HLTC 19:24a) noted; Chu Hsi omitted another of the six rites that he did not mention: "requesting the date. " Yang considered this rite essential and offered a set of rules for it, imitating Chu Hsi's style . . Feng Shan (CLCS, 36a) disagreed with Yang on the grounds that the matchmaker would have set the date during earlier negotiations, making a special rite unnecessary. Ch'iu Chiin (CLIC 3 : 1 3b) concurred with Yang. 18 SMSSI 3:32 retained the classical deer skin in addition to silk. See TCMHL 5:30-31 and MLL 20:304-305 for more detailed accounts of the successive exchanges of wine, meat, fish, clothing, jewelry, and money. The limitation at ten lengths of silk is probably based 53

CHAPTER THREE •

Prepare the document and send a messenger with the list to the girl' s family . 19 The girl 's family receives the document and prepares a reply . They entertain the guest. The messenger returns with the reply, as in presenting the betrothal gift.

The etiquette is like that followed in presenting the betrothal gift, with these exceptions . Do not make a report at the ancestral hall . In the speech of the messenger, change "betrothal gift" to "valuables . " A follower hands the document listing the valuables to the messenger, who gives it to the presiding man. The presiding man replies: His honor, following the ancestral regulations, is conferring on me these precious valuables, which I do not dare decline. Dare I refuse his com­ mands? Then he accepts the document and his attendants receive the valuables. The presiding man bows twice, and the messenger steps aside to avoid accepting the honor. The messenger again comes forward and asks for his instructions. The presiding man hands him a written reply. 20 •

4 . W E LCOMI N G I N P ER S O N 2 1

•

On the day before the wedding , the bride's family sends people to lay out the dowry furnishings in the groom' s chamber.22 on the phrase in Chou-Ii, "Mei-shih" 14: 16b, that not more than five pairs of cloth lengths should be given for betrothal gifts. The minimum number was two because everything as­ sociated with marriage comes in pairs. That a few lengths of colored silk was considered a rather slight gift among Sung shih-ta-fu is also indicated by the question to this effect posed by a student of Chu Hsi in YL 89:2273. 1 9 Weng T' ai-shih pu-hsuan wen-kung chia-Ii 3:4a gives a sample gift list document. 20 Feng Shan (CLCS, 35b-37a) and Ch'iu Chiin (CLIC 3: 1 1a) thought a report at the offering hall should be made when the valuables are presented. Feng Shan also said it was customary to send out invitations to invite neighbors, relatives, and friends to a party to celebrate the engagement. 2 1 ARCLIC (3:9b) added before "welcoming in person" the rite of "hastening the dowry," since it was given in the Ta-Ming hui-tien. This popular rite, also common in the Sung, was done two or three days before the wedding itself; the groom's family would prepare a list of the presents and send a messenger and the matchmaker to take it to the girl's family to encourage them to move quickly with dowry preparations (TCMHL 5:3(}-3 1 , MLL 20:305). 22 In WC 69:31b-32b, Chu Hsi described the ritual used when a son-in-law surnamed Chao came to get his bride. Largely it follows the prescription given here, but there is no mention of a goose or reports to the offering hall. There is also a reference to the groom raising the bride's veil, not found in CL. The son-in-law surnamed Chao could have been either Chao Shih-hsia or Chao Shih-jo, each of whom married one of Chu Hsi's granddaugh­ ters (Mien-chai chi 36:48a). Chu Hsi said in YL 89:2273-74 that he preferred Ch'eng I's instructions. for welcoming in person to Ssu-ma Kuang's because Ssu-ma Kuang had the bride immediately introduced to the image hall. Ch'eng I's are found in ECC wen-chi 10:621-22. Much of the description given here, however, is based closely on SMSSI 3:33-37. 54

j , ,

;

11

,

1 .i

•

WEDDINGS

In the vernacular this is called " making up the room. " The only things that should be displayed are objects of ordinary use such as blankets, coverlets , curtains, and screens. Clothes should be locked in cases and not displayed. 23 The honorable Ssu-ma [Kuang] said, "Wen-chung Tzu [Wang T'ung] said, 'To consider finances in arranging a marriage is the way of the barbarians.'24 'Marriage is for the good relations of two surnames that are joined. Above, it allows one to serve the ancestral temple; below, it provides for the continua­ tion of the line of descendants .' 25 Nowadays, it is the custom for covetous and vulgar people first to ask about the value of the dowry when selecting a bride and the amount of the wedding present when marrying a daughter. Some even draw up a contract saying "such goods, in such numbers , such goods, in such numbers," thereby treating their daughters as an item in a sales transaction.26 There are also cases where people go back on their agreements after the wed­ ding is over. These are the methods used by brokers dealing in male and fe­ male bondservants . How can such a transaction be called a gentleman-official (shih-ta-fu) marriage? "When the parents-in-law have been deceived, they will maltreat the daughter-in-law as a way to vent their fury. Fearing this, those who love their daughter put together generous dowries in the hope of pleasing her parents-in­ law, not realizing that such covetous, vulgar people are insatiable. When the dowry is depleted, what use will the bride be to these parents-in-law? They will then 'pawn' her to get further payment from her family. Her family's wealth has a limit, but their demands will never stop. Therefore, families linked by marriage often end up enemies. "For all these reasons, it is the custom for people to be pleased when sons are born and sorry when daughters are born, so sorry that sometimes they do 23 Ssu-ma Kuang added that in current custom all items of furniture (beds, benches, ta­ bles, chairs) were the responsibility of the groom's family, while all the bedding, curtains, and so on were supplied by the girl's family. He criticized the custom of displaying the dowry clothes as vulgar boastfulness, more understandable among maidservants than people of refinement (SMSSI 3:33). Lu T'ung-shen in the nineteenth century reported that in his region (I-hsing, Kiangsu), the groom's family totally cleaned out the room except for the bed, the bride's family supplying everything else (Ssu-li i i-lun, 3). 24 Wang T'ung (584?-617) was a Confucian philosopher admired by Ssu-ma Kuang and other Northern Sung scholars. See Wechsler, "The Confucian Teacher Wang T'ung," pp. 225-72. This passage is found in Chung-shuo 1 : 1 1 . 2S From Li-chi, "Shih hun-li" 61 :4b; Legge, 2:428. 26 MLL 20:304 said that the marriage document a girl's family returned on agreeing to an engagement routinely listed furnishings, jewelry, bedding, land, houses, gardens, and so on. For a sample of such a document, see Hsin-pien shih-wen lei-chii han-rno ta-ch' iian, i 18:6b-7a. The author of this work, Liu Ying-li (d. 1 3 1 1 ) , mentioned that considering fi­ nances in marriage negotiations had been condemned as barbarian. He therefore put the contract at the very end of the eighteen chapters on marriage to underline its vulgarity. He noted, however, that before an engagement was settled it was customary to have a document fully listing the dowry and engagement gifts, including the exact quantity of land, maidser­ vants , lengths of silk, items of jewelry, and so on. 55

C HAPTER THREE

not raise them. 27 Thus, if in negotiating a marriage the other side brings up finances, proceed no further. "28 •

At dawn the groom' s family lays out place settings in the groom's chamber.

Set tables and armrests for two places, facing each other east and west. 29 Put out vegetables, fruit, cups and saucers , spoons, and chopsticks , as one would to entertain a guest. The wine jug goes at the rear of the east setting. On the south side of the table place the "joined nuptial cup," and place a wash pan and ladle on both the north and south. In the east comer of the room set another wine jug. In the hall or in another room put cups and a decanter, which will be used to entertain the followers. The "nuptial cup" is made by splitting a gourd in two. 30 •

The bride' s family sets up places outside . As the sun goes down, the groom puts on full attire. 31

The current custom is for the new groom to wear a flower crown that ob­ scures his face. This makes him appear very unmasculine and should not be practiced. 32 •

The presiding man makes a report in the offering hall . ,

The procedure is the same as used in presenting the betrothal gift except that the prayer board, after opening the same way, has "A's son B , or A's such­ type relative C's son B , will today personally welcome the daughter of X family, of such office, such prefecture. Unable to overcome my pious feel­ ings, earnestly. . . . " When the descent-line heir is the one marrying, he makes the report him­ self. •

Then he pledges the groom and orders him to go to welcome the bride.

First the wine, decanter, and cups and saucers are set out on a table in the hall. The presiding man, in full attire, sits on the eastern side of the hall, facing A euphemistic phrase for infanticide. On infanticide in the Sung, see Eichorn, "Some Notes on Population Control During the Sung Dynasty." 28 SMSSI 3:33. In the seventeenth century Sun Ch'i-feng complained that people would spend a thousand pieces of gold for a daughter's dowry but be unwilling to spend a few pieces for a son's education. See Chia-li cho, lOb. 29 SMSSI 3:33 has chairs instead of arm rests. 30 TCMHL 5 : 3 1 and MLL 20:306 refer instead to ordinary cups tied together with a rib­ bon. 3 1 Ch'iu Chiin (CLIC 3:38b) noted that many people did not realize that weddings had to take place at dusk and asked astrologers (Yin-Yang experts) to select the hour for the cere­ mony. 32 SMSSI 3:34 adds that wearing one or two flowers would be acceptable. The flower crown is described as standard in TCMHL 5 : 3 1 . 27

56

.3,

WEDDINGS

west. He sets the mat for the groom to the northwest, facing south. The groom goes up the western steps and stands to the west of the mat and faces south. The assistant takes the cup, pours the wine, and brings it to the front of the groom's matY The groom bows twice, goes onto the mat, still facing south, and accepts the cup. Kneeling, he offers it in sacrifice. He then rises and goes to the end of the mat where he kneels and sips the wine. After rising, he gets off the mat to the west, hands the cup to the assistant, bows again twice, and goes to the front of his father's seat. Turning to the east to face him, he kneels. His father instructs him: Go to welcome your helpmate, so that I may fulfill my duties to my ancestors. Do your best to lead her, with due respect, for you then will gain steadiness. 34 The groom replies: I will. My only"fear is that I am not equal to the task. I will not dare to forget your command. 35 •

He prostrates himself, then rises and leaves. When the groom is not the descent-line heir's son, it is the descent-line heir who makes the report in the offering hall, but the groom' s father who pledges him, using his private room, and changing the term "duties to ancestors" to "family duties. " When the descent-line heir is orphaned and conducts his own marriage , the pledging ritual is omitted. •

The groom leaves the house and mounts his horse .

The road ahead is illuminated by two candles. •

When he gets to the bride' s home he waits at his place .

At the gate to her house he dismounts his horse, then enters to wait at his place. •

The presiding man of the bride 's family makes a report in his offering hall .

The procedure is the same as in presenting the betrothal gift, except that the prayer board, after the same opening, reads: X's number so-many daughter (or X's relative Y's number so-many daughter) will on this day go in marriage to B of such office, such prefec­ ture. Unable to overcome my pious feelings, earnestly . . . . SMSSI 3:34 says that each of the families selects a female relative through marriage who is familiar with ritual to act as "assistant" and guide the bride and groom through the rites. 34 Based on I-li, "Shih hun-li" 6: l la-b; Steele, 1 :38. 35 Ibid. 33

57

C H A PT E R T H R E E •

Then he pledges the bride and instructs her. The bride is fully dressed up. After her duenna inspects her, they stand outside the room, facing south.36 Her father sits on the east side, facing west, her mother across the way on the west side, facing east. The girl's mat is set to the northeast of the mother, facing south. The assistant offers her wine, as in the rite for the groom. The duenna leads the girl to the left of the mother. Her father rises and instructs her with these words: Be respectful, be cautious. Morning to night, never deviate from the commands of your parents-in-law. 37 Her mother walks her to the top of the western steps, straightens her cap, and arranges her cape. She instructs her with these words: Be diligent. Be respectful. Morning to night, never deviate from the proprieties of the women's quarters . 38 Her uncles' wives, her aunts, her elder brothers' wives, and her elder sisters walk her to the inner door. They arrange her skirt and gown and elaborate on the instructions of her father and mother: Pay careful attention to your parents' words. From morning to night never err. 39 When the bride is not the descent-line heir's daughter, it is the descent-line heir who makes the report in the offering hall, but her father who pledges her, using his private room, following the ceremony given here .40

•

The presiding man goes out to greet the groom. When the groom enters, he makes an offering of a wild goose . The presiding man greets the groom outside the gate. Saluting and defer­ ring, he brings him inside. The groom follows with the goose in his hands. When they get to the reception hall, the presiding man goes up via the cere­ monial steps and stands facing west, and the groom goes up the western steps and turns north. Kneeling, he places the goose on the floor. The presiding man's servants receive it. The groom prostrates himself, rises, then bows twice. The presiding man does not return this bow.41 36 SMSSI 3:34 says the duenna should be the girl's nurse or an old female servant.

37 Based on I-Ii, "Shih hun-li" 6: l lb; Steele, 1 :39. Note that the bride is pledged by her own father while the groom was pledged by the descent-line heir. 38 Based on /-li, "Shih hun-li" 6: 1 2a; Steele I, 1 :39. 39 Ibid. Ch'iu Chiin (CLIC 3: 19b-20a) offers colloquial alternatives for all of these in­ structions. 40 Ch 'iu Chiin (CLIC 3:20a-b) considered it unnatural for the daughter not to say goodbye to her parents, and so added farewells here. Ku Kuang-yii (Ssu-Ii ch'ueh-i 3:6a) objected to this addition on the grounds that farewells were implicit in the whole pledging ceremony. 41 Ch'eng I (ECC, wen-chi 10:62 1 ) has the groom at this point presented to the bride's ancestors, then her relatives. Chu Hsi, in YL 89:2273, disapproved of this procedure. Sun •

58

· ·

,

:

·

i

;

1

1 l

•

WEDDINGS

If the bride is from a secondary descent-line, her father follows the presid­ ing man to do the greeting, standing to the presiding man's right, slightly forward if he is senior, slightly behind if he is junior. For the token, use of a live wild goose, with its head to the left, decorated with bright colored silk ribbons. If a live one is unavailable, use one carved from wood. 42 The significance of the goose comes from their traveling in Yin­ Yang order, though Master Ch'eng said the significance was that geese do not take a second mate.43 •

The duenna takes the girl out to climb into the conveyance . The duenna takes the girl through the inner door, where the groom salutes her.44 They come down the western steps, the presiding man staying above. The groom then leads and the bride follows . He raises the curtain of the sedan chair to await her.45 The duenna says, "She has not been taught and is unable to participate in ceremonies. "46 The bride then gets in the conveyance.

•

The groom mounts his horse and leads the way for the bridal conveyance. The bridal conveyance is also preceded by two candlesY

•

When they arrive at his house he leads the bride in . The groom first goes to the reception hall, where he waits for the bride to get down from her conveyance. He salutes her, then leads her in.48 Ch'i-feng in the seventeenth century thought the bride's father should return the bow (Chia­ Ii cha, l la-b). 42 The Ming commentator thought this last phrase must be an error since a wooden goose would resemble a token of dead meat, considered unlucky. He proposed substituting a do­ mestic goose if a wild one could not be had (HLTCEV 19:24b), a substitution that had also been recommended by Wang Yuan (CLHT 3 : 17a) and Ch'iu Chun (CLIC 3:20b). CHWLHI 179:2a says commoners can substitute a chicken or other foul for the goose, an idea repeated through the nineteenth century (e.g. , Ssu-Ii pien-su, Sa-b). 43 ECC, i-shu 24:3 15. In YL 85:2197, Chu Hsi said the real significance of the goose was that in weddings one used the trappings of those a rank higher, and so shih brought a wild goose, which was the token nonnally brought by ta-fu (great officers). Feng Shan (CLCS, 47a) argued that two geese should be presented tied together on the principle of using pairs in the marriage rituals. 44 T'ang To (CLHT 3 : 1 5b) said families without duennas could choose a married woman relative versed in ritual to take her place, accompanied by a maid. ARCLIC (3:14a) has her face veiled, a common custom also in Sung times. On this custom, see also Ku Kuang-yu (Ssu-Ii ch'ueh-i 3 : IOb--l la). 4S As SMSSI 3:35 notes, the groom here is acting the part of a servant. Ssu-ma Kuang disapproved of the custom of using sedan chairs instead of carriages and argued that only those who got car sick in carriages should use them. 46 From /-Ii, "Shih hun-Ii" 6: 1 2b; Steele, 1 :39. 47 Ch'eng I (ECC, wen-chi 10:62 1 ) recommended torches bright enough to light the road. 48 Feng Shan (CLCS, 48a) disapproved of this salute, noting that even the men marrying imperial princesses did not salute them, according to the Ming ritual code. 59

C H A PTER THREE •

The bride and groom bow to each other.

The bride's followers spread out the groom's mat on the east side . The groom's followers spread out the bride's mat on the west side. The groom's wash basin is on the south . The bride' s followers pour water into it and hand him a towel. The bride's wash basin is on the north. The groom's followers pour water into it and hand her a towel. 49 The groom, with a salute, beckons the bride to go to her mat. She bows, and he returns her bow. 50 •

They take their seats . When the eating and drinking is done , the groom leaves.

The groom, with a salute, beckons the bride to take her seat. The groom is on the east, the bride on the west. 5 1 The followers pour wine and set out dishes of food. The groom and bride sacrifice the wine and the food. 52 The wine is refilled, and the groom, with a salute, beckons the bride to take and drink it. This time they do not sacrifice it or take food. Next the two parts of the joined nuptial cup are put in front of the bride and groom. Wine is poured into them. The groom, with a salute, beckons the bride to raise her cup to drink it, not sacrificing or eating. Afterward, the groom goes out to another room, while the duenna and the bride stay behind in the chamber. The remainder of the food is put outside the chamber, where the groom's followers eat what the bride left, and the bride' s followers eat what the groom left. 53 •

When the groom reenters the chamber, he takes off his clothes. The candles are removed .

When the groom takes off his clothes , the bride's followers receive them. When the bride takes off her clothes, the groom's followers receive them. 54 49 SMSSI

3:36 says the followers lead the bride and groom through these steps to help them overcome their embarrassment in each other's presence. T'ang To (CLHT 3 : l5a) has a married female relative guide them. Feng Shan (CLCS, 48b) has the groom raise the bride's veil. 50 SMSSI 3:36 notes that this exchange of bows is based on contemporary custom, not classical prescriptions. In YL 89:2274 someone asked Chu Hsi who was right, Ssu-ma Kuang, who had the wife first bow to the husband, or Ch'eng I, who had the husband first bow to the wife. Chu Hsi said the wife should start with two bows and the husband respond with one bow, after which they both repeat themselves. Ch'eng 1's description of the bowing is in ECC, wen-chi 10:622. 5 1 The late Ming Chia-li t'ung-hsing provides a diagram showing all the women in the family lined up on either side of the room, each in specific places according to kinship position, and the men in the outer courtyard. 52 Wine is sacrificed by being poured on the ground. 53 SMSSI 3:36 says that family maids should serve as the "followers." This description of what happens when the bride and groom are in the room bears little resemblance to con­ temporary descriptions of wedding customs, which were much more boisterous. See Chi-Ie pien 1 :7; TCMHL 5:30--3 1 ; MLL 20:306-307. 54 Feng Shan (CLCS , 49b) said eminent families might be able to carry out this ritual, but

; ,

• •

• •

, ; J •

1

60 •

. .

W E D D I NGS

The venerable Ssu-ma [Kuang] said, " The Old Poem says, 'They tied up their hair and became husband and wife.'55 This means that they had been husband and wife since their youth when they first bound their hair. 56 The usage is the same as Li Kuang saying he had bound his hair when he fought the Hsiung-nu. 57 Today at weddings there is the ceremony of 'binding the hair. '58 What a silly error! "59 It should not be practiced. •

Meanwhile, the presiding man entertains the guests . The male guests are in the outer quarters, the female guests in the inner hall. 60

•

5 . T H E B RI D E I s P R E S E N T E D T O H E R P A R E N T S - I N - LAW

•

The next day , having risen at dawn, the bride is presented to her parents-in-Iaw.61 The bride gets up at dawn and in full attire waits to be presented. The father­ and mother-in-law sit in the hall, facing each other on the east and west sides . A table is set in front of each of them. Everyone in the family junior to the parents-in-law is lined up, the men and boys on one side, the women and girls on the other, in the order used in the capping ceremony.62 The bride comes forward and stands at the base of the ceremonial steps. Facing north, she bows to her father-in-law. She ascends the stairs and lays a token of silk on the table. The father-in-law feels it, and his servants take it inside. The bride goes down the steps, bows, then goes to the base of the western steps, where she faces the families of gentlemen (shih) and commoners would have to follow the custom of having the bride and groom join the assembled guests after their wine and food in the chamber. 55 Wen hsuan 29:638. 56 The CTCS edition has a misprint of mu, "eye," for tzu, "since." 57 Han shu 54:2447. In other words, it referred to the age at which one first became an adult. 58 This ceremony is described in TCMHL 5:31 as taking hair from the bride and groom and forming a single top-knot out of it. It seems to be a case of a rite developing from a misunderstanding of a literary allusion. 59 SMSSI 3:37 . Cf. ECC, i-shu 10: 1 13 , where Ch'eng I condemns the ceremony of bind­ ing the hair in much the same terms. 60 SMSSI 3:37 adds the classical prohibition on music at weddings, which Ssu-ma Kuang noted was widely violated in his day. Although Ch'eng I (ECC, i-shu 18:244) also repeated this prohibition, Chu Hsi for some reason did not. In TCMHL 5:31 and MLL 20:306 musi­ cians accompany the groom to the wife's family and play to urge her to get ready. Some later writers thought people went too far in entertaining guests at weddings. Lii Wei-ch'i urged inviting only five or six and definitely not more than twenty, noting that many people invited up to a hundred (Ssu-li yueh-yen 2:2a). Others, however, said simply to follow local custom (e. g . , Chia-li i-chien pien, lOa) or be moderate in entertaining (Ssu-li pien-su, 7a). 61 ARCLIC (3:17b) eliminated the words "the next day, having risen at dawn," so that this ceremony came directly after the joined nuptial cups and bows. 62 I.e. , in rows by generation, and in each row by age, the oldest toward the center of the room. 61

•

C H APTER THREE

north and bows to her mother-in-law. She ascends the stairs and lays down a token of silk. 63 The mother-in-law picks it up and gives it to a servant. After the bride goes down the stairs, she bows again.64 If the groom lives with the descent-line heir but is not his son, then this ceremony is perfOlmed in the private room of the parents-in-law. When he does not live with the descent-line heir, the above procedures may be fol­ lowed. •

The parents-in-law entertain her. The procedures are like those used when the parents pledged their daughter.

•

The bride is presented to the family elders . Once the bride has been entertained, she leaves via the western steps. If there are any relatives senior to the parents-in-law living in the same house with them, then they take the bride to be presented to them in their rooms, following the etiquette used when she was presented to the parents-in-law. When they return she bows to her seniors lined up on both sides, as in the capping ritual. No token is used. Younger brothers and sisters of her husband bow back to her. When the groom lives with the descent-line heir but is not his son, then once the bride has been entertained, she goes to the descent-line heir's room and bows to him, as she did to the parents-in-law. On her return she is pre­ sented to the two ranks. When the descent-line heir and the elders do not live together, then she is presented in the ancestral altar before she goes to see them. 65

•

If she is the wife of the eldest son, she serves food to her p arents-in­ law. 66 63 Instead of silk, SMSSI 4:39 retains the classical gifts of food. The commentator of the 1732 ed. suggests the bride can give fruit, handkerchiefs, shoes, or whatever is the common custom. 64 Wang Yiian (CLHT 3:20a), Ch'iu Chiin (CLIC 3:24a), the Ming commentator (HLTCEV 19:25b), and others revise this to have the groom also participate, as in current custom. The commentators of the 1732 ed. of the CL disagreed. 65 In popular practice, brides seem also to have been presented to the household gods, such as the well, stove, and gate gods. See Shih-lin kuang-chi, "ch'ien-chi" 1O:6a. 66 SMSSI 4:40 had all wives perform this ceremony, the only distinction being that the wife of the eldest son used the ceremonial steps in coming down after the meal. Ssu-ma Kuang recognized that in ancient times this rite was reserved for the eldest son's wife but argued that serving food was something appropriate to all wives. ARCLIC (3:2a) made much the same argument, also adding that the current regulations for the weddings of princes made no distinctions among daughters-in-law by seniority, something also true in the Sung (see CHWLHI I74 : 1 1b-12b). 62

WEDDINGS

On this day, at meal time, the bride's family supplies a full meal and wine jars. 67 The bride's followers set out a table with vegetables and fruit in the hall in front of the parents-in-law. They place the wash basin to the southeast of the ceremonial steps and the towel rack to the east. Once the parents-in-law have taken their seats, the bride washes her hands and goes up via the western steps. She washes the cups, pours the wine, and puts a cup of it on her father­ in-law's table. She goes back down, waiting for him to finish drinking. Then, bowing again, she serves her mother-in-law. She brings the wine, and her mother-in-law receives it. After she finishes drinking, the bride goes down. She bows, then takes the meal up and offers it to her parents-in-law. She waits in attendance behind her mother-in-law. When they are finished eating, the bride removes the rice. Servants take away the remainder of the meal and distribute it to the other rooms . The bride eats what the mother-in-law left, her followers eat what the father-in-law left, and the groom' s followers also eat . what the bride left. When the groom is not the son of the descent-line heir, this ceremony is performed in a private room. •

The parents-in-law feast the bride . The procedure is the same as when they entertained the bride . When com­ pleted, the parents-in-law leave first, using the western steps while the bride follows, using the ceremonial steps. 68

• •

6.

P R E S E N TATIoN AT T H E F A M I LY S HR I N E69

On the third day the presiding man takes the bride to be presented at the offering halPo Men of ancient times conducted the presentation at the temple after three months. Today, because that is so long, it has been changed to the third day. 7 1 67 MLL 20:307 describes a variant of this practice, but on the third day. 68 This is of course a reversal of the usual precedence. 69 Chu Hsi uses the term "family shrine" (chia miao) presumably to conform to the clas­ sical ritual texts. As he himself noted at the beginning of chapter 1 , most people were not eligible to erect family shrines. The subsequent instructions refer to the offering hall. 70 SMSSI 3:36 says that this ceremony was commonly called "bowing to the ancestral spirits" and was performed as soon as the bride entered the groom's home. CHWLHI 179:4a-b also has the bride introduced to the ancestors on arriving at the house. Feng Shan (CLCS, 48b) admitted that Chu Hsi rejected introducing the bride to the ancestors immedi­ ately but thought it did no harm and could be practiced. ARCLIC (3: 1 6b) also has the bride introduced immediately, citing the fact that the Ta-Ming hui-tien had empresses and consorts of princes introduced immediately. Ch'iu Chiin (CLIC 3 :29a) and the Ming commentator (HLTCEV 19:26a) suggested that the groom accompany the bride for the presentation, as in the common custom, a suggestion followed by some revised versions (e. g . , Chia-li i-chien pien, l la). 7 1 Cf. YL 89:2273-74. 63

C H AP T E R T H R E E

The procedure is like that used when a capped son is presented, except the phrases of the report are changed to: "My son B ' s bride of X surname presumes t0 appear. . . . " ,

TH E

• 7. •

GROOM Is P R E S E N T E D TO T H E WIFE ' S P A R E N T S

The next day the groom goes to see his wife ' s parents . 72 The bride' s father, in welcoming him and sending him off and in saluting and deferring, follows the ordinary etiquette for guests . The groom bows, then kneels, then takes his hand. They enter, and he is presented to his wife's mother. She is standing inside the left door to the inner quarters. The groom bows outside the door. All parties give gifts of silk. When the bride's father is not the descent-line heir, the groom is first pre­ sented to the descent-line heir and his wife. The procedure is the same except no presents of silk are made. Only afterward is he presented to his wife's parents . 73

•

Next he is presented to his wife ' s relatives. No gifts of silk are made. The women are seen as in the previous ceremony.

•

The bride' s family entertains the groom, as in ordinary etiquette . On the evening when he comes to welcome the bride, the groom should not be presented to the bride's mother or other relatives or be served wine or food. The reason is that the bride has not yet been presented to her parents-in-law. Presumably this is the fourth day after the wedding, the day after the presentation to the ancestors. SMSSI 4:41 had it the day after the wedding, probably reflecting current practice. Ch' eng I also had the visit the day after the wedding, even though the bride was not presented to the ancestors until the third month. This rite is not mentioned in the classics but seems to have become common practice well before the Sung. The date it took place varied by region and period. This meeting could take place on the 1st, 3d, 7th, or 9th day (MLL 20:307; TCMHL 5:3 1-32). One Ch'ing author reported that in his area this return visit occurred after one or two months (Ssu-li i i-lun, 3). The Ming commentator (HLTCEV 19:26a) recommended following the Cheng-shih chia-li and having the bride accompany her husband to visit her family, a suggestion followed by some revised versions (e. g . , Chia-li i­ chien pien, l la-b) . 73 Ch'iu Chiln (CLIC 3:30b) here added presentation of the groom at the wife's family's offering hall. ARCLIC (3:21a-b) explained that the wife had been presented to the groom's temple, so he should be to hers, for "men and women both have ancestors." 72

64

o

CHAPTER FOUR

Funerals • • • • •

AB STRACT 1.

The Beginning of the End

When the illness becomes acute, the dying person is moved to the main room. Once he has expired, the mourners wail, then perform the calling-back ceremony . The presiding mourner, the presiding female mourner, the funeral director, the letter recorder, and the gift recorder are all identified. Everyon_ e..;.a�� !!!.§..or her :(­ _ _::-:.= ."eating. The coffin is prepared, and announcements of the death {are sent to relatives, colleagues, and friends. --

,,,-,,_ , �:�_:_- :: __ ,-cc--=-, :

___

.

'

2 . The Washing and Dressing of the Body, the Oblation, the Places, and the Rice in the Mouth Attendants set up curtains by the bed, move the body , and dig a hole . They lay out the burial clothes and the utensils for washing the body and putting rice in the mouth. Next they do the washing, dress the body, and move the bier with the body on it to the center of the hall. An oblation is then set out. All the mourners from the presiding mourner on down take their places to wail . Rice is then put in the mouth of the body. A servant finishes dressing the body and covers it with a shroud. 3 . The Soul Seat, the Soul Cloth, and the

Inscribed Banner

The soul seat, soul cloth, and inscribed banner are made. Buddhist services should not be performed. At this point, close and personal friends may enter to wail. 4 . The Preliminary Laying Out The next morning the attendants lay out the clothes and shrouds for the preliminary laying out. An oblation is set out. Hemp hair binding, hair bands, and hemp hair ties are prepared. Next an oblation for the dressing of the body is made. Afterward the preliminary laying out is performed. The presiding male and female mourners embrace the body, wail, and beat their breasts . Then they bare their shoulders and put on the hemp hair binding, hair bands, and hemp hair ties in another chamber. The bier is moved to the middle of the room and another oblation is made. All those from the presiding mourner on down wail to the full extent of their grief, then wail by turns so that the sound never stops. 5 . The Final Laying Out The following morning the attendants lay out the clothes and shrouds for the final laying out and the utensils for the oblation. The coffin is raised, brought into the hall, and placed a little to the west of the center. Then the final laying out is per65

C H A PTER F O U R fOlmed . The soul seat is set to the east of the coffin and an oblation is set out. All the mourners from the presiding mourner on down take up their mourning places. At this point the wailing by turns is ended.

6. Putting on the Mourning Garments The next morning those in the five mourning grades put on the mourning garments appropriate to them, then enter and take up their places . From then on in the morn­ ing they wail and condole with each other according to etiquette . In the system of mourning garments the first is called " untrimmed sackcloth "

and involves obli­

gations for three years. The second grade is called "even sackcloth " and is worn for three years, for a year with the staff, a year without the staff, five months, or three months . The third is called "greater processed cloth" and is worn for nine months . The fourth is called "lesser processed cloth" and is worn for five months . The fifth is called ' ' fine hemp" and is worn for three months. Generally, mourning obligations are reduced one degree for those who die young. Men who have been adopted out and daughters who have been married out reduce the mourning to the relatives of their natal families by one degree, and these relatives do the same toward them. On the day for putting on mourning garments the presiding mourner and his brothers begin to eat gruel . Those who suffer a loss that deserves light mourning while still wearing heavy mourning for someone else change into the light mourning clothes and wail for the deceased. At each new moon they set up a place , put on the light mourning garment, and wail, reverting to the heavy mourn­ ing clothes afterward. When it is time to take off the heavy mourning clothes , they revert to the light mourning garments. If at this time the light mourning period is not over, then they wear light mourning to the end of the period.

7. Wailing, Presenting Oblations Each Morning and Evening, and

Offering Meals Every morning an oblation is made , at meals food is offered, and in the evening another oblation is made. Wailing may be done at any time . On the day of the new moon, dishes of food are set out during the morning oblation, and fresh foods are offered when they become available.

8. Condoling and Offering Gifts and Contributions Those who condole should all wear plain clothes . For presents they use incense, tea, candles , wine, or fruit. For contributions they use money or silk. A calling card is prepared to inform the mourners of the condoler' s name . After entering, the visitor wails and makes an oblation , then condoles and leaves .

9. Receiving Information of a Death and Hurrying to the Funeral On first learning of a parent' s death, one wails, then changes clothes and departs. On the road, the bereaved wails whenever grief is felt and also on catching sight of the prefectural boundary , the county boundary , the city, and the home . On entering the gate, he goes to the front of the coffin, bows twice, then changes his clothes twice, and takes up his place for wailing . After four days he puts on the mourning garments . When there is a delay before departing, the bereaved sets up

66

· >

•

FUNERALS

a place and changes clothes but does not offer oblations. The procedures on the road and at the home are as given above. If the deceased has already been buried when he arrives, the bereaved first goes to the grave, wails, and bows. Those who owe untrimmed sackcloth or lighter mourning should set up a station where they are and wail on learning of the death. Those of them who go to the funeral proceed to the home of the deceased to put on mourning garments . Those who do not go to the funeral put on the mourning garments on the fourth day. 10. Preparing for the Burial After three months the body is buried. Prior to that a suitable site and day for the burial are selected. After the grave is opened, the god of the earth is worshipped. The vault is dug and the cement liner laid down. The inscription stone, funerary objects, underworld furnishings, tray, baskets, earthenware jars, catafalque, shades, and tablet are all prepared. 1 1 . Moving the Coffin, Visiting the Ancestors, Offering the Contributions, Setting Out the Utensils, and Making Offerings to the Ancestors The day before the departure, the moving of the coffin is reported at the morning oblation. The coffin is lifted and presented to the ancestors, after which it is moved to the reception hall . As the mourners wail by turns, relatives and friends present gifts and contributions. The equipment is arranged, and in the late afternoon an oblation to the ancestors is set out. 12 . The Sending-Away Oblation The next morning at dawn the coffin is moved to the catafalque. At that point the sending-away oblation is set out. The liturgist carries the soul cloth onto the car­ riage and burns incense. 13. The Procession When the coffin travels, the male and female mourners , from the presiding ones on down, walk behind it, wailing. The seniors come after the other mourners, followed by relatives without mourning obligations, then guests . Relatives and friends set up a tent beyond the city wall on the side of the road as a resting place for the coffin; they make an oblation there. On the road, the mourners wail when­ ever grief is felt. 14. Arriving at the Grave Site, Lowering the Coffin, Worshipping the God of the Earth, 1nscribing the Wooden Tablet, and Forming the Mound Before the arrival attendants erect the soul tent. Friends and relatives take their stations. The women's tent is also made. The demon-quellers arrive, then the fu­ nerary objects and so on, then the soul carriage. [The liturgist] sets out the oblation and withdraws. When the coffin arrives, the principal male and female mourners take up their stations to wail. The guests bow, take their leave, and return home. Next the coffin is lowered into the grave. The presiding mourner presents gifts. Covers for the inside and outside cement liners are added, and the grave pit filled 67

C H APTER FOUR

with cement. The soil is gradually pounded to make it solid. The god of the earth is worshipped to the left of the grave. The funerary objects and other things are placed in the grave, and the inscription stone is lowered into it. Again more soil is put in and pounded until hard. After the tablet is inscribed, the liturgist takes it onto the carriage. Once the attendants clear away the soul seat, the procession begins. The mound is four feet tall. In front of it is erected a small stone stele, which is also four feet tall with a base about a foot high. 15. Returning to Wail Wailing, the mourners from the presiding mourner on down carry the soul carriage and walk slowly down the road. They wail on arriving at the house. The liturgist brings the spirit tablet in and puts it on the soul seat. The mourners, from the presiding mourner on down, wail in the reception room, then go before the soul seat and wail. Those who come to condole are greeted as before. From this point on, those with one year or nine months of mourning can drink wine and eat meat but not go to parties . Those in lesser processed cloth or lower mourning, along with those in greater processed cloth who live separately, may all return home. 16. The Sacrifices ofRepose While the mourners, from the presiding mourner on down, all bathe, attendants arrange the utensils and prepare the dishes of food. The liturgist takes out the spirit tablet and puts it on the seat. The mourners, from the presiding mourner on down, all come in, wailing . The spirits are invoked, then the liturgist brings the dishes of food forward. The first, second, and final offerings are made. The spirits are urged to eat. Then the mourners , from the presiding mourner on down, all leave, and the liturgist closes the door. When he reopens it, the mourners, from the presiding mourner on down, enter, wail, and take leave of the spirits. The liturgist buries the soul cloth. From this point on, the morning and evening oblations are no longer performed. On the next "weak" day the second sacrifice of repose is made, and . on the next " strong" day after that, the third sacrifice. 1 7. The Cessation of Wailing Sacrifice On the next strong day after the three sacrifices of repose, the cessation of wailing is performed. The day before, the utensils are arranged and the dishes of food prepared. When it is fully bright, the liturgist takes out the tablets . The mourners, from the presiding mourner on down, all enter, wailing. After the spirits are in­ voked, the presiding mourner and the presiding female mourner bring the dishes of food. The first, second, and final offerings are made. The spirits are urged to eat, and the door is closed. When it is opened, the mourners take leave of the spirits. From this point on, the mourners do not wail when they feel grief during the middle of the day. Also, from this time on, the presiding mourner and his brothers eat coarse vegetables and drink water, refraining from finer vegetables or fruit. They sleep on finer mats and use pillows of wood. 18. The Sacrifice for Associating the Tablet The day after the cessation of wailing, the association sacrifice is performed. Once the sacrifice of the cessation of wailing is cleared away, the utensils are arranged 68

FUNERALS

and the dishes of food prepared. The mourners rise at dawn and set out the vege­ tables, fruit, wine, and dishes of food. When it is fully bright, the mourners , from the presiding mourner on down, wail in front of the soul seat, then go to the offer­ ing haIl, take the spirit tablets out, and put them on the seat. They then make a circuit, carrying the new tablet into the offering hall and putting it on the seat. The mourners stand in order to greet the spirits. After the spirits are invoked, the lit­ urgist brings in the dishes of food. The first, second, and final offerings are made . The spirits are urged to eat and the door is closed. When it is reopened, the mourn­ ers take leave of the spirits. The liturgist puts each of the tablets back in its founer place. 19. The First Sacrifice for Good Fortune When a year has passed, the first good fortune sacrifice is perfOImed. The day before, the mourners, from the presiding mourner on down, bathe, arrange the utensils, and prepare the dishes of food. They mark out places and prepare the refined garments. The next day they rise at dawn and set out the coarse vegetables, fruit, wine, and dishes of food. When it is fully bright, the liturgist takes out the tablets. The mourners, from the presiding mourner on down, all enter, wailing. Next they go out back to their places where they change their clothes. On their return, they wail. The spirits are invoked, and the three offerings made. After the spirits are urged to eat, the door is closed. When it is opened, the mourners take leave of the spirits. From this point on, they no longer perform the morning and evening wailing, and they may eat fruits and fine vegetables. 20. The Second Sacrifice for Good Fortune After two years, the second good fortune sacrifice is perfoIIned. The day before, the mourners bathe, arrange the utensils, and prepare the food. Places are set and the postmourning garments arranged. The move is reported at the offering hall. The next morning the service is performed, following the same steps as in the lesser fortune sacrifice. When the ceremony is completed, the liturgist takes the spirit tablets into the offering hall. The soul seat is removed, and the staffs are broken and discarded in the screened-off area. The tablet that was removed is buried by the side of the grave. From this point on, the former mourners can drink wine, eat meat, and sleep in bedrooms. 21 . The Peace Sacrifice In the second month after the greater fortune sacrifice, the peace sacrifice is per­ formed. In the last ten-day period of the month before , a date is chosen by divi­ nation. The day before, the former mourners bathe, set out places, arrange the utensils, and prepare the dishes of food. The next morning the service is per­ formed, using the same procedures as in the greater fortune sacrifice. 22 . Miscellaneous Etiquette for Those in Mourning [Passages from the Li-chi selected by Ssu-ma Kuang. No abstract provided. ] Letter sending gifts and contributions . Letter of acknowledgment. Missive to console someone on the loss of a father or mother. Missive of reply when a father or mother 69

C HAPTER FOUR

has died. Letter to console someone on the loss of a grandfather or grandmother. Letter of reply when a grandfather or grandmother has died . • • • • •

•

1 . TH E

•

When the illness is acute , move the dying person to the main room.

B E G I N N I NG O F T H E E N D

Whenever an illness gets acute, move the person to the main room. ) Those within and without should be calm, waiting for the breath to stop.2 A m an should not expire in the hands of a woman, nor a woman in the hands of a man.3 •

Once the person has expired, wail , then perform the calling-back ceremony .

A servant takes an outer garment that the deceased has worn, the collar in his left hand and the waist in his right, and climbs up onto the front eaves of the house. 4 He faces north and uses the clothes to call, shouting three times , "So-and-so, come back." When finished, he rolls up the garment and comes down. The garment is placed over the body . Men and women wail and beat their breasts any number of times. The outer garment is the official robe of an official; for a man with no office it is a scholar's robe, black robe, or long garment, and for a woman, the large­ sleeve jacket. In calling the person's name, use the tenll used while he or she was alive . ) Feng Shan (CLCS, 53b) amends this to recommend calling in a doctor and offering prayers, citing Ch' eng I and the Analects. On 54a he also responds to a hypothetical question about the possible harm caused by moving a sick person by saying that in the classics lower­ ranking people did not have to be moved. Ch'iu Chiin (CLIC 4: Ib-2a) , following the KYL and CHWLHI, said that one should copy down any final words of the dying person and move the dying person to the ground. Li Wen-chao argued against prayers on the grounds that people would call in shamans to perform them (Chia-li sang-chi shih-i, la). 2 Ssu-ma Kuang, SMSSI 5:47, explained that crying or wailing would disturb the sick person and might hasten his or her death. 3 CHWLHI 2 15:2a-b, 2 1 8:2a, said that people sitting beside the dying person should hold each hand and foot. 4 SMSSI 5:47-48 has the servant go to the south side of the courtyard rather than the roof, on the grounds that observers would be startled to see someone yelling from the roof. From this it would seem that the " calling back" was not a common custom of the time. However, Kao K'ang (HLTC 20: Ib) said that in the Huai-nan area a similar ceremony was performed in cases of violent deaths. In the Ming, Chu T'ien-ch'iu (Chia-li i-chien pien, 13a) said that the "calling back" was not commonly done and could be treated as optional. In the nine­ teenth century, however, Li Yiian-ch'un urged calling back the hun soul on the grounds that people often were revived this way (Ssu-li pien-su, 7b). 70

· ,

FUNERALS •

Determine the presiding mourner.

The presiding moumer is always the eldest son. If he does not survive , then the eldest main-line grandson can, as a double heir, make the offerings of food and wine, with a senior relative who lives with the heir managing the entertainment of guests. 5 •

•

Determine the presiding female mourner.

This refers to the wife of the deceased, or, if she does not survive, it is the wife of the presiding mourner. •

Determine the funeral director.

Choose a younger male relative who knows ritual and is a competent man­ ager.6 All the business of the funeral will be delegated to him.7 •

Establish the letter recorder and gift recorder.

Choose a younger relative or a clerk or servant. 8 •

Those tasks done, alter one's clothes and cease eating .

The wife, children, daughters-in-law, and concubines all take off their caps and outer garments and let their hair down. 9 The men also tuck their skirts into their belts and go barefoot. Everyone else with mourning obligations takes off any fancy clothes. Sons adopted out to another family and daughters who have married out, however, do not let their hair down or go barefoot. All the sons and daughters refrain from eating for three days. Those who owe the deceased one year or nine months mourning skip three meals, and those who owe five S Ssu-ma Kuang (SMSSI 5:48) noted that there must be a presiding mourner, even if there are no descendants; a brother, cousin, more distant kinsman, or even a neighbor can act in this capacity if need be. He also said that the presiding mourner for a wife should never be one of her natal relatives unless all other possibilities, induding neighbors, had been ex­ hausted. Legally, if the eldest son died leaving both a son and a younger brother, the younger brother would serve as chief mourner to his father rather than the main-line grandson (CYTFSL 77: 1 8a-b; p. 554). In YL 89:2280, Chu Hsi also said to follow this law rather than the defunct descent-line heir system. 6 SMSSI 5:48 gave the family head (chia-chang) as first choice for funeral director. 7 Ch'iu Chiin (CLIC 4:4a) added two further posts: a supervisor of guests, who should be the senior relative in the home or another senior relative, and the manager of ritual, who should be chosen from among relatives, friends, or neighbors on the basis of his knowledge of ritual. 8 Ch'iu Chiin (CLIC 4:4b) described the two account books the gift recorder should keep: one listing all the items needed for the funeral and the expenditure of money, the other recording gifts received from relatives and friends. 9 SMSSI 5:49 notes that the current custom, based on superstition, was to let down only part of the hair, the left for a father, the right for a mother, the back left for a father-in-law, and the back right for a mother-in-law. Ssu-ma Kuang urged sticking to the ritual and letting all the hair down for all of them. 71

C HAPTER FOUR

or three months mourning skip two meals. Relatives and neighbors feed them rice gruel. When their seniors insist that they eat, they should eat a little. 10 To tuck in the skirt means to take the front flap of the garment and insert it in the belt. Fancy clothes refer to ones with embroidery, red or purple colors , gold, jade, pearls, or feathers. •

Prepare the coffin.

The funeral director orders a carpenter to select wood for the coffin. I I Oily pine is the best, cedar next, and local pine the least desirable. The coffin should be made straight and with square angles, the head large and the foot small, just spacious enough to hold the body. Do not make it high or large or with empty eaves or a high foot. Inside and out use ash lacquer; inside also use pitch poured over it a half inch or more thick. 12 Refine the ashes from cooking millet or rice and spread them on the base about four inches thick. Put a board with seven stars over it. 13 At the base of the four comers nail on large iron rings, so that when the coffin is moved, it can be lifted by inserting a large rope through these rings. The venerable Mr. Ssu-ma [Kuang] said: "Thickness is desirable in coffins, but not excessive thickness, which would make it heavy and difficult to move far. Also, it need not be tall or take up much space. 14 Wide vaults are easily broken, so carefully guard against this. As for outer coffins, although the sages made them and they have been used since antiquity , as the years go by the boards inevitably rot; they merely make the vault wider and larger; they cannot make it stronger. It is better by far to dispense with them. 15 When Confucius 10 Feng

Shan (CLCS, 57a) quoted classical sources allowing the sick and sickly to eat, even meat if necessary. 11 Feng Shan (CLCS , 57b-58a) recommended preparing the coffin in advance for elderly people, not informing them if there was any fear the action would disturb them. The elderly might also prepare the equipment needed for burial themselves (e.g. , P' an-chou wen-chi 77: l lb; Fan Wen-cheng kung chi 12: 168). 12 A few coffins have survived from Sung times. One for a seventeen-sui bride who died in 1 243, found near Fu-chou (Fukien), had curved sides, 2 m long, with the head 70 cm tall and the foot 60 cm tall, about 60 cm wide. It was made of boards 6 to 9 cm thick, covered first with raw lacquer, then with many layers of red lacquer (Fu-chien-sheng po-wu-kuan, Fu-chou Nan-Sung Huang Sheng mu, p. 7). Another for a man who died in 1261 was slightly larger in all dimensions. The boards were of fir, joined with wooden joints, reinforced with iron nails. It also was sealed with raw lacquer, but covered with many coats of black lacquer. On the inside of the lid was painted a star map ("Chin-Can Nan-Sung Chou Yii mu," p. 106). These were undoubtedly especially strong coffins. Sung Ch'i (998--1061), in urging economy on his sons, said three layers of lacquer would be sufficient for his coffin (Ching­ wen chi 48:619). \3 This was a board with seven small holes like stars. 14 In the tenth century it was reported that people liked to make coffins so large that those standing on. either side could not see each other (Ch' ing-i lu 4:42b). IS Chu Hsi assumed the use of outer coffins in YL 89:2286-87 . Feng Shan (CLCS, 98a99a) argued for their usefulness. 72

. ,

FUNERALS

buried Li he had a coffin but not an outer coffin. 1 6 He also pelmitted the poor to bury without an outer coffin. 17 Today the reason I do not wish to use outer coffins is due to not poverty but simply to a desire to preserve and give peace to the deceased." 18 Master Ch'eng [I] said, "In the miscellaneous records there is the story about putting pine resin into the ground, and after a thousand years it becomes thefu-ling fungus, and after ten thousand years it becomes amber. " 19 For noth­ ing lasts longer than these. Therefore, coffins are painted with them. Some people were already doing this in ancient times. 20 •

Send announcements of the death to relative s , colleagues, and friends . The funeral director and letter recorder send the letters for the bereaved. 2 1 If there is no one serving in either of these capacities, then the presiding mourner personally notifies relatives but does not notify colleagues and friends . All other types of correspondence are suspended. Letters of condo­ lence that are received should not be answered until after the "cessation of wailing" [chapter 4, no. 17 ] . 22

•

2.

T H E W A S H I N G A N D D R E S S I N G O F T H E B ODY ,

T H E O B LATI ON , T H E PLACES , A N D T H E R I C E IN T H E MOUTH •

Attendants set curtains by the bed, move the body , and dig a hole . Attendants screen off the sleeping area with a curtain. Servants set the bier in front of the bed with the body on it, at right angles to it. On it is laid out a sleeping mat without a mattress but with a mat cover and pillow. The body is 1 6 Lun-yu 1 1 .7; 1 13a; Waley, p. 154. Li was Confucius's son. 1 7 Probably an allusion to Li-chi, "T'an Kung" 8: 13b; Legge, 1 : 153-54. 18 This passage is not in the current edition of the SMSSI, which is missing the section on coffins. 1 9 ECC, wen-chi 10:626. Ch'eng I mentioned this in the context of his search for the most durable material for the coffins for his recent ancestors. The fu-ling fungus was mentioned in the Shih-chi as found under special circumstances under thousand-year-old pine trees. Those who ate it would not die (Shih-chi 128:3226). 20 A note by Chu Hsi's disciple Hu Yung said pine resin was suitable to the north, but not to Chiang-nan, where it encouraged ants (HLTC 20:2b). In YL 89:2287, Chu Hsi said he had only read about pine resin in books and had not actually seen it used. Pine resin could also be applied to the vault between bricks and stone slabs. See Fu-chien-sheng po-wu-kuan, Fu-chou Nan-Sung Huang Sheng mu, pp. 3-5. 2 1 Ssu-ma Kuang (SMSSI 9: 103) said these announcements should be on coarse paper and should state the facts directly without literary embellishments. 22 Lii K'un (SLI 4:5b-6a) approved of the custom in some areas of posting announce­ ments of the death outside the house in place of sending notices, at least for those living nearby. 73

C HAPTER FOUR

moved onto it, with its head to the south. It is covered with a shroud. The attendants dig a hole in a clean spot in the screened-off area. •

Lay out the burial clothes. Set them out on a table by the east wall at the front of the hall. The collars go to the west, and the clothes are laid out starting from the south. There is one head wrap; two ear plugs made of white silk floss the size of date pits to stop up the ears; a silk cloth for covering the eyes, one foot two inches square, which goes over the face; hand restrainers made of silk, one foot two inches long23 and five inches wide, with which the hands will be wrapped; a long garment; a large belt; a pair of shoes; and a robe. In addition, there are suitable quantities of undergarments, trousers , socks, ties , stomach wraps, and so on. 24

•

Lay out the utensils for washing and putting rice in the mouth. Lay them out on a table by the front west wall of the hall, starting from the south. There should be three coins in a small box, two pints of rice washed in fresh water until pure then poured into a bowl, a comb, a wash cloth, and two towels, one each for the upper and lower parts of the body.

•

Do the washing. A servant comes in with the hot water. Everyone from the presiding mourner on down goes outside the screened area and faces north. 25 Servants wash the hair, comb it, dry it with a towel, and pull it up into a topknot. They lift the shroud and wash the body, wiping it dry with a towel. 26 They cut the fingernails and toenails. The waste water from the washing, along with the towel and the comb, are all discarded in the hole and buried.

•

Dress the body. Servants set a separate bier for the dressing outside the screen. On it they lay a mattress, mat cover, cushion, and pillow. Ahead of time, they put the large belt, long garment, robe, undergarment, trousers, socks, tie, stomach wrap, and other clothes on it, then lift it to bring it in, where it is put to the west of the bier used for the washing. The body is moved onto it. All of the clothes worn while the deceased was sick, as well as the garment used for "Foot" is omitted in the CTCS edition but is found in the others, such as HLTC. 24 Liu Chang (HLTC 20:3a-b) explained that normal hats, such as the scarf-cap, are not used because they are stiff, and all burial clothes should be soft against the flesh. Feng Shan (CLCS, 59a-b) suggested suitable substitutes when the deceased was a woman. Ch'iu Chiln (CLIC 4:5b-6a) said all of these clothes should be new ones, probably also the preference in Sung times (see Shih-wu chi-yuan 9:338-39). 25 SMSSI 5 : 5 1 says children and grandchildren of the deceased should not see the body naked. 26 One nineteenth-century author noted that people in his day would try to do the washing before the person died (Ssu-li pien-su, 7b). 23

74

- -

- - - -� -

--

-

-

-----------, .. -------------

FUNERALS

other female mourners of same surname or married to same surname, by grade

other women In 3 -y r. mourning •

other men In 3-yr: mournIng •

Body

presiding woman

presiding man

soul seat

female mourners of other surnames, b y grade inscribed banner

table for incense, libations

, , ';' ..0

.S e ..c::

0 0 _ u u 0 , u ..c:: .... _ ­

� ..c::

_

.�

� 0 .;, QI ..o .. - Ql � ..o u ..

-

other male mourners of same surname, b y grade

.

...

�

7 . Layout for Dressing the Body and the Soul Seat

75

male mourners of other surnames, b y grade

C H A PT E R F O U R

calling the soul, are discarded, and fresh clothes are put on. But do not yet put on the head wrap, long gannent, or shoes. •

Move the bier with the body on it to the center of the hall. If the deceased is a junior, the bier should go in a private room instead of the hall. This applies as well to all other references to the hall .

•

Next set out the oblation. Attendants take a table with dried meat set out on it up via the ceremonial steps. The liturgist washes his hands , cleans a cup, and pours wine. He pours it out in libation to the east of the body, then covers it with a clothY The liturgist should be a relative. 28

•

The mourners , from the presiding mourner on down, take up their places to wail. The presiding mourner sits to the east of the bier and pours a libation to the north. The other sons who owe the deceased three years' mourning sit below him on straw mats. Other men of the same surname who owe a year or less of mourning sit behind in order of the degree of mourning they owe, facing west, the most senior to the south. Those senior to the deceased sit in order of age to the east of the bier, by the north wall, facing south, ranked from the west, on covered mats.29 The presiding female mourner and the other women and girls sit to the west of the bier on straw mats; those of the same surname are in order according to the degree of mourning and sit behind her, facing east graded from the south. Those senior to the deceased sit in order of age to the west of the bier, by the north wall, facing south, graded from the east, sitting on covered mats. Concubines and maids stand behind the women and girls. Set up a partition screen to separate the men's and women's areas. Male relatives of other surnames sit outside the partition on its east, facing north, graded from the west. The women sit outside the partition on its west, facing north , graded from the east. 30 They all sit on covered mats , in rows by degree of mourning. Those with no mourning go in the rear. 27 SMSSI 5:51 says the purpose of covering it is to keep out dirt and flies. Because the mourners could not drink wine or eat meat, they were not to consume the things offered to the ancestors, as they would if they were not in mourning. In YL 89:228�81 Chu Hsi suggests that the food and wine be given to relatives not in mourning or to servants. 28 Including relatives of other surnames, related through one's mother, wife, sister, and so on. Presumably the liturgist would not be someone in mourning himself. 29 Throughout the description of funeral rites, "seniors" and "juniors" refer to those senior or junior to the deceased by generation, then age. That is, an uncle younger in age is still a senior, but whether a cousin is a senior depends on his age. 30 In other words, men and women mourners should only be visible to each other if they are of the same surname or married to someone of that surname. Men of other surnames must not see the female mourners of the household, nor should women of other surnames who come (such as daughters' daughters) be seen by the male mourners of the household. 76

FUNERALS

If the deceased is a woman, then the male mourners of the same surname, whether senior or junior, sit outside the partition on the east, facing north, graded from the west, the males of other surnames sit outside the partition to the west, facing north, graded from the east. 3 1 Those who owe three years' mourning sleep by the side of the body at night on mattresses of straw with clod pillows. Those who are weak or ill may use grass mattresses. Those with one year or less of mourning obligations sleep in nearby rooms, different ones for men and women. Relatives through marriage may return home to sleep. •

Next put rice in the mouth.

The presiding mourner wails to the full extent of his grief. He bares his left shoulder, tucking his robe from the front into his waist on the right. After washing his hands, he takes the box in. An attendant, after inserting a spoon in the rice bowl, carries it in after him and puts it to the west of the body. He removes the pillow and covers the face with the covering cloth. The presiding mourner goes to the east side of the body, proceeding west from the feet, and sits at the top of the bier, facing east. He raises the cloth that had been covering the face, lifts up the rice with the spoon, and places some into the right side of the mouth of the corpse, also placing a coin there. He does the same thing on the left side and the middle. When done, the presiding mourner puts his clothes back the way they were and returns to his place. •

A servant finishes dressing the body and covering it with a shroud.

He adds the head wrap, ear plugs, and the eye cover. He puts on the shoes, then the long garment, ties the large belt, attaches the hand restrainers , then covers the body with a shroud. • 3 . T H E S OU L

S E AT , t h e S O U L C L O T H , A N D T H E

INSCRIBED BANNER •

Set up a soul seat and make a soul cloth. 32

Put a clothes rack to the south of the body and cover it with a kerchief. Put an armrest and a table in front of it. 33 Tie white silk to make a soul cloth and 3 1 In other words, only women are next to a woman's body. 32 Two different Chinese terms are here both translated as "soul. " The "soul" in "soul seat" is ling, a general term implying something that has spiritual power. In the funeral ceremonies, several different objects that are resting places for the soul are called ling. The "soul" in "soul cloth" is hun, which more specifically refers to the heavenly soul that leaves the body at death as opposed to the earthly p' ° that stays with it. On Chu Hsi's conceptions of hun and p'o, see YL 87:2258-60. 33 HLTC 20:5a has "chair" instead of " armrest." In the ancient classics, chairs are not mentioned because they were not yet in use, but one often used armrests while sitting on mats. The characters for " armrest" and "chair" are similar, so this change may be a simple typographical error. Illustrations, however, generally show chairs. 77

C HAPTER FOUR

put it on the armrest. Set an incense burner, incense box, cups, decanter, wine, and fruit on the table. 34 A servant, morning and evening, sets on it the utensils needed for washing, combing, and eating, just like those used while the de­ ceased was alive. 35 The venerable Mr. Ssu-ma [Kuang] said that men in ancient times chiseled wood to make chung to be the focus of the spirits and in our current legal specifications, there are descriptions of these objects.36 "But the families of gentlemen and commoners know nothing of this. Therefore , I have used tied up silk as something for the spirits to rely on, calling it a soul cloth. 37 It pre­ serves something of the idea of the ancient ritual. In the current custom every­ one draws an image on the back of the soul cloth. This is all right for men who had portraits made while alive. But what about women who during their life­ times lived deep in the women's quarters and never went out except in a closed carriage with a veil over their faces! How can one have a painter, after their deaths, go right into the secluded room, uncover their faces, take up a brush, and copy their likeness? This is a gross violation of ritual ! Furthelmore, it is the custom for some people to use caps, hats , clothes , and shoes, to embellish the portrait to look like the person. This is particularly vulgar and should not be practiced. "38 ,

•

Set up an inscribed banner. Use deep red silk to make the inscribed banner, a full width wide. Officials of rank three and up can have one nine feet long, rank five and up eight feet, rank six and down seven feet.39 The text should read: " The coffin of Mr. A of such office."4O If the deceased had no office, use the tenn by which he was 34 The SKCS edition adds divining blocks. SMSSI 5 :54 adds here: "This is the soul

seat. " 35 The point of this is to make the spirit feel at home and keep it from leaving. 36 CHWLHI 2 1 5 :5a gives dimensions by official rank. 37 CLIC 4 : 1 4b-15a said this may be tied in a large bow, as in the current custom. 38 Abridged from SMSSI 5:54. In a letter (WC 63: 12a-b) Chu Hsi responded to a question about the ancient chung by noting that there were pictures of it in the Diagrams of the Three Rituals (San-Ii t'u) (see San-Ii t'u chi-chu 17:26a-28b) , but Ssu-ma Kuang's approach was more suited to the current age. The practice of laying out the deceased's clothes seems to have been well entrenched, as the Ming commentator (HLTCEV 20:5a) proposed putting them on a chair in front of the clothes rack and behind the table with offerings. The use of portraits was also well established and continued into modem times. Many later authors defended the use of portraits. Cheng Pi-cho argued that it was all right to use a portrait of a woman so long as it was kept behind a curtain and only those who would have seen her, like her sons and daughters-in-law, would look at it (Chia-Ii huo-wen hsii-chih, 6b) . Hsii Ch'ien­ hsiieh argued that using a cloth to represent the soul was no more canonical than using a portrait (Tu-Ii t'ung-k'ao 56:3b-4b, 45b-46a). See also Lu T'ung-shen (Ssu-Ii i i-lun 1 :2b3a). 39 Cf. CyrFSL 77:35a (p. 563), which divides the ranks four and up, six and up, and nine and up. The CL text says "rank five and down," which does not make sense in the context and has been amended here. 40 CHWLHI 2 1 5 :5a adds appropriate ways to refer to wives of officials. 78

•

FUNERALS

called during his lifetime. Make a pole of bamboo as long as the banner to hold it, and lean the banner to the right of the soul seat. •

Do not perform Buddhist services . The venerable Ssu-ma [Kuang] said: "It is the current custom to believe the falsehoods of the Buddhists. At the moment of death, at each of the seventh days until the seventh seventh day, at the hundredth day, the full year, the second full year, and the removal of mourning clothes, they feed monks and hold ceremonies,41 Some perform the great assembly of water and land, copy sutras, make statues, and build stupas and temples.42 They say that they are obliterating the sins of the dead before heaven, so that they will surely be born in heaven's palace and receive all kinds of pleasures; and that if they do not do this for them, they will just as surely enter hell, be sliced, roasted, pounded, and ground, receiving unlimited waves of suffering. They do not realize that when a human being is filled with blood and breath he feels pain; but should he trim his nails or shave his hair and then roast or slice them, he suffers nothing. How much more true is this for the dead, where the body and spirit are separated from each other. The body has entered the yellow regions where it rots and disappears like the trees and stones. On the other hand, the spirit whirls like the wind and fire , going who knows where. Even if the body were to be sliced, roasted, pounded, and ground, how would the spirit know anything about it? "Furthermore, what the Buddhists call heaven's palace and hell are calcu­ lated to encourage goodness and warn against evil. Unless these [rewards and punishments] were administered in the most impartial ways , could even ghosts be governed? Using this reasoning, the prefect of Lu-chou in the T'ang dy­ nasty, Li Tan, wrote the following to his younger sister:43 If heaven's palace does not exist, then that's that. If it does, then men of virtue will ascend there. If hell does not exist, then that's that; if it does, then inferior men will enter it. Contemporaries, when a parent dies, 41 Cf. Kenneth Ch'en, The Chinese Transformation of Buddhism, pp. 53-55. 42 The water and land ceremony was a Buddhist ceremony held to aid the deceased gain a speedy rebirth, said to have been created in the early sixth century. It was commonly performed in the Sung either for the recently deceased or for ghosts that had not settled satisfactorily. In the late Sung a monk named Chih-p'an wrote a six-chiian text detailing the steps of the ritual that still survives (see Ono, Bussho kaisetsu daijiten 10:9). This ceremony frequently figures in ICC; see, for instance, ping 7:422-23; 1 1 :457, 461 ; 12:465; 15:497. Some Sung reference books include sample prayers for these ceremonies. For instance, the Hsin-pien t'ung-yung ch'i-cha chieh-chiang kang 5:7b-8a includes a prayer for a water and land ceremony to be held on the third seventh after a mother's death. It begs for cancellation of any of the ten evils, five violations, three poisons, or seven passions of her fifty-four years. For Buddhist and Taoist funeral practices in general, see Matsumoto, "Sorei, sairei ni miru S6dai shiiky6shi no ichi keik6." 43 This piece does not survive in the Ch'iian T'ang wen, though two other pieces by Li Tan (mid-8th century) do (404:8b-9b). 79

CHAPTER FOUR

pray to the Buddha. This is assuming one's parent was not a person of virtue but an inferior person who had accumulated bad deeds and sins. Could there be a less kind way to treat one's parents? And if in fact one's parents had accumulated bad deeds and sins, how could they escape the consequences by your bribing the Buddha? This is something anyone of middling intelligence can understand. So why is the whole world rushing to believe these Buddhist theories? The reason is that it is easy to become deluded but difficult to gain understanding. Those who are the worst end up by ruining their households and bankrupting their property. Compared to this , why not sell fields early to build tombs and bury them?44 If heav­ en's palace and hell in fact exist, they should have existed as long as heaven and earth. Yet before Buddhism came to China, there were also cases of people dying and being reborn. Why is it, then, that there is not one person who mistakenly entered hell and saw Yama and the other ten kings?45 It is not worthwhile discussing this subject with those who do not study. Those who have read and know antiquity should also wake up a little. "46 •

At this point, close and personal friends may enter to wail. If the presiding mourner has not yet put on mourning clothes, those who come to wail should wear the long garment. After they go to the side of the body and wail to the full extent of their grief, they go out and bow to the soul 44

A common criticism of burial practices, especially in the Han, was that they bankrupted families, causing them to sell their fields. See Yang Shu-ta, Han-tai hun-sang li-su k' ao, pp. 1 24-32. 4S On the ten kings, see Teiser, " 'Having Once Died and Returned to Life.' " 46 From SMSSI 5:54-55. Criticisms of the prevalence of Buddhist funeral practices were common in the Sung. Yen-i i-rnou lu 3:24 noted the ineffectiveness of government efforts to prohibit the use of Buddhist clergy and music in funerals. Ch'eng I remarked on the rarity of those in Loyang who did not practice Buddhist funeral rites (ECC, i-shu 10: 1 14). In YL 89:2278, Chu Hsi said that one of the most crucial features of funeral rites was not to follow Buddhist practices. Elsewhere (YL 89:228 1) he admitted that this could be a significant problem if the parents had made an explicit request that Buddhist rites be performed. See also WC 63: 1 a. According to Ch'ui-chien ssu-lu, p. 125, despite Ssu-ma Kuang's strong disbelief in Buddhism he had monks chant sutras for his grandfather at the tenth month. This book also gives other examples of literati observing Buddhist funeral and memorial prac­ tices. The rarity of even shih-ta-Iu avoiding all Buddhist services can be seen in the comment in Ch' ing-po tsa-chih 10:91 that three men had in fact succeeded in getting their descendants to refrain from these ceremonies. See also THYIP 5 1 :7b-8a, CLHT 4: 12a-b, and Ssu-li yiieh-yen 3: 1 b for the continued prevalence of Buddhist ceremonies among shih-ta-fu in the early Ming. Lii Wei-ch'i noted that the Ming hui-tien had special rites for the seven sevens for the emperor, empress, princes, and nobles, but without Buddhist participation, and thought other people could also follow this model and offer more elaborate oblations on those days. Weng T'ai-shih pu-hsiian wen-kung chia-li 6:2b-4a gives descriptions of how to perform these rites on the same grounds. See also Brook, "Funeral, Ritual and the Building of Lineages in Late Imperial China." 80

, .

FUNERALS

seat, offer incense, and bow twice. Then they condole with the presiding mourner face-to-face, wailing to the full extent of their grief. The presiding mourner wails in reply, without saying anythingY • 4 . T H E P R E L I M I N A RY L AY I N G O U T

Bearing the shoulder. Hemp hair binding. Hair bands . Hemp hair ties . Obla­ tions. Wailing by turns. •

The next morning (L e . , the day after the death) the attendants lay out the clothes and shrouds for the preliminary laying out. They put a table by the east wall of the hall and put on it the clothes needed from the deceased's wardrobe. If he had a lot of clothes, they need not all be used.48 Use a double-thickness shroud. The binding strips should be long enough to go three times around the width of the body and once around the length , and should be made of fine cloth . Alternatively, one can use a bolt of cloth and cut it into three pieces. For the crosswise pieces, encircle the body from the foot. For the lengthwise one, start at the foot, cover the head, return to the foot, and tie it at the middle of the body.

•

Set out the oblation. Place a table at the southeast of the ceremonial steps. Put on it the oblation foods and the cup and decanter. Set out two wash basins and two towels to the east of the food. The easternmost one, which the liturgist will use, should have 47 Further details on how to behave during condolence visits are given below. 48

CHWLHI 215:5b specified that for officials the clothes should include one set of court robes (ch' ao ju), one of official robes (kung ju), and the others ordinary clothes. Some women were laid out in the clothes they brought as part of their dowries, even many years after their marriages (e.g. , au-yang Hsiu ch'uan-chi 36:25). Ssu-ma Kuang (SMSSI 5:58) said that in his day people dressed the corpse but skipped the first and second laying out described below. He wished to keep all three but proposed a drastic reduction in the amount of clothes used. Yang Fu (HLTC 20:5a) says that Mr. Kao's ritual used more clothes, and that when Chu Hsi started work on the Family Rituals he based himself on SMSSI, but that later, in discussing ritual with other scholars, he came to feel that Kao was better on funeral rituals and closer to the I-ii. Mr. Kao's ritual is presumably the one-chiian Ritualjor Seeing Them Off at the End (Sung-chung Ii) of Kao K'ang (c.s. 1 1 3 1 ) . See Chih-chai shu-lu chieh­ t'i 6: 1 8 1 . Chu Hsi refers to this book by name in WC 43:5b. In Ta-hsueh yen-i pu 5 1 :2a, Ch'iu Chiin comments that the preliminary and final laying out were not practiced in his day as people did not like to tie up the body. There is archaeological evidence, however, that in Sung and later at least some people tied up the body and used many sets of clothes. A few coffins that have survived in good condition were packed tightly with clothes. One woman was dressed in seven pairs of trousers, two skirts, six blouses, and two long gowns, then wrapped in four shrouds and tied with cords. A man's coffin contained seven pairs of trou­ sers, fourteen robes, and one shroud. See Fu-chien-sheng po-wu-kuan, Fu-chou Nan­ Sung Huang Sheng mu, pp. 7-8, 8 1 ; Chen-chiang-shih po-wu kuan, et aI. , "Chin-t'an Nan­ Sung Chou Yii mu," pp. 106--1 10. 81

C HAPTER FOUR

a rack. The more westerly one, which the attendants will use, does not have a rack. Set another table with a wash pan and fresh wiping towel to its east; it will be used for washing and drying the cup. These instructions apply from here to the "sending away" ceremony [chapter 4, no. 12] . •

Prepare the hemp hair binding, hair bands, and hemp hair ties . To bind with hemp means to use a hemp cord to pull up the hair into a topknot, or to use cloth to make a headdress. The hair bands refer to ripped strips of cloth, or sewn silk an inch wide, that goes from the neck forward and is tied at the top of the forehead, then circles the hair piece, like wearing a top knot. The tie with hemp also uses a hemp cord to pull up the hair into a top knot, but has a bamboo or wooden hairpin. Dressing the hair these ways will be done in other chambers.

•

Set out the bier for the preliminary laying out, and arrange the binding strips , shroud, and clothes. Set out the bier for the minor laying out, with the rush mat and cushion to the west of the western steps. When the binding strips, shroud, and clothes are arranged on it, raise it to bring it up via the western steps and put it to the south of the body. Beforehand place the three crosswise binding strips on the bottom to be ready to go around the body and be tied. Then place the lengthwise one on top of them to be ready to cover the head and foot. The clothes may be right side up or upside down, but they should be straight. Only the outer gar­ ments should not be upside down.

•

Next move the oblation for the dressing of the body . Attendants move the old oblation to the southwest of the soul seat. After they set out the new oblation, they remove the old one . All the oblations below are handled this way.

•

Afterward perform the preliminary laying out. Servants, after washing their hands, lift the body. The sons and daughters assist and move it to the bier for the minor laying out. First take the pillow away and loosen the silk. Pile clothes to support the head. Roll up two pieces to put in the hollow places under the shoulders. Also roll up a garment to go between the two lower legs so that they will be straight. Afterward use the remaining clothes to cover the body. Have the overlap on the left. 49 Do not tie the binding strips . Wrap the body with a shroud. Until it is tied with the bind­ ing do notcover the face, for the bereaved children still wait for the deceased 49 NonnaJly gannents had their overlap on the right. 82

FUNERALS

to come back to life and wish from time to time to look at the face. 50 When the laying out is complete, cover the body with a shroud. 5 1 •

The presiding male and female mourners embrace the body , wail , and beat their breasts. The presiding mourner faces west, embraces the body, wails , and beats his breast. 52 The presiding female mourner does the same facing east. In general , a child embraces his parents, but parents take hold of their chil­ dren, as a husband does to his wife. A daughter-in-law takes her parents-in­ law in both hands, and they stroke her. For brothers , one takes hold. In the rite of embracing the body, the parents go first, the wife and children after­ ward.

•

B are the shoulders and put on the hemp hair binding , hair band s , and hemp hair ties in another chamber. In a different chamber, men who owe three years' untrimmed sackcloth bare their shoulders and set the hemp binding, and men who owe any lesser degree of mourning, up to those who are related through a common ancestor five generations back, bear their shoulders and set their hair bands. Women put on their hemp hair ties in a further chamber.

•

Move the bier to the middle of the room. Attendants remove the bier used in dressing the body and move the body to this place. The wailers resume their places. The seniors sit but the juniors stand.

•

Next perfonn the oblation. The liturgist leads the attendants to wash their hands and take the prepared foods up via the ceremonial steps to the front of the soul seat. The liturgist bums incense, washes the cup, pours the wine, and offers it. The juniors all bow twice. A servant covers it with a cloth .

•

All those from the presiding mourner on down wail to the full extent of their grief, then wail by turns so that the sound never stops. 53 50 Ch'iu Chiin (CLIC 4: 19a) argued that if the body was cold, it would not return to life and should be fully covered. 5 1 Following the SKCS edition, which has tse, "then," instead ofpieh, "separate. " 52 The "embracing" is described as pressing the body with one's breast. 53 Feng Shan (CLCS, 66b-7a) said it was not necessary to carry this out literally as it could violate the principle of not letting death harm life. Following one's emotions would be sufficient. Lii K 'un (SLI 4: 1 8b-19a) objected to all of the prescriptions concerning when and how to show grief, saying that they distorted the natural feelings. Li Wen-chao (Chia-li sang-chi shih-i, 6a) remarked that people without enough relatives to keep the wailing going would hire people to wail for them. 83

CHAPTER FOUR •

5 . T H E F I N A L L AY I N G O U T

•

This is done the next morning . This is the day after the preliminary l�ying out, that is, the third day after the death. The venerable Mr. Ssu-ma [Kuang] said: " The remark in the Ritual that one lays out on the third day is based on waiting for a return to life. If in three days the body has not revived, it never will. Therefore, three days was made the ritual non11 . Today those who are poor may not have prepared the funeral equipment, or the lacquer on the coffin may not be dry. In such cases there is no harm if the three days are exceeded. 54 The current custom is to follow taboos based on Yin-Yang to select a day for the laying out. During the hottest periods it can reach a point where secre­ tions and maggots come out of the body. Isn't this perverse ! " 55 ----

•

The attendants lay out the clothes and shrouds for the final laying out. Place the table by the east wall of the room. There is no fixed number for the clothes. The shroud should be one padded with silk floss.

•

Set out the utensils for the oblation . The procedure is the same as in the minor laying out.

•

Raise the coffin and bring it into the hall, placing it a little to the west of the center. Ahead of time, attendants move the soul seat and the oblation used at the preliminary laying out to the side. Workers lift the coffin and bring it in, put­ ting it to the west of the bier, on two benches. If the deceased is a junior, then this is done in a separate chamber. After the workers leave, a servant puts a shroud over the center of the coffin, with its ends hanging over the outside on four sides. The venerable Mr. Ssu-ma [Kuang] said, "The men in the Chou dynasty encoffined the body at the top of the western steps. Rooms today are designed differently and may be too small, therefore simply put it a little west of the center of the hall. The current custom today often involves leaving the coffin at a Buddhist temple, where there is no one to keep watch over the coffin . Frequently the months and years go by without an auspicious day, even de­ cades passing without the burial. Sometimes the coffin is opened by robbers , ,

54 Later authors often stressed that it was not necessary to wait three days when the weather was hot; Ssu-li pien-su, 7b, for instance, noted that in the summer a body could begin decaying in one day, something the ancients could not bear to mention. 55 This paSsage is missing in the current edition of the SMSSI, which lacks the beginning of the "final laying out."

, ,

, , , ,

, , ,

,

,

II

" ,

I

84

, "

1

I

,

�

I I ,

,

,

,

I

------

------ ------ -

J

FUNERALS

or abandoned by the monks. Of the sins of unfilialty, is any greater than this?"56 •

Next perform the final laying out. The servants and the sons , grandsons , wives , and daughters all wash their hands, then cover the head and tie the binding strips. Together they lift the body and put it into the coffin. They add teeth, hair, and nails that had been lost or cut off during the deceased's lifetime to the comers of the coffin. They also estimate the empty space remaining and roll clothes to stuff into it, work­ ing hard to get it full so that the body cannot move. 57 Be careful not to put into the coffin gold, jade, or other precious things that would tempt robbers . 58 Take the shroud and first cover the feet, then the head, then the left side, then the right. Be sure the contents of the coffin are level and full. The presiding mourner and the presiding female mourner embrace the body, wailing to the full extent of their grief. At this point the women retreat to behind the curtain and the carpenter is summoned to put the cover on the coffin and nail it closed. Then the bier is removed and the coffin is covered with clothes . The liturgist takes the inscribed banner and sets it next to the east side of the coffin and returns the soul seat to where it had been. Two women are left to keep watch over it. The venerable Mr. Ssu-ma [Kuang] said, " Generally, when moving the body or lifting the coffin, one wails and beats the breast without counting the number of times. But during the laying out and encoffining, one should stop wailing to look at the body and make sure it is comfortable and secure. Do not simply wail ."59 Note: The ancients did the encoffining at the final laying out. Once this was done, they piled clay over it. Today, sometimes the lacquer on the coffin is not dry, and in the south the soil often has lots of ants , so one cannot plaster over the coffin. Therefore, I have followed what is convenient here. 60

•

Set the soul bed to the east of the coffin. The bed, curtain, mattress, mat, screen, pillow, clothes, quilts , and so on should all be like those used during life . 56 Missing in cilrrent editions of SMSSI. The practice of leaving coffins in Buddhist tem­ ples was indeed quite common in the Sung. 57 Feng Shan (CLCS, 65a) answered a hypothetical question about the purpose of stuffing the coffin with clothes, showing that not everyone saw this custom as reasonable. Neverthe­ less, archaeological evidence suggests that it was the common custom. 58 It was particularly common to place a bronze mirror in the coffin. See Kuei-hsin tsa­ chih, hsii 2, p. 202. 59 Modified from SMSSI 5:60. The CTCS edition miscopies erh , "and,"as kao, "high." 60 I . e . , he did not follow SMSSI, which had instructions for covering the coffin in clay, a practice that was probably limited to North China, as Chu Hsi implied. 85

CHAPTER FOUR •

Next set out the oblation . The procedure is that used at the preliminary laying out.

•

Everyone from the presiding mourner on down takes up his or her mourning station. Somewhere beyond the inner doors choose a plain chamber for the men's mourning station. Those who owe untrimmed sackcloth [three years] should sleep on coarse straw mats with clod pillows, without removing their hemp belts . They do not sit down with others.61 Unless on periodic visits to their mother, they do not go past the inner doors. Those who owe even sackcloth [usually one year] sleep on mats. Those who owe greater processed cloth [nine months] or lower mourning and live elsewhere go home once the encoffining is accomplished and spend their nights in the outer quarters . After three months they return to their bedrooms. The women have their mourning sta­ tions in a separate room on the other side of the inner doors or stay by the side of the coffin. They remove any decorated curtains, quilts, or cushions from the rooms .62 They do not go to the men's mourning stations without warning.

•

At this point end the wailing by turns .

•

6.

•

The next morning (the day after the final laying out, which is the fourth day after the death) , those in the five mourning grades put on the mourning garments appropriate to them, enter, and take up their places . 63 From then on in the morning they wail and condole with each other according to etiquette . 64

P U T T I N G O N T H E M O U R N I N G G A RM E N T S

61 These mourning stations seem to be an imitation of the spirit of the ancient mourning sheds erected as sleeping quarters for mourners. 62 But they do not use the coarse mats of the men. 63 T'ang To (CLHT 4:20b) added a prayer before putting on the mourning garments from the Yiian reference book, Han-rna ta-ch'uan, as a substitute for the prayers read by geoman­ cers or Buddhists in popular practice. A nineteenth-century author reported that the custom in his area (T'ung-ch'eng, Anhwei) was for people to select days to put on mourning gar­ ments, sometimes taking up to a month (Su Tun-yiian, Ssu-li ts'ung-i 3:4a). 64 There is a variety of evidence that Sung custom was much more limited in the use of mourning garments than the prescriptions given below might imply. In SMSSI 6:68-69 Ssu­ rna Kuang said that "In the T'ang and Five dynasties the families of shih-ta-fu followed the ancient rituals for mourning garments, but the recent custom is very affected by superstition and no one wears hemp except a child for parents, a wife for parents-in-law, a wife for her husband, or a concubine for her master. Those who try to wear it would be ordered not to by their seniors, and ridiculed by others, so it cannot be insisted on." He also said that everyone shpuld prepare their own mourning garments and not expect the family of the presiding mourner to provide them as the "superstitious" did in his day (pp. 67-68). Chang Tsai (eTC, p. 291 ) also said when he first wore the lower grades of mourning he was afraid 86

FUNERALS

In the system of mourning garments the first is called " untrimmed sackcloth" and involves obligations for three years . Untrimmed means unhemmed. Both the shirt and the skirt use extremely coarse unprocessed hemp cloth.65 The sides and the lower edge are un­ hemmed. The skirt is made of three pieces in the front and four in the back, with the seams toward the inside. The front and back are not connected. On each segment make three pleats , meaning bend the two sides together and make the middle empty. The shirt is long enough to go past the waist and cover

\

,

\

·h rt..lJ..." J 'I'

;

�.�,!I'�' llNl 8.

,

Men in Untrimmed Sackcloth and Even Sackcloth Mourning Gannents, from San-ts' ai t' u-hui i-fu 3 : 1 3a-1 6a

people would make fun of him. Yeh Meng-te (1077-1 148) wrote that the badge, back panel, and piled collar had not been worn since Han times (Shih-lin yen-yu 5:70). After the Sung, mourning dress was not necessarily any less variable. Lii Wei-ch'i (Ssu-li yueh-yen 3:3a) said rural custom was to wear ordinary clothes, with a white head cloth, for the lower grades of mourning. 65 If the following descriptions are somewhat opaque, it may be comforting to know that Ch'iu Chiin (CLIC 4:53a) also found them so complicated, "deep," and "ancient" that scholars would not be able to interpret them in a consistent way. 87

C HAPTER FOUR

the top of the skirt. Its seams go on the outside. On the back is a back panel of hemp cloth one foot eight inches square, basted to the bottom of the collar and hanging loose. On the front over the heart is a badge made of hemp cloth six inches long and four wide, basted to the front of the left overlap. On both the right and left are "piled collars" made of hemp cloth eight inches square with the two ends folded together to make it four inches wide and basted to the base of the collar on either side of the back panel, covering it one inch. Beneath either armpit are the two flaps, each cut from cloth three feet five inches. On both the top and bottom leave the first foot perfectly square, then on the top cut in six inches toward the left, and on the bottom cut in six inches toward the right. Then cut on a slant so that they come together, in a symmet­ rical way. Baste the two pieces to either side of the shirt and let them hang down like swallow tails to cover the sides of the skirt. For the cap, use hemp cloth a little finer than that used for the shirt and skirt. Paste paper for a backing, three inches broad and long enough to go around the head. Wrap it in hemp cloth. Make three pleats all toward the right. Sew it crosswise. Use a hemp cord and from the top of the forehead wind it to the back of the head and across to the front, tying it at the ears . Make this the brim. Bend the two peaks of the cap under the brim, folding them again toward the outside, then sewing them to the brim. Let the remaining cord from the brim dangle as a hat string to be tied under the chin. Make the head band of a rope of female hemp, nine inches in circumfer­ ence.66 The hemp root is at the left and goes across the forehead toward the right to circle it, passing the back of the head so that the end is attached to the root. A piece of cord can be used as a hat string to secure it, as with regular caps . The waist band should be of the same material, seven inches in size . Bring the two legs together and tie the two ends. Each should have the hemp root still attached and hang down loosely three feet. Where they are tied, fine cord should be basted on at either end and tied. For the belt use a cord of female hemp more than half as long as the waist band. Fold it in the middle to make two legs, each over a foot in length, then join them, their size like that of the band, and bring them around the waist from the left, going behind to the front, then take the right end and pass it through the two legs and tum it around to insert it into the right below the cordY 66

Ch'iu Chiin (CLIC 4:56a) says the rope should be one foot seven or eight inches long. No commentators seem to have been bothered by the large circumferences given here and below for the bands. 67 All of tile diagrams of the head and waist band and belt appear much simpler than these instructions. In YL 85:2199 Chu Hsi said the waist band resembled the great belt and the mourning belt resembled a leather belt. Evidence that constructing mourning garments ac88

-

-

-

-, .::. -----------

-- -

F UNERALS

For the staff use bamboo the height of one's heart, with the root at the base. Sandals should be 'of crude hemp. Women use extremely crude unprocessed hemp cloth to make a large­ sleeved garment with a long skirt. They have a head cover. None 'of this is hemmed. Their headdress uses a bamboo hairpin. They have hemp sandals . Concubines wear jackets in place of the large-sleeved garment. Women never use the staff. 68 As standard mourning garments, this grade is worn by children for their fathers. 69 As supplemented mourning, it is worn by the main-line grandson for his grandfather when his father is already dead and he is a double heir, or similarly as a double heir for a great-grandfather or great-great-grandfather; by a father for the main-line son who is his successor. 70 As duty mourning it is worn by women for their fathers-in-law or for their husband's grandfather when he is a double heir; by an adoptee for his adoptive father or when he is a double heir his adoptive grandfather; by a wife for her husband's adoptive father or grandfather; by a wife for her husband; by a con­ cubine for her master. 71 •

The second grade is called "even sackcloth . " [In some cases] it is worn for three years . 72 cording to descriptions like those given here could be difficult is seen in a letter written to Chu Hsi in WC 63:3b-6b. 68 Yang Fu had a long note explaining all the departures from the classics in this descrip­ tion of the mourning garments. He complained that Chu Hsi followed Ssu-ma Kuang too closely here rather than giving what was "correct" (HLTC 20: l Oa-12a). 69 The specification of relatives into each of the mourning grades given here is much closer to CYTFSL 77:3b-13a (pp. 547-53) than it is to SMSSI, which gives a simpler list (ignoring complications of adoption, remarriage, double heirs, and so on). Most editions of the CL include diagrams of the mourning obligations that are easier to consult than the lists given here. Diagrams based on those in the CTCS and HLTC editions are provided in figures 9 and 10. Note, however, that the text of the CL covers many cases that do not fit in these charts. 70 In a letter (WC 63: 13b-14a) someone asked Chu Hsi if it was still appropriate for a father to wear longer mourning for his eldest son than his other sons since the ancient de­ scent-line system was no longer in existence. Chu Hsi replied that the rules on mourning clothes should conform to antiquity as much as possible. According to Huang Jui-chieh, . Chu Hsi wore untrimmed sackcloth for his eldest son Shu, which was called in the vernac­ ular "paying back" (pao) mourning (CL 29a). Ch'iu Chiin (CLIC 4:43b 44a) cited the " current regulation" reducing mourning for the eldest main-line son to one year without the staff, like that worn for other sons. 71 Generally, standard mourning refers to mourning for blood relatives, and duty mourn­ ing to mourning for relatives through marriage. Reduced and supplemented mourning are for special cases, such as mothers who have been divorced or a child who is appointed heir. 72 T'ang To (CLHT 5: 15a-b) following Ming regulations, moved those owing three years of "even sackcloth" to three years of "untrimmed sackcloth." This is also what Feng Shan 89

CHAPTER FOUR

Even means hemmed. The shirt, skirt, and cap are all fashioned like the untrimmed sackcloth ones, except one uses the next finer grade of coarse un­ processed hemp cloth and hems the sides and the bottom edgeY The cap uses hemp cloth for the brim and strings. The head band is made of female hemp rope, seven or more inches in size with the root at the right and the end tied to the root at the base and with cloth strings. The waist band uses a hemp rope five or more inches. The belt is made of cloth with the right end folded over a foot. The staff is made of t' ung wood, with a round top and a square bottom. Women' s "even sackcloth" is like their "untrimmed sackcloth" except it is made of the next grade of hemp cloth. All the subsequent grades follow this pattern. F F F F .= . F F F M 2. 2.

F = Father M = Mother e = eldest s = son • •

=

=

FFF

r..FFM

•=

5

=• 5

male female

married descent - siblings

I

The point of reference = ego

FF

=.FM 2c

F

.M 2.

I

.= non. 4

2c

3

.= 3 2

.= 5

,,0

lSI.

=

5

2c

2. 2.

4

=. 4

4

5

5

• none

.

5 none none

=.

5

.= none 4

3

3

5

• 5

.=

=.

none

none

4

4

5

5 non.

none

.= none 5

none

4

4 none

5

• none

none

5

• 5

5

5

. 5

5 none

Grades of mourning 1 = untrimmed, 3 years 2a = even, 3 years 2b = even, 1 year with staff 2c = even, 1 year without staff

2d = even, S mon ths 2e = even, 3 months 3 = greater processed cloth, 9 months 4 = lesser processed cloth, S months 5 = fine hemp, 3 months

=.

5 none

9.

.=

.=

=.

=• 2c 3

=

• •= 2c 4 non. 5

3

•

none

= • •= 1 2c