Ancestral Reverence In Chinese Culture

In the course of human history, ancestral reverence has played a religous role in many ancient cultures world-wide, and that reverence has propagated with it an assortment of thought-provoking traditions. In the daily lives of Chinese society, the ancestral spirits indisputably had a key role to play. During the Zhou period, both common and noble families sharing in colossal economic, political, and social dissimilarities, sacrificed to their familial spirits. Life’s many boons were contingent upon whether or not their progenies kept them appeased, because the ancestral spirits could either help or castigate their descendants. The act of human sacrifice is not an act of provocation, but one of mollification; one both necessary, duty bound,

Both noble and common families alike, in their immense political, social, and economical differences, sacrificed to their ancestors. It was this common attribute and belief in their ancestors that brought about a close-knit relationship between the political atmosphere and the world of their ancestors. This duty to their ancestors was akin to religion, and even tied into one of the most lasting philosophical and historical notions: the Mandate of Heaven.¹ Ancestral favor and retribution laid heavily the groundwork for the Mandate of Heaven, creating an incredibly resilient social system that lasted throughout China’s history. According to this notion, the right to rule depended on the moral faultlessness of the rulers. As it is with most things, time corrodes and diminishes the original aspects of an object or idea, in this scenario, a dynasty. When moral faultlessness can no longer be met, internal insurgence or outsider conquest was morally vindicated.² If a ruler neglected his duty to sacrifice to his ancestors, and the ancestors of his people, he would lose favor and the divine right to rule as punishment for his transgressions. This enabled a cycle of political rebirth that benefited all of the people of China, whenever the dynastic cycle was waning, and beginning to

A human sacrifice generally took all of the good men.4 It is unknown for sure whether the best of the best was the only way to appease the ancestral spirits so as to avoid their devastating wrath, but one could definitely go to wager at the internal turmoil the Chinese people must felt when the time for sacrifice came, and they were left without their strong and elite individuals. It does not go to say that the Chinese people were unwilling to sacrifice to their ancestors, but would have probably preferred to sacrifice a lesser individual than say, a warrior, thinker, or leader. However, while each was willing to sacrifice themselves for their ancestors and their families, the struggle was real – a natural born duty must be fulfilled. On top of this personal struggle, the human sacrifices of all the good men4 would have been a detriment to the Chinese society on a noticeable scale. It may not have tipped the tides, but outlying villages and hamlets were sure to suffer the loss a lot heavier than the larger centralized portion of the