Studies On Royals’"Gongchu Xingsang" Ritual Of Jin,Northern And Southern Dynasties

Royals’"Gongchu Xinsang (taking off the mourning apparel for public affairs and then mourning without mourning apparel)" ritual dated from the early times of Western Jin dynasty. It was started to take shape on the foundations of traditional mourning rituals in Han-Wei dynasties and ruler’s special political motive in Western Jin dynasty, and was determined to be a regulation by a Confucian as he can demonstrate it based on Confucian classics. In Jin, Northern and Southern dynasties, this ritual presented changeable states which were made by a clash between Confucian classics and political needs.Emperor Wu of Western Jin was the first man to practice this ritual. As an initiative pioneer before this ritual became a regulation, Emperor Wu’s inspiration came from traditional concepts and contemporary atmosphere. Han dynasty’s Mourning ritual of "Substituting a day for a month(以日易月)”and the concept of "three years of mourning" which had never been given up since Han dynasty constituted the original element of ritual’s thought. And in a background that the "Xinsang(mourning without mourning apparel)" ritual’s application range expanded, Emperor Wu constructed the "Gongchu Xinsang" ritual’s model by practice. This ritual’s model became a regulation after Du Yu cited the Confucian classics to demonstrate it in the tenth year of Taishi (274AD).In fact, Emperor Wu’s action of "Xinsang" was closely linked with his political need that was taking advantage of "filial piety" to cover his "disloyalty" of usurping Wei dynasty’s throne. And Du Yu also had his special political motive whose core was catering to Emperor Wu’s will by manifesting crown prince’s status. Du Yu’s theory negated there was an original stipulation that emperors and feudal princes should "Fusang (mourning with mourning apparel)" for three years in Confucian classics. Instead, he affirmed "taking off the mourning apparel just after bury and Xinsang for the rest of mourning period" was an old regulation since ancient time. In order to made his viewpoint absolute, Du Yu defined the word "liang’an(谅闇)”in Confucian classics as "Xinsang after taking off the mourning apparel". Because of this, this royal ritual became a regulation.After Du Yu put forward his theory, people of latter ages continually transformed the new ritual’s connotation which Du Yu had demonstrated. Confucians firstly reused the concept of "contingency ritual" which had been used since Emperor Wen of Western Han dynasty’s era to position this new royal ritual; meanwhile they made the ritual’s connotation also fit to the traditional mourning system. So the royal ritual of mourning got a new connotation, which mean royals ought to wear mourning apparel for a period as long as traditional ritual needed. At almost the same time, Confucians use a new concept "Gongchu (taking off the mourning apparel for public affairs)" which Du Yu had never mentioned to elucidate that royals’ritual had no specificity and was as same as ministers’shortening their’s Fusang period for public affairs. As thus, Xinsang ritual became the contingency ritual of Han dynasty’s complement. This theory was different from Du Yu’s due to Du Yu treated royals’Xinsang ritual as Pre-Qin Period’s old ritual. The basic reason of why Du Yu’s theory could be changed was that Du’s theory was for special political needs and had a strong contradiction with contemporaries’ ideas about the ancient ritual. Contemporaries wanted to find a new balance point between imitating the ancient ritual and accommodating time, that led to new annotations of the ritual forming.But Du Yu’s theory hadn’t come to an end after these new annotations formed. As an actual prototype of royals’"Gongchu Xinsang" ritual in Confucians’mind, and as content of famous school——Du’s school in Jin, Northern and Southern dynasties, the "Xinsang" ritual’s practice mode of Du Yu’s theory was still being discussed and handed down, coexisted with the later new theory. Even when for some special political needs, Du’s theory could be copied without any modification. Until the latter new theory developed to a level that can displace Du’s theory, royals’"Gongchu xinsang" ritual in late North and South dynasties gradually abandoned the practice mode of "taking off the mourning apparel on Zuku(�'哭)”which from Du Yu’s theory, and practiced as Han dynasty’s mode that "Substituting a day for a month".Even the later new theory also couldn’t keep its connotation stable,"traditional mourning system" and "Gongchu" were contradictory concepts. Whether their coexistence could be tolerated or not were depended on the needs of politics. At some special times, emperors even accepted "traditional mourning system" only and rejected "Gongchu". The instances can be seen from emperor Xiaowen of South Wei, emperor Wu of South Zhou etc.The changing process of royals’"Gongchu Xinsang" ritual in Jin, Northern and Southern dynasties is a typical example to reflect the interaction of politics, Confucianism and ritual: Confucianism was the necessary foundation of ritual, politics chose Confucianism’s annotation and ritual’s mode.