Study On Chinese Initiation Rites Before The Qin Dynasty

Chinese rite of passage was classified as Jia ceremony ( one of ancient five ceremonies), which was rite of teenagers joining the group of adults by putting on Chinese caps on his head. It was used for ancient Chinese people called Hua xia nationality. In the time before Qin Dynasty, rite of passage held a important position in people's social life, and was regarded as "the beginning of all rites", ranked first place among "Eight Rites"(rite of passage, wedding, funeral, sacrifice, meeting with a king, upper class greeting, compliment between sovereigns, etc.)and "Six Rites ".It had great effect on the life of one person and also the whole society. For example, after the king Zheng of Qin state was caped at the age of 22, he got a king's all rights, soon he put down Lao ai's rebelling and conquered the other Six states. At last he unified the whole country.According to what the book "rites" records, Chinese rite of passage had very complete and complicated rituals that could be divided into three phases and eighteen links. After Wei and Jin Dynasties, it came to be simplified and declined gradually. There have been a few scholars studying this issue, such as Zhen--gxuan, Liu--xiang, Jia--gongyan,Qin--huitian,Huang--yizhou,Jiang--shaoyuan,Yang--tianyu,Peng--lin,an-d so on, whose achievements belong to commentary or papers.This dissertation contains four chapters:Chapter one "preface", refer to "some concepts related to Chinese rite of passage", "history, present situation, and tasks of Chinese rite of passage studying".Chapter two "origin of Chinese rite of passage-----rite of passage in primitivesociety", refer to "origin of rite and Chinese rite of passage", "the time when rite of passage came into being", "the styles and characteristics of rite of passage", "educational activities before rite of passage was hold", "rite of passage in primitive society".Chapter three "Chinese rite of passage during the 'Three Dynasty'(Xia, Shang and Zhou)", refer to "evolution of rites system during the 'Three Dynasty'", "educational activities before rite of passage was hold", "important hair styles during the 'Three Dynasty'", "the important cap styles and decoration during the 'Three Dynasty'", "Chinese rite of passage in Western Zhou dynasty", "Special circumstances of Chinese rite of passage", "girl's rite of passage", "Chinese rite ofpassage in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period", "Chinese rite of passage for son of Heaven, prince, and senior official"".Chapter four "epilogue", refer to, the function and significance of Chinese rite of passage", "the educational function of Chinese rite of passage", "characteristics of Chinese rite of passage in ancient times",, "summary of Chinese rite of passage evolution in ancient times".This dissertation has particular description of primary hair styles, cap style, and cap decoration, focusing on history, function and significance of Chinese rite of passage before Qin Dynasty.After deep studying, I think:1) the Concept of Chinese rite of passage can be understand in a broad sense or in a narrow sense. In narrow sense, refers to the ceremony that a boy joining in the group of adults by putting on Chinese caps on his head; In broad sense, it includes related rituals and girls' rite of passage.2)The rite of passage in ancient China had apparent characteristics, such as its subject was Han nationality; evident Confucian features and gender differences; the trend of simplification; the emphasis on education and intercommunication;3)The rite of passage in the primitive society (also called adult entrance rite) began in the time of matrilineal society instead of patrilineal society.4)Rite of passage can be classified as four types: types of marks, education, torture, symbolization.5)The rite system during the three ancient Chinese dynasties was handed down constantly and was slightly changed based on what they need.