Sacrifice Of Country Sages And Writings For Country Sages In Ming Dynasty

"Sacrifice of Country Sages" refers to the sacrifice activities advocated by the country or carried out by the fellow villagers spontaneously to show their respect to the late sages. "Writings for Country Sages" refers to the written forms, such as biography, epitaph, stele inscription and preface, by fellow villagers to praise the country sages so as to manifest the local features. As two forms of commemorating and commending country sages, Sacrifice of Country Sages and Writings for Country Sages play a part in moralizing local populace and motivating the less advanced. This paper tries to sort out the implementation of the indoctrination policy in Ming Dynasty in the areas of Jiangsu and Zhejiang by investigating Sacrifice of Country Sages and Writings for Country Sages of Ming Dynasty in these two areas in order to provide a kind of regional experience to analyze the literati’s basic political tendency in Ming Dynasty, the construction of country sage tradition and the relationship between the country and the society in Ming Dynasty.The first chapter of this paper discussed the historical evolution of Sacrifice of Country Sages and Writings for Country Sages, the development of them in Ming Dynasty, and the relationship between them in Ming Dynasty. Sacrifice of Country Sages in Ming Dynasty had its own features compared with that of the previous dynasties. In Ming Dynasty, Sacrifice of Country Sages turned to local temple school gradually and became a part of the national sacrifice system. It was obviously in a government-led situation, and this feature revealed that the country of Ming Dynasty had a stronger control of local social indoctrination than that of the previous dynasties. It also made Sacrifice of Country Sages in Ming Dynasty have an obvious feature of political indoctrination. At the same time, Sacrifice of Country Sages had been separated from the sacrifice of former sages and the sacrifice of officials. To sacrifice the former sages, country sages and official sages in different shrines further manifested that much more attention had been paid to the native place of "country sages". The independent sacrifice space of the country sage shrine further clarified the moralized objects of the country sages, namely, the moralization for the local populace who had the same native place. In the same way, the writings for the country sages in Ming Dynasty also had different features compared with that of the previous dynasties. In Ming Dynasty, the country sage biography was separated from the country sage shrine inscription. Country sage biography changed the nature of country sage shrine inscription which used to be the only form, and it became another form to yearn for and praise the country sages. The description of figures contained more authors’subjective consciousness.The second chapter of this paper mainly discussed the construction of the country sage tradition in Ming Dynasty. Writing for country sages is an important form to construct a certain local cultural tradition. The authors of Writings for Country Sages were local literati of Ming Dynasty. The group of authors consisted of officials and intellectuals with local native place, local officials working here and dwellers living here. They often had strong writing abilities and big cultural influences. Local officials and populace thought highly of the group and they also hoped to manifest the local cultural tradition through the author group’s cultural influence. At the same time, the authors" descendants, junior fellow apprentice and fellow villagers also played an active role in continuing, carving and spreading the biographies of the country sages. In such a way can country sage tradition be set up and spread for a long time. From the perspective of the authors’subjective desire. Writings for Country Sages by literati of Ming Dynasty had finished the transition from "the friendship of fellow villagers" to "the love of the whole world". On the one hand, they wrote for the country sages in order to cherish the memory of the former sages and to motivate the less advanced. On the other hand, it was also a way for them to express their ideals of "excellent literati". Another question has to be discussed in this chapter is the cognition of two concepts, "country" and "sage", by the literati of Ming Dynasty. We can find from the research that in the writings by the literati of Ming Dynasty in the areas of Jiangsu and Zhejiang, the concept of "country" didn’t break through the "geographical category", but it showed more about the "psychological category", namely, "cultural category" which refers to those who has the same cultural features. "Sage" in their writings referred to typological sage, and each type represented a kind of quality of the sage. The division of type shows the literati’s cognitive standard of sage. It is also the "public discussion" standard used by the local literati to recommend and appraise sages. And it also directly influences the enshrinement structure of the temple school country sage shrines. The evaluation standard of the country sages held by the literati of Ming Dynasty is a pivotal connection between Sacrifice of Country Sages and Writings for Country Sages.The third chapter discussed the relationship between the choice of temple school country sages and the "public discussion". As an evaluation standard, "Public discussion" played a role throughout Sacrifice of Country Sages in Ming Dynasty. And it also affected the choice of temple school country sages. First of all, the author sorted out the enshrinement procedure of the temple school country sages and the types of sacrifice of country sages. The country sages in shrines were divided into certain types by the literati of Ming Dynasty, and the standard of dividing was "public discussion". Chen Liang’s "re-sacrificing" was a discussion under the guidance of "public discussion". "Public discussion" could change with the style of scholarship and study. After Zhengde period and Jiajing period of Ming Dynasty, "Learning of Wang Zhan’s" began to rise and its influence continued to increase. Thus the style of study and scholarship changed as well. Such a change gave rise to the change of the content of the "public discussion". Then it influenced the choice of local temple school country sages.The fourth chapter discussed the relationship between the temple school sacrifice of country sages in the areas of Jiangsu and Zhejiang and the national political environment and the local traditions in Ming Dynasty. The author focused on the other two factors which influence the enshrinement structure of temple school country sage shrine. Although the "public discussion" held by the literati had a crucial impact on Sacrifice of Country Sages in Ming Dynasty, the enshrinement of the local temple school country sages could be also influenced by the national political environment and the local traditions. The government of Ming Dynasty usually "praised and honored" the courtiers who had outstanding performances in big political affairs. With the completion of the system of sacrifice of country sages in Ming Dynasty, "attached sacrifice of country sages" became a special commendation form to praise and honor the courtiers in Ming Dynasty. The country conveyed the connotation of "loyalty" to the public in the form of allowing the "loyalty" country sages into the shrines. The concept of "loyalty’" conveyed by the country set an example for the local society to select the type of "loyalty". However, the author’s analysis of the enshrinement situation of the Neo-Confucianism figures in Yongjia county and the Shen’s family in Wukang county showed that local prominent cultural and historical traditions also have an influence on the enshrinement of the temple school country sages in Ming Dynasty.The fifth chapter of this paper generally analyzed the relationship between the literati’s evaluation standard in Ming Dynasty and the enshrinement structure of country sages from the point of country sage "unqualified abuse". According to the statistics in this paper, the country sages of the "official performance" type increased obviously in each county, however, other types hardly ever increased. After Jiajing period, the enshrinement number of country sages of the "official performance" type increased dramatically and became the most dominating type of sacrifice of country sages everywhere after Wanli period. Every type of sacrifice manifested the literati’s acknowledgement of the values represented by it. However, the fact that the country sages of the "official performance" type increased solely means a deviation of values in Sacrifice of Country Sages. It can also be seen from the discussion by the literati of Ming Dynasty that there was an ethos of "emphasizing official performance". In the process of recommending the country sages, the original standard of "emphasizing morality" was replaced by the standard of "emphasizing official performance". Thus the bad ethos of "emphasizing official performance" came into being in Sacrifice of Country’Sages. And the phenomenon of country sages "unqualified abuse’" came into being, too. In face of such a situation, the central government tried to promulgate a decree to rectify the bad ethos and the local literati expressed their dissatisfaction by removing their ancestors’memorial tablets or modifying the biographies of the country sages in order to rectify the general mood of society.The analysis in this paper shows that the literati’s "public discussion", national big affairs and local traditions are three major factors in influencing the choice of country sages. On the one hand, the literati spread local cultural traditions by Sacrifice of Country Sages and Writings for Country Sages. On the other hand, they also infiltrate their political aspiration into them to achieve their ideals of "good manners, good management skills and world peace". Typological sacrifice of country sages and writings for them manifest the literati’s evaluation standard for country sages, and it also has an influence on guiding the civilians’tendency of values. The standard of selecting the country sages is influenced by the style of scholarship and study, and it also has a close connection with national big affairs and local cultural traditions. Therefore, the ethos of "emphasizing official performance"in the country sage "unqualified abuse" can also reflect a part of literati’s deviation of values.