A Study On Ritual System Of Liao Dynasty

Ritual System of Liao Dynasty is an important and special part of China's history of etiquette,enjoying its own characteristics.According to the etiquette system of Central Plain,Liao Dynasty established a relatively complete ritual system,including ji(affairs of sacrifice),xiong(affairs of funaral and burial),jun(affairs of army),bin(affairs of guest),and jia(affairs of marriage).Liao Dynasty took frontier minority as the core of power,so its ritual must blend custom of Qidan Nationality.Therefore,compared with other dynasty's rituals in Central Plain,ritual of Liao Dynasty has its particularity.Thus,ritual of Liao Dynasty fromed under the combined action of Qidan's traditional custom and rituals in Central Plain.However,it mainly inherits Central Plain rituals.This paper consists of introduction and body.The introduction t mainly discusses the meaning of studying ritual of Liao Dynasty,the research status,research ideas and innovation points,etc.The first chapter mainly discusses ji of Liao's rituals,namely ritual of worshiping the mountain,praying for rain,worshiping the sun,worshiping ancestor's deadee and so on.This chapter comprehensively discusses the procedures and time of creating of Liao's different rituals which mainly refer to sacrifice ritual and analyzes traditional factors of Qidan nationality and Central Plain's etiquette contained in Liao's rituals.In addition,it separately analyzes Chaice Ritual,a special part of Liao's Rituals,and discusses the relationship between Chaice Ritual and Rebirth Ritual and “burnt wood”.Finally,it points out that in the Liao's rituals,worship object,chariot,cooking,shooting willow and catching the emperor belong to Qidan's traditional factors while temple,imperial portraits,music and official seal belong to ritual of Central Plain.Besides,in ji ritual,ritual of worshiping nature mainly comes from Qidan's traditional custom and ritual of worshiping ancestors mainly comes from custom of Central Plain.The second chapter mainly discusses xiong of Liao's rituals,namely ritual of funeral and burial,grieving,confering titles,condoling,paying tribute of remnant and deathday.This chapter discusses the main content of xiong ritual and points out that the core of xiong is emperor's funeral rite,which includes kinds of rituals in xiong except deathday.Meanwhile,it analyzes traditional factors of Qidan nationality and Central Plain's etiquette contained in xiong ritual: killing sheep as sacrifice,throwing light,being buried alive with the dead and worshiping the sun belong to Qidan's traditional factors while grieving,condoling,fengfu,small folding,big folding,confering titles,lu bu(a kind of percussion & wind music),dress and music belong to ritual of Central Plain.And it points out that although xiong ritual contains both ritual of Central Plain and Qidan's traditional factors,it takes ritual of Central Plain as the core.The third chapter mainly discusses jun of Liao's rituals.Among Liao's five rituals,jun is descried in shortest length,mainly including rituals of going out to battle by the emperor himself,appointing soldiers to battle and worshiping the gods.jun of Liao's rituals was formed by combing ritual of Central Plain and Qidan's traditional factors,but takes Qidan's traditional factors as its core.Among them,shooting ghost arrow,black ox and white horse and wax belong to Qidan's traditional factors while sacrifice,flag and drum before the war belong to ritual of Central Plain.However,in the specific implementation of jun,Liao Dynasty didn't fully carry out in accordance with jun.The fourth chapter discusses the main rituals in bin,namely ritual of diplomatic exchange between Liao and Song Dynasty,pilgrimage and coming back to capital.This chapter comprehensively discusses the procedures and time of creating of bin ritual and analyzes Qidan's traditional factors and Central Plain's etiquette contained in bin: Qidan's traditional factors mainly focus on national apparel on empress dowagers and officials;the rest belong to Central Plain's etiquette,such as Han Chinese clothing,dance accompanied by music,daily life and measuring the arrow.ritual of diplomatic exchange between Liao and Song Dynasty is relatively special.Although this ritual follows Central Plain's etiquette,ritual of diplomatic exchanges between Liao and Song Dynasty is similar to ritual of diplomatic exchanges the between ancient dukes because diplomatic exchange between Liao and Song is equal.It is formed through mutual agreement on the basis of Central Plain's etiquette.The fourth chapter discusses the main rituals in jia,including ritual of marriage,conferring honorific title,confer titles of nobility,saint day,worshiping in midwinter,a successful candidate in the highest imperial examination,prime minister,congratulating auspicious sign,beginning of spring.jia is descried in longest length and rich in content.This chapter comprehensively discusses the procedures and time of creating of bin ritual and analyzes Qidan's traditional factors and Central Plain's etiquette contained in jia: Qidan's traditional factors mainly focus on worship and relative meeting of marriage;the rest belong to Central Plain's etiquette,such as giving presents to each other between man and women,go to the bride's home to escort her back to the wedding,becoming woman,Han Chinese clothing,light music,rock music,jazz and taking stick under imperial order.The sixth chapter mainly analysis the characteristics and causes of rituals of Liao Dynasty.Through analysis of various rituals in the first five chapters,it points out that rituals of Liao Dynasty is formed under the combined action of Qidan's traditional custom and rituals in Central Plain,becoming a special part in China's rituals.As a whole,it mainly inherits rituals in Central Plain,featured in blending of “Fan and Han” and strong randomness.And the reasons for creating rituals of Liao Dynasty contain economic and political cultural aspects: the long-term effects of Central Plains' s culture on Qidan nationality is the profound cause;guaranteeing the stability of regime is the direct cause;nomadism and farming are the basis of creating rituals of Liao Dynasty;orthodoxy(unified concept)is the internal factor of Liao Dynasty's rituals.