A Study Of The Sacrificial Rites In The Ming Dynasty

As a fixed hereditary title of the direct descendant of Confucius, “Duke Yansheng”originated from the Northern Song dynasty in 1055. Song Renzong first named Kong Zongyuan,the 46 th generation of Confucius, as the “Duke Yansheng” officially, and since then, the title inheriting of Duke Yansheng has been followed by Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties until 24 th year of the Republic of China(1935).To demonstrate the validity and legitimacy of the ruling, Qing dynasty, functioning as the minority nationalities’ political power, offers more privileges and benefits to Duke Yansheng,which characterizes the contemporary image of Confucius and the ceremony was celebrated with greater solomnness gradually by the later generations. At the same time, in order to incorporate Duke Yansheng into their ruling system, they order the Duke Yansheng to worship the pilgrimage into Beijing in the following cases: the inheritance of the title, assisting to offer sacrifices to ancestors, the Emperor’s birthday and pilgrims from all over the world. Besides, when the following cases happened, such as the death of the Emperor, the new King’s ascent of the throne,the death of Empress Dowager, the marriage of the Emperor and so on, Duke Yansheng is also required to go to Beijing to attend the ceremony. In Qing Dynasty, there are 12 Duke Yansheng,among whom, except for the Kong Jihuo who got the title after others’ death, the remaining 11 Duke Yansheng are all required to worship the pilgrimage in Beijing. The fact that Duke Yansheng’s responsibility to worship the pilgrimage in Beijing is actually the profound political rituals of the Qing regime, suggesting that Duke Yansheng obey the rules and guide people to pledge allegiance to political intentions. For the Duke Yansheng, worshiping the pilgrimage in Beijing is not only a gift of the Emperor ancestral honorary privileges, but also a kind of obligation of the dukes to obey rules.The pilgrimage of Duke Yansheng has the functions of political campaign and cultural orientation, and plays a significant role for the rulers in carrying out their national unity will and strengthening the management of social order. The institutionalization, standardization and ritualization of the Duke Yansheng’s pilgrimage indicates that Qing regime aims to tell the world about their policy in advocating Confucianism and to show their identity for Confucian culture.At the same time, this action also indicates that Duke Yansheng, as the contemporary symbols of Confucianism and the symbols of Chinese scholar, can eliminate the national sentiment of the people, especially the Han nationality scholar, and ultimately realizes the goal of “Qing dynasty ruling the world”. In the relationships of cooperation dominated by Qing regime, the Duke Yansheng made self-cognition, orientation and practice with the guidance of Qing regime. On thepremise of not touching the the bottom line of Qing regime’s benefits, the Duke Yansheng try to pay pilgrimage to the Emperor frequently to show their obedience and gratitude in order to maintain and improve their own benefits and privileges.