祖先崇拜与中华文明的长期延续
Ancestor Worship and the Longevity of Chinese Civilization
Search for other papers by Kathryn Coe in
Current site
Google Scholar
Search for other papers by Ryan O. Begley in
Current site
Google Scholar
Although an impressive body of literature is devoted to the practice of venerating ancestors in China and other places, there is little agreement on what ancestor worship is, where it is practiced, and whether it is an ancient and persistent trait. Ancestor worship, we argue, is an ancient trait that has persisted in China, as in other parts of the world, since prehistoric times. We also discuss its universal aspects, including those associated with teaching it and with encouraging its persistence across generations. We end by discussing the function of ancestor worship in China. Has it been an impediment to progress, as Christian missionaries and communists insisted, or, as Ping-Ti Ho claimed, has it promoted the “longevity of Chinese civilization”? We argue that both claims may be correct, depending on the definition of progress and the characteristics associated with China’s two forms of ancestor worship.
虽然已有大量文献讨论中国和世界其他地区的祖先敬拜，但学界没有对祖先崇拜的性质、地域、历史性和持续性达成一致的认识。本文认为，中国的祖先崇拜，与世界其他地区类似，是一个源自史前时期，持续至今的现象。本文还分析祖先崇拜的普遍性特征，正是这些特征使得其代代相传。本文最后将讨论祖先崇拜的功能。它是像基督教传教士所言阻碍了中国的进步，还是如何炳棣所宣称，促进了“中华文明的长期延续”?我们认为这两种观点正确与否取决于进步的定义以及中国祖先敬拜的具体形式。 (This article is in English.)
Purchase
Buy instant access (PDF download and unlimited online access):
Institutional Login
Log in with Open Athens, Shibboleth, or your institutional credentials
Personal login
Log in with your brill.com account
-
Abraham W. E.1966. The Mind of Africa. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
-
Addison James T. 1925. “ Chinese Ancestor-Worship and Protestant Christianity.” Journal of Religion 5 (2): 140–149. http://anglicanhistory.org/asia/china/ addison_ancestor1925/04.html (accessed September 15, 2014).
-
Alexander Richard D.1989. “ The Evolutionary Significance of the Aesthetic Sense.” lsa Magazine 12 (2): 22–24.
-
Anderson Richard L.1979. Art in Primitive Society. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
-
Balicki Asen, . 1967. “ Shamanistic Behavior among the Netsihik Eskimo.” In Magic, Witchcraft, and Curing, edited by Middleton John, pp. 191–211. New York: Natural History Press.
-
Baron Robert A., , and Byrne Donn. 1991. Social Psychology. 6th ed. Leiden: Allyn and Bacon.
-
Begley Ryan O.2015. “The Birth and Adoption of Kinship: Folklore and Fakelore in the Context of Nation-States and World Religions.” PhD diss., University of Missouri, Columbia.
-
Boas Franz. 1955. Primitive Art. Toronto: Dover Publications.
-
Calame-Griaule Geneviève. 1986. Words in the Dogon World. Philadelphia: Institute for the Study of Human Issues.
-
Chan Shirley. 2012. “ Cosmology, Society, and Humanity: Tian in the Guodian texts (Part 1).” Journal of Chinese Philosophy 38 (12): 64–77.
-
Chow Nelson. 1991. “ Does Filial Piety Exist under Chinese Communism?” Journal of Aging & Social Policy 3 (1–2): 209–225.
-
Coe Kathryn. 1995. “Words of the Ancestors: The Chachi of Lowland Ecuador.” PhD diss., Department of Anthropology, Arizona State University.
-
———. 2003. The Ancestress Hypothesis. Newark, NJ: Rutgers University Press.
-
Coe Kathryn, , Aiken Nancy, , and Palmer Craig. 2006. “ Once Upon a Time: Ancestors and the Evolutionary Significance of Stories.” Anthropological Forum 16 (1): 21–40. DOI: 10.1080/00664670600572421.
-
Conner Walker. 1993. “ Beyond Reason: The Natural of the Ethnonational Bond.” Ethnic and Racial Studies 16 (3): 373–389.
-
Dean Kenneth. 2003. “ Local Communal Religion in Contemporary South-East China.” The China Quarterly 174 (2): 338–358.
-
Demarée R. J.1983. The 3ḫ ĩkr n Rc-Stelae: On Ancestor Worship in Ancient Egypt. Leiden: Nederlands Instituut Voor het Nabije Oosten.
-
Dubs Homer. 1945. “ Chinese Imperial Designations.” Journal of the American Oriental Society 65 (1): 26–33.
-
Eberhard Wolfram. 1960. A History of China. Abingdon, Oxfordshire, UK: Routledge.
-
Fingarette Herbert. 1972. Confucius: The Secular as Sacred. New York: Harper and Row.
-
Fischer John, . 1981. “ Folktales and Childhood Experience.” In Handbook of Cross-Cultural Development, edited by Munroe R. H., , Monroe R. L., , and Whiting B. B., pp. 739–753. New York: Garland STPM Press.
-
Fogelin Lars. 2007. “ The Archeology of Religious Ritual.” Annual Review of Anthropology 36: 55–71.
-
Fong Wen, . 1980. The Great Bronze Age of China: An Exhibition from the People’s Republic of China, edited by Bagley Robert, , So Jenny, , and Hearn Maxwell. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art.
-
Fortes Meyer. 1965. “ Some Reflections on Ancestor Worship in African Systems of Thought.” In African Systems of Thought: Studies Presented and Discussed at the Third International African Seminar in Salisbury, edited by Meyer Fortes and Germaine Dieterlen. London: Cambridge University Press.
-
———. 1969. “ Kinship and the Axiom of Amity.” In Kinship and the Social Order: The Legacy of Lewis Henry Morgan, edited by Fortes M., pp. 219–249. Chicago: Aldine Transaction.
-
———. 1976. “ An Introductory Commentary.” In Ancestors, edited by Newell W. H., pp. 1–16. The Hague: Mouton Publishers.
-
Fox Robin. 1967. Kinship and Marriage: An Anthropological Perspective. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
-
Freedman Maurice. 1965. Lineage Organization in Southeastern China. [London]: University of London, Athlone Press.
-
Gibbon Edward, . 1839. The Life of Edward Gibbon, Esq. with Selections from His Correspondence. Edited by Milman H.. London: John McMurray.
-
Glowacki Mary, , and Malpass Michael. 2003. “ Water, Huacas, and Ancestor Worship: Traces of a Sacred Wari Landscape.” Latin American Antiquity 14 (4): 431–448.
-
Goodenough Oliver. 2001. “ Cultural Replication Theory and Law.” The Gruter Institute Working Papers on Law, Economics, and Evolutionary Biology 1: article 3:1–15. https://core.ac.uk/download/files/153/7154470.pdf (accessed February 3, 2016).
-
Hagan Kurtis. 2000. “ The Propriety of Confucius: A Sense of Ritual.” Asian Philosophy 20 (1): 1–25.
-
Haidt Jonathan. 2000. “ The Positive Emotion of Elevation.” Prevention and Treatment 3 (1): article 3. http://faculty.virginia.edu/haidtlab/articles/haidt.2000.the-positive-emotion-of-elevation.pub020.pdf (accessed January 26, 2016).
-
Harrell Steven. 1982. Ploughshare Village: Culture and Context in Taiwan. Seattle: University of Washington Press.
-
Hewett E. L.1968. Ancient Life in the American Southwest. Biblo and Tannen.
-
Ho Ping-Ti. 1976. “ The Presidential Address: The Chinese Civilization: A Search for the Roots of Its Longevity.” Journal of Asian Studies 35 (4): 547–554.
-
Hobbes Thomas. 1651. Leviathan. London.
-
Hocking William E.1932. Laymen’s Foreign Mission Inquiry: Re-thinking Mission. New York: Harper.
-
Holzman Donald. 1998. “ The Place of Filial Piety in Ancient China.” Journal of the American Oriental Society 118 (2): 185–199.
-
Hozumi Nobushige. 1912. Ancestor-Worship and Japanese Law. Tokyo: Maruzen Kabushiki-Kaisha.
-
Hsu Francis L. K.1971. “ Filial Piety in Japan and China: Borrowing, Variation and Significance.” Journal of Comparative Family Studies 2 (1): 67–74.
-
———. 1998. “ Confucianism in Comparative Context.” Confucianism and the Family. Edited by Walter Slote and George DeVos, pp. 53–71. Albany, NY: State University Press.
-
Hwang Bernard. 1977. “ Ancestor Cult Today.” Missiology 5 (3): 339–365.
-
Jixu Zhao. 2006. The Rise of Agricultural Civilization in China: The Disparity between Archeological Discovery and the Documentary Record and Its Explanation. Sino-Platonic Papers 175. Philadelphia: Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations, University of Pennsylvania. http://sino-platonic.org/complete/spp175_chinese_civilization_agriculture.pdf (accessed January 26, 2016).
-
Keightley David N.1978. “ The Religious Commitment: Shang Theology and the Genesis of Chinese Political Culture.” History of Religions 17 (3–4): 211–225.
-
———. 1996. “ Art, Ancestors, and the Origins of Writing in China.” In “The New Erudition.” Special issue. Representation 56: 68–95.
-
Kern Martin, . 2008. “ Announcements from the Mountains: The Stele Inscriptions of the Qin First Emperor.” In Conceiving the Empire: China and Rome Compared, edited by Mutschler F., and Mitag A., pp. 217–240. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
-
Kim J. W.1996. “ Ancestor Worship in Ancient Mesopotamia: A Comparative Study.” Chongshin Theological Journal 1: 11–34.
-
Knapp K.2005. Selfless Offspring: Filial Children and Social Order in Medieval China. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press.
-
Konner Melvin. 2010. The Evolution of Childhood: Relationships, Emotion, Mind. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.
-
Kwang-Chih Chang. 1968. The Archaeology of Ancient China. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
-
Laland Kenneth N., , John Odling-Smee F., , and Feldman Marcus W.. 2001. “ Cultural Niche Construction and Human Evolution.” Journal of Evolutionary Biology 14: 22–33.
-
Lau George F.2002. “ Feasting and Ancestor Veneration at Chinchawas, North Highlands of Ancash, Peru.” Latin American Antiquity 13 (3): 279–304.
-
Lee Kwang-Kyu, . 1987. “ Ancestor Worship and Kinship Structure in Korea.” In Religion and Ritual in Korean Society, edited by Kendall Laurel, and Dix Griffin M., pp. 56–70. Berkeley: University of California.
-
Li Liu. 2000. “ Ancestor Worship: An Archaeological Investigation of Ritual Activities in Neolithic North China.” Journal of East Asian Archaeology 2 (1–2): 129–164.
-
Liu Chungshee Hsien. 1932. “ The Dog-Ancestor Story of the Aboriginal Tribes of Southern China.” Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland 62: 361–368.
-
Lorenz Konrad. 1967. On Aggression. New York: Bantam Books.
-
Maxwell Kevin B.1983. Bemba Myth and Ritual: The Impact of Literacy on an Oral Culture. New York: P. Lang.
-
McAnany Patricia A.2014. Living with the Ancestors: Kinship and Kingship in Ancient Maya Society. Austin: University of Texas Press.
-
McClintock Walter. 1910. The Old North Trail, or Life, Legends, and Religion of the Blackfeet Indians. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.
-
McCullough Michael E., , and Tabak Benjamin A., . 2010. “ Prosocial Behavior.” In Advanced Social Psychology: The State of the Science, edited by Baumeister Roy F., and Finkel Eli J., pp. 263–302. New York: Oxford University Press.
-
Middleton John. Lugbara Religion. 1960. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
-
Miller Peggy J., , Wiley Angela, , Fung Heidi, , and Liang Chung-Hui. 1997. “ Personal Storytelling as a Medium of Socialization in Chinese and American Families.” Child Development 68 (3): 557–568.
-
Mische Patricia M.1989. “ Ecological Security and the Need to Reconceptualize Sovereignty.” Alternatives: Global, Local, Political 14 (4): 389–427.
-
Morphy Howard. 1991. Ancestral Connections: Art and an Aboriginal System of Knowledge. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
-
Mullen Robert. 2010. Call of the Camino: Myths, Legends and Pilgrim Stories on the Way to Santiago de Compostela. Forres, Scotland: Findhorn Press.
-
Munn Nancy D.1973. Walbiri Iconography. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
-
Overmyer Daniel L.1986. Religions of China: The World as Living System. San Francisco: Harper Collins.
-
Oxfeld Ellen. 2004. “ When You Drink Water, Think of Its Source: Morality, Status, and Reinvention in Rural Chinese Funerals.” The Journal of Asian Studies 63 (4): 961–990.
-
Palmer Craig T., , and Begley Ryan O., . 2015. “ Costly Signaling Theory, Sexual Selection, and the Influence of Ancestors on Religious Behaviour.” In The Attraction of Religion: Evolutionary Theories of Religion, edited by Slone J., and Van Slyke J. A., pp. 93–110. London: Bloomsbury Academic.
-
Plunket P., , and Uruñuela G.. 2002. “Shrines, Ancestors, and the Volcanic Landscape at Tetimpa, Puebla.” In Domestic Ritual in Ancient Mesoamerica, edited by P. Plunket, pp. 31–42. Monograph 46. Los Angeles: Cotsen Institute of Archaeology.
-
Raglan Lord. 1955. “ Myth and Ritual.” Journal of American Folklore 68 (270): 454–461.
-
Rainey Lee Dian. 2010. Confucius and Confucianism: The Essentials. Chichester, West Sussex: John Wiley and Sons.
-
Rappaport Roy A.1972. Ecology, Meaning, and Religion. Richmond, CA: North Atlantic Books.
-
———. 1992. “ Ritual, Time, and Eternity.” Zygon 27 (1): 5–30.
-
———. 1999. Ritual and Religion in the Making of Humanity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
-
Renfrew Colin, 1994. The Ancient Mind: Elements of Cognitive Archaeology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
-
Rook Dennis W.1985. “ The Ritual Dimension of Consumer Behavior.” Journal of Consumer Research 12 (3): 251–264.
-
Saxe Arthur A.1970. Social Dimensions of Mortuary Practices in Mesolithic Population from Wadi Halfa, Sudan. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan.
-
Sugiyama Scalise, , Michelle, . 2005. “ Reverse-Engineering Narrative: Evidence of Special Design.” In The Literary Animal: Evolution and the Nature of Narrative, edited by Gottschall J., and Wilson D. S., pp. 177–196. Chicago: Northwestern University Press.
-
———. 2011. “ The Forager Oral Tradition and the Evolution of Prolonged Juvenility.” Frontiers in Psychology 2 (133): 1–19. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2011.00133.
-
Schmidt Brian B.1994. Israel’s Beneficent Dead: Ancestor Cult and Necromancy in Ancient Israelite Religion and Tradition. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns.
-
Schneider David Murray. 1984. A Critique of the Study of Kinship. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
-
Segal Robert A., ed. 2009. The Myth and Ritual Theory: An Anthology. Malden, MA: Blackwell.
-
Shastri D.1963. Origin and Development of the Rituals of Ancestor Worship in India. Calcutta: Bookland.
-
Shternberg Leo. 1933. Gilyaki, orochi, gol’dy, negidal’cy, ainy. Stat’i imaterially (Gilyaks, Orochs, Negidals, Ainu. Works and materials). Khabarovsk: Dal’giz.
-
Smith J. M.1984. “ Science and Myth.” Natural History 93 (11): 10–24.
-
Smith Robert J.1974. Ancestor Worship in Contemporary Japan. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
-
Spence Jonathan. 1974. Emperor of China: Self-portrait of K’ang-Hsi. Toronto: Random House of Canada.
-
Staal Frits. 1979. “ The Meaninglessness of Ritual.” Numen 25 (1): 2–22.
-
Stark Rodney, , and Liu Eric. 2011. “ The Religious Awakening in China.” Review of Religious Research 52 (3): 282–289.
-
Steadman Lyle B., , Palmer Craig T., , and Tilley Christopher F.. 1996. “ The Universality of Ancestor Worship.” Ethnology 5 (1): 63–76.
-
Stevenson Harold W., 1991. “ The Development of Prosocial Behavior in Large-Scale Collective Societies: China and Japan.” In Cooperation and Prosocial Behaviour, edited by Hinde Robert, and Groebel J., pp. 89–105. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
-
Sung Kyu-Taik. 1995. “ Measures and Dimensions of Filial Piety in Korea.” The Gerontologist 36 (2): 240–247.
-
Swanson Guy E.1964. The Birth of the Gods. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
-
Tamney Joseph B. 1998. “Asian Popular Religions.” In Encyclopedia of Religion and Society, edited by William H. Swatos. http://hirr.hartsem.edu/ency/Asian.htm (accessed April 2, 2015).
-
Tang Zongli. 1995. “ Confucianism, Chinese Culture, and Reproductive Behavior.” Population and Environment 16 (3): 269–284.
-
Tanggok, Muhammad I. n.d. “Ancestor Worship in Chinese Society in Sarawak, Malaysia.” Asia Fellows Annual Conference Paper.
-
Tatje Terrence, , and Hsu Francis. 1969. “ Variations in Ancestor Worship Beliefs and Their Relation to Kinship.” Southwestern Journal of Anthropology 25 (2): 153–172.
-
Thomson Paul. 1974. “ Oral Evidence in African History: A Note on Some Common Problems.” Oral History 2 (1): 65–67.
-
Turner Victor, . 1977. “ Variations on a Theme of Liminality.” In Secular Ritual, edited by Moore S. F., and Myerhoff B., pp. 36–52. Assen: Van Gorcum.
-
Ubah C. N.1982. “ The Supreme Being, Divinities, and Ancestors in Igbo Traditional Religion: Evidence from Otanchara and Otanzu.” Africa 52 (2): 90–105.
-
Deusen Van, , Kira. 2004. Singing Story, Healing Drum: Shamans and Storytellers of Turkic Siberia. McGill-Queen’s Press–MQUP.
-
Victor Helena. 2002. “The Grave as a Neighbor: On Bronze Age Ritual Houses.” PhD diss., Uppsala University. http://www.diva-portal.org/smash/record.jsf?pid=diva2:161656 (accessed September 23, 2014).
-
Watson James L.1982. “ Chinese Kinship Reconsidered: Anthropological Perspectives on Historical Research.” The China Quarterly 92: 589–622.
-
———. 1988. “ The Structure of Chinese Funerary Rites: Elementary Forms, Ritual Sequence, and the Primary of Performance.” In Death Ritual in Late Imperial and Modern China, edited by Watson James L., and Rawski Evelyn S., pp. 3–19. Berkeley: University of California Press.
-
Wells D. Collin. 1907. “ Social Darwinism.” American Journal of Sociology 12 (5): 695–716. http://www.jstor.org/stable/2762378(accessed January 26, 2016).
-
Westropp Hodder M., , and Wake Staniland. 1875. Ancient Symbol Worship: Influence of the Phallic Idea in the Religions of Antiquity. New York: J. W. Bouton.
-
Wolf Arthur P.1984. “ Fertility in Prerevolutionary Rural China.” Population and Development Review 10: 443–470.
-
Wolf Arthur P., , and Huang Chieh-shan. 1980. Marriage and Adoption in China, 1845–1945. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
| All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 1586 | 843 | 160 |
| Full Text Views | 272 | 21 | 1 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 221 | 36 | 0 |
祖先崇拜与中华文明的长期延续
Ancestor Worship and the Longevity of Chinese Civilization
Search for other papers by Kathryn Coe in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Search for other papers by Ryan O. Begley in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Although an impressive body of literature is devoted to the practice of venerating ancestors in China and other places, there is little agreement on what ancestor worship is, where it is practiced, and whether it is an ancient and persistent trait. Ancestor worship, we argue, is an ancient trait that has persisted in China, as in other parts of the world, since prehistoric times. We also discuss its universal aspects, including those associated with teaching it and with encouraging its persistence across generations. We end by discussing the function of ancestor worship in China. Has it been an impediment to progress, as Christian missionaries and communists insisted, or, as Ping-Ti Ho claimed, has it promoted the “longevity of Chinese civilization”? We argue that both claims may be correct, depending on the definition of progress and the characteristics associated with China’s two forms of ancestor worship.
虽然已有大量文献讨论中国和世界其他地区的祖先敬拜，但学界没有对祖先崇拜的性质、地域、历史性和持续性达成一致的认识。本文认为，中国的祖先崇拜，与世界其他地区类似，是一个源自史前时期，持续至今的现象。本文还分析祖先崇拜的普遍性特征，正是这些特征使得其代代相传。本文最后将讨论祖先崇拜的功能。它是像基督教传教士所言阻碍了中国的进步，还是如何炳棣所宣称，促进了“中华文明的长期延续”?我们认为这两种观点正确与否取决于进步的定义以及中国祖先敬拜的具体形式。 (This article is in English.)
| All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 1586 | 843 | 160 |
| Full Text Views | 272 | 21 | 1 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 221 | 36 | 0 |
