Fourth, if you don't learn etiquette, you can't stand

1. Etiquette China

"Etiquette" is a classic work that describes the etiquette system of crown ceremony, wedding, funeral, sacrifice, village ceremony, shooting ceremony, pilgrimage ceremony, and dowry. In ancient China, where religious consciousness was not developed, primitive religious rituals such as sacrifices did not develop into formal religions like some other ethnic groups, but were quickly transformed into the form of rituals and systems to restrain the hearts of the people of the world, with a total of more than 100 volumes of "Rites", which is a detailed etiquette system charter, telling people what kind of clothes they should wear on what occasions, which direction and position to stand or sit in, how to do each step and so on.

It is recorded in the "Rites" that the daily rituals practiced by the Son of Heaven, princes, doctors, and scholars are: the crown ceremony, the wedding ceremony, the meeting ceremony, the village drinking ceremony, the village shooting ceremony, the Yan ceremony, the big shooting ceremony, the dowry ceremony, the public food doctor ceremony, the pilgrimage ceremony, the funeral ceremony, the mourning dress, the evening ceremony, and so on. According to ancient documents, it can be known that the Shang and Zhou rulers had a variety of ceremonies, and the complexity of the rituals was not allowed for people without professional training.

Later generations of Confucian scholars based on the previous rituals, after continuous rehearsal and supplementation, became a professional manual on rituals. They had to hold all kinds of different ceremonies for the Son of Heaven, the princes, and the scholars, and there were many rituals. "The Mean" says: 300 etiquette, 3,000 prestige, it is said that there are as many as 300 general outlines of etiquette, and there are as many as 3,000 details, and it is precisely because of this that China is called "the state of etiquette". Later, when it was transmitted to the Han Dynasty, there were only 17 articles left in the "Rites", including five ceremonial festivals of crowns, marriages, funeral sacrifices, court appointments, and shooting townships. These rituals were passed on to the scholar class by the teacher of etiquette, Gao Tangsheng, as the "Shi Li" of this class.

The set of etiquette recorded in the "Rites" has a very obvious class character. However, all the etiquette recorded in the "Rites" cannot be said to be the product of class society. Because some of these forms are rituals that have been passed down from the clan system. Therefore, by studying this classic, we can not only understand some aspects of the aristocratic life of the Zhou Dynasty, but also get a glimpse of ancient history.

For example, the crown ceremony evolved from the Chengding ceremony during the ancient clan system. The Chengding Ceremony, also known as the initiation ceremony, is a ritual that young men and women in the clan commune must go through to enter adulthood. It was customary at the time for young men and women to be trained over a period of several years in successive years by a certain procedure to equip them with the necessary knowledge, skills and perseverance to become full members. If the training is deemed to be qualified, when they reach adulthood, they can participate in the rite of induction, become a full member, and receive the clan rights due to the members, such as participating in clan meetings, electing and dismissing chiefs, etc., and must also fulfill the obligations of members, such as participating in the main labor production and fighting for the defense of their tribe, etc.

In the slave society, the crown ceremony became the "Chengding ceremony" held by the nobles in their own clan, and the nobles not only followed the traditional form, but also gave new content, and the purpose of holding this crown ceremony was to consolidate the aristocratic organization and strengthen the patriarchal system, so as to facilitate the rule of the people. The rights and obligations of the members are also centered on this, which is fundamentally different from the Chengding ceremony of the clan commune.

Another example is the village drinking ceremony, according to the arguments of later generations, it is believed that it originated from the food system of clan settlements, and the main purpose of this etiquette is to respect the elders and provide for the elderly. Since the Zhou people entered the Central Plains and established a dynasty, most of them have become the ruling class, and the patriarchal patriarchal system has been transformed into a patriarchal system, and the etiquette that was originally customarily applied has also been transformed into a means of maintaining the patriarchal system and aristocratic privileges. The village drinking ceremony became a ritual to distinguish the elders and children of the nobles in the administrative organization at the grassroots level. It can be seen that the book "Etiquette" not only reflects the life of the nobles of the Zhou Dynasty in the crown wedding and funeral sacrifices, drinking and shooting, but also retains some ancient etiquette shells.

Liu Bang established the Han Dynasty, and the etiquette of the imperial court came from the hands of Shusun Tong, who was originally a doctor of the Qin Dynasty, so the Han Dynasty mostly adopted the etiquette of the Qin Dynasty. The set of court etiquette drawn up by Shusun Tong did not serve as a system. The "Etiquette" he wrote was not passed on later. However, although "Etiquette" became a scholar relatively late in the Western Han Dynasty and was not valued by Emperor Gaozu of the Han Dynasty, Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty, and Emperor Jing of the Han Dynasty at that time, the teaching of this book was not interrupted because of this. Since Zheng Xuan, a master of scripture, made a note on the "Rites", it has been studied by ordinary people.

In the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties periods, more and more etiquette scholars emerged, and scholars attached great importance to the book "Etiquette", which naturally could not but affect the work of the imperial court. At that time, the opinions put forward by the officials, and the rebuttals and accusations, were all based on the "three courtesies." Although the ceremonial system described in 17 articles of the Liturgy is far from satisfying the needs of the ruling class in later generations. However, most of the rituals of various dynasties were based on the "Rites" as an important basis, and then other items were added.

Chinese dynasties have attached great importance to the etiquette system, and the establishment of each dynasty must find some experts who are proficient in etiquette to formulate a set of etiquette. Because the ritual system plays a great role in consolidating the hierarchical system of respect and inferiority and maintaining the social order of class antagonism. From the Yin Dynasty, the Zhou Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty, China has had its own series of etiquette systems for thousands of years. In the long slavery and feudal society, the ritual system is a very special superstructure, and by understanding the ritual system, we can have a more specific understanding of ancient Chinese society.

Rites are the core part of Confucianism, the six classics of the pre-Qin Dynasty have "Li", the Han Dynasty set up the Five Classics of scholars, which also has "Li", the Tang Dynasty set up the Nine Classics, of which the "three rites" are "Zhou Li", "Rites" and "Rites"; The Song Dynasty established the "Thirteen Classics", and there were also "three rites" in the middle. Etiquette has always been a compulsory course for the children of the ancient aristocracy and the general public. Over the past 3,000 years, propriety has been an important part of the intellectual structure of most scholars.