Empowered by ancestors : controversy over the Imperial Temple in Song China : 960-1279

By focusing on the Imperial Temple, this book explores the making of ancestral ritual norms by looking into the ritual debates in the imperial courts of Song China (960–1279). It argues that court ritual debates empowered the Song scholar-officials (shidafu士大夫‎) with the cultural authority to confront the state and reshape society. In particular, the two discourses of filial piety and political merits played crucial role in Song court ritual debates over the Imperial Temple. Both discourses had a tremendous influence on the ancestral practices of later societies. In addition, this book offers a new perspective to examine the intellectual dimension of Song factionalism, in which the ritual interests of Song scholar-officials were more associated with their scholarly backgrounds than their political stances or affiliations. In the Song ritual discourses of the Imperial Temple, scholar-officials rendered a separate intellectual identity that transcended the boundaries of not only factional politics but also the strictly defined “schools” (xuepai學派‎) of Song scholarship. In terms of intellectual identity, Song scholar-officials are more eclectic than historians have previously thought, if ritual interest is taken into consideration. From this perspective, the book examines Song scholars’ ritual discussions on the Imperial Temple, especially those scholars who have been conventionally categorized with the New Learning (xinxue新學‎) school and the Learning of the Way (Daoxue 道學‎) fellowship. Empowered by Ancestors: Controversy over the Imperial Temple in Song China (960-1279) examines the enduring tension between cultural authority and political power in imperial China by inquiring into Song ritual debates over the Imperial Temple. During these debates, Song-educated elites utilized various discourses to rectify temple rituals in their own ways. In this process, political interests were less emphasized and even detached from ritual discussions. Meanwhile, Song scholars of particular schools developed various ritual theories that were used to reshape society in later periods. Hence, the Song ritual debates exemplified the great transmission of ancestral ritual norms from the top stratum of imperial court downward to society. In this book, the author attempts to provide a lens through which historians, anthropologists, experts in Chinese Classics, and scholars from other disciplines can explore Chinese ritual in its intellectual, social, and political forms Contents Illustrations Figures and Tables Acknowledgments Note to the Reader Song Ancestors and Emperors in Their Temple Names and Personal Names Introduction Section One: Imperial Temple: Early History and Main Controversies 1. Pre-Song Interpretations of the Imperial Temple 2. Northern Song Conceptions of the Imperial Temple and Temple Sacrifices Section Two: Song Imperial Temple: Ritual Debates, Factional Politics, and Intellectual Diversity 3. An Examination of the 1072 Controversy over the Song Primal Ancestor 4. Yuanfeng Ritual Reforms and the 1079 Zhaomu Debate 5. Imperial Temple in the New Learning Section Three: Imperial Temple, Daoxue Scholars, and the Socialization of Temple Rites 6. Daoxue Conception of the Song Imperial Temple: Zhu Xi and His Disciples 7. Socialization of the Discourse of Temple Rituals in the Late Southern Song Conclusion Bibliography Index To learn about a society, we often consult its codes and treaties, but could we also learn from studying its debates? In Song China, Confucian scholar-officials intensely debated imperial ancestral rituals, considered the highest standard of ritual performance, and, in doing so, asserted their autonomy against monarchial influence, transforming imperial temple rituals into one of the most heated issues in Song state policies. Empowered by Ancestors takes a closer look at this historic discourse and explores the enduring tension between cultural authority and political power, providing historians, anthropologists, experts in Chinese Classics, and scholars from other disciplines with a framework for understanding Chinese ritual in its intellectual, social, and political forms.