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Jolanta Cyrek
Chinese religion:
system of beliefs that is characterised by lack of unification and lack of organisation result of interaction of different religious and philosophical traditions that were influential in China constructed essentially upon four main traditions: Chinese folk religion Confucianism Taoism Buddhism
Secular rituals:
Meeting rituals Military rituals
Birth rituals
Coming-of-age rituals Banquet rituals
Used in sacrificial rituals as containers for food or drink, Consists of animal and human imagery Human images usually associated with the images of animals Some images readily suggest possible meanings (cicadasrebirth), other are assumed to symbolise something important in Shang religious and political cosmology
Bronze money tree from Guanghan in Sichuan province, Easter Han dynasty 2nd century.
Silk painting found draped over the coffin of Lady Dai (c.168 BC).
Summary:
Ritual and religious objects in China excavated from tombs provide not only a source of information on Chinese religious practices but also a glimpse into the lives of ancient Chinese, as these items supposed to provide the dead with lives as comfortable as they once led on Earth, They are characterised by rich and elaborate execution, because their purpose was to establish a good relationship between the spirits of deceases and their descendants (ancestor veneration) Religious and ritual objects often convey political, moral, social and religious ideals and norms i.e. Buddha's statues and pagodas as a result of the new religion, different burial items for people with different social status, images of filial piety or chaste widows as the desired modes of behaviour, emperors tombs as a symbol of power)
Bibliography:
Ebrey Buckley, Patricia 1996. The Cambridge Illustrated History of China (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press) Little, Stephen. Eichman, Shawn 2000. Taoism and the arts of China (Chicago, The Art Institute of Chicago)
Whitfield, Roderick. ed. 1990. The Problem of Meaning in Early Ritual Bronzes: Colloquies on Art and Archaeology in Asia No. 15 (London, School of Oriental and African Studies)
Wolf, Arthur P. 1974. Religion and Ritual in Chinese Society (Stanford, Stanford University Press) All images: ArtStor online database