Since the beginning of the Zhou Dynasty, rites and music have been "applied to stones, more than sound, used in ancestral temples and countries, and related to mountains and rivers"; Ritual and music cultural classics, such as Yi, Shi, Shu, Ritual and Music, etc., include gods, heaven and man, rules and regulations, etiquette and cultural accomplishment, ideological style, etc. On this basis, the culture of rites and music has developed into the standard of national political system and social political ethics. Duke Zhou's "ritual and music system" marked the formation of ritual and music culture, and also marked the change from "spontaneous" obedience to ritual and music culture to "conscious" consciousness of ritual and music culture in a long historical period before this. Since then, China's culture has developed from the era of deism to the era of national outlook.
The attack of Yin, the Zhou Dynasty and the system of rites and music are epoch-making historical events, representing the rise and fall of two different civilizations.
Fu Sinian's "Yi Xia Dong Xi Shuo" holds that three generations ago, the ancients had two systems, Xia and Zhou belonged to the western system, and Yi and Shang belonged to the eastern system. The drastic changes in the Yin and Zhou Dynasties "covered up the causes of national rejuvenation" and were the alternation of two nationalities and two civilizations.
Yin Shang dynasty emphasized its "God-given destiny", but the Yin Shang dynasty, which represented God's will, was ruthlessly overthrown. This fact taught the rulers in the early Zhou Dynasty a profound lesson, made them gradually realize the power of the people, and profoundly revised the traditional religious theology. Its important symbol is putting forward "morality", emphasizing "respecting morality to protect the people", believing that "morality" embodies God's will, and "respecting morality" means "respecting heaven" from "destiny" to "respecting heaven and protecting the people", reflecting the development and evolution of China's theocracy. Rulers attach importance to summing up historical lessons and drawing lessons from the previous generation's ruling experience.
Zhou people are not born atheists, but also believe in ghosts and gods. They just adopted a rational attitude of "staying away from ghosts and gods" and were not confused by ghosts and gods. This attitude of Zhou people is the historical law that when China society developed to a certain stage, "theocracy" gave way to "politics".
After the collapse of Shang Dynasty, the main problems faced by Zhou people were how to rule the vast land of the Central Plains with a very small population of Zhou people and how to deal with the political relationship between good people and good people, rather than the religious relationship between non-people and ghosts. Therefore, the Zhou people first implemented the system of establishing the country by sealing the marquis, that is, the enfeoffment system. Among the vassals who were blocked, the Ji clan accounted for about two-thirds. This is a political measure that "Zhou people value their relatives and respect their teeth" and try to define the rank status of nobles by blood relationship and maintain their rule. Up to the Emperor of Zhou, down to princes and ministers, down to scholars and common people, each has its own hierarchical order and destiny.
Corresponding to this political measure, Zhou people reformed the traditional rites and music in the ideological field: all kinds of rites and music were strictly graded, and the music used in all kinds of rituals and music was mainly "elegant music"-that is, the music of Gyeonggi, which belonged to Gao Feng, Zhou Zong. The purpose of this change in rites and music is to standardize the contents of rites and music of all ethnic groups and generations with the standards of Zhou people, and to promote them to different levels of ruling classes through institutional forms; Its significance lies in expanding the influence of Zhou culture, strengthening the blood relationship of Zhou people and maintaining the patriarchal hierarchy order; Its essence is "connecting the country, fixing the country, making the people and benefiting future generations." This is also a political means and a general plan for governing the country from the ideological level.
This is the so-called "ruling the country with rites and music". Rites and music in the early Zhou Dynasty were exclusive to gentry and nobles, and they were taught by officials and also "learned from officials". In the Spring and Autumn Period, this system of "etiquette is not less than that of Shu Ren" was gradually destroyed, that is, the "ritual and music collapse" contained in the Ji of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, which led to the rise of the ideological trend of ritual and music culture in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. Laozi and Confucius are the main representatives to promote the rise of the ideological trend of etiquette and music culture during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. Laozi and Confucius were followed by Zhuangzi, Mencius, Mozi, Xunzi and Han Feizi. In the ideological trend of ritual and music culture, they reflected on the profound reasons of the collapse of ritual and music in Zhou Dynasty from many angles, and systematically expounded the connotation and significance of ritual and music culture called "a hundred schools of thought contend" in history, which promoted the development of ritual and music culture and the reform of ritual and music system.
Facing the tradition of ritual and music culture and system in the Western Zhou Dynasty and the situation of "the collapse of ritual and music" in the Spring and Autumn Period, Lao Tzu, as a Tibetan historian in the Zhou Dynasty, had to reflect and ponder over this. He linked the core spirit of rites and music with his Taoist theory, explained the spiritual value of rites and music in Zhou Dynasty with his Taoist theory, and explained the value connotation of his Taoist theory with its inner meaning. Specifically, on the one hand, Laozi inherited the order and simplicity of rites in the Zhou Dynasty, and on the other hand, he inherited the harmony and tranquility of music, and on the other hand, he made a new interpretation of this spirit and characteristics with Taoist thought. Therefore, it is both inheritance and innovation to interpret the inner meaning of rites and music in the Western Zhou Dynasty with Taoist thought, thus forming its Taoist theory that profoundly reflects the cultural spirit of rites and music. Taoist thought of rites and music is mainly embodied in Tao Te Ching.
Confucius, who was contemporary with Laozi, explored and revealed the inner spiritual essence and its value and significance to society, politics and life from the specific norms of rites and music, and then formed an ideological system of "benevolence" higher than the specific norms of rites and music, which served as the theoretical basis of rites and music, making rites and music become the conscious pursuit of all people, including politicians. He also deleted the classics of ritual and music culture, thus establishing Confucianism and becoming a master of ritual and music culture. Confucius was born in Shandong, the first country with the highest culture of rites and music in the Zhou Dynasty, so he had a special liking for the culture and system of rites and music in the Zhou Dynasty. He not only systematically expounded the ritual and music culture in theory, but also popularized the ritual and music culture he expounded to the people. He started a private school and studied the culture of rites and music, with 3,000 disciples. He taught his disciples to learn the "Six Arts" (ritual and music shoot the imperial calligraphy teaching), and put ritual and music first. The Confucian thought of rites and music is mainly embodied in the related documents and classics such as Rites and Music.
Taoism and Confucianism are two main ideological forces rising in the ideological trend of etiquette and music culture during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. These two ideological forces had a great and far-reaching influence not only at that time, but also on the historical development of China and even the development of the history of world thought.
The rise of the ideological trend of ritual and music culture in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period and the result of "a hundred schools of thought contend" show that "the collapse of ritual and music" is only the collapse of the feudal patriarchal clan system in the Zhou Dynasty, and does not mean the collapse of ritual and music culture. Therefore, some researchers believe that since the Spring and Autumn Period, the collapse of rites is ostensibly the transgression of governors and the destruction of the system, but in fact the social changes require the adaptive adjustment of the ritual system. Through this culture of rites and music and the ideological trend of "a hundred schools of thought contend", not only the situation that "rites and music can't surpass Shu Ren" has been completely changed, but also the connotation and essence of the culture of rites and music have been further grasped by people through the contention and interpretation of Laozi and Confucius. Therefore, this ritual and music culture and the ideological trend of "a hundred schools of thought contend" further established the core position of ritual and music culture in Chinese civilization. From the Qin Dynasty, China entered the era of a unified empire that lasted for more than 2,000 years. During these two thousand years, the culture of rites and music has been the theoretical basis and guiding ideology for the governance and development of China in past dynasties, and it is also the spiritual home for people of all ethnic groups in China to settle down.
The Qin and Han Dynasties was the first stage of the development of ritual and music culture in the era of China's unified empire. Before the pre-Qin period, the Spring and Autumn Period, the Warring States Period and the pre-Qin period believed in Legalism and practiced "hegemony". The Han dynasty learned the lesson from the demise of the Qin dynasty and gradually promoted the "king" technique of rites and music. At the beginning of Han Dynasty, it mainly followed Laozi's Taoist theory of rites and music. During the period of Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty, the policy of "ousting a hundred schools of thought and respecting Confucianism alone" was implemented, and the Confucian culture of rites and music was established as its ruling thought of governing the country, thus promoting the first peak of the development of rites and music culture in the era of unified empire. Since then, the ritual and music culture, which was baptized by "a hundred schools of thought contend" in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, has officially become the mainstream thought in the era of the unified empire.
Famous scholars in the Eastern Han Dynasty studied Zhou Li, including Wei Hong, Ban Gu, Ma Rong and Zheng Xuan. Among them, Zheng Xuan's achievements in the last years of the Eastern Han Dynasty were the most remarkable. Zheng Xuan's interpretation of "Zhou Li" was developed on the basis of the research achievements of Du Zichun, Zheng Xing, Joe Cheng, Wei Hong and Jia Kui. , and extensively collect, exegesis, explain the etiquette system, correct mistakes, and carefully sort out and summarize the previous research on "Zhou Li" for the first time. In view of the social unrest, the collapse of feudal ethics and the chaotic situation of peasant uprising at that time, Zheng Xuan believed that "politics serves the people, politics is based on ceremony" and "paying attention to ceremony is the foundation of the country". Therefore, in the interpretation of Zhou Li, he emphasized the idea of "naming names, arranging the system of seniority and respecting the festival of concession" in order to achieve the purpose of maintaining the feudal hierarchy. Since the publication of Zheng Xuan's Notes on Zhou Li, all his books have been abandoned. There are gains and losses in Zheng Xuan's annotation of Rites of Rites. The biggest mistake in his annotation of Zhou Li is that he thinks that Zhou Li was written by the Duke of Zhou, so he thinks that Zhou Li is a Zhou system, while its classics, such as Book of Rites and Wang Zhi, are different from Zhou Li, but they are Yin system or Xia system. In fact, this is an unfounded assumption about the position of the party and ancient writers. " Yang Tianyu's Notes on Three Rites of Zheng Xuan contains Collection of Literature and History 21. During the Wei and Jin Dynasties, Confucian classics declined and metaphysics flourished. Metaphysics is the product of transforming Confucianism with Laozi and Zhuangzi's thoughts. During this period, phonology has made outstanding achievements, and the most advanced anti-tangent phonetic notation has been widely popularized. Affected by this, the study of phonology and meaning has developed vigorously. Sound and meaning are the phonetic symbols of ancient books. At that time, there were many works on the sound and meaning of Zhou Li, such as Jin Gan Bao, Liu Changzong, Xu Miao, Gui Li and Nie Xiong.
As we all know, "Wang Xue", represented by Wang Su, was an outstanding scholar in the Western Jin Dynasty. He advertised to learn pure classical Chinese classics. Wang Su's attack on Zheng Xuan's "Zheng Xue" destroyed China's classical family law, opposed Zheng Xue and rejected Zheng Zhu's classics. He reinterpreted China's ancient classics according to Ma Rong's classics, and made a comprehensive and systematic interpretation of Zhou Li in the twelve volumes of Zhou Guan Li Zhu. This book is dead. Although the Western Jin Dynasty was dominated by Wang Su's etiquette, Zheng Xuan's etiquette was still said by scholars, especially after entering the Eastern Jin Dynasty, Zheng Xuan's etiquette completely occupied a dominant position.
During the Southern and Northern Dynasties, Confucian classics were divided into southern studies and northern studies, but the study of etiquette followed Zheng Xuan. During this period, Lei Cizong, Cui Lingen and qi zhou in the Southern Dynasties, Shen Zhong and Xiong Ansheng in the Northern Dynasties made great achievements in the study of Zhou Li. Shen Zhong wrote "Zhou Guan Li Yi Shu" and Xiong Ansheng wrote "Zhou Guan Yi Shu". The Sui and Tang Dynasties were the second stage of the development of ritual and music culture in the era of China's unified empire. Its outstanding feature is the "systematicness, completeness and richness" of the thought and system of rites and music culture, which made Buddhism and Buddhism gradually introduced to China from India in the Han Dynasty, together with Taoism of Laozi and Zhuangzi and Confucianism of Confucius and Mencius, formed a situation of "coexistence and common development of the three religions"; Even in a certain period and to a certain extent, the status of Taoism and Buddhism of Laozi was superior to that of Confucianism of Confucius and Mencius: the "respecting Confucius and reading classics" in the Southern and Northern Dynasties and the early Tang Dynasty was not enough to compete with the prosperity of Taoism and Buddhism of Laozi at that time; During the period of Emperor Taizong, the emperor supported Xuanzang's "Western learning spread to the east", and the widespread spread and influence of Buddhism was far greater than that of Confucianism. However, regardless of the preference for Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism, it has not fundamentally affected the core position of ritual and music culture in the development of Chinese civilization. During the Sui and Tang Dynasties, the achievements of the development of rites and music since the "three generations" were comprehensively summarized and innovated, which made the culture of rites and music develop to another peak.
Sui and Tang Dynasties ended the long-term division of China, and successively established a centralized and unified multi-ethnic country, with unprecedented economic and cultural prosperity and development. In order to consolidate and strengthen centralization and national unity, the government has also unified ideological and academic studies, unified North-South Confucian classics, established a standard book of the Five Classics from the aspects of writing, meaning and theory, and promulgated it in various places, becoming a standard textbook for beginners.
The research in this period was relatively deserted, but there was a master of etiquette like Jia. Zhou Li Shu is another book with high academic value after Zheng Xuan's Notes on Zhou Li. Based on Shao's On Similarities and Differences of Zhou Official Rites and Bei Zhong's Notes on Zhou Official Rites, he summarized the research results of Zhou Official Rites since Han Dynasty by collecting the theoretical explanations of Zheng Xuan's notes in Wei, Jin and Six Dynasties. Zhu said: "Li Zhoushu is the crown of the Five Classics". However, its textual research is limited to the Nine Classics and Nine Latitudes, and its academic level in writing, phonology and exegetics is limited, and its play on Zheng Xuan's style of phonetic notation, exegetics and collation is relatively rough. Because Jia's Zhou Li Shu pushes Zheng's Note, Zheng has a tendency to be xenophobic. The Five Dynasties, Ten Kingdoms and Song and Yuan Dynasties are the third stage of the development of ritual and music culture in the era of China's unified empire. Its outstanding feature is that Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism have become the main schools that simultaneously carry China's cultural thoughts on rites and music. These three schools "contend" and "communicate" within the scope of ritual and music culture, which promoted the further development of ritual and music culture. From Neo-Confucianism in the Song and Ming Dynasties to "statecraft", "practical learning" or enlightenment in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Confucianism of Confucius and Mencius is superior to Taoism and Buddhism in general. Geographically, the focus of the development of ritual and music culture in this period gradually moved south. From the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms to the founding of the Southern Song Dynasty, with the southward movement of China's political and economic center, the focus of its ritual and music culture development also shifted from the north to the south. Cheng Hao, Cheng Yi, Zhu, Lu Jiuyuan and Wang Yangming, as well as Huang Zongxi, Gu and Wang Fuzhi in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties, inherited and developed the ritual and music culture system rooted in the northern region for a long time, making it have distinctive southern characteristics. The southward shift of the focus of ritual and music culture formed the third peak of the development of ritual and music culture in the era of China's unified empire.
Confucian scholars in Song Dynasty opposed the rigid Sinology. They look at Confucian classics with suspicion, sweep away the old Han and Tang dynasties and reinterpret Confucian classics according to the needs of the times. Song people's interpretation of Confucian classics is to concise the study of exegetics and emphasize righteousness and reason. The study of righteousness and reason is the mainstream of Confucian classics in Song Dynasty, and the study of Zhou Li is also highlighted in this respect.
The study of Zhou Li in Song Dynasty showed a relatively prosperous situation, and there were more than 100 works about Zhou Li, among which Wang Anshi's A New Interpretation of Zhou Li had a great influence at that time. The purpose of Wang Anshi's "Zhou Li Xin Yi" is very clear, that is, out of the needs of real politics and thought. Wang Anshi served his political reform by explaining Zhou Li and paying attention to current affairs. After Wang Anshi's New Interpretation of Zhou Li was published, it was awarded as an examination standard, which influenced a group of scholars at that time. Later, the detailed explanation, definition and lecture notes of Lin Dui were all explained by Wang Anshi's theory.
Wang He's "Zhou Zhi Li Yi" is an important work in the Song Dynasty, which is mainly based on Confucianism in the Song Dynasty, supplemented by the old theories before the Song Dynasty. It is the fifty-one theories adopted in this book, of which only six are before the Tang Dynasty, and the other forty-five are the theories of poets in the Song Dynasty. The essence of the Song people's "Zhou Li" theory is concentrated in this book. .
Annotating Zhou Li with pictures is one of the characteristics of Zhou Li studies in Song Dynasty. There are mainly The Book of Rites of Zhou Rites by Wang Zhu, Collection of Zhou Rites by Chen Xiangdao and Three Rites Illustrated by Nie Chongyi. In addition, there have been works devoted to Zhou Li, mainly including: Lectures of Li Zhouren by Zhou Bida, Minefield Spectrum of Zhou Li by Xia Xiu, Exam Notes, Lectures of Zhou Li Officials by Cao Shuyuan, and Minefield Map of Zhou Li by Wei Liaoweng.
During the Yuan and Ming Dynasties, although the research on Zhou Li did not stop, there were more than 100 works, but they all adhered to Rusong theory, so many of them did not invent anything. Due to the policy of political compulsion, the Qing literati avoided ideological politics, immersed themselves in risk-free academic research and were poor in Confucian classics, so they made outstanding achievements in Confucian classics. The characteristics of Confucian classics in this period are: opposing Song studies, inheriting and restoring Sinology, being good at exegetics and avoiding ideological principles.
The Qing Dynasty was the most prosperous period for the study of Zhou Li, with many famous scholars and rich works, about 250 books. From the beginning of the Qing Dynasty to the end of the Qing Dynasty, the main works include Zhou Guan Zhu, Hui's Book of Rites, Jiang Yong's Doubtful Cases, Ren's Textual Research on Tianfu, Shentong's Textual Research on Zhou Guan's Records of Heaven, Zhuang Village, Zhou Guan Ji and Zhou Guan Shuo. Ruan Yuan's Textual Research on Car System, Annotation with Collation, Wang's Research, Annotation on Ancient Books, Sun Yirang's Justice of Zhou Li, Liu Shipei's Annotation on Zhou Li, etc.
Among them, Duan Yucai's Reading Test in Zhou Lihan is his masterpiece of studying Confucian classics and primary schools. Based on Zheng Xuan's Notes on Zhou Lihan, this book proves that Chinese pronunciation is based on sound, and Chinese notes have three pronunciation styles, with strong evidence: one is like reading, the other is like reading; Second, read as, read as; Three words to do. The first two are orthogonal and explicit; The third party's "ying" is specifically defined as "changing the word because of the mistake of the word and the mistake of the sound". Duan believes that only by reading the works of Han people commenting on "Li" in this way can we understand its meaning. This book is an important classic for beginners in Zhou Li.
Ruan Yuan's Annotation on Zhou Li Le Jie and its collation were edited by Ruan Yuan and Lu Deming's Yi Yin, and finally finished by Ruan Yuan, which is the best edition of the collation of Zhou Li in Qing Dynasty.
Sun Yirang's Justice of Zhou Rites is a masterpiece of studying Zhou Rites in Qing Dynasty. The book consists of 86 volumes, about 2.3 million words, and was written in the late Qing Dynasty. This book represents the highest achievement of Confucian classics in Qing Dynasty, and it is a necessary reference book for studying Zhou Li. The more important Zhou Li research works in the 20th century include: Guo Moruo's Questioning Zhou Guan, Gu Jiegang's Legend of Zhou Gong's Rites and the Appearance of Zhou Guan, Lin Yin's Annotation and Translation of Today's Zhou Li, Qian Xuan's Interpretation of Three Rites, Qian Xuan's General Theory of Three Rites, and Qian Xuan and Money. The important indexes of Zhou Li are: Introduction Compilation Department of Harvard Yanjing Society, Introduction to Zhou Li's Introduction Notes and Introduction to Zhou Li's Introduction Books.
There are three stages in the development of ritual and music culture in the era of China's unified empire, plus the formation stage of ritual and music culture in the "three generations" period. The formation and development of China's ritual and music culture has four stages and four climaxes: Western Zhou Dynasty, Qin and Han Dynasties, Sui and Tang Dynasties, Song and Yuan Dynasties, Ming and Qing Dynasties; There are also four low tides: the Spring and Autumn Period, the Warring States Period, the Three Kingdoms Period, the Jin and Southern and Northern Dynasties Period, the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period, and after the Opium War. These four stages have a history of more than 4000 years. The wishing culture before "Three Generations" is the predecessor of ritual and music culture. Therefore, a history of Chinese civilization is actually a history of the development of ritual and music culture.