RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1962 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/9s166f47f 50 T. Y. LI The seal originated from jade tablets used by the Emperor and members of his Court in religious rituals. Later, seals were used to seal articles in the same way as we use sealing-wax nowadays. The only difference is that in those days, a ball of clay was used to receive the impression made by a seal. Writings on slips of wood or bamboo were bundled and sealed. Valuables were placed in a sack which was tied by string and again sealed in the same way. Naturally, these seals had to be small. Paper or silk for writing was not in popular use until long after the Han period (206 B.C.-221 A.D.), and it was then that vermilion ink was first used for seals. This practice has continued to the present day. The Ancient Seals. The so-called ancient seals were discovered at a much later period. They were thought to belong to the Chou Dynasty (1122-221 B.C.), or possibly earlier, but there is a lack of historical evidence to support it. The form of this class of seal is most variable. The size ranges from a fraction of an inch to a few inches square. The shape is mostly square, but many odd and strange shapes are also found. The engraving may be intaglio or relief. Many characters are difficult to decipher. The matrix was of bronze, though a few were of jade. The decorations are simple but elegant. They are the "platform" or "nose" type with an "eye" or "hole" provided for a cord to go through it. Subsequently, in the late Chou or Warring States Period (481-221 B.C.), a type known as Small Seals is found. The size is usually about one inch square. The shape may be oblong, oval, or round. The style of engraving is either intaglio or relief. Many characters are difficult to read because during the Warring States Period, each feudal state developed their own writing, and these were afterwards prohibited by the Emperor of the Chin Dynasty (221-206 B.C.). Hence, they became obsolete. However, their style is delicate, graceful, and well-balanced. They are all made of bronze with simple decoration, as in the ancient seals. After the First Emperor of the Chin Dynasty united the feudal states (221-206 B.C.), China was once more under one Government. Great reforms were carried out in many things, among which was the standardization of Chinese characters. A form known ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1972 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/gm80qf99h 18 DR. F. I. TSEUNG the 7th century taught that the mouth should be cleansed with water several times after each meal so as to preserve the teeth. Sir James Cantlie, teacher of Dr. Sun Yat-sen, once speaking before a medical congress in England said that the Chinese knew a great deal of fundamental hygiene. As illustrations, he mentioned the light, loose and comfortable Chinese dress, and the habit of drinking tea. This general adoption of tea as a beverage is a distinct step of progress. It saves people from many intestinal diseases caused by contaminated water such as typhoid, dysentery, cholera and diarrhoea, etc. The present day habit of taking cold drinks and ice creams is a common source of infection for these diseases. It seems that the ancients were wiser, in this respect, than we moderns. Now, a few words about Chinese medical education and administration in the early days. State medical examinations may be said to date from as early as the 10th century B.C. The Chou Rituals () state that at the end of the year the work of the doctors was examined and the salary of each fixed according to the results shown. If the statistics showed that out of ten patients treated, all got well, the results may be regarded as very satisfactory. If, however, one out of ten died, the results may be regarded as good; if two out of ten died, only fair; if three out of ten died, poor; and if four out of ten died, bad. Regular medical schools were organized in the Sung dynasty, about the 10th century, first in the capital and later in other parts of the country. In 1076 A.D. an Imperial Medical College was founded. At first it was put under the Tai Shang Szu (✯✯✦) (Imperial Court of Sacrificial Worship) but later transferred to the Kuo Tzu Chien (F) (Directorate of Education). Three hundred students were enrolled, with a staff of medical officers to teach them the three branches of medicine; namely, medicine, surgery and acupuncture. After examination, the candidates were classified into grades. The best ones were given official appointments or ordered to compile and write medical books, or engaged as teachers. The second grade ones were given a licence to practise. Those who were not satisfactory were required to study again; while those who failed were ordered to change their profession. Officers and other medical staff were appointed to the prefectures and districts, the number depending on the size and importance of the places. These positions were often filled by men selected by... ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1980 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/kh04md207 SYMBOLISM OF THE NEW LIGHT 99 been pointed out in other areas as well.16 Other channels of inspiration are not therefore excluded; in the structure of the Taoist ritual some essential elements can hardly be explained by pointing to an old Chinese model only. (See below). If Chou rituals are, however, accepted to be the prototype of the Taoist fen-teng, there is still an important discrepancy between the two; if the old Chinese custom was related to the four seasons and in the Han dynasty to the spring equinox exclusively, the change brought in by the Taoists is the disconnection of the ritual from the spring equinox: as it stands now, the fen-teng can take place any time during the year, whenever the chiao festival is celebrated. Since the chiao is a grand occasion for renewal, the fen-teng or the striking and blessing of new fire, harmoniously blends together with the meaning and essence of the chiao, There is another indication of the eclectic origin of the fen-teng ritual within the sequence of the present-day chiao festival. As was mentioned above (footnote 10) it is a regular occurrence in some temples to have the essential chiao preceded by two days of preliminary exorcism: exorcism of the water-spirit and of the fire-spirit. 'Water' and 'fire' have throughout history been extremely dangerous elements in South China; water especially has often been a threat in Taiwan, where every summer typhoons and floods have destroyed crops and property and caused the drowning of many fishermen. Fire also is a potentially destructive force: before the age of concrete building, fire was an enemy against whose rage little could be done; once a fire broke out, it would destroy a whole cluster of buildings, if not large sectors of a town or city. At the beginning of the chiao, the 'water' and 'fire' spirits are pacified by means of recitations and sacrifices, performed by the Taoist priests, and ultimately almost 'sacramentally'17 restrained from doing harm to the community in the new time period to come. In view of this exorcistic ritual, in which 'fire' (and 'water') is seen as a threat, the fen-teng ritual, which takes 'fire' as a blessing, appears to be paradoxical and can only be explained as to derive from a different conception and origin altogether.18 2. The Christian Consecration of Fire and the Easter Candle Although the Liturgy of the Roman Catholic Church has been changed throughout the centuries to accommodate new perspectives ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1980 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/kh04md207 SYMBOLISM OF THE NEW LIGHT 103 rituals are quite explicit in pointing out these numerous themes. Describing the Easter candle, Abbot Guéranger says: + It is of unusual size. It stands alone, and is of a pillar-like form. It is the symbol of Christ. Before it is lighted, it typifies the pillar of cloud, which hid the Israelites when they went forth from Egypt; under this form, it represents our Lord, lying lifeless in the tomb. When lighted, we must see in it both the pillar of fire which guided the people of God, and the glory of the risen Christ.25 The text of the Exsultet, however, is even more explicit; For this is the Paschal feast, in which the true Lamb was slain, with whose blood the doors of the faithful are consecrated. This is the night wherein of old thou didst bring forth our forefathers the children of Israel from Egypt, leading them dry-shod through the Red Sea. This is the night which cleansed away the darkness of sin, by the pillar of fire. This is the night which now delivers, throughout the world, the faithful of Christ from the wickedness of the world and darkness of sin, restores them to grace, and to the fellowship of sanctity. This is the night in which Christ snapped the chains of death, and rose conqueror from hell.26 3. Points of Comparison and Contrast After studying one by one the Taoist and the Christian rituals, it is difficult to cast aside the impression of great similarity.27 Since the "striking of new fire" is possibly like an archetype, found in many different societies, the question of historical links between the two traditions studied here should not normally arise. There are, however, in the two traditions some characteristics that go beyond archetypal similarity and can perhaps only be explained by a process of direct influence. It is worthwhile to further analyse these analogies, even if at the end of such a study any positive conclusion remains uncertain. The similarities which I am able to point out relate to five aspects of the 'new fire' ritual: the name, the method of striking new fire, the trinitarian formula, the light procession and the liturgical context. Page 135 Page 136 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1980 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/kh04md207 104 JULIAN F. PAS (1) The names fen-teng or chu-teng appear to have replaced an older name jan-teng which is found in older manuscripts, dating from the fifth century.28 The change of name to fen-teng appears in the later manuscripts (Sung dynasty) and must have a special reason: the name indicates the significance of the rite as a whole; a new name implies a new meaning perhaps not totally replacing the old one, but certainly emphasizing a new theme in the structure. Similarly the name chu-teng points to a new perspective in meaning. It is not clear where this name came from, but ‘blessing’ or 'consecrating' fire-light appears to be an innovation in Taoist liturgy. The Christian parallel is very clear: 'blessing' of light, like so many other types of blessing, is a truly Christian ritual act; in the texts of the Easter candle the terms 'sanctify' and 'bless' occur several times.29 By contrast, no type of "benediction" or blessing is found in the Chou-Li. The idea and even the expression "fen-teng" is also found in the Christian ritual: during the Exsultet chanted by the deacon, this passage occurs: And now we perceive the glory of this pillar, which the sparkling fire lights for the honour of God. Which, (fire) though now divided (divisus in partes) suffers no loss from the communication of its light.30 Before the Easter liturgy was changed in recent times, this was the moment when the lights in the church (the lamps or candles in older times) were lit from the Easter candle: the very moment of fen-teng. (ii) The actual striking of new fire is amazingly similar in the Taoist and Christian liturgies: in contrast with the Chou Li where light was said to be taken directly from the sun with a mirror (and therefore presumably in bright daylight), the rituals here both take place in the hours of darkness. In M. Saso's description, "striking a match" produces the new fire:31 this, however, is certainly a modern adaptation, and since a mirror cannot be used at night, we may assume that the striking of rocks must have produced a new fire in older times. The similarities go even further: the new fire is produced outside the temple or church building in both cases; also, the lights in temple and church are extinguished and are relit after the new fire has been taken inside. (iii) The Trinitarian formula. In the Christian liturgy, there are three successive moments of lighting a candle during the en- ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1980 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/kh04md207 SYMBOLISM OF THE NEW LIGHT 113 seven days, although the chiao was called wu-ch'ao (or five days). The fen-teng ritual took place in the evening of the 2nd day of the 5-day celebration, or on the 4th day if the two preliminary days are also counted. This distinction is not sufficiently made clear by K. Schipper in his fen-teng discussion, nor by M. Saso in his chiao monograph. 11 Saso, Cosmic Renewal, p. 73. 12 De Groot, Fêtes Annuellement Célébrées, p. 210. 13 Chou Li, Book 37: Officers in charge of keeping the fires; folio 27: "They are in charge of receiving, with the mirror fu-su the bright light from the sun; (and) of receiving with the simple mirror, the bright water from the moon." After E. Biot, Le Tcheou-li ou Rites des Tscheou (Paris, 1851, Taiwan Ch'eng-wen reprint, 1969), vol. 2, p. 381. 14 See W. Eberhard, Chinese Festivals (Asian Folklore and Social Life Monographs, vol. 38). (Taipei: The Orient Cultural Service, 1972), pp. 65-75. 1 De Groot, Fêtes, p. 219 (My trsl.). 18 To cite one example: the Taoist ritual garments, says de Groot (Fêtes, ch. 1, "Messe Taoïque", pp. 61-62) are often embroidered with motifs borrowed from the old imperial sacrificial garments, 17 'Sacramentally' here refers to the sacramental nature of these rituals: A sacramental act is a rite in which both words and deeds not only have a symbolical meaning, but moreover are understood to actually produce the signified effect: here the active pacification-and-expulsion (or control) of the potentially dangerous spirits. 18 The confusion of the various ritual acts of a chiao festival is increased by another rite of great importance in present-day renewal celebrations: the su-ch'i. Here again 'water' and 'fire' are present, but as parts of the total cycle of five agents (active powers). See M. Saso, Cosmic Renewal. pp. 75-77. 10 De Groot, Fêtes, pp. 215-6. 20 Abbot Guéranger, The Liturgical Year. Passiontide and Holy Week. London, 1880 and 1929), pp. 498-499. 21 Ibid., p. 499. 22 Ibid., p. 499. 23 The Easter liturgy has in several instances been changed: the text and rubrics of the modern Roman Missal are different from the old liturgy, used in Abbot Guéranger's text. The present prayer refers in the blessing of the newly lit Easter candle, whereas in Guéranger's text as in the older liturgy it is a prayer to consecrate the incense grains. 24 Ibid., p. 502. The Roman Missal, p. 180. 25 Abbot Guéranger, op. cit., p. 505. 26 Ibid., p. 507. 27 Already J. M. M. de Groot, Fêtes (p. 217), was struck by the similarity of the Taoist and Christian ritual: "It is beyond doubt that the ceremony of extinction and renewal of fire, which is a custom observed at the same time of the year in the Roman Catholic and Greek churches, ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1988 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ft84gb83q 40 was easily dismissed by exponents with the reasoning that the illustrators of the Ming era had not the slightest idea what they were doing. Others, more sceptical, on the other hand, came to a different conclusion. The existence of this picture obviously proved that mo, like pixiu, was only a legendary animal. Zhouyu The third animal offered by scholars as the giant panda in Chinese history and literature was zhouyu. In the Book of Odes, the zhouyu was depicted as "A giant animal that could be as large as a tiger, that had white fur but was black in certain areas. It was not carnivorous, and displayed a gentleness as well as a sense of trustworthiness". So far, this portrait fitted the modern giant panda. There was one flaw, however, as the description of the animal went on to say that **its tail was even longer than its body**. Subsequent writings on the zhouyu, claiming to be based on actual sightings, however, did not mention the impressive length of its tail. In one of the Confucian ritual texts, the Rituals of Zhou, it was stated that the term zhouyu was adopted as the title for the imperial official whose responsibilities were the upkeep of the emperor's menagerie of animals and birds. This use of the term implies that the animal of the same name was rare and valuable. In the History of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, it was recorded that the zhouyu was sighted in 333 A.D. in Liaodong in eastern China, where fossil remains of the giant panda had been found. In the History of Five Dynasties, by the noted stateman and scholar of the Song era, Ouyang Xiu (1017-1072), the zhouyu was recorded to have been seen two times. In 908 A.D., residents of two localities reported sighting the zhouyu. These localities were Wuding and Bishan, both in Sichuan. Five years later, in 913 A.D., the animal again was seen by residents. (It is regrettable that the Chinese language makes no distinction between singular and plural nouns. Therefore it is not clear whether residents ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1989 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h 367 The villagers had already gathered at the festival site when I arrived at half past nine in the morning. The red slips of paper etc., were carried by the people responsible on a tray, and, in some cases, a "pavilion", back to where they had been fetched from. In all cases, I believe, the person who carried the divinities was preceded by one of his companions who beat a gong. In some cases the procession included the "Keep quiet!" and "Keep clear!" banners. I witnessed the case of the Hung-Fan Taam gods. On their arrival the villagers set up the temporary spirit tablets of the divinities at the site, and made offerings of tea, sweets, yun-bou and paper clothing to them. Then they burnt the spirit tablets as well as the paper offerings. Ahern, Emily Martin Brim, John A. BIBLIOGRAPHY 1981 Chinese Rituals and Politics, Cambridge University Press, 1974 "Village alliance temples in Hong Kong", in Wolf (1974: 93-104). Cheng, Sui Kwan Faure, David n.d. "Yuanlang Xinx", unpublished manuscript. 1984 "The Tangs of Kam Tin - A hypothesis on the rise of a gentry family", in Faure et. al (1984). Faure, David et. al (eds.) 1984 From Village to City: Studies in the Traditional Roots Hayes, James W. Kamm, John of Hong Kong Society, Centre of Asian Studies. University of Hong Kong. 1983 The Rural Communities of Hong Kong: Studies and Themes, Hong Kong: Oxford University Press. 1977 "Field notes on the social history and fungshui of Kam Tin”, Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society (JHKBRAS) xvii, pp. 202-216. Law, Suk-Ching and Lam Siu-Fung 1985 **Jintian Dengshi shixi bogian shi'', in Renleixie Zhou Tekan, pp. 2-14. The Anthropology Society, Chinese University of Hong Kong. 1984 "Village education in the New Territories region under the Ch'ing", in Faure et. al. (1984). 1983 New Peace County: A Chinese Gazetteer of the Hong Kong Region. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, Ng Lun, Alice Ngai Ha Ng, Peter Y.L.. Ofuchi, Ninji 1983 Chugokujin no Shukyo Girei, Tokyo, Saso, Michael R. Schipper, K.W. 1972 Taoism and the Rite of Cosmic Renewal, Washington. 1974 "The written memorial in Taoist Ceremonies", in Wolf (1974:309-324). Siu, Augustus K.K. and Anthony K.K. Siu, Anthony K.K. 1982 Studies on Chinese Genealogies and the History of the Hong Kong Region, Hong Kong: Hin Chiu Institute. 1982 "Zupu zhong suojian zhí shishi shili”, in Siu and Siu (1982), pp. 21-29. 1984 **The Hong Kong Region before and after the Coastal Evacuation in the Early Ch'ing Dynasty', in Faure ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1991 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/k356gt84j 128 Also, many who did not believe in reincarnation did believe in supernatural powers and in retribution. Namely, that one would be punished later for sins committed on earth. In the funeral in this case study, the three daughters and the two granddaughters all believed in reincarnation. Conclusions In his long, complicated, Italian poem, I Sepolcri (Graves), Ugo Foscolo (1778-1827) looks at death, the after life and how the dead are represented on earth. We see ourselves in the tombs we erect, he maintains. What is the cult of death? It began when civilisation began. When homo sapiens ceased to be animal and 'honoured its urns'. There is conflict between erecting tombs and the law of nature which recycles bodies back into the earth's system, Foscolo continues: "The stink of the corpse mixes with the smell of incense. In Italy, importance is attached to cypress and cedar trees which stay green with fragrances to record to eternity those who have gone. In England, these are replaced by aged yews and in the Far East sometimes by frangipani. Funerals, along with food, festivals and weddings tell us much about a nation's culture. Former British Prime Minister William Gladstone (1809-98) said: Show me the manner in which a nation or a community cares for its dead and I will measure with mathematical exactness the tender sympathies of its people, their respect for the laws and their loyalties to high ideals. Certainly the 'cult of death' is complex and fairly clearly defined for the Chinese who, with their ancient civilisation, rich in folklore, have been 'honouring urns' in a similar manner back as long ago as the Chou Dynasty (1122-255 BC), although there are slight regional variations. The Chinese, more than any other people, are obsessed with the dead.48 There is a fear of the dead. There is a continuing relationship between the dead and the living. Rituals demonstrate, resolve and change situations. Money, goods and food are 'dispatched' to the deceased. In return, from ancestors, the living expect luck, wealth, moral order, fertility and health. If punishment is meted out this is accepted. Feng shui plays its part. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1996 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/3n209j641 99 Lang, Heng Shan Shi Lang, Zhao Hou San Lang, Zhang Zhao Er Lang, and "countless others" 17 Only the Lü Shan Jiu Lang, Zhao Hou San Lang and Zhang Zhao Er Lang are found in the Cantonese and Hakka ritual specialists' manuals, and Yao ritual manual from Qujiang County, Guangdong and Guangxi Province. But their predecessors, however unlikely, were not invented by Bai Yuchan or his disciples. We do see mention of the King of Asura, Tou To Wang, and Changsha Wang in a Yao manual from Liannan. The King of Asura as a major god is not one would expect in a Chinese context as the Buddhist (as well as the Hindu) consider Asura "powerful demons", although the same gods represents good in Persian mythology. Interestingly, there were some gods whose native place was what could be sinicization of Persia in the Liannan document. The gods Zhao Hou San (3) Lang and Zhang Zhao Er (2) Lang appeared in the Yao ritual manuals from Qujiang county and in a slightly altered form in excerpts from Guangxi Province. They were featured together with Lu Shan Jiu Lang in the local Cantonese priestly tradition. The latter has a manual entitled Daojiao Yuanliu (“The Origin of Daoism”) (NJYL) which is a handbook on both the style of rituals with the Lü Shan Jiu Lang and the Wang Tai Mu in a central position, and another style more closely related to the Canonical tradition. In the Taiwan and Fujian case, the connection with Lu Shan Jiu Lang was mentioned in the hagiography of Chen Jinggu, a goddess central to one school of the Taiwanese ritual experts as well as the local Cantonese and Hakka ritual specialists. Although there are many versions of her story, they agree that she lived during the Five Dynasties period, in Fujian. According to the Ming work San Jiao Yuanliu Shou Shen Da Chuan, believed to be the work of popular authors of Fujian, She was a disciple of Lu Shan Jiu Lang. The book illustrates the entry with a man in Daoist garment holding a cow's horn, the latter being one of the objects common to the local Hakka and Cantonese and the Taiwanese "popular" magicians. More recent versions of Chen's story named the famous Xu Xun who was accepted as the patriarch of a respectable school of Daoism, identifying Xu with Lu Shan Fa Zu, the patriarch of Lu Shan. Although this may seem a change in the genealogy reflecting change of alliance between different schools of magic, some Yao material suggests that the two 14 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1996 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/3n209j641 157 limited by the size of its villages and their economic status, Tung Chung did not adopt the tso-she ceremony in the earth god worship as Kwangtung's countryside did in the 1920s. Again, worship is mainly on a personal, rather than village, basis. The most important supra-individual/lineage inter-village social activities in Tung Chung, as remembered by the older generation, were the chiao ceremony and the Houwang's Birthday Festival. Literally meaning sacrifice or offering, the chiao is a large-scale Taoist ceremony, performed to wipe away evil, forestall calamities, restore peace, and renew life in the way of cosmic harmony for the entire population of a community. It consists of a series of rituals, which are commonly called ta-chiao (arranging sacrifices or making offerings). In spite of its rich meaning, the chiao can be better understood as a festival with a dual purpose: giving thanks to the deities and offering sacrifices to the spirits of the dead. Basic items of activity include chanting by Taoist priests, called nun-mo-lao (chanting fellows), inviting local deities to the altar placed in a matshed, going to the puppet show and the communal meals, and joining a parade through the villages. Beginning in the late Ch'ing, the chiao ceremony was held in Tung Chung regularly in the 14th lunar month, and especially after plagues had taken many lives there. The Shek Mun Kap village, being the oldest village in the area, served as the locale. According to an old villager, the village became a local venue of social and economic activities after some shops were established there. Villagers liked to gather at the place to gamble and chat. It was, therefore, a suitable centre for popular festivals. As an inter-village ceremony, the chiao required donations from all households at every village. From each village, a man was chosen as yuan-shou (leader of worship) by casting the divining blocks in front of the earth god at the entrance of Shek Mun Kap. He had to pass the divination three times in a row. These men took charge of money collection, the preparations for the occasion, and the hiring of matshed and stage builders, the puppet show troupe and the nun-mo chanters, etc. They also acted as the village representatives in assisting the ceremony. At the site of the chiao ceremony, in front of the earth god shrine at Shek Mun Kap, a matshed was set up temporarily to enshrine the Houwang image "invited" from the local temple. Oblations, joss sticks, and candles were put in front of the idol. Erected behind the earth god shrine was the gigantic bamboo and paper figure. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1996 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/3n209j641 174 K7 1960s, as members of the Chou lineage moved away from the village after an epidemic which lasted for a year and struck many family members in the 1950s. Now few of the younger generation of the Chous are Catholic. Although the Catholic Church has moved its base from the western border to the core area of Tung Chung, including such villages as Mok Ka, Shek Lau Po, upper and lower Ling Pei, Ma Wan Chung, etc. and even set up a kindergarten at upper Ling Pei in 1971, only two to three villagers have been converted in the last twenty years. 88 In the 1960s, Protestant missions established their foothold in Tung Chung, but they were no more successful than the Catholic Church. Even though villagers sent their children to a church kindergarten at Wong Nai Uk E, few were baptized. After twenty years of missionary work in Tung Chung, the Protestant Church finally withdrew and the school was suspended. In spite of the tolerant character of Chinese folk religion, which, for instance, can always coexist with Buddhism, Christianity failed to gain a firm footing in this circle of the Houwang worship. As for the small number of Christians in Tung Chung, they do seem to have incorporated the Houwang worship into their belief quite well. As admitted by the only Christian in lower Ling Pei, she also believed in the Houwang and was impressed by his efficacy. Even after some of the Chous at San Tau became Catholic converts and refrained from ancestor worship, they were still worshippers of the Houwang and money donors in support of the god's feast day festival, apparently in order to be accepted by the Tung Chung community as legitimate members. In terms of symbolic, cultural, and social meanings, the Houwang worship stands at the core of the territorial and communal ideology of being and belonging. This local cult, which grew out of the sentiments surrounding a historical legend, gradually produced a set of elaborate rituals and the distinctive customs of a living community. Its renewal mechanism through ritual cycle and the villagers' universal desire for communal welfare under the protection of the god have contributed to the continuance of the cult. This deep-rooted tradition has proved able to adapt to social, economic, and political changes since the War. The cult persists, as it has managed continuously to enlist supporting resources, even as its patrons changed in conjunction with the shift of local business centres. It survives tenaciously even after a considerable ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2000 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/nk328168n 131 connection with Chinese history when comparing the same with the Western system. There was also a slight derangement of time over the year, by one day only, with the intercalary moon being so arranged as to have only one solar period in it. Although the months were divided into two fifteen-day periods, markers for rituals, these periods had no particular relevance to the lives of the common man. What did have marked relevance for the majority of the population was the artificial division of the month into three ten-day periods, used mainly to mark rest days. However, as the seven-day week of the Judeo-Christians does not follow the natural laws by which events and phenomena operate, it was an alien concept to the majority of Chinese until 1911 when the western Gregorian calendar was introduced by the Republic. The day was divided into twelve equal hours, each of 120 minutes - though the concept of such minuscule divisions as minutes within an hour used to be beyond the comprehension of the great majority of Chinese. Short periods of time used to be described as the length of time it took for a standard incense stick to burn down.22 These twelve Chinese hours were referred to using the twelve 'branches' or horary characters. These not only provided names for each of the twelve hours of the complete day but also, in combination with the ten celestial 'stems,' they gave titles for the years. Months were referred to by twelve [or thirteen in intercalary years23] ordinary and literary names completely unconnected with the stems and branches. The twelve hour day began with 11p.m. to 1 a.m., the hour of the rat and known by the first of the 'twelve branches' Zi; the second hour, 1 a.m. to 3 a.m. was the hour of the ox and known by the second 'branch', Chou. The remainder of the twelve branches' were Yin, the hour of the tiger; Mao, the hour of the hare; Chen, the hour of the dragon; Si, the hour of the snake; Wu, the hour of the horse; Wei, the hour of the sheep; Shen, the hour of the monkey; You, the hour of the cock; Xu, the hour of the dog; and finally, Hai, the hour of the pig. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2001 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zg651950g 37 or She Ji was still a political manifestation up through the Tang (618-907) and the Song (960-1260) dynasties, articulating neighbourhood and local belonging. In the Ming (1368-1644) period of early modern China, government regulations required that every hundred households maintain one She shrine and the ceremony conducted there should include the slaughtering of animals. It was then a day of feasting.4 48 There is reason for caution here. While it cannot be denied that the ancient rituals of the remote Zhou dynasty share something with those performed more than two thousand years after in late Imperial China, the similarities must be deemed to be no more than a certain family resemblance. There is no reason to assume that the late counterparts of pristine sacrifices were caused by a true structural continuity through the ages. Forms are similar, so are the offerings of meat and wine, and a political component was permanently involved; but having recognized this, we must also remember all those agrarian, religious, social and political changes that have had such a profound impact on life in China in these millennia. Whatever ideas and notions that informed the rites of ancient and early China, these must have been modified and transformed in the course of these two thousand years of history. Still, these resemblances over the millennia continue to fascinate. The observation that the archaic links between the cults of the She and the dead re-appear in contemporary rituals in southern China, invites some further speculation. If death was an essential semantic component in the ancient notion of the She, a robust structure of meaning may well have survived—or been generated and generated again—despite ever changing symbolic environments; if it was true that the She could not be separated from the dead, or, possibly, was a manifestation of collective death, this close connotation [death<>vegetative force] may have been a presupposition for any ritual activity concerned with the earth and its generative power. What can be said here, in our present context, is that in some places in the central Yangzi valley there were visits to the graves of the dead in connection with the celebration of the She. The rituals to the agricultural god of the soil solicited blessings for the coming season by offerings and prayers which were sent in a downward direction to reach 48 Aijmer 1991: 191-92. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2002 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mp4901278 247 enemy were the people named the Qiang. Although superficially one might take it for granted that the Qiang were an enemy tribe waging war against the Shang, there is nevertheless a close similarity between the way animals were listed as prey in hunts and the way the Qiang recorded. Both Qiang and animals were similarly used as sacrifices to the ancestors. We should not exclude the possibility that the Shang nation regarded the Qiang as half-animal, and hunted them for sport and to provide material for sacrifices. Sima Qian's Yin Ben Ji (Shiji: Yin Ben Ji: Di Wu Yi. Selby: 3D.) relates how Wu Yi resorted to black magic (“shooting at heaven') with the bow and arrow. Tentatively, I put 'magic' as one of the cultural attributes of archery in the Shang period. Archery and education in the Zhou period The tradition alluded to in the Zhou Li, in which archery formed part of the syllabus of the xiao xue education curriculum (Zhou Li: di guan - Bao Shi, Zheng Zhong's note.), as well as the rich ritual tradition of archery first recorded in the 'Rites' (Yi li, Li ji. Selby: 4D) and elsewhere, were probably recorded in the Spring and Autumn Period. But the ritual practices recorded would reflect Western Zhou usage. Archery in Zhou tradition had a number of ritual expressions: * the three-tier archery competition rituals (she li) * the sou hunting ritual * the 'bow and arrow dance' * the ritual presentation of bows and arrows as tokens of office These expressions can all be regarded as a natural out-growth of the use of the bow and arrow in hunting and warfare. Logically more remote, however, are the claims in the Confucian 'Archery Ritual' (Li Ji: She Yi. Selby: 5B.) that the shooting of a bow was a right of passage (at birth and puberty) and was the proper method of selection of officials. Key to the explanation is the use of two sets of puns: the She pun and the Ze pun. In one we see 'shooting' punned with 'release of emotion,' and ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2002 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mp4901278 249 Chinese as a response to Hun incursions is attributed to King Wuling of Zhao (325-298BCE). The crossbow had become the weapon of choice in infantry tactics, as can be seen from the Qin terracotta formations at Xi'an. But except for a weak version, crossbows did not translate to horseback tactics because they were loaded using the feet. It requires intensive training to become sufficiently proficient with a traditional Asian bow to be able to rely on it in a life-threatening situation. The aristocratic elite maintained their command of the bow and arrow through their practice of hunting with chariots and from the leisure time they could devote to perfecting their skills. The aristocracy were also the ones who had stocks of horses. Thus it was that the debate that is recorded (Yan Tie Lun, Zhan Guo Ce (Zhan Guo Ce: Wuling Wang Ping Chen Jian Ju. Selby p. 175 fn 17.) about adoption of mounted archery by the Chinese involved the question of putting the aristocrats on horseback: not the ordinary soldiery.) In the Eastern Zhou, therefore, tactical and technological developments pushed the aristocracy with their bows and arrows onto horseback, and placed crossbows into the hands of the common people in the rank-and-file. (The very reverse of what happened among the English and French aristocracy in the Middle Ages.) The Militarization of archery The Confucians had, at some point, chosen to stress the non-military aspect of archery. That trend is summed up in Jun zi wu suo zheng; bi ye, she hu (Selby: 5A). I believe that in the Eastern Zhou, archery had been received from previous eras as a semi-religious, ritual experience with further expression in hunting (to gain sacrifices for the ancestors) and warfare. Even in warfare, if the account of the Battle of Yanling (Zuo: Cheng Gong 16. Selby: 71.) is to be believed, archery was fraught with taboos. Contrast Yanling with the crossbow tactics at Maling (Shiji: Sunzi Wuqi Liezhuan. Selby: 8E) Despite Wang Meng's belated attempt to revive the rituals prior to his interregnum (Hou Han Shu: Liu Kun Zhuan. Selby: 8H.), the ritual aspects of archery were almost forgotten in the Han period. Nevertheless, there is abundant archaeological evidence of archery in hunting, warfare and funeral imagery (where Yi shooting the Suns in + Page 315 Page 316 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2002 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mp4901278 250 the Fusang tree re-appears.) Practical aspects of archery mental training were also chosen as images to illustrate philosophical points in Taoism, as seen in the works ‘Liezi’ and ‘Zhuangzi’. But in practical terms, it was in military affairs that archery took the lead during the Han Dynasty. Interaction with the northern tribes on the battlefield kept up the pressure to hone mounted archery skills. General Li Guang's exploits against the Xiongnu are a case in point (Qian Han Shu: Li Guang Liezhuan, Selby: 8L). Certain military ranks in the Han military system also appear to have been appointed on the basis of military skills. (Han Shu: Zhi Guan. Selby: 8K.) According to the Ming author, Gu Yu, (Gu Yu: She Shu Si Juan: Lidai Wuzhi Kao. Selby: 8J) when the provincial rites were over on the first day of Autumn, military examinations started. Military officials provided training in ritual archery and the ritual sacrifice of animals, as well as the Military Classics. Presumably it was during the Han Dynasty that much of the Confucian elaboration of the Zhou rituals must have occurred. Confucius's (apparent) close connection with the ‘Archery Ritual’ (‘she yi’. Selby: 5B.) - he is both quoted in it and appears as a protagonist in the narrative - proved immensely influential when it came to formalizing the imperial system for selection of military officers. Archery and the formalization of the military appointment system The move to a formal, relatively objective and nationwide system for selecting military officials seems to have started in the Northern Wei period, when it became necessary to overcome the family-centered and ethnocentric systems of appointing officials that was endemic in the Wei-Jin period. Chinese historians have naturally associated archery with the nomadic tribes of the north, and it is these tribes who dominated the aristocratic lines of North China in the Wei-Jin Period. In his struggle for the unification of China, Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty needed to undermine the traditional power-bases of the aristocratic warlord families. In 607, he implemented examinations in 10 areas, including military affairs. There is no direct historical description of the content of the Sui military examinations; but from ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2002 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mp4901278 254 Conclusion How unbroken is the tradition? A disjuncture occurs with the fall of courtly ritual in the Warring States period. To what tradition did the 'Shi' participating in the archery rituals of the Warring States regard themselves as heirs? We cannot hope to find more than fragments from the pre-Shang times, from when no written record has come down to us. But interpreting the evidence generously, magic and shamanism were the domain of the Yi clan. (In Chapter 2 of my book, Chinese Archery, I have done a more ambitious job of collating these scraps than is possible within the scope of a paper like this one.) The legend of Yi remained popular in folklore and found its way into funereal art even of Northern Wei times. The idealized Confucian work, the 'Zhou Li', which may have originated in the Eastern Zhou state of Qi, explicitly states that there was magic involved in the target, to bring the feudal lords into line. I believe that the cultural heritage accruing to ritual archery in Warring States times included an element of magical power that echoed the activities of the archery Shamans of the distant past. Further disjunctures are less acute. The weakening of ritual beliefs throughout the Han and Wei-Jin periods were replaced by the inclusion of the Confucian orthodoxy (in the form of the 'Archery Classic', which itself acknowledged archery magic though the theory of the hou target, rites of passage for males and ritual dance movements to music). The Confucian ‘Archery Classic' acted as centre of a major gravitational force. Once formally incorporated in the Imperial Examination System, not only did the Confucian system ensure that the traditions of the Zhou period remained alive, it even exerted an influence in maintaining archery as a semi-ritual pursuit outside the purely practical field of military affairs, despite being part of the syllabus of a supposed military examination'. If this tradition has died out in China, it is not altogether lost. The practice of traditional archery in both Korea and China up to the present day recognises, preserves and respects aspects of the cultural tradition of Confucian ritual archery. ================================================================================