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- Title
Gudai hunli "Miao jian cheng fu" shuo wenti tanjiu.
- Authors
Lin Sue-chuan
- Abstract
This article examines the characteristics and definition of miao jian ... in ancient marriage ceremonies, while clarifying several different assertions about it and tracing their sources. Ancient Confucianists had three definitions for miao jian: 1. The worship of ancestors; 2. The worship of the husband's parents; 3. A prefatory ceremony of the newly married couple before sexual relations. The article leans towards seeing the first definition, i.e. worship of ancestors, as being more reasonable because Chinese society stresses ancestor worship as necessary for maintaining a link with ancestral souls. Research of the second definition has turned up contradictory documentation and fails to explain the importance of ancestor worship. The third definition is based on the assumption of the wife's chastity and unquestioning obedience of the husband's orders, an assumption that is not prevalent until the Han dynasty.
- Subjects
CHINA; ANCESTOR worship; MARRIAGE celebrants; WEDDINGS; MARRIAGE; ANCESTORS; CHINESE history; CHASTITY
- Publication
Chinese Studies / Hanxue Yanjiu, 2003, Vol 21, Issue 1, p47
- ISSN
0254-4466
- Publication type
Article