The Construction of Traditional Chinese Civilizational Order Through State Ritual Systems
Ritual(Li)constitutes the core of Chinese civilization,having created political traditions and social orders aligned with China's geographical and historical characteristics.The Shang and Zhou Dynasties and Qin and Han Dynasties established a"grand unification"pattern adapted to agricultural society,with the ritual system of the Zhou and Qin dynasties laying solid ideological and cultural foundations for national and ethnic unification through its achievements in governance,territory,and material civilization.Over millennia,various ethnic regimes inheritedand developed the Han concept of"Li",with successive dynasties implementing cultural cultivation guided by Confucian ethical values.This process gradually constructed a hierarchically ordered communal system that emanated civilizational brilliance through ritual culture's comprehensive shaping of social ethical relations.Compared to Western Christian civilization,Chinese civilization's continuity benefits from several factors:emphasis throughout various dynasties on official compilations to summarize historical wisdom regarding prosperity and decline,the establishment of centralized systems for comprehensive control over land and human resources,and the collectivist tradition formed by the clan system alongside an integrated"family-state"order.In China's modernization process,the ritual system's principles of human relations,based on age hierarchy and kinship proximity,represent traditional Chinese culture's contribution to world civilization.
state ritual systemcommunitycentralizationcivilizational order
万方数据
维普
