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Conference Paper: The world of symbolism in the religious poems of the Shi jing

TitleThe world of symbolism in the religious poems of the Shi jing
Authors
Issue Date2010
PublisherUniversity of Latvia.
Citation
The 18th Biennial Conference of the European Association for Chinese Studies (EACS), University of Latvia, Riga, Latvia, 14-18 July 2010. How to Cite?
AbstractThis presentation focuses on the cultural phenomenon of the Shi jing [Book of Poetry] (c.1100-600 BC) through the investigation of religious symbols and ethos of the Zhou people. An analysis of the major symbols in the religious poems of this ancient Chinese classic and an examination of archeological materials of this period reveal a spiritual world which had a dual nature of holiness and secularity. The Zhou people believed that supreme Heaven, being gracious and authoritative, granted blessings upon man, and that the ancestral spirits continually protected their descendants in the numinous world. On the one hand, the worshippers responded to the spirits by establishing communication with them, by expressing their gratitude, and, in a mystical sense, by seeking harmony with the divine. On the other hand, pious supplicants expected practical rewards, especially wealth, prosperity, and longevity in return. Such wishes were only realized when worshippers pleased the divinities by presenting rich offerings and by obeying Heaven’s moral rules. These considerations suggest that the symbolic order depicted in the Shi jing was so simple, rational, and sacred that it was unable to expand by incorporating sophisticated ontological quests, frenzied ritualistic practices, and practical humanistic concerns—elements which might have been found in the symbolic worlds of other cultures and in other belief systems of China.
DescriptionSection D - Premodern Literature: Panel D3 - Genre and Poetic Techniques
Persistent Identifierhttp://hdl.handle.net/10722/127083

 

DC FieldValueLanguage
dc.contributor.authorHo, SYen_HK
dc.date.accessioned2010-10-31T13:05:20Z-
dc.date.available2010-10-31T13:05:20Z-
dc.date.issued2010en_HK
dc.identifier.citationThe 18th Biennial Conference of the European Association for Chinese Studies (EACS), University of Latvia, Riga, Latvia, 14-18 July 2010.en_HK
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10722/127083-
dc.descriptionSection D - Premodern Literature: Panel D3 - Genre and Poetic Techniques-
dc.description.abstractThis presentation focuses on the cultural phenomenon of the Shi jing [Book of Poetry] (c.1100-600 BC) through the investigation of religious symbols and ethos of the Zhou people. An analysis of the major symbols in the religious poems of this ancient Chinese classic and an examination of archeological materials of this period reveal a spiritual world which had a dual nature of holiness and secularity. The Zhou people believed that supreme Heaven, being gracious and authoritative, granted blessings upon man, and that the ancestral spirits continually protected their descendants in the numinous world. On the one hand, the worshippers responded to the spirits by establishing communication with them, by expressing their gratitude, and, in a mystical sense, by seeking harmony with the divine. On the other hand, pious supplicants expected practical rewards, especially wealth, prosperity, and longevity in return. Such wishes were only realized when worshippers pleased the divinities by presenting rich offerings and by obeying Heaven’s moral rules. These considerations suggest that the symbolic order depicted in the Shi jing was so simple, rational, and sacred that it was unable to expand by incorporating sophisticated ontological quests, frenzied ritualistic practices, and practical humanistic concerns—elements which might have been found in the symbolic worlds of other cultures and in other belief systems of China.-
dc.languageengen_HK
dc.publisherUniversity of Latvia.-
dc.relation.ispartofBiennial Conference of the European Association for Chinese Studies-
dc.titleThe world of symbolism in the religious poems of the Shi jingen_HK
dc.typeConference_Paperen_HK
dc.identifier.emailHo, SY: hosya@hku.hken_HK
dc.identifier.authorityHo, SY=rp00903en_HK
dc.description.naturelink_to_OA_fulltext-
dc.identifier.hkuros175193en_HK
dc.publisher.placeLatvia-
dc.description.otherThe 18th Biennial Conference of the European Association for Chinese Studies (EACS), University of Latvia, Riga, Latvia, 14-18 July 2010.-

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