Liu Yixia

01 · Lineage & Regional School

Liu Yixia, Male, Han, from Wencheng, Zhejiang, is a fifth-batch national representative bearer of Ancestor Worship Customs (Ⅹ-90). The tradition is documented in Wencheng, Zhejiang. Within the regional tradition and school record of Ancestor Worship Customs in Wencheng, Zhejiang: This heritage has a powerful cohesive force for the Liu clan; as a folk custom commemorating local worthies, it is widely recognized by the local community, and it is of great significance for carrying forward the traditional humanistic spirit of the Chinese nation, encouraging overseas Chinese to recognize and return to their ancestral roots, and promoting the reunification of the motherland. The Taigong Sacrifice is a family and local worthies' sacrificial ritual custom preserved in Nantian Town, Wencheng County, Zhejiang, which takes Liu Bowen, the founding hero of the Ming Dynasty, as its object. "Taigong" (Grand Duke) is an honorific given by later generations to Liu Ji (courtesy name Bowen, posthumous title Wencheng), a famous historical figure of the Ming Dynasty.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

Male, Han ethnicity, born in May 1948, a native of Wencheng County, Zhejiang Province. A twentieth-generation descendant of Liu Bowen, he took part in the local sacrificial rites to Liu Bowen from childhood. Since the Taigong sacrifice was restored in 1985 he has taken an active part in it, collating and exploring sacrificial texts and documents of the Ming and Qing dynasties and visiting surviving elders, gradually perfecting the ritual of the Taigong sacrifice. Within the documented technical tradition of Ancestor Worship Customs in Wencheng, Zhejiang: Wencheng County is the hometown of Liu Bowen; the county was named after Liu Ji's posthumous title. The public sacrifice day for the worthy falls on the 15th day of the sixth lunar month, Liu Ji's birthday. The Liu clan fixedly holds two sacrifices each year — on the first day of the first lunar month and the 15th day of the sixth lunar month — the spring and autumn sacrifices, passed down through generations to this day. The spring and autumn family sacrifices are decided at meetings of the Liu clan, which selects as sacrificial celebrant a Liu descendant whose parents are both living, whose children are of both sexes, and who possesses both virtue and talent. At these times, Liu clansmen from all parts of the country, Liu descendants in Taiwan, and Liu clan members residing overseas all take part in the sacrificial rites. Similar activities are held in Pingyang and Cangnan counties under Wenzhou City, as well as in neighboring Qingtian County. The center of the Taigong Sacrifice activities is the Chengyi Bo Temple in Nantian. The main contents include: 1. On New Year's Eve, after the celebrant performs the "qima" (setting-out) sacrifice, the spirit pavilion (Liu Bowen's memorial tablet) is carried into the Liu Ji Temple. 2. A procession around the city. 3. Sacrifice at the "Zhuiyuan" (Remembering the Distant Ancestors) Shrine (sacrificing to the seven generations above Liu Ji). 4. At the chen hour (7-9 a.m.) on the first day of the Spring Festival, sacrifice to Taigong. 5. After the rites conclude, folk performances such as dragon dances and flower lanterns are presented. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "Choosing the officiant for the spring and autumn rites": A clan meeting picks an officiant of sound family and standing, rotating the honour each rite. "The departure rite and the tablet's entry": On New Year's Eve the tablet is escorted into the temple after the departure rite opens the season. "The single circuit of the town": The procession circles the town once, retracing on ritual day the ground the sage once watched over. "The rite for seven generations above": A second altar serves the seven generations above, widening the rite from one sage to a whole ancestry.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

National representative bearer of Ancestor Worship Customs (Taigong Sacrifice), a fifth-batch national intangible cultural heritage project. He presided over the compilation of the Genealogy of the Liu Clan and took part in a series of undertakings devoted to promoting Liu Bowen culture, including the conservation of the Liu Ji Temple and Tomb, a nationally protected cultural heritage site, and the building of Liu Bowen's Hometown. He has carefully trained transmitters of the Taigong sacrifice, with marked results.

04 · Associated Heritage Item Dossier

05 · Fellow National Bearers Lineage

National representative bearers recorded under the same item code, ordered from the first to the sixth batch. Batch order is not a teacher–student relationship.

06 · Archival Sources & Bibliography

1. Liu Yixia · National Representative Bearer Archive