Confucius Memorial Ceremony
01 · Historical Records
It was restored in 2004 on the initiative of Mr. Kong Xiangkai, the eldest grandson by the direct line of the Southern Branch.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
The Southern Branch sacrifice to Confucius refers to the routine sacrificial rites held by members of the Kong clan living in the south at the Kong Southern Branch Family Temple in Quzhou. In the second year of Jianyan of the Southern Song (1128), Kong Duanyou, the forty-eighth-generation eldest grandson by the direct line of Confucius and Duke of Yansheng, accompanied the emperor in a suburban sacrifice at Yangzhou on the order of Emperor Gaozong of Song, Zhao Gou, and then followed the court south across the river; in the third year of Jianyan (1129) he arrived in Quzhou, Zhejiang, and was decreed to 'temporarily use the prefectural school as a temple' to sacrifice to Confucius. Thus began the activity unique to Quzhou of sacrificing to Confucius — the Southern Branch sacrifice to Confucius. The sacrificial activities include the four major sacrifices (the ding days of the middle months of the four seasons), the four zhong ding (ten days after each great sacrifice), eight minor sacrifices, solar-term sacrifices, the special sacrifices on the master's birthday and memorial day, and general worship on the first and fifteenth of each month; broadly speaking, they also include Confucius sacrifices at the academies under the jurisdiction of the Southern Branch, as well as the initiation ceremonies of Southern Branch private schools and scripture-reading classes. The Southern Branch sacrifice to Confucius has continued in Quzhou for more than eight hundred years; after liberation it was interrupted for a time. The sacrificial rites of the Southern Branch of the Kong family are a unique sacrifice-to-Confucius activity combining state sacrifice (official sacrifice), family sacrifice, and popular sacrifice. They are of great significance for inheriting the fine traditions of the Chinese nation and strengthening the cohesion of descendants of Yan and Huang at home and abroad.
Four great sacrifices and four lesser days
Great sacrifices on the upper ding days of each season, lesser rites ten days later, plus minor and solar-term sacrifices, divide the year into dozens of ritual nodes.
The upper ding day sacrifice
The great rite at the Southern Clan Temple distinguishes principal, accompanying and attending worshippers simply by where they stand.
The southward flight and the school turned shrine
In 1129 the heir was granted the right to use the prefectural school as a shrine, founding a cult that has run for more than eight centuries.
Academy rites and school openings
The rite extends to academies, private schools and scripture classes, placing Confucius from the temple down to the child's desk.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The Southern Branch sacrifice to Confucius is centered on Quzhou, the 'Kui li in the Southeast', and is widely distributed among the various places where the Southern Branch of the Kong family resides in the south. The Southern Branch sacrifice to Confucius centers on the 'Kui li in the Southeast', Quzhou, and is widely distributed among the various places where the Southern Branch of the Kong family resides in the south; the clan ancestral halls, private schools, and scripture-reading classes of each place perform the rites according to the same set of procedures. Quzhou is the source, and also a stop every descendant of the Southern Branch must visit on returning home. The levels of sacrifice are finely distinguished: the great sacrifice on the ding day of the middle month of each season weighs most; ten days after each great sacrifice come the four zhong ding; below these are the eight minor sacrifices, the solar-term sacrifices, the special sacrifices on the birthday and the memorial day, and general worship on the first and fifteenth of the month. The year's sacrificial days nearly coincide with the coursework of the academies and private schools. The initiation ceremony is also written into the scope of sacrifice, showing that this ritual system long ago went beyond the temple gate, entering the very starting point of a scholar's life of study. When Kong Xiangkai initiated its restoration, he proposed the concept of sacrifice to Confucius by contemporary people, turning reverence for the ancestor into concern for present-day education.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Confucius Memorial Ceremony.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Kong Xiangkai (official archive record of the associated inheritor): Male; Han; born in January 1938; from Quzhou, Zhejiang Province. A lineal descendant of Confucius; he migrated south with his ancestors and settled in Quzhou. The Southern Kong sacrifice to Confucius has always been inherited by the line of the eldest grandson by the direct line of Confucius. In 1947, he inherited the office of Sacrificial Officer of the Southern Branch and took part in the Grand Ceremony of Sacrifice to Confucius. In 2000, he became director of the Management Committee of the Southern Branch Family Temple in Quzhou and set about restoring the Southern Kong sacrifice to Confucius. In 2004, at his initiative, the Southern Kong sacrifice to Confucius was restored; thereafter he was responsible each year for its planning and organization. He proposed the concept of 'sacrifice to Confucius by contemporary people' and made numerous achievements in theoretical research. He has lectured in the Taiwan region of China and in South Korea and Japan, and served as a director of the International Confucian Association. Representative inheritor of the Grand Ceremony of Sacrifice to Confucius (Southern Kong Ceremony), a project on the fifth national-level batch of the intangible cultural heritage list. Through holding Analects study competitions and initiation ceremonies, he actively advocated bringing traditional culture into schools, and spared no effort in training inheritors.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Kong Xiangkai 05-2982
- Li Wenguang
- Kong Lingli
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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