Ceremony of Emperor Shun

The name of China's national intangible cultural heritage: the ceremony of Emperor Shun

Applicant: Ningyuan County, Hunan Province

Project No.: 1207

Project No.: Ⅹ - 132

Time of publication: 2011 (the third batch)

Category: folk customs

Region: Hunan Province

Type: new item

Applicant: Ningyuan County, Hunan Province

Protection unit: Ningyuan Cultural Center

A brief introduction to the ceremony of Emperor Shun:

Applicant: Ningyuan County, Hunan Province

Emperor Shun is one of the five forefathers of the Chinese nation. According to records of the historian, Shun "went hunting in the south, collapsed in the field of Cangwu, and was buried in Jiuyi in the south of the Yangtze River". In 2006, the site of Emperor Shun's Mausoleum temple was announced as the Sixth Batch of national key cultural relics protection units.

From Dayu's sacrifice to Emperor Shun's mausoleum, through various dynasties, sacrifice to Emperor Shun's Mausoleum gradually became custom-made. According to relevant historical records, Xia Yu, Qin Shihuang and Han Wudi all looked south at Jiuyi and sacrificed to Emperor Shun's mausoleum. After the Qin and Han Dynasties, through the southern and Northern Dynasties, Sui, Tang, song, yuan and other dynasties, the incense of sacrificing Shun was endless. Liu Yu, Emperor Wu of Song Dynasty, sent officials Zhang Shao and Yan Yanzhi, and Li Longji, Emperor Xuanzong of Tang Dynasty, sent officials Zhang Jiuling to Jiuyi to offer sacrifices to shun.

Zhu Yuanzhang's sacrificial ceremony for Emperor Shun in 1371 is a legacy handed down after thousands of years of inheritance and development. It is an important part of the treasure house of Chinese cultural heritage. It will become an important way to unite the Chinese at home and abroad, especially the two hundred million Chinese with the top ten surnames of Shun descent. It will also have a profound impact on the reunification of the motherland and the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. He sent Lei Sui, editor of the Imperial Academy, to Jiuyi mountain to worship Shun. According to statistics, there were 15 Royal sacrifices in Ming Dynasty. The Qing Dynasty inherited the Ming system, and the Royal sacrifice was 45 times. Four provincial sacrifices were held in the Republic of China. At present, there are still 30 sacrificial tablets in the mausoleum of Emperor Shun in Qing Dynasty and 4 sacrificial tablets in the Republic of China.

From the founding of the people's Republic of China to the 1980s, there were also some folk activities of worshiping Shun. Since the 1990s, Emperor Shun's mausoleum has been renovated, and a total of 10 large-scale sacrificial activities have been held, including 2 provincial sacrificial activities, 2 municipal sacrificial activities, 3 County sacrificial activities and 3 folk sacrificial activities. As a result, the official led group and the group led folk sacrificial activities become more and more frequent. In particular, the organizations of Shun clan at home and abroad went to Jiuyi mountain to offer sacrifices to ancestors and pay homage to the mausoleum one after another, reflecting the same lineage of Shun mausoleum sacrifice from ancient times to the present.

The sacrificial rites of Emperor Shun's Mausoleum not only maintain the traditional ritual formula, but also add modern contents such as offering flower baskets, bowing and folk art performances. The whole sacrificial ceremony is divided into welcoming ceremony, guiding ceremony, sacrificial ceremony, worshiping ceremony, Mausoleum paying ceremony and stele unveiling ceremony. It not only inherits the history, but also keeps pace with the times, which is grand and full of local characteristics.