Family and Religion in China

I was critical in past posts about the first two lectures in this winter's history series, sponsored by the UW Alumni Association and the History Department.  I'm happy to report that tonight's lecture, the third out of four, was a significant improvement.  But I'm still discontented, for reasons I'll relate as I go along.

Tonight's lecture was entitled "Death and the Ancestors: The Religion of the Family in China."  It was given by Patricia Ebrey, a senior professor with a string of publications and honors.  She did not read her lecture, surreptitiously or otherwise.  She accompanied her lecture with a well illustrated and thought-out power point presentation, and used its bullet points to assist her in speaking, allowing her to show that she was lecturing about a subject that she knew well and had thoroughly mastered.

She discussed four time periods in Chinese history:

• The Shang dynasty (before 1000 B.C.)


• The rise of Confucianism 


• Incursion of Buddhism (100 B.C. to about 900 A.D.)


• Confucian revival (900 A.D. to about 1800 A.D.)

We know about the Shang era mainly from our study of graves and some written material.  The surviving graves seem to be primarily those of the nobility.  They are notable for the number of skeletons found in them.  Some of the skeletons are obviously war captives, with clear signs of execution.  Others were, at least nominally, family volunteers, willing to accompany the deceased to wherever he was going.  As time went by, human sacrifice dwindled, but did not disappear; it was largely replaced with animal sacrifice.

With the rise of Confucianism, the respect to be paid the dead, and the rites to be followed by family survivors, were codified in considerable detail.  The professor said that even at this early time, Confucianism did not require any specific belief about the existence of an afterlife.  The rites and sacrifices -- sacrifices of food and objects of interest to the deceased ancestor -- offered to the dead were considered primarily a means of binding the society of the living together by engaging in common rituals.  (I suggest, therefore, it resembles Islam in being more concerned with proper actions than proper beliefs.)  Confucian rituals were rigidly patrilineal -- only a male heir could provide for the welfare of his ancestors.  Therefore, not having a son was not an option.

When Buddhism arrived from its origins in India, it became popular, but did not demand abandonment of earlier rituals or beliefs, Confucian or otherwise.  It spread relatively quickly because it provided hope for an afterlife (through reincarnation and, ultimately, nirvana) and encouraged compassion towards fellow humans and other living creatures.  For men and women who did not want to marry or have children, it provided the status of monks and nuns.  Logically, Buddhism was quite contradictory to Confucianism, but its tolerance allowed followers to engage in rituals prescribed by both religions at the same time.

Confucianism revived after a millennium, being considered more "Chinese," and its revival continued up until modern times.  Professor Ebrey discussed briefly the attempts by the Maoists to stamp out all religions, and the revival of Confucianism with some support from the Communist Party in recent years. 

Ok.  My final complaint:  The lecture lasted about 45 minutes, with another 15 minutes to answer questions from the audience.  The professor did an admirable job of covering the material that she did in a coherent and logical fashion, but her subject matter -- which was fascinating -- could easily have provided sufficient material for ten weeks of two-hour lectures. 

I hope the Alumni Association finds a way to provide more extensive lectures in the future.  I'd willingly pay a higher fee for such series, if  necessary.