Chinese Afterlife

[lostinblue]

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2010/01/...fe/hessler-text

Over the years I have read some of peters books and articles. This is a pretty good read about a tradition in china that may be on the way out in the future.

 

In China, ancient human sacrifice has given way to modern tomb-tending ceremonies, but the dead still make demands....More....

[david_dawei]

nice read. I particular agree with his comment:

 

"Cultures that engage in ancestor worship are going to be conservative cultures," he said. "You're not going to find new things attractive, because that will be a challenge to the ancestors."

 

Confucius is often wrongly ascribed as the forefather to ancestor worship; he simply was infatuated with the Zhou rites and that was paramount. But as the article rightly points out, it goes back much further to the Shang.

 

But the progression of ancient chinese really is an incredibly long and slow march from neolithic encampments to paleolithic settlements and on to tribes and then communities. Each stage had their own understanding of the afterlife passed down through shamanistic ritual and a strong sense of the 'past'. This is the key to unlock much of the ancient way past down.