Early Chinese Burial Rituals: Customs, Mingqi & Spirit Beliefs

Introduction

From the early Chinese periods, starting roughly from the Shang Dynasty, the Chinese community held the belief that the souls of the deceased subsist in another world. This realm is referred to as the netherworld, and graves were considered the earthly dwellings of the departed (China Highlights, 2016). The purpose of this paper is to discuss the different burial rituals and customs practiced in the ancient Chinese period.

Spirit Rituals and the Afterlife

The appropriate manner of burial ceremony has always been a matter of great significance to the Chinese. A person's soul was believed to leave the physical body at the moment of death, taking its place in the spirit realm. According to the early Chinese, an elaborate funeral provided the spirits in the subsequent world — together with the bereaved persons left behind — a proper indication of the deceased's social rank.

The parting of body and soul was thought to bring about dread and disorientation for the new spirit. Therefore, the living members of the family made efforts to provide the spirit with all the sustenance it required. The reasoning was that by facilitating the passage of the spirit into the next world, the dead individual would not transform into an evil spirit that would return to haunt and cause trouble for the living. Containers filled with food and drink offered sustenance on the journey to the spirit world. Other substances found in graves indicate that life in the hereafter was believed to be quite similar to life on earth (Victoria and Albert Museum, 2016).

The Role of Mingqi in Early Chinese Burials

Burial statuettes and ornaments depicting elegant dancers, mythical beasts, and everyday objects reveal how people in early China understood death and how they lived. Since individuals perceived the afterlife as an extension of present life, these statuettes — referred to as Mingqi, or spirit objects — disclose details of daily existence and offer insights into belief systems spanning over a thousand years (Loewe and Shaughnessy, 1999). These figurines became prominent during the seminal Han Dynasty (206 B.C.–220 A.D.) and continued throughout the turbulent Six Dynasties period (221–589), as well as the reintegration of China under the Sui (589–618) and Tang (618–906) dynasties (Clydesdale, 2009; Stark, 2006).

Today, earthenware Mingqi are the most recognizable heirlooms from the Han Dynasty, owing to their durability and the large numbers that survive. Mingqi functioned alongside other tomb objects and architectural elements to serve a broader funerary program, the objective of which was to provide comfort and satisfaction to the deceased. The early Chinese believed the deceased possessed two souls. The first, known as the po, was believed to remain underground with the buried body. The other, known as the hun, was thought capable of ascending to the heavens, though burial rituals sometimes endeavored to reunify it with the po within the protected space of the tomb. Treasures such as bronzes, lacquerware, and silks — commonly decorated with Daoist imagery — encircled the coffin (Clydesdale, 2009).

The interdependent relationship between the individual and government, as well as between life and the afterlife, meant that burial chambers underwent dramatic changes following the weakening of Han central authority and its eventual collapse in 220 A.D. The era of disunion that followed, known as the Six Dynasties period (220–589), saw an immediate reaction against elaborate tombs, which were viewed as symbols of the excess held responsible for the Han's downfall. In southern China, people turned to Daoism, and Mingqi along with above-ground sculptures in burial rituals became increasingly saturated with animal iconography and reinforced with dynamic, energetic lines (Clydesdale, 2009).

Conclusion

The ancient Chinese believed that individuals had to be accountable for their own lives in order to ensure peace in the afterlife. A number of key elements were encompassed in burial rituals during the early Chinese period. Chief among these was ancestor veneration, rooted in the belief that the soul had two components: the po, also associated with yin, and the hun, also associated with yang. Other central elements included the provision of grave goods, whereby the dead were buried with artifacts — most notably Mingqi — that were intended to serve them in the spirit world (Bradley, 2016).

References

Bradley, J. (2016). Traditions of ancient China regarding death. Retrieved 29 February, 2016.

China Highlights. (2016). A grave day — the culture of death! Retrieved 29 February, 2016.

Clydesdale, C. H. (2009). The vibrant role of Mingqi in early Chinese burials. In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Lagerwey, J., & Kalinowski, M. (2009). Early Chinese religion: Part one: Shang through Han (1250 BC–220 AD) (2 vols.). Netherlands: Brill.

Lagerwey, J., & Kalinowski, M. (2010). Early Chinese religion, part two: The period of division (220–589 AD) (2 vols.). Netherlands: Brill.

Loewe, M., & Shaughnessy, E. L. (1999). The Cambridge history of ancient China: From the origins of civilization to 221 B.C. Cambridge University Press.

Stark, M. T. (2006). Archaeology of Asia. Hoboken: Wiley-Blackwell.

Victoria and Albert Museum. (2016). Traditional life in China: Burial customs. Retrieved 29 February, 2016.