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Record of the Ancestral Hall of the He Lineage in Wuyi
Created by: Yung-chang Tung
Title: |
Record of the Ancestral Hall of the He Lineage in Wuyi |
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Text: |
Record of the Ancestral Shrine of the He Lineage of Wuyi The Erya[1] says: “A room [on the back of the main hall] with eastern and western wings is called “shrine [miao]”; a room without eastern and western wings is called “bedroom [qin]”.” The modern ancstrral shrine is what [the Erya] called a “bedroom,” However, “The Regulations of Kings” in the Book of Rites says: “A shi 士[2] had one shrine. The common people presented their offerings in their bedrooms.” Furthermore, “The Rules for Sacrifices” [of the Book of Rites] has a passage stating that : “A di shi 適士[3] had two ancestral shrines” and “An official in charge only of one department had one ancestral shrine.” Therefore even shi士[4]could call [their ancestral halls] “shrines,” how much more so those who had become officials. The Former King set up these rules because the spirits of the ancestors did not have a place to reside in. Filial sons used ancestral tablets to continue the minds [of the ancestors]. As for representing the residences of the time when they were alive, they used the road to the shrine [zhonglu] to represent the road to the residence [tang], the road from the hall to the gate of the shrine [tangtu] to represent that of the residence [chen], and the gate of the shrine [beng] to represent the residence [men].[5] Everything was taken into account. Thus the rules of the lineage were established, the order of the ancestors was set, and filial piety and fraternality were taught. For those who want to respect the ancestors, unite the lineage, honor human relations, and establish universal virtues, from the Son of the Heaven [i.e. the ruler] to commoners, all must follow this. The He lineage of S There is no evidence for determining who the first person was to build the ancestral shrine of the He lineage. However, in reading their genealogy I found a line saying“The He lineage just built the shrine” under the name of the Gentleman Qing 4th at the top of the column. Checked against the genealogy in the jiyou year of the Wanli reign period (1609) it is also so recorded. Furthermore, the hanging plaque “Transmitting Loyalty and Kindness” in the shrine carries the date of the forty-third year of the Wanli reign period (1615). Thus I verified that [the shrine] was first built around the time of the ancestors of the Li, Zhi, and Yuan generations. It is a pity that no one recorded this event and passed it down. Since there is doubt we leave the question open. It was renovated in the jiazi year of the Qianlong reign period of Our Dynasty (1744). Director so-and-so donated a certain amount of money. Over half of the expenses were donated by the branch of the Gentleman Rong 8th . The layout followed what existed, but but lacked the right-hand part of the porch. At the time, although people felt sorry about this, the Gentleman’s means were exhausted and he did not have to time to do anything about it. This year, the xinchou year (1781), Yinyu and othermanagers of the ancestral hall wanted to continue his grandfather’s enterprise and to glorify what they had done. They sighed and said: “In the ancestral shrine of our lineage, some rafters have been eaten away by insects, and some pillars are rotten. The roof tiles are broken, and the walls are going to fall down. It needs to be repaired urgently so that the spirits of the ancestors can rest in peace.” People responded: “Yes!” However, they still did not repair the missing part of the porch. Thus Yinyu and others politely consulted others on the work on the shrine and outside. Among them Yongming and Zhaoshi asked about the expense and showed no reluctance. Yinyu said: “You are indeed the worthy descendants of our ancestors!” Then he added seventy taels of silver from his own savings. The whole lineage praised Yinyu for his single-handed efforts: Were he not a virtuous person with a talent for getting things done, how could this have been accomplished without anyone feeling even the slightest unhappiness? Thus everyone joyfully looked forward to its completion. They renovated what was and rotten and they replaced what was broken. They built up what was falling down, and made the porch as it should be. The project began on the first day of the tenth month of the year and was completed on the tenth day of the twelfth month (1781). This commemorative record is composed by Chen Songling of Pujiang [County]. [1] The Erya, the earliest dictionary in Chinese history, was compiled around the third century BC. [2] In the original text, the term shi 士 refers to the lowest aristocratic class of the Zhou Dynasty. [3] In the Zhou Dynasty, the shi class could be further divided into three sub-classes: superior shi, middle shi, and inferior shi. Di shi was another term for the superior shi. [4] Note the term shi 士had different meanings in different historical periods. Here the author uses shi as it was used in his own time, as a term for the literati, that is, the large group of men who acquired an education and prepared for the examinations but rarely served in government (a social development duing the Song Dynasty). [5] All the above terms are quoted from Erya. |
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Collection: | Guodong text |
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