International Social Science Journal (Chinese Edition)

No.4, 2022

 

On the Dispute about the Ritual Institute of Shiqing: Centering on He Xiu, Zheng Xuan and Wujing Yiyi

(Abstract)

 

Ruijie Gao

 

In view of the debate about the ritual institute of shiqing (inherited title of qingdafu), scholars of the Gongyang school advocated “ji shiqing” (criticizing shiqing), believing that qingdafu had a heavy duty, so the title should not be inherited. But in the face of the reality of shiqing in the Eastern Zhou dynasty, He Xiu combined the selection of capable people with title inheritance, so that the latter was imbued with the color of meritocracy. Zuo Zhuan and Xu Shen also approved the theory of “ji shiqing” and further elaborated it into “inheritance of salary but not the title,” that is, the descendants of qingdafu can only inherit his wealth, not his position. Zheng Xuan also agreed to this idea, but he stressed that there was room for change. If a descendant had great merit, he could have the position too, and this is a reflection of the ideal of meritocracy. Comparatively speaking, Xu Shen, Zheng Xuan and their fellow scholars thought that according to the Zhou ritual, the shiqing system was a system of inherited salary, with inherited title as a change. He Xiu thought that inherited title was the Zhou system, and that inherited salary was a new system created by Confucius, with “inherited position” as a “vassal.” This system respected those with high social status, and honored those with merit, embodying the spirit of Confucius’ restructuring of the ritual system. This difference reflects that there were deep understandings of the continuation of governance traditions behind the debate on the ancient Chinese classics in the Eastern Han dynasty.