Abstract
Sa-tree sylvanism has led to the Earth Ritual and Sajik Altar tradition. The Sa-institution had been in the Yu and Xia ancient states of the later Neolithic and early Bronze-Age, and in the Shang and Zhou kingdoms of the Bronze Age. Lu and Song, the two feudal states of the Zhou kingdom, had two types of Sa-precincts. Pine, cypress, chestnut, catalpa, scholar tree, and elms were Sa-tree species. Ancient Sa-precincts functioned as a place of the Earth Ritual, juridical court, military gatherings, and communitarian public meetings. One of the highest six ministers (Earth official) who was in charge of Sa-institution was appointed with the practical officials who had to take care of the Sa-precinct, mountains, forests, rivers, marshes, and hunting. Sa-institution was practiced for all the people, not only kings and dukes, but also for common people. Inhabitants at villages in Zhou, Qin and Han were grouped into a Sa unit, which has also been used as an administrative unit. The ancient Sa-tree culture has common ground with the sylvanistic culture of current minorities in mountainous areas of China. Sa-tree culture and tradition can be brought to modern consciousness, and its implications in culture, forestry and social organization should be harnessed by members of modern society in Northeast Asia.
Introduction
The Sajik Altar at Zhongshan Park in Beijing symbolizes the culture and traditional knowledge, which originated from the late Neolithic or early Bronze-age sylvanism in China Proper or the Central Plain of China. Sylvanism is the faith toward a sacred tree or forest at a religious level. The ancient people had a sylvanistic culture that included a sylvanic tree, the precinct, and the ritual under a mode of thinking (Yi Citation2012).
Ancient sylvanism has evolved into Sa-tree tradition in China Proper or the Central Plain of China. The sylvanic tree in China Proper is called Sa-tree. Sa-tree was the object of worship as the Earth god. Currently, the understanding of sylvanic trees and forests that had been present at the ancient precinct could be found neither in the Sajik Altar of Beijing nor the Sajik Precinct of Seoul in Korea (Yi Citation2012). Zhongshan Park in the Forbidden City at Beijing has a tradition which has been forgotten by modern mainland Chinese, since the relevant state rituals that had been performed up to the end of the Qing Dynasty were discontinued. The tradition is the Sajik Altar (or Sejitan) located in the western part of the space between Tian'anmen and the Inner Gate to the main palatial buildings in the Forbidden City. The eastern part of the space is the Cultural Palace of Labor People, in which Taimyo, the ancestor shrine of the Qing Dynasty, is located. The Qing Dynasty used the Ming Dynasty's Taimyo with refurbishment by replacing divine tablets for their own ancestors.
This work has been done to elucidate the relationship between the ancient sylvanistic culture of Sa-tree and the Sajik Altar of Beijing. The institutionalization of Sa-tree sylvanism was also elucidated in the historical and archaeological contexts with the relation of the Sa-institution with ancient forestry and environmental management and the social organization in China Proper or the Central Plain of China.
Materials and methods
The textual evidence and data for Sa-tree sylvanism and its institutionalization were pursued and assembled. The textual exploration was focused on the geographical area delimited by two rivers, Yangzi and Yellow rivers, which were defined as the Central Plain in China (Zhongyuan) or China Proper. It is almost equivalent to the traditional midland of China, which includes Chinring and Taihang mountain ranges, Shantung peninsula, Huai River and Sichuan basin, and focuses on Shanxi, Shaanxi and Henan provinces. Historical evidence in Chinese classical books and historical records was targeted for the ancient societies in China, from the late Neolithic and early Bronze Age before the twenty-first century BC to the Later Han in the third century AD ().
Table 1. Sa-tree sylvanism and its institutionalization.
Descriptions and textual pieces about Sa-tree sylvanism and its institutionalization are summarized in and . The textual pieces and descriptions were denoted with numbers and signs, for examples 1–3 in and D1 in . The descriptions and textual pieces identified in Confucian classics, such as Book of Odes Citation(Confucius 551–479 BC), Book of Documents Citation(Confucius 551–479 BC), Analects Citation(Confucius 551–479 BC), Mencius Citation(372–289 BC), Classic of Rites or Li Ji Citation(3rd century BC), Rites of Zhou or Zhou Li (ca. 35 BC to AD 200) were assembled into a corpus for later interpretation from the perspective of ancient sylvanic culture. Historical books, such as Chunqiu-Zuozhuan by Zuo Qiuming Citation(5th century BC) and Record of the Grand Historian or Shi Ji Citation(Sima 145–90 BC), were also explored and the textual evidences of Sa-institution were identified, assembled and interpreted from the perspective of Sa-tree sylvanism. Kwanzu, the classic canon of learning different from Confucianism, was also explored Citation(Kwanzhung 4th century BC). Its name has come from Kwan Zhung, a prime minister for Duke Huangong of the Qi dukedom (685–645 BC), but was actually known to have been edited in the Warring State period ().
Table 2. Textual evidence of Sa-institution in historical records of the Central Plain of China.
Table 3. The Sa-related historical episodes recorded in Chunqiu-Zuozhuan.
The current geographic places of the cultural centers like capitals of the legendary chiefdom confederacies and kingdoms (Xia, Shang, Zhou) and dukedoms (Lu and Song) of the ancient Central Plain were identified with the textual data explored. For the Yu chiefdom confederacy, and Xia, Shang, and Zhou kingdoms, archaeological findings and current archaeological reports and records (Chang Citation1986) were used for the convergence with the textual data in chronology and geographic areas.
Results and discussion
Ancient institutionalization of Sa-tree sylvanism
Sylvanism, a revering attitude or religious mode of thinking toward a grandiose big tree and forest (Yi Citation2012), may have begun at the start of the Neolithic agriculture, in which the forests in plains had to be felled first for growing crops (Xi Citation1999). However, besides mountains, the tallest things in the ancient world were big trees and forests for the Neolithic and Bronze Age people. And the tallest and oldest living things were a symbol of longevity, nobility, periodic rejuvenation, and cosmic rhythm (Chun Citation1999). Grandiose sylvanic trees and forests had roots deep into the Earth. These were regarded as a representative of the Earth, which required a revering attitude or faith of humans, and they appear to have played a critical role of mediating either between humans and the Earth or between humans and the Heaven. This scenario fits well with Sa-tree sylvanism and its institutionalization in the ancient Central Plain in China.
Ancient initiation
A textual piece states that Sa-tree sylvanism and its precinct had started before the twenty-first century BC (1-1 of ). According to the classic Kwanzu Citation(Kwanzhung 4th century BC), Sa-tree and the ritual appear to have started being institutionalized from the “Yu” chiefdom confederacy, which was a walled town society of the late Neolithic or early Bronze Age, and appears to be one of the local areas in the Fen river valley region in Shanxi Longshan culture in Chinese archaeology (; Chang Citation1986). About 4000 years ago, this area must have been extensively covered with forests with some plains denuded for agriculture by using stone tools like axes. Around the period before the twenty-first century BC, the legendary King Yao of Tang and King Shun of Yu had ruled over this Fen river valley, very near to the north of Yellow river and to the west of the Taihang mountain range.
Ancient refinement during Xia and Shang
The Sa-tree species of Xia was identified as pine (2-1 of ). In the Xia society, stone tools were mainly made and used for their agriculture and living and had only simple Bronze objects. The first king of Xia revered Sa-tree and refined the Sa-institution (2-2 of ). And the second King Qi of Xia used the Sa-precinct as a public meeting place, and a punishment was supposed to take place after a conflict between Xia and a different tribe who went against the supremacy of the Xia tribe and kingdom (2-3 of ). The early cultural center of Xia cannot yet be specified, but it is thought to be somewhere within the extensive area between Luoyang and Mt. Song in Henan province. The later capital of Xia near Luoyang is archaeologically called the Erlitou culture (; Chang Citation1986). The presence of Xia's sylvanistic precinct with a grandiose tall pine tree at the last capital of Xia (Erlitou) is corroborated by the record in Shi Ji (145–90 BC) for Shang's conquest of Xia (2-4 of ).
Shang (Yin) had changed the species into cypress (Platycladus orientalis or Thuja orientalis) as the divine entity (3-1 of ; Yi Citation2012). Shang is the first ancient dynasty located in the eastern part of the Central Plain of China to the east of the Taihang mountain range, where scapulimancy, divination with inscribed oracle bones, has given rise to the precedent writing system for Chinese characters in the later years (). Shang moved capitals several times and Yin, the capital of most of the later period of Shang, is Anyang in Henan province. The later period is archaeologically called the Yinshi culture with dazzling sets of bronze ritual objects and jade arts (; Chang Citation1986). At Anyang, palaces and mausoleums as well as bronze and bone workshops were excavated, together with semi-subterranean ordinary dwellings. Stamped-earth foundations, apparently some ceremonial altars, were also found (Chang Citation1986).
There must have been a Sa-precinct at Anyang in addition to Shang's Jongmyo. As the record in Kwanzu (1-1 of ) for the Yu chiefdom confederacy suggests, the precinct at the capital of Yin should have been set up by an extensive earthen plain stamped one-step higher than the common plain with a grandiose tall tree in the center, and it allowed many people to come together for public meetings. The first King Wu of Zhou performed a ritual with Zhou solders in the Sa-precinct at the last capital of Yin (Qi county, Henan province) after the conquest of Yin (3-2 of ).
Sa-tree sylvanism innovated into Sajik institution of Zhou
Zhou people had served Sa-tree of chestnut (Castanea mollissima) (4-1 of ; Yi Citation2012). Zhou had a political center at current Xian in Shaanxi province to the west of Shang. The Sa-precinct at the highest level of the earlier Zhou (eleventh to eighth century BC ) was located with Jongmyo at the western Xian. Fenghao appears to be the capital where ancestor shrines and other ritual facilities were located, in contrast to Haojing, the secular capital with royal palaces, located to the northwest of current Xian.
The completion of the Sajik (Seji) institution with a dual deity system is likely to have been achieved during the early Zhou period at the capital Fenghao. In addition to Sa-deity, Jik (Ji) as the crop god appears to have been incorporated into the Sa-ritual and precinct (Xi Citation1999). Jik could be both the crop god and Houji (Prince Millet), the first ancestor of Zhou tribes and crop cultivator hero, in the twentieth century BC.
King Cheng, the second King of Zhou, performed Sa-ritual with three kinds of sacrificial animals (one bull, one sheep, and one pig or boar) at the newly established Sa-precinct of a new urban town (second capital Chengzhou) at Luoyang to the east of their original capital at Xian (4-2 of ). It was done with the Heavenly (Suburb) Ritual at the newly built town, where the defeated Shang people were commanded to move and live. Chengzhou became the later capital of Eastern Zhou during the Spring and Autumn period.
According to the exegetical notes on Classic of Rites and Book of Documents written by Kong Ying Da, the sixth century Confucian scholar (AD 574–648), it appears that not only pine, cypress and chestnut but also catalpa (Catalpa spp.) and scholar tree (Sophora japonica) served as Sa-trees of the Zhou period in the ancient Central Plain of China.
Sa-institution and ancient forestry and environmental management
According to Elvin Citation(2004), Zhou was a civilization based on deforestation. In ancient and medieval times, constructions were all made of wood. This means that more aggressive exploitation of forests as well as natural resources than that of the preceding archaic societies (Yu, Xia and Shang) was a corollary. It also exposed a need for officials who could deal with forests and logging. The Book of Odes (CitationConfucius 551–479 BC) contains quite a few stanzas of people acquiring fuel wood. Logging was done at many levels from the Zhou kingdom to feudal states, even to towns and villages. A ceremonial song of the Lu dukedom in the Book of Odes records the logging of the mountains in Shantung province to build a new shrine:
From Mount Culai they brought the pines,
From Mount Xinfu the trunks of cypress,
Cut them according to the measure,
In fathoms and feet marked widths and lengths
Massively thick the raftered pine,
The chamber imposingly immense [translated by Elvin Citation(2004)]
The Rites of Zhou (Citationca. 35 BC to AD 200) gives a glimpse of what kind of officials had been appointed for the idealized Zhou administration. Great Situ, the highest Earth minister, ought to be in charge of delimiting the geographic areas, feudal states and towns, under the royal rule of Zhou. One of this minister's main duties was to set up Sa-precincts, naming the administrative areas with the proper Sa-tree and its related plains (4-4 of ). Deputy Situ at a level lower than Great Situ was supposed to support the work for Sa-precincts for feudal states. Sa-trees of chestnut, cypress, pine, catalpa, and scholar tree may have been at the Sa-precincts of the Zhou period.
Fengren was an official for the actual construction work for Sa-precincts in the capital. The character “Feng” denotes the preparation of an extensive earthen plain higher than the common ground, which must have been done before an altar was constructed in a Sa-precinct. He was to prepare a bull (or cow) which will be sacrificed for the ritual. The officials who should take the husbandry of animals were also to be appointed under the same highest Earth minister.
Likewise, at the same hierarchical level as Fengren, officials who took care of mountains (Shanyu), forests (Linheng), rivers (Chuanheng), marshes (Zeyu), and hunting (Jiren) were appointed. The duties of the Shanyu were the administration for logging from forests and mountains, and road construction for royal hunting, while the Linheng were rangers who protected forests by deterring people from wood cutting according to forbidden rules (Menzies Citation1994). The Chuanheng and Zeyu were involved in the protection of rivers and marshes, and the Jiren were supposed to be in charge of hunting permission.
Sa-institution of feudal capitals of Spring and Autumn period and Sajik of Warring States.
During the Spring and Autumn (Chunqiu) period, feudal states practiced their Sa-institutions as in the cases of the Qi, Lu, and Song dukedoms (5-1 and 5-2 of ; ).
Duke Huanggong of Qi had at least a Sa-precinct, where he went to perform a coronation-informing ritual (5-1 of ), and Duke Zhuanggong of Lu came to observe either a Sa-ritual or a military alignment of Qi's powerful army (D1 of ). The capital of the Qi dukedom was located at the current Linzi, Shandong province.
Sa-rituals were held at the Sa-precinct of Lu after some natural disasters (D2 and D3 of ). The capital of the Lu dukedom was the current Qifu in the western region in Shandong province. The Heaven (Suburb) Ritual which was exclusively conducted by Son of Heaven (the King of Zhou) was allowed exceptionally to the Duke of Lu.
At the capital of Lu, there existed two Sa-precincts, namely Zhou-Sa and Bo-Sa (D4 and D6 of ). The enquiry of Duke Aigong of Lu about Sa-trees was recorded in Confucius Analects (D8 of ). In addition to Zhou-Sa, the Zhou-style Sa-precinct Bo-Sa, the name of which comes from the first capital name of Shang (Bo), was also located in the capital of Lu. Bo-Sa was also present at the capital of the Song dukedom (D9 of ). The capital of dukedom Song was the current Shangkou in Henan province. The dukedom Song was allowed to conduct ancestor worship to Shang (Yin) ancestors at its Jongmyo. The Book of Odes contains the lyrics of Shang ritual music Citation(Confucius 551–479 BC).
The Zhou-Sa precinct may have used the same species of chestnut as the Sa-tree for the Zhou-style Sa-precinct with altars for Sa and Jik deities. Since Jik (Ji) is a crop deity and the legendary ancestor of Zhou people, Zhou people added it to the Sa-ritual and precinct. Zhou had chosen chestnut as their capital's Sa-tree. The Bo-Sa precinct may have the same species of cypress as that of Shang or Yin and may have only one altar for Sa-deity. It is clear that the Song dukedom also had a Bo-Sa precinct, a Shang-style Sa-precinct with cypress as the Sa-tree.
The presence of a grandiose sylvanic tree (Sa-tree) in the Sa-precincts during the Warring States (fifth to third centuries BC) was identified in a text of Mencius (6-1 of ). It refers to the event in the fourth century BC, during which the independent Warring States in the Central Plain of China, having waged harsh conflicts between and among themselves, were gradually becoming a united social and political entity under a centralized government. Mencius had advised King Xuan of Qi (319–301 BC) that “An old kingdom (or dukedom) is not where there is a grandiose tree, but it is where there are old vassals and subjects of many generations.” The grandiose tree connotes a Sajik precinct of the Warring States period.
The powerful states during the Warring States, such as Qin, Hahn, Zhao, Wei, Chu, Yan and Zhongshan, appear to have practiced Sajik institutions (6-2 of ). In the Warring States period, each state did not call the highest as “Duke” or “Marquis” as in the Spring and Autumn period, but as “King.” Since the fifth century BC, iron tools had been used, and agriculture had greatly advanced with more increased deforestation. Many records in Shi Ji have quite a few relevant mentions of Sajik Altar. By then the Sajik Altar had become equivalent to the state and its fate itself.
The hierarchical social organization of Sa-institution with Sa-tree
Sa-institution appears to have been hierarchically organized in the Central Plain of China. Initially, a multitude of towns and villages in the late Neolithic and early Bronze Age, like those of Yu and Xia, had grandiose Sa-tree precincts with equal political powers. As the more dominant towns subjugated neighboring towns and villages by wars and marriage alliances, the institution had started being refined. In Shang, it must have been more refined.
Zhou towns and villages with more than 100 households of Bronze Age had been organized into one Sa as a basic social unit (4-5 of ; D5 of ). The local aristocrats and common people could set up their Sa-precincts, and one Sa meant a village or town community as an administrative unit. In the promise by Duke Jinggong of Qi of a gift of a thousand Sa's to Duke Zhaogong (D5 of ), 100 Sa's indicated about 100,000 households, a part of his territory.
At a higher level, the feudal Sa-precincts were located at the central cities of feudal states or commanderies for the people in the territory. At the top, the royal or empirical Sa-precinct was located at the capital for all the subjects of the kingdom and its ritual was performed by the Son of Heaven (king or emperor). This social community grouping was recorded in Classic of Rites or Li Ji Citation(3rd century BC).
The Sajik precinct of the united empire Qin was located at the capital of Xianyang, Shaanxi province, close to Xian. That precinct was demolished by Liu Bang, the first emperor of the Han Dynasty and he established a new Sajik precinct at Xian (7-1 of ).
Qin and Han of the Iron Age organized the village community with more than 25 households as one Sa, in contrast to Zhou's one Sa of 100 households (7-2 of ). The village or county Sa-precinct at the hometown of Liu Bang is called “Fenyu-Sa,” which means Sa-precinct of elms (Ulmus spp.) (7-3 of ). His hometown was Pei County in Jiangsu province. When he was organizing a regiment of militias during the social turmoil in the late third century BC in the reign of Qin's second emperor, he performed a ritual at this Sa-precinct. The Sa-precinct of Earlier Han in the capital Changan (Xian) may have had a Chinese elm species as its sylvanic tree. The village Sa-tree precinct was called “Li-Sa” from the Tang Dynasty (AD 618–906) and its ritual was coded in the State Code of Ritual.
Sa-tree tradition and the Sajik Altar of Beijing
In Zhongshan Park, the main landscape tree species is cypress (Platycladus (or Thuja) orientalis) (). A manmade forest of more than 600 cypress trees is present in the Park. Most of them are more than 200 years old. The presence of the big-diameter cypress trees indicates that these trees had been planted more than 200 years ago during the Qing period or inherited from the former cypress stands or forests of the Ming and earlier periods. Cypress appears to have been the Royal Tree either of the Qing Dynasty or the Ming Dynasty, in the sense that Korean red pine was the Royal Tree of the Joseon Dynasty (Yi and Chun Citation2009). Further study has to be carried out to elucidate this question about the cultural meaning of cypress.
Figure 1. The big-diameter old cypress (Platycladus orientalis or Thuja orientalis) at Zhongshan Park, which includes the Sajik Altar of Beijing.
In terms of Sa-precinct, the Sajik Altar or Sejitan of Beijing is a single altar (), which has been established according to the prototype of the altar of Nanjing, the first capital, which had been set up by the first emperor of the Ming Dynasty. Before the Ming Dynasty, the Sa-precinct appears to have had a two-altar system. After the people of the Qing Dynasty chose Beijing as their capital and moved into it, they continued the use of the palaces and State Ritual facilities of the Ming Dynasty with refurbishment. The State Ritual facilities in front of the main palatial buildings, such as the Sajik Altar and Taimyo, were used without much alteration in their styles. They replaced the divine tablets at Taimyo in the State Rituals.
Figure 2. The Sajik Altar of Beijing, a single altar with five colored earths on the surface, which represent four directions and the center.
The Sa-rituals during the Ming and Qing Dynasties would have been done without much understanding about sylvanism. In other words, the ancient Sa-tree sylvanism may not have been recognized and only the secular performance of the State Ritual must have been done without or with a minimal mode of sylvanistic thinking. Up to the end of the Qing Dynasty, more than 100 years ago, the Sa-precinct and ritual was performed at Beijing.
In the medieval and pre-modern dynasties in China (Tang-Song and Ming-Qing) as well as other countries in Northeast Asia, including the Joseon Dynasty, the sylvanistic elements had been decreased or hidden in the secularized Confucian State Rituals. The decrease in sylvanism in the Chinese world was interpreted by the sinologist Mark Elvin Citation(2004)as the apparent lack of Chinese deities for trees and forests after late-imperial times. This interpretation of the lack of sylvanism is too early since the Sa-ritual of Sa-tree culture was incorporated into the State Rituals. In contrast, he provides textual evidence which shows the presence of sacred trees and forests outside of the Central Plain and sylvanism in the current southern regions in China, which South Yue tribes inhabited at the time of the united Qin Empire (Elvin Citation2004).
Cultural, forestry, and environmental significance
The Sa-tree tradition of the Central Plain in China has significance in culture, forestry and the environment.
First, the cultural identity of the Huaxia people, who have culturally evolved into the Han Chinese, could be found in Sa-tree culture and its succeeding Sajik Altar tradition. The Sa-tree tradition represents a significant human–nature interaction or human–forest interaction based on the sacred tree and forest for the ancient people in the Central Plain of China. Sylvanism with ancient Sa-trees has become institutionalized into an important State Ritual, revering a Sa-deity that is representative of the Earth. In addition to the three species of Sa-trees, pine for Xia, cypress for Shang, and chestnut for Zhou (Yi Citation2012), another important cultural tree type or genus (elms) for the Earlier Han was identified. Apparently, pine, cypress, catalpa, chestnut, and scholar tree were grandiose Sa-trees in the ancient Central Plain of China. The big-diameter trees and their forests should have interacted with humans living in the extensive region. The ancient people conserved the trees as sacred and performed Sa-rituals toward the Earth god. The species can be compared with the favorite trees that the modern Chinese people like to have, see and experience.
Second, the species used in traditional wooden buildings of the cultural heritage in China may be compared with the Sa-tree species of the ancient Central Plain of China. Different wood of the different tree species may have been used for the wooden structures, such as palaces and ships.
Third, the Sa-institution was set up for the entire people for a state (marquisdom, dukedom, kingdom), not only for royal or high-class people but also for common people. It is different from Jongmyo or Taimyo, which was mainly set up for the royal and aristocratic families. Sa-institution was intended to encourage all the human beings in certain geographical areas to participate in ritual-performing social groups, and the social groups were also utilized as the administrative unit of the ancient states in the Central Plain of China. Likewise, in modern society, the trees and forests could also play a role as a cultural center for social groupings in a modernized way.
Fourth, Sa-tree species should be studied in their forest life science and environmental history. The Sa-tree species, namely pine, cypress, catalpa, chestnut, scholar tree and elms in China, can be targets for the various researches in genetics, ecology, physiology and silviculture in forest life science. The scientific activity has a cultural dimension for the modern society of China: They are “cultural bio-species” (Yi Citation2007) or “cultural keystone species” (Garibaldi and Turner Citation2004) and can be harnessed for ecological economy as well as for conservation in modern society in China.
Fifth, Sa-tree sylvanism, the revering attitude toward Sa-trees, reveals a certain type of “nature reverence” that has accrued for a few millennia in the Central Plain of China. The ancient sylvanistic culture of China, as well as those of Northeast Asia including Korea, could give traditional forest knowledge. This can give rise to modernized cultural and social values in forestry and environment. The initial form of the Sa-precinct may have been just a grandiose tree or forest with a minimum of ritual setting or facilities, as we can observe in many minority villages in remote high-altitude rural and mountains areas in China. For example, minority people, possible descendants of South Yue ethnic groups 2000 years ago, conserve their holy trees and forests and still apply strict regulations on either the access or wood cutting (Yuan and Liu Citation2009; Liu et al Citation2012). Similar sylvanistic culture is still found in some remote rural and mountain areas as sacred village groves of Korea (Lee Citation1994, Citation1999a, Citation1999b, Citation1999c; Choi Citation2004; Chun Citation2010; Park Citation2013).
Conclusion
Sa-tree culture in the ancient Central Plain of China has been the Huaxia people's tradition since the late Neolithic and early Bronze Age inhabitants in the Central Plain of China, as they had been forming social units and political entities. The Sa-tree culture and tradition presented here demonstrate that ancient Huaxia people in the Central Plain of China had a sylvanistic culture which has evolved into an important component of the State Ritual regime.
Ancient Sa-precincts had at least four functions: a place for the Earth Ritual, the juridical court, military gatherings, and communitarian public meetings.
First, it had been used for revering Sa, the Earth god. Sa-ritual was performed at a precinct near the palace and was in contrast to Suburb Ritual (Heaven Ritual) performed at the urban boundary of a capital city. In Zhou, Heaven Ritual was performed only by the King, the highest person in the Kingdom. However, Sa-rituals could be performed by the king, feudal lords (duke and marquis), and aristocrats in local areas. When a new king, duke or marquis was crowned, a state ritual was performed at the Sa-precinct. In Kwanzu, there is an episode in which Duke Huangong of the Qi dukedom, who became the domineering feudal highness in the early period of the Spring and Autumn Era, was performing the coronation-informing Sa-ritual with a priest as the master of ceremony (5-1 of ).
Second, the Sa-precinct was a juridical place where the verdicts were proclaimed and serious criminals were punished or even beheaded. The Chinese character which denotes “chestnut,” the Zhou's Sa-tree, sounds the same as another character meaning “trembling and fear.” In ancient times, a criminal may have been hung on the grandiose tall tree after he or she was proclaimed guilty. The statement by Qi, the second king of Xia, that he would punish at the Sa-precinct is an example (2-3 of ).
Third, the Sa-precinct was the place of military alignment either after a war and before waging a war with the state ritual for triumph or just for the disciplining of soldiers. This could be found in the instance of King Wu of Zhou after the triumphant conquest over Yin's outnumbered army (3-2 of ).
Fourth, it is likely to have been a venue for communitarian gatherings and festivals. Yanghu, who was the general of the Lu dukedom, took oath with the common people at the Shang-style Sa-precinct (Bo-Sa) (D5 of the ).
Similar elements of sylvanism retained by the ancient Huaxia people may be found in various Chinese minorities who have lived for millennia at high-altitude mountain areas, with strict communitarian regulations on access and logging of their sacred trees and forests. Some elements of Sa-tree sylvansitic culture may also be recognized in Korea and other areas of Northeast Asia. And there is a common sylvanistic ground as well as institutional difference between Sa-tree culture in the Central Plain of China and Dan-tree culture in the Manchuro-Korean region (Yi Citation2012).
It was also illustrated that Sa-tree sylvanism has been institutionalized into a State Ritual with its precincts and Altar, which have evolved over a few millennia and have been inherited up to the Qing Dynasty, about 100 years ago, and the physical relics of the Altar still remains at Zhongshan Park in Beijing. The Sajik precinct with the Altar was one of the most important elements in ancient and medieval urban planning, as the principle of the Ancestor Shrine in the left and the Sajik Altar in the right of the main palace illustrates the layout of many old capitals and local cities in Northeast Asia.
As the Ritual was being secularized, the Sa-tree itself appears to have been hidden and the concrete embodiment of the Earth god (Sa-deity) may have been forgotten or lost in the consciousness of the ritual performers. However, the essential spirit in the Sa-ritual can be revived and it can give rise to a modernized form.
In this vein, the ancient revering attitude toward grandiose Sa-trees has a very significant element for modern people who tend to look down on trees and forests as mere resources or environmental elements. They are encouraged to seriously reconsider and inherit Sa-tree tradition as a great legacy for an ecological and environmental way of thinking that originated in an Eastern way. This nature reverence is not from the Western environmental way of thinking, but from the Northeast Asian way of thinking, which gives us a Northeast Asian cultural identity.
The local people in Zhou, Qin and Han were socially organized around the Sa-tree precinct from the village level and up to the nationwide level. The community at the village level and its Sa-tree was called Li-Sa from the Tang Dynasty, and Li-Sa as a village ritual community and as the ritual is also found in the State Ritual Codes of the Ming Dynasty. Modern people may also be able to organize social and cultural organizations for forest and environmental management, making new modernized art, literature, music, dance, and computerized cyberculture, even though they are living mostly in urban settings. It can also be a modern type of forest culture.
The sylvanic trees and forests are still located in many places in Northeast Asia, and they are an important cultural heritage as well as a natural legacy. The local people in Northeast Asia are supposed to formulate a balanced framework of nature conservation and economic development by sustainable management of trees and forests by afforestation and landscaping (Yi 2010). They may choose the species of the Sa-trees and other sylvanic trees (like Dan-trees) as the first choice of modernized cultural development. This cultural strategy can become a modern way of interacting with nature, including trees and forests.
Acknowledgements
We thank Ms. Tangyi Tan and Yuan Meng for guidance in the field trips to Early Zhou sites and Mrs. Jeong Ja Lee for accompanying us to the Sajik Altar of Beijing.
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References
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