“民以食为天”

      In traditional china, people regard their parents as heaven(or god), regard their emperors as heaven(or god), regard diet as heaven(or god). Food is an essential part of Chinese traditional culture, thus china extended a variety of dinning Etiquette.

      To understand why the table culture is formed, the origin of the ritual might be the first place to excavate.

 

The most first thing is for the physical need. In the In ancient times, hunting was a livelihood. There was no idea  about etiquette or ritual at that time. “li”(礼，ritual) concept is very vague at that time, but we can’t say that doesn’t exist. According to the study, under the matriarchal clan there are still have different place of social status.

 

 

 

 

 

 

   As human civilization progresses, the means of getting food vary. Different foods have different ways of harvesting and handling. When we eat, different kinds of restrictions are born.

 

伏羲氏(Fu Xi clan) and 神农氏(Shen Nong clan) are two of the most originating clan of china. However, they have different way to deal with food.

For Fu Xi,we also call it Huang(yellow) family because they near yellow river.  In Fu Xi, clan people are more interesting in carnivorous, so hunting and animal husbandry are their mean way to gather their food, which means that their meaning cooking skill is roast the food. Also in their clan, the person who got most food or hunted the most animal have priority to chose and eat food.

 

 

For Shen Nong clan,because their tribe lived in the hot south, called the Yan family. Their leader “Shen Nong” is famous for tastes a hundred of grasses and test them for medical need and it’s edible. Also, On one day, he saw bird carry a seed on it , and invented the five crops agriculture. Because of these outstanding contributions, people all called him Shen Nong, even thought it’s a famous ancient Chinese mythology. In Shen Nong clan, people make pottery to cook and carry the food. Therefore, they mostly often use water to boil the food and to eat. When people start to use container to carry and eat the food, ritual slowly formed during the process.

 

 

 

 But what really the place to fount the ritual of the table is when people start to explore the unknown things, they start to feel fear to the nature. People start to think more when they solved the problem of food and close. They begin to truth Gods.

Rites of sacrificial sacrifices is first time when ritual start to define. In ancient China, people thought that human soul could leave the body and still exist. Sacrifices are this kind of soul concept. The initial sacrificial activities were relatively simple and savage. People use bamboo wood or clay to mold gods idols, or to draw images of gods and spirits, such as sun, moon, stars and wild animals, as objects of worship. Then the food and other gifts presented to the gods were displayed in front of the idols, and the prayers were prayed by the presiding officers, while the sacrificial ritual sang and danced to the gods. There are certain norms for sacrificial ritual sacrifices. Old custom offerings salute the gods or ancestors, showing respect and protection. Sacrificial offering is a part of the Chinese ritual code. It is the main part of Confucian etiquette. Sacrificial objects are divided into three categories: celestial being, the land and God. The God is called the “祀”(shi), the land is only called “祭”(ji), the temple is known to call “享”(xiang).