Research On Issues Related To The Sacrifice Of The Sea In The Tang Dynasty

Ancient Chinese worshipped the sea,which had a long history.In Tang Dynasty,because of the unprecedented development of ocean activities,on the one hand,people'simagination of the sea gods had great characteristics of times.This feature was highlighted in the trend that the sea god was more and more humanized and secularized.On the other hand,Tang government attached importance to the sacrificial sea activities.In addition to frequent worship of the sea activities,the Tang central government sent officials to the coastal area for sacrificing the sea god.Also,the Tang government set the system that local governors were responsible for the sea sacrifice,which was significantly different from the situation in Sui Dynasty.It should be noted that,from the functional point of view,the types of sea sacrifice activities were various in Tang Dynasty,including praying for sailing safe,praying for good weather,blessing propitious winds and rains and so on.Compared with the previous generation,the sacrificial sea activities in Tang Dynasty had developed further and the Sea Sacrificial Ceremony system had been improved.The Tang government not only established the system of sacrificing the four seas separately.It means that sacrificing the East Sea god in Laizhou where built the East sea temple,sacrificing the South Sea god in Guangzhou where built the South sea temple,and sacrificing the North Sea god and the West Sea god in Henan and Tongzhou separately.But also cleared the level of sea sacrifice in the form of national system,and established the sea ceremony system.On this content,historical materials in Tang Dynasty recorded the detail.Why did the Tang government pay attention to the sea activities and change the custom that previous emperor performed the sacrificial river activities before the sea?The answer to this question was still in the great changes of the social environment in the Tang Dynasty.In the Tang Dynasty,social environment had undergone tremendous changes,especially the marine activities had been received unprecedented development.This can be seen most clearly in shipping manufacturing and navigational skills,which had made great progress,the sea lanes continued to expand.The development of maritime traffic promoted marine economy,especially in the prosperity of maritime trade.Strong national strength and convenient maritime traffic in Tang Dynasty to promote many countries across the sea to China,so the maritime association also had unprecedented achievement.In short,the relationship between the people in Tang Dynasty and the ocean was getting closer.However,due to defensive measures and other factors,sailing activities were still full of dangerous in Tang Dynasty,which included threats from sea storms,marine life,and even pirates.In addition to the risk of maritime navigation,there was also sudden marine disasters,each overflow would cause huge damage to human,property and so on.Therefore,it was based on this era background,people were more likely to believe in the sea supernatural god and pray for willingness and avoiding evil.In addition,or the custom of believing in the ghosts,or the legend of the sea fairyland since ancient times in coastal areas,which provided a broad geographical and cultural basis for the development of the sea activities and the worship of the sea gods.Actually,the sea sacrificial ceremony activities in Tang Dynasty also had time characteristic.On the one hand,it was dominated by state rituals,and Tang government set any type of precedent for knighting the sea god,which had a far-reaching influence on future generations.Also,the sea Sacrificial Ceremony system was gradually improved,which followed by future generations.On the other hand,the sea god that was sacrificed by people in Tang Dynasty continued to the trend of personification,which were involved in the novels in Tang Dynasty.Moreover,in the context of the development of traditional agricultural society and sacrificial sea activities,the purpose of the Sea Sacrificial Ceremony in the Tang Dynasty presented diversified and practical characteristics.From the sea activities to study the relationship between the people in Tang Dynasty and the ocean,on the one hand,we will find that the development of the sea activities had influence in the local marine faith,especially the South Sea God in the Lingnan coastal areas.On the other hand,the achievement of the sea activities were also constantly deepening the public on the concept of aweing ocean.In addition,for the marine literature on that time,the development of Sea Sacrificial Ceremony activities continued to provide material and promote its prosperity.In a word,compared with the previous generation,the sea activities in Tang Dynasty had unprecedented achievement.The study on the Sea Sacrificial Ceremony and activities in Tang Dynasty was very valuable and meaningful.It was not only help us to better understand the social life in the Tang Dynasty and the marine culture at that time,but also help to understand the history of the Sea Sacrificial Ceremony and enhance the understanding of many aspects of the Sea Sacrificial Ceremony questions.Therefore,this article explores the Ocean Sacrifice in Tang Dynasty as much as possible,viewed from the Sea God,ocean activities,Sea Sacrificial Ceremony,features,influence,and other point.