Ancestor Worship in China

In China ancestor worship has been a vital practice for centuries. While the idea of ancestor worship may seem alien, any fan of Disney has seen a little bit of what ancestor worship is just from watching the movie Mulan. (Sorry for the poor quality of the video.)

While the scene is humorous, when you look deeper there are some key features that are very accurate to Chinese ancestor worship practices.

The first thing to note are the tablets. Each ancestor has a tablet on which their name may be inscribed, similar to the headstones we use in Western culture. However, these tablets would be brought together at a family altar. This is what we are seeing in the Mulan clip--the ancestor tablets within a family altar. Each tablet contains a part of the soul, which they termed the hun. (1) Below is an image of an actual ancestor tablet, from the Anthropology Museum at the University of Missouri.

Translation: "Spirit tablet of the illustrious Lord Zhang, who had received the title of Grand Master for Governance from the Qing court Respectfully set up by his pious son, Zhang fujun."
http://anthromuseum.missouri.edu/minigalleries/chinesespirittablets/1983-0073-tablet.shtml

Altars will follow the lineage of the men. So, when a married woman is accepted into the man's family, and ultimately upon death her tablet with rest with his family's altar. (2) It is because of this that many women would try to find an honorable husband, and similarly give him many sons with which to continue the family line. Having many sons also brought honor to the family and to the ancestors. By performing duties which brought honor to the family, a man could eventually progress up the family scale to eventually receive the title of "revered ancestor". (2) This similarly might allow them to climb up the hierarchy in which the ancestor tablets were displayed. (1)

Unfortunately, the Cultural Revolution under the Communists purged much of the ancestor worship from China. Many tablets were destroyed in the process of the revolution, and now very few continue to practice ancestor worship. Those that do use scrolls and photographs, unless they were one of the villages that managed to avoid having their tablets destroyed. Most practice in secret as well. (3)

(1) "Settling the Dead: Funerals, Memorials, and Beliefs Concerning the Afterlife," last modified in 2007, http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/cosmos/prb/journey.htm#fn
(2) Myron L. Cohen, "Religion in a State Society: China" in Asia: Case Studies in the Social Sciences, ed. Myron L. Cohen (Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, 1992), 10.
(3) Stephen F. Teiser, "The Spirits of Chinese Religion" in Religions of China in Practice, ed. Donald S. Lopez, Jr. (Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1996), 23-24.

What Is Ancestor Worship To East Asia?

The practice of ancestor worship is prevalent among East Asian countries, however, they do not always involve the same rituals. My question in researching ancestor worship in East Asia has been what are the practices and what are the differences and similarities of said practices in various countries in that region. I also hope to find some information on the origins of the ancestor worship, such as whether it originates from a religion such as Buddhism or Taoism. The countries I will primarily be focusing on are China, Vietnam, Japan, and Korea, though I will likely include any information I find on other countries in the region as well if I find any.

Much of my research so far has been on some of the altars and places of worship that come with the practice of ancestor veneration. For the most part, I have been looking at photographs of various altars and comparing them depending on the region. This is establish a footing on what I should be looking for when making closer analyses later, as well as satisfying my own curiosities on how similar these altars may be. Some of the images I have managed to find are below:

Altar of unknown origin
http://web.mesacc.edu/dept/d10/asb/religion/ancestor.asia.html

Korean Altar
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Korean_culture-Jesa-02.jpg

Vietnamese Altar
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Vietnamese_Ancestors_Altar.jpg

Image from a Malaysian Chinese home
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ancestor_worship004.jpg

One very clear similarities appears to be the offering of food to the dead ancestors. Similarly, burning of incense or candles is also frequently shown in the images I've found. The main difference I've seen so far has been the use of photographs by the Vietnamese; in the center of the Vietnamese altar shown above, we see two large portraits of the ancestors of that family. I have actually seen a very similar altar in my grandparents home (which I'm hoping to get a picture of so I can post it here for a comparison).

My own family's practice of ancestor veneration is one of the main reasons why I have chosen this topic. I have witnessed a few of the rituals that come with ancestor worship in Vietnamese culture, although for my family these are done more for tradition rather than actual belief. However, I frequently find myself at a loss at what is occurring, for the rituals are always done in Vietnamese. I hope that through my research, I will be able to understand more of what is occurring in my own culture, as well as others.

I'm going to continue to look images this upcoming week, as well as delve deeper into some of the practices. I will probably focus on one country each week, and then compare them near the end of the project.