Ritual Officials and the Rise of Confucian Ritualism in the Eleventh Century

By tracing the vicissitudes of court ritual officials and related ritual institutions in the eleventh century, this article argues that the rise of Confucian ritualism was accompanied by the marginalization of ritual officials and institutions in the central government of the Northern Song (960–1127). After the mid-eleventh century, “learning-oriented ritualists,” who acquired their knowledge of court rituals mostly through Confucian ritual Classics, succeeded the fallen ritual officials to offer new insights and perspectives on court ritual reforms. During the late eleventh century, some ritualists, most of whom were associated with the intellectual circle of the celebrated reformer Wang Anshi 王安石 (1027–1086), gradually dominated the interpretation of court rituals. Their endeavors in redefining court rituals led to Zhu Xi’s 朱熹 (1130–1200) experimental reforms of both court and social rituals in the Southern Song (1127–1279), which profoundly shaped the society and culture of late imperial China.