Why did the custom of burning paper money begin with the rich Song Dynasty

Where did the custom of burning paper money come from? The answer was a mass spread during the Song Dynasty.

The vessel is the vessel, that is, the burial vessel.

"Li Ji Tan Bow Down": Its Ming Instrument, the Divine Spirit. Tu Che Jie Ling, since ancient times, the way of the Ming Dynasty also.

From the beginning of the tombs in the new era of archaeological discoveries, there are a wide range of funerary products, from the early mussel shells, stone beads, etc. to the development of pottery, bronze, jade, gold and silver products, etc., reflecting the material life of each period.

The early bright utensils were all practical products that were dug out and washed. However, since the Beginning of the Song Dynasty, the proportion of physical objects has become less and less, and there are more and more paper objects, and this change has been affecting future generations.

Paper coins and other paper objects have begun to appear from the Wei and Jin dynasties to the Tang Dynasty, and gradually become a necessary sacrifice for sacrifice. The Tang Dynasty did not have the habit of burning, and generally pressed paper money on the head of the grave, which means that posterity sent living expenses to the deceased - "the custom is to use paper to pay money as a ghost thing."

In the Song Dynasty, it began to be popular to burn paper money, and there was a scene in front of the tomb that "paper ashes flew into white butterflies, and tears and blood stained red cuckoos".

In addition to paper money, larger and more diverse paper mingware appeared in large numbers in the Song Dynasty: paper money paper horse paper clothes paper doll paper houses, a variety of varieties, everything.

Correspondingly, the traditional physical funerary products before are getting less and less, and the number is not the same as before.

It seems strange.

Historically, there was a Song Dynasty, and even the Southern Song Dynasty was known for its wealth. The people of the Great Song Dynasty, who are said to be rich, have changed their grip on funerals, which seems to make some sense.

In fact, this is not the Result of the Song Dynasty's change of door, but the result of a variety of factors.

The first is the conceptual impact.

The reason for the popularity of paper money is that in people's funeral concepts, money is also common in Hades. It is believed that after the paper money is burned, the deceased can use it in Hades.

This is also influenced by Buddhism. Buddhism advocates cremation, and the folk extend to the burial items, believing that after burning, it can also play the same effect, Zhu Xi said, "Since buddhism entered China, went up to the imperial court, sent down to Lu Alley, and treated funeral rites, one uses its method."

Since burning paper money is useful, it is natural to extend to paper horses, paper clothes, and even paper dolls and paper houses.

Paper products such as paper money are considered to have the function of prayer, and are gradually popular in funeral sacrifices and other activities, and are widely used.

From emperors to dignitaries, this practice was accepted. Song Xiaozong also once became angry because the paper money burned by the sacrifice was too small, "The Siling gods are sacrificed on the ancestral road, the furnishings are extremely poor and skillful, and the hundred officials are weeping." The paper money is small, and the officials do not like it."

The emperors all took the lead in burning paper money, and of course the people were more receptive.

After the death of the famous xiang Kou Zhun in Leizhou, he was buried in Luoyang, and people along the road wept and set up sacrifices, hanging paper money and burning, "everyone set up a funeral sacrifice, wept on the road, folded bamboo planting land, and hung paper money to burn it."

Secondly, the condition for paper ming ware to prevail is that there must be paper.

The Song Dynasty happened to be an era when the paper industry was highly developed.

The Song Dynasty inherited the papermaking technology of the Sui and Tang Dynasties, and expanded the raw materials, improved the tools, and became more technically proficient, and the output and quality were greatly improved.

As a guarantee, the paper used in the Song Dynasty was not limited to books, calligraphy and painting, and the market began to extend to other application fields.

For example, the funerary industry.

With raw materials and market demand, paper products for funerals have naturally developed.

For example: "In the past year, the rich families in Zhejiang have given up their money to hold meetings, burning several large candles like pillars, one or two thousand candles of various sizes, and the number of incense papers is not counted." ”

The demand is strong, and the production and sales of paper products such as paper money have gradually become an industry. There are many people in the society who are engaged in paper tying, such as The younger brother of Song Zhenzong's biological mother, Li Yonghe, the uncle of Emperor Renzong Zhao Zhen, who was exiled to the people in his early years and relied on chisel paper money to maintain his livelihood.

Every year during the Qingming Dynasty, when the sales season of paper mingware is in full swing, all paper horse shops in Tokyo are "stacked in the shape of a pavilion with paper on the street" as a means of promotion.

In late September, he also "sold his clothes, boots and shoes, hats, and clothes, and offered them in October Shuo" to the old ones.

The advantage of paper mingers is that they are cheap and convenient.

Before the Song Dynasty, many people used silk fabrics to make bright utensils to burn, and then used ceramics, jade, metal utensils, etc. to be brought into the tomb to accompany the burial, such as the famous Tang Sancai.

These utensils are often of great value and are a burden to families with limited economic ability. In the Tang Dynasty, it was popular to burn silk fabrics into ming utensils, and it was also popular for practical utensils to accompany burials, and even specially customized physical utensils, such as the famous Tang Sancai. These are often expensive, but the bereaved family has to work hard for the sake of face and filial piety, which can be said to be extravagant and wasteful.

In contrast, the Song Dynasty, where paper products were developed, could produce a variety of colorful ming utensils, and the visual effect was not inferior to silk fabrics. Compared with physical objects, paper products are much cheaper, so they are generally welcomed.

At the same time, the paper brightware is lightweight, easy to carry, and not bad in applicability.

If you spend the same silver, paper utensils can buy a lot, and the physical objects may be few pieces, and they cannot show the weight.

Another benefit of paper tools is intuitiveness.

Compared with the physical objects buried in the ground, the paper objects can play a lot of space.

From paper money to large houses, as long as you can think of it, almost all of them can be tied out with paper, in contrast, the physical object is a lot worse in the pomp.

Funeral rites are sad for friends and family, and for people who are less familiar, they are more of an ornamental nature.

There will be a comparison, Zhang Sanjia tied a paper horse, Li Sijia may have to tie a paper cow, the comparison between neighbors, needless to say ancient times, now and even in the future also exist, just like the Song people said "to sell the reputation of children and women", in essence, is a kind of show off psychology.

The richer the ming instrument, the greater the family's great cause and the greater the family's power, the more face it has.

To put it in layman's terms, the physical objects are for the dead, and the paper objects are burned for the living, which is a kind of show of wealth.

Tall and luxurious paper objects can satisfy people's vanity, so they began to become popular.

Also, it is the rampant tomb robbery.

In the tombs before the Song Dynasty, the burial goods were abundant, which was influenced by the Confucian filial piety ideology of the ancients, and the number of burial goods was used as a criterion for measuring filial piety.

The wind of thick burial poses a problem, and the burial items in the mausoleum are easily remembered by tomb thieves.

During the period of dynastic stability, tomb robbers did not dare to make a big publicity. After the fall of the Tang Dynasty, it was immediately followed by a chaotic world, whether it was the original high-ranking officials and nobles or ordinary people, they still had time to take care of themselves, and where they still managed the Shang clan cemetery. During this period, there were already professional tomb robbers, "to develop tombs for the sake of things", "Chang'an has treasure goods, search for strange things, Bi Cuiyan." The Tang Tombs have been excavated for five generations and are empty."

The trend of tomb robbery intensified during this period and continued into the Song Dynasty. After the fall of the Northern Song Dynasty, the tombs of high-ranking officials such as Zhang Qi and Qin Juniper were almost emptied, and considering the serious consequences of the tomb theft, the Song people thought of many ways, and the change of burial goods was one of them

The thick burial is likely to be stolen, and filial piety still needs to be expressed. As a result, more and more people began to put less or no previous utensils in the tomb, and replaced the physical funerary products with paper products.

From being brought underground before, it becomes burned in front of the tomb. In this way, the thoughts of tomb robbers can be eliminated to a certain extent from the material point of view.

The connotations of funerary customs

It should be noted that although paper ware prevailed in the Song Dynasty, it does not mean that physical ware is extinct. In terms of paper money, even if the paper money is burned, there is still the custom of physical coins to accompany the burial, and copper coins have been excavated many times in the Song tomb. It is just that the number of burial items in the physical object is much less than the previous popular thick burial custom.

There is also a question of the connotation of funerary customs. The custom of thick burial, on the one hand, shows that the living attach importance to the deceased, but regardless of the objective conditions, it is too thick burial, and it seems to be somewhat "heavy death and light life".

In the Song Dynasty, this idea began to reverse, people also attached importance to the deceased, but the living still have to live, changing the custom of material burial, can reduce the burden of the living.

For this point, many scholars and doctors at that time held a supportive attitude, such as Sima Guang, who believed that it was more practical for the relatives and friends of the deceased to send some money to the living than to spend money to burn paper money.

"Now that everyone has given paper money to give away works, and all things have been burned to ashes, how can it be beneficial to lose their families?" It is not as good as the gift of repetition. ”

Zhu Xi said: "When people are in charge of mourning, they do not take the first as a plan, but only worry about the benefit of the latter", which is also the embodiment of this pragmatic and frugal concept.

The changes in funeral customs at the beginning of the Song Dynasty have gradually declined the traditional custom of accompanying burials with physical objects from the peak, and the prevalence of paper utensils has also been used by later generations, and the concept of thin burial has gradually been widely accepted.