The innate cultural factors of "legends of Hou Ji and the Ji (Grain) sacrificial culture" make this dissertation not only a historical paper. It is from the cultural perspective that this dissertation studies the various legends about Hou Ji and their evolution, the Ji (Grain) sacrifice and its patterns in the history. Hou Ji is a very special, semi-deified and legendary role in Chinese history; on the one hand he is the ancestor of the Ji (,a surname) clan in Zhou Dynasty recorded in the historical records, on the other hand he is the God of Agriculture worshipped by the emperors and the common people at the altar through ages. Therefore, Hou Ji is not only acknowledged as the founder of Zhou Dynasty but also moves into a very special historical cultural phenomenon. Hou Ji phenomenon gives a great effect on Chinese agricultural civilization and not only on the political activities of the feudal monarchy but on the folk customs of the lowest rung as well, on the aesthetic psychology in literature and art and even on the formation of the Chinese ethnic characteristics, so to some extent, it doesn't matter whether Hou Ji is a human being or a divine being. He has already been a symbol of the Chinese agricultural harvest, agricultural economy, prosperousness and peace of the country. Containing abundant historical and cultural significance, the legends of Hou Ji and the Ji (Grain) sacrificial culture are not only the research target of the Chinese ancient history but also the focus of contemporary sociological subjects, such as: archeology, anthropology, folklore, cultural sociology, mythology, primitive religion, ethnical historiography, ancient literature and aesthetics etc, so they have become a special cultural phenomenon-Hou Ji culture, which belongs to the same category with the Yandi and Huangdi culture and Guan Yu culture, all of them approach history from the cultural perspective. In Hou Ji culture, agricultural civilization is the soul while the Ji (Grain) sacrifice, the legends and history of Hou Ji may be regarded as the principal part of Hou Ji culture. Ji (Grain) sacrifice, as the main part of the sacrifices in the West Zhou Dynasty (11th century B.C.-771 B.C.) and also as the important part of sacrifices of the feudal societies, symbols not only the royal right but also the desire for agricultural development people's longing for a good harvest. Therefore, it is better to say that the Chinese ancestors have had identified the values of the agricultural activities and agricultural economy than to say their prostrating themselves in worshipping Hou Ji. And this is exactly the essential reason why we make a research on Hou Ji legends, Hou Ji culture for that is the foundation of the beginning, developing and continuing of Hou Ji culture The research on Hou Ji and Hou Ji culture began to be done 2,000 years ago and had achieved a lot, especially since the twentieth century when Marxism, contemporary historiography, anthropology, mythology, folklore and archeology began to pay attention to it one after another, the researches have achieved more. However, there still exist many disputes on several important issues. So about the legends of Hou Ji in the historical records, a comprehensive and overall investigation and distinguishing work are needed; about the academic divergence and its evolution, a systematic, complete summary is wanted; an independent, thorough research on the Ji (Grain) sacrifice culture is badly needed. In view of the above discovering, the following five principles on which this dissertation will be based are presented here: 1. To tidy up, distinguish and chronologize all the records of Hou Ji legends. 2. To categorize the legends, study the evolution of some particular cases and probe into the sources of the legends. 3. To investigate the evolution of the researches on Hou Ji, analyze the numerous views of different schools and discern their disputes. 4. To investigate the historical character of the Ji (Grain) sacrifice culture, introduce the Ji (Grain) s
【关键词 (中文/英文)】 后稷; 后稷传说; 后稷文化; 稷神; 稷祀; 社稷; 社日; 蜡祭; 神话与历史; 农业文明; 先周史 Hou Ji; legends of Hou Ji; Hou Ji culture; God of Grain; Ji (Grain)sacrifice; God of Land and God of Grain-the state; Day of sacrificing for the God of Land; sacrifices in December in lunar calendar; legends and history; agricultural civilization; history of pre-Zhou Dynasty.
