Model humanity:
117-847: (Redirected from Celestial Hierarchy ) Celestial hierarchy can refer to: Celestial bureaucracy , in Chinese mythology De Coelesti Hierarchia ("On the Celestial Hierarchy"), a 5th century work by Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite Hierarchy of angels , systems of classifying and ranking angels Angels in Judaism Angels in Christianity Angels in Islam Topics referred to by
234-615: A catastrophic drop in agricultural output; consequently, food shortages became widespread. According to demographic studies, the famine caused an estimated 15 to 45 million deaths, with rural areas being the hardest hit. Ashton et al. (1984) highlight, “During the period 1958-62, about 30 million premature deaths occurred in China: deaths that occurred earlier than they would have on the basis of mortality trends for more normal years.” During this rapid expansion, coordination suffered and material shortages were frequent, resulting in "a huge rise in
351-503: A halt to the backyard steel furnaces so as not to dampen the revolutionary enthusiasm of the masses. The program was only quietly abandoned much later in that year. On the communes, a number of radical and controversial agricultural innovations were promoted at the behest of Mao. Many of these innovations were based on the ideas of now discredited Soviet agronomist Trofim Lysenko and his followers. The policies included close cropping, whereby seeds were sown far more densely than normal on
468-427: A long Western connotation of creation ex nihilo , modern Chinese theologians prefer to speak of "evolution" ( 化 huà ) to describe the begetting of the cosmos; even in modern Chinese language the two concepts are frequently held together, zàohuà ("creation-evolution"). Such ordering power, which belongs to deities but also to humans, expresses itself in rites ( 礼 lǐ ). They are the means by which alignment between
585-557: A national conference of the Party, Mao declared that China "would catch up with and surpass the most powerful capitalist countries in several dozen years", and in October, Mao announced that he would complete the building of a socialist state in 15 years. In the late 1950s, China's socio-political landscape experienced significant rural reforms and the aftermath of previous policies aimed at collectivization rather than individualism. Before
702-542: A relatively linear progression of development and a worldwide revolution beginning with the most developed countries. At the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, the country was one of poorest in the world. The Great Leap Forward attempted to defy the conventional understanding of the time required for economic development. Through rapid industrialization, it aimed to close the gap between China's developmental stage and its political aspirations. In March 1955, at
819-523: A result of the famine. Author Yan Lianke also claims that, while growing up in Henan during the Great Leap Forward, he was taught to "recognize the most edible kinds of bark and clay by his mother. When all of the trees had been stripped and there was no more clay, he learned that lumps of coal could appease the devil in his stomach, at least for a little while." The agricultural policies of
936-496: A semi governmental structure where activities in the countryside could manage what went on in there. People's commune took care of every aspects of people's lives: health care, job employment, food, housing, finance, defense, culture, education, political affairs and entertainment. People in the communes were united with the saying: Exceeding the UK, catching the USA, created by Mao to energize
1053-447: A term already in use in the 17th and 18th centuries. The universal principle that gives origin to the world is conceived as transcendent and immanent to creation, at the same time. The Chinese idea of the universal God is expressed in different ways; there are many names of God from the different sources of Chinese tradition, reflecting a "hierarchic, multiperspective" observation of the supreme God. Chinese scholars emphasise that
1170-405: Is called ... the gǔi-shén with respect to its operation, the shén with respect to its wonderful functioning. Another Neo-Confucian, Zhu Xi , says: The shén is expansion and the gǔi is contraction. As long as it is blowing wind, raining, thundering, or flashing, [we call it] shén , while it stops, [we call it] gǔi . The Chinese dragon , associated with the constellation Draco winding
1287-549: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Celestial bureaucracy Main philosophical traditions: Ritual traditions: Devotional traditions: Salvation churches and sects : Confucian churches and sects: Chinese theology , which comes in different interpretations according to the Chinese classics and Chinese folk religion , and specifically Confucian , Taoist , and other philosophical formulations,
SECTION 10
#17327722901381404-401: Is fundamentally monistic , that is to say it sees the world and the gods of its phenomena as an organic whole, or cosmos, which continuously emerges from a simple principle. This is expressed by the concept that "all things have one and the same principle" ( wànwù yīlǐ 萬物一理 ). This principle is commonly referred to as Tiān 天 , a concept generally translated as "Heaven", referring to
1521-523: Is literally a title expressing dominance over the all-under-Heaven , that is all created things. It is etymologically and figuratively analogous to the concept of di as the base of a fruit, which falls and produces other fruits. This analogy is attested in the Shuowen Jiezi explaining "deity" as "what faces the base of a melon fruit". Tiān is usually translated as "Heaven", but by graphical etymology it means "Great One" and scholars relate it to
1638-532: Is quintuple: Other names of the God of Heaven include: Attributes of the supreme God of Heaven include: Shàngdì ( 上帝 "Highest Deity"), sometimes shortened simply to Dì ( 帝 "Deity"), is another name of the supreme God inherited from Shang and Zhou times. The Classic of Poetry recites: "How vast is the Highest Deity, the ruler of men below!". Dì is also applied to the name of cosmic gods besides
1755-575: Is the Thearch's carriage. It revolves around the central point and majestically regulates the four realms. The distribution of yin and yang, the fixing of the four seasons, the coordination of the five phases, the progression of rotational measurements, and the determining of all celestial markers—all of these are linked to the Dipper. In 113 BCE, Emperor Wu of Han , under the influence of prominent fangshi —Miu Ji and later Gongsun Qing—officially integrated
1872-471: Is the starry vault revolving around the northern culmen ( 北極 Běijí )—and reabsorbs, the temporal things and worlds. As explained in modern Confucian theology: ... the historical Heaven, namely the generated Heaven, [is] one particular form or modification (marked by the emergence of celestial bodies) of the eternal Heaven. This eternal Heaven was embodied in pure qì before its historical form had been realized. Rather than "creation" ( 造 zào ), which has
1989-475: Is to be human. To share joy, grief, and pain is humanizing." Failure to participate in the CCP's political campaigns—though the aims of such campaigns were often conflicting—"could result in detention, torture, death, and the suffering of entire families". Public struggle sessions were often used to intimidate the peasants into obeying local officials; they increased the death rate of the famine in several ways. "In
2106-561: Is too much diversity and dynamism in the country for one work to capture ... rural China as if it were one place." Mahoney describes an elderly man in rural Shanxi who recalls Mao fondly, saying "Before Mao we sometimes ate leaves, after liberation we did not." Regardless, Mahoney points out that Da Fo villagers recall the Great Leap Forward as a period of famine and death, and among those who survived in Da Fo were precisely those who could digest leaves. The failure of agricultural policies,
2223-468: Is upheld through the practice of rites and rituals ( Li ), for instance the jiao festivals in which sacrificial offerings of incense and other products are set up by local temples, with participants hoping to renew the perceived alliance between community leaders and the gods. As explained by the scholar Stephan Feuchtwang , in Chinese cosmology "the universe creates itself out of a primary chaos of material energy" ( hundun and qi ), organising as
2340-526: The Long March : "mass mobilization, social leveling, attacks on bureaucratism, [and] disdain for material obstacles". In the absence of material development inputs, Mao sought to increase development through voluntarism and organizational advantages brought about by socialism. Mao advocated that a further round of collectivization modeled on the USSR 's " Third Period " was necessary in the countryside where
2457-537: The Proto-Indo-European Dyeus . Medhurst (1847) also shows affinities in the usage of "deity", Chinese di , Greek theos and Latin deus , for incarnate powers resembling the supreme godhead. Ulrich Libbrecht distinguishes two layers in the development of early Chinese theology, traditions derived respectively from the Shang and subsequent Zhou dynasties. The religion of the Shang was based on
SECTION 20
#17327722901382574-668: The Socialist Education Movement in 1963 and the Cultural Revolution in 1966 in order to remove opposition and re-consolidate his power. In addition, dozens of dams constructed in Zhumadian, Henan , during the Great Leap Forward collapsed in 1975 (under the influence of Typhoon Nina ) and resulted in the 1975 Banqiao Dam failure , with estimates of its death toll ranging from tens of thousands to 240,000. Classical Marxist theory hypothesized
2691-521: The Soviet Union . Together, taxation and compulsory purchases accounted for 30% of the harvest by 1957, leaving very little surplus. Rationing was also introduced in the cities to curb 'wasteful consumption' and encourage savings (which were deposited in state-owned banks and thus became available for investment), and although food could be purchased from state-owned retailers the market price was higher than that for which it had been purchased. This too
2808-419: The northern culmen and starry vault of the skies and its natural laws which regulate earthly phenomena and generate beings as their progenitors. Ancestors are therefore regarded as the equivalent of Heaven within human society, and therefore as the means connecting back to Heaven which is the "utmost ancestral father" ( 曾祖父 zēngzǔfù ). Chinese theology may be also called Tiānxué 天學 ("study of Heaven"),
2925-672: The "Yellow God of the Northern Dipper " ( 黄神北斗 Huángshén Běidǒu ), or "Heavenly Venerable Supreme Unity" ( 太一天尊 Tàiyī Tiānzūn ), is a name of the supreme God of Heaven that had become prominent besides the older ones during the Han dynasty in relation to the figure of the Yellow Emperor . It harkens back to the Warring States period , as attested in the poem The Supreme Oneness Gives Birth to Water , and possibly to
3042-525: The Chinese economy had improved and the Ministry of Finance still decided to include the fiscal surplus of the previous fiscal year as credit funds in the 1953 budget revenue to cover the current year's expenditures. As a result, budget expenditures were expanded and so was the size of the budget. At that time, only the Soviet expert Kutuzov warned the Chinese fiscal authorities not to use the fiscal surplus of
3159-480: The Chinese tradition contains two facets of the idea of God: one is the personified God of popular devotion, and the other one is the impersonal God of philosophical inquiry. Together they express an "integrated definition of the monistic world". Interest in traditional Chinese theology has waxed and waned over the various periods of the history of China. For instance, the Great Leap Forward enacted in
3276-495: The Chinese were exporting food to Africa and Cuba during the famine. He said during the news conference on 23 May 1962, "Well, there has been no indication of any expression of interest or desire by the Chinese Communists to receive any food from us, as I have said at the beginning, and we would certainly have to have some idea as to whether the food was needed and under what conditions it might be distributed. Up to
3393-531: The Confucians and the fāngshì ( 方士 "masters of directions"), regarded as representatives of the ancient religious tradition inherited from previous dynasties, concurred in the formulation of the Han state religion. Tàiyī ( 太一 ; also spelled 太乙 Tàiyǐ or 泰一 Tàiyī ; "Great Oneness" or "Great Unity"), also known as "Supreme Oneness of the Central Yellow" ( 中黄太乙 Zhōnghuáng Tàiyǐ ), or
3510-419: The Dipper. When the handle of the Dipper points to the east at dawn, it is spring to all the world. When the handle of the Dipper points to the south it is summer to all the world. When the handle of the Dipper points to the west, it is autumn to all the world. When the handle of the Dipper points to the north, it is winter to all the world. As the handle of the Dipper rotates above, so affairs are set below. Dì
3627-523: The God of Heaven, not in the sense of addition but in the sense of belonging. In the Confucian tradition, the perfect government is that which emulates the ordering of the starry vault of Heaven: To conduct government by virtue may be compared to the North Star: it occupied its place, while the myriad stars revolve around it. Tian is dian 顛 ("top"), the highest and unexceeded. It derives from
Celestial hierarchy - Misplaced Pages Continue
3744-661: The Great Leap Forward were accelerating the construction of waterworks on the North China Plain during the 1957-1958 winter and next the development of people's communes and crude forms of rural industrialization. Some Great Leap Projects had lots of long-term value to China's economy and continued to benefit China after The Great Leap Forward ended. Some of the projects included bridges, railroads, canals and reservoirs. However, some of these projects were completed quickly, resulting in errors and delays that did more harm than good. The Great Leap Forward campaign began during
3861-496: The Great Leap Forward, during the Seven Thousand Cadres Conference in 1962, which led him to launch the Cultural Revolution in 1966. Despite the harmful agricultural innovations, the weather was very favorable in 1958 and the harvest was also good. However, the amount of labor which was diverted to steel production and construction projects meant that much of the harvest was left to rot because it
3978-695: The Great Leap Forward, reflecting the government’s belief that collectivization and large-scale projects would boost agricultural and industrial outputs. The communes were meant to centralize farming and labour, supposedly leading to increased efficiency and output; still, in reality, and practice, these measures often disrupted traditional farming practices and led to decreased productivity. Dali Yang stated, "The initial stages of collectivization brought chaos and inefficiency, with agricultural productivity often declining". Before 1949, peasants had farmed their own small pockets of land and observed traditional practices—festivals, banquets, and paying homage to ancestors. It
4095-437: The Great Leap Forward, the Chinese government initiated land reforms that redistributed land from landlords to peasants, but these reforms still needed to attain the expected agricultural productivity. The early 1950s saw the establishment of agricultural cooperatives, yet these changes brought mixed outcomes. However, the push towards rapid industrialization and the establishment of people’s communes in rural areas were central to
4212-609: The Great Leap [Forward] was a very expensive disaster". The CCP studied the damage that was done at various conferences from 1960 to 1962, especially at the " Seven Thousand Cadres Conference " in 1962, during which Mao Zedong ceded day-to-day leadership to pragmatic moderates like Chinese President Liu Shaoqi and Vice Premier Deng Xiaoping . Acknowledging responsibilities for the Great Leap Forward, Mao did not retreat from his policies; instead, he blamed problems on bad implementation and "rightists" who opposed him. He initiated
4329-506: The Han dynasty it was still common to represent the stars as small squares. The Shang conducted magnificent sacrifices to these ancestor-gods, whose altar mimicked the stars of the north celestial pole. Through this sympathetic magic, which consisted of reproducing the celestial centre on earth, the Shang established and monopolised the centralising political power. The emperors of the Qin dynasty (221–206 BCE) are credited with an effort to unify
4446-638: The Huang–Lao theology of Taiyi with the Confucian state religion and theology of the Five Forms of the Highest Deity inherited from the erstwhile dynasties. Great Leap Forward The Great Leap Forward was an economic and social campaign within the People's Republic of China (PRC) from 1958 to 1962, led by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Party Chairman Mao Zedong launched
4563-619: The Second Plenary Session of the 8th Central Committee, "go all out, aim high, and build socialism with greater, faster, better, and more economical results" ( simplified Chinese : 鼓足干劲、力争上游、多快好省地建设社会主义 ; traditional Chinese : 鼓足幹勁、力爭上游、多快好省地建設社會主義 ) was adopted as the "General Line for Socialist Construction" in China. In 1955, Mao had already expressed his belief that socialist construction should achieve "greater, faster, better, and more economical" results. These led to
4680-705: The Shang dynasty as Dàyī ( 大一 "Big Oneness"), an alternative name for the Shangs' (and universe's) foremost ancestor. Taiyi was worshipped by the social elites in the Warring States, and is also the first god described in the Nine Songs, shamanic hymns collected in the Chuci ("Songs of Chu"). Throughout the Qin and the Han dynasties, a distinction became evident between Taiyi as the supreme godhead identified with
4797-561: The United States in industrial output in the next 15 years through peaceful competition. Mao Zedong was so inspired by the slogan that China put forward its own one: to catch up with and surpass the United Kingdom in 15 years. As with its approach to agriculture, the Chinese government attempted to compensate for its inability to invest in industry with mass mobilizations to increase human labor inputs. The initial projects of
Celestial hierarchy - Misplaced Pages Continue
4914-519: The Western powers. Mao had become convinced that China should follow its own path to communism. According to Jonathan Mirsky , a historian and a journalist who specialized in Chinese affairs, China's isolation from most of the rest of the world, along with the Korean War , had accelerated Mao's attacks on his perceived domestic enemies. It led him to accelerate his designs to develop an economy where
5031-534: The Zhou transformed this claim into a legitimacy based on moral power, the Mandate of Heaven . In Zhou theology, Tian had no singular earthly progeny, but bestowed divine favour on virtuous rulers. Zhou kings declared that their victory over the Shang was because they were virtuous and loved their people, while the Shang were tyrants and thus were deprived of power by Tian. Tian is both transcendent and immanent as
5148-460: The ages of sixteen and thirty were considered ideal candidates for the militia. Peasants were working long hours, all year round, even contributed their own cooking utensils to be melted as a source of production. The consequences of the Great Leap Forward were devastating, leading to one of the most severe famines in human history. The policies that diverted labour from agriculture to industrial projects, such as backyard steel furnaces, resulted in
5265-513: The basis for determining the amount of grain which would be taken by the State, supplied to the towns and cities and exported. This barely left enough grain for the peasants, and in some areas, starvation set in. A 1959 drought and flooding from the Yellow River in the same year also contributed to the famine. During 1958–1960 China continued to be a substantial net exporter of grain, despite
5382-554: The campaign to reconstruct the country from an agrarian economy into an industrialized society through the formation of people's communes . Millions of people died in mainland China during the Great Leap, with estimates based on demographic reconstruction ranging from 15 to 55 million, making the Great Chinese Famine the largest or second-largest famine in human history . The Great Leap Forward stemmed from multiple factors, including "the purge of intellectuals,
5499-409: The central treasury tight again. This drew the attention of Zhou Enlai, Li Xiannian and others, and at a state meeting held on June 5, 1956, proposals were made to curb impetuousness and rash advances, revise the 1956 national economic plan, and cut capital construction investment. Such was the anti-"rash advance" movement. The excess of the first five-year plan gave the nation great confidence, and at
5616-471: The characters yi 一 , "one", and da 大 , "big". Since the Shang (1600–1046 BCE) and Zhou dynasty 1046–256 BCE), the radical Chinese terms for the supreme God are Tiān 天 and Shangdi 上帝 (the "Highest Deity") or simply Dì 帝 ("Deity"). Another concept is Tàidì 太帝 (the "Great Deity"). These names are combined in different ways in Chinese theological literature, often interchanged in
5733-483: The commune system of their traditional means of being able to rent, sell, or use their land as collateral for loans. In one village, once the commune was operational, the Party boss and his colleagues "swung into manic action, herding villagers into the fields to sleep and to work intolerable hours, and forcing them to walk, starving, to distant additional projects." Edward Friedman, political scientist, Paul Pickowicz, historian, and Mark Selden , sociologist, wrote about
5850-601: The completion of the first 5 Year Economic Plan in 1957, Mao had come to believe that the path to socialism that had been followed by the Soviet Union was not appropriate for China. He was critical of Khrushchev's reversal of Stalinist policies and he was also alarmed by the uprisings that had taken place in East Germany , Poland and Hungary , and the perception that the USSR was seeking " peaceful coexistence " with
5967-513: The concept of Taiyi became part of the imperial sect , and at the same time it was the central concept of Huang–Lao, which influenced the early Taoist Church; in early Taoism, Taiyi was identified as the Dào 道 . The "Inscription for Laozi" ( Laozi ming ), a Han stela, describes the Taiyi as the source of inspiration and immortality for Laozi . In Huang-Lao, the philosopher-god Laozi was identified as
SECTION 50
#17327722901386084-554: The country, but the provinces which had adopted Mao's reforms with the most vigor, such as Anhui , Gansu and Henan , tended to suffer disproportionately. Sichuan , one of China's most populous provinces, known in China as "Heaven's Granary" because of its fertility, is thought to have suffered the highest number of deaths from starvation due to the vigor with which provincial leader Li Jingquan undertook Mao's reforms. There are widespread oral reports, though little official documentation, of cannibalism being practiced in various forms as
6201-547: The countryside would solely be dependent on the peasants. Grain quotas were introduced with the idea of having peasants provide grains for themselves and support urban areas. Output from the industrial activities such as steel was also supposed to be used for urban growth. Local officials were fearful of Anti-Rightist Campaigns and they competed to fulfill or over-fulfill quotas which were based on Mao's exaggerated claims, collecting non-existent "surpluses" and leaving farmers to starve to death. Higher officials did not dare to report
6318-519: The cults of the Wǔfāng Shàngdì ( 五方上帝 "Five Forms of the Highest Deity"), which were previously held at different locations, into single temple complexes. The Five Deities are a cosmological conception of the fivefold manifestation of the supreme God, or his five changing faces, that are elaborated in the classic texts and may originate from the Neolithic . They "reflect the cosmic structure of
6435-650: The dynamic of interaction between the Party and villagers: Beyond attack, beyond question, was the systemic and structured dynamic of the socialist state that intimidated and impoverished millions of patriotic and loyal villagers. The authors present a similar picture to Thaxton in depicting the party's destruction of the traditions of Chinese villagers. Traditionally prized local customs were deemed signs of " feudalism " to be extinguished. "Among them were funerals, weddings, local markets, and festivals. The Party thus destroyed much that gave meaning to Chinese lives. These private bonds were social glue. To mourn and to celebrate
6552-560: The early Taoist Church, and focused on a conceptualisation of the supreme God of the culmen of the sky as the Yellow God of the centre, and its human incarnation, the Yellow Emperor or Yellow Deity. Unlike previous Shang concepts of human incarnations of the supreme godhead, considered exclusively as the progenitors of the royal lineage, the Yellow Emperor was a more universal archetype of the human being. The competing factions of
6669-558: The economic disaster which was being caused by these policies, and national officials, blaming bad weather for the decline in food output, took little or no action. The major changes which occurred in the lives of rural Chinese people included the incremental introduction of mandatory agricultural collectivization . Private farming was prohibited, and those people who engaged in it were persecuted and labeled counter-revolutionaries . Restrictions on rural people were enforced with public struggle sessions and social pressure, and forced labor
6786-517: The end of the civil war, was devastated, and in response to the severe conditions, there was resistance among the populace. The effects on the upper levels of government in response to the disaster were complex, with Mao purging the Minister of National Defense Peng Dehuai in 1959, the temporary promotion of Lin Biao , Liu Shaoqi , and Deng Xiaoping , and Mao losing some power and prestige following
6903-438: The end of the year approximately 25,000 communes had been set up, with an average of 5,000 households each. The communes were relatively self-sufficient co-operatives where wages and money were replaced by work points. The commune system was aimed at maximizing production for provisioning the cities and constructing offices, factories, schools, and social insurance systems for urban-dwelling workers, cadres, and officials.And also
7020-645: The existing collectives would be merged into huge people's communes. An experimental commune was established at Chayashan in Henan in April 1958. Here for the first time, private plots were entirely abolished and communal kitchens were introduced. At the Politburo meetings in August 1958, it was decided that these people's communes would become the new form of economic and political organization throughout rural China. By
7137-504: The first Five Year Plan. Millions of Chinese became state workers as a consequence of this industrial investment: in 1958, 21 million were added to non-agricultural state payrolls, and total state employment reached a peak of 50.44 million in 1960, more than doubling the 1957 level; the urban population swelled by 31.24 million people. These new workers placed major stress on China's food-rationing system, which led to increased and unsustainable demands on rural food production. Those between
SECTION 60
#17327722901387254-690: The first case, blows to the body caused internal injuries that, in combination with physical emaciation and acute hunger, could induce death." In one case, after a peasant stole two cabbages from the common fields, the thief was publicly criticized for half a day. He collapsed, fell ill, and never recovered. Others were sent to labor camps . About 7% of those who died during the Great Leap Forward were tortured to death or summarily killed. Benjamin Valentino notes that "communist officials sometimes tortured and killed those accused of failing to meet their grain quota". However, J. G. Mahoney has said that "there
7371-404: The forces of the starry sky, of earthly phenomena, and the acts of human beings (the three realms of Heaven - Earth -humanity, 天地人 Tiāndìrén ), is established. Such harmonisation is referred to as "centring" ( 央 yāng or 中 zhōng ). Rituals may be performed by government officials, family elders, popular ritual masters, and Taoists, the latter cultivating local gods to centre the forces of
7488-466: The human being they are the hun and po (where hun ( 魂 ) is yang and po ( 魄 ) is yin; respectively, the rational and emotional soul, or the ethereal and the corporeal soul). Together, 鬼神 guishen is another way to define the twofold operation of the God of Heaven, its resulting dynamism being called itself shen , spirit. By the words of the Neo-Confucian thinker Cheng Yi : [Heaven]
7605-442: The identification of their ancestor-gods as part of Di. Together they were called 下帝 xiàdì , "lower deities" part of the "Highest Deity" of the Shang. With the supreme God identified as the pivot of the skies, all the lesser gods were its stars 星 xīng , a word which in Shang script was illustrated by a few grouped 口 dīng (cf. jīng 晶 , "perfect [celestial, i.e., star] light", and 品 pǐn , originally "starlight"); up to
7722-499: The incorrect assumption that seeds of the same class would not compete with each other. Yang provides data on the failure of close planting techniques, which reduced yields in Anhui province from 400 jin per mu to less than 200 jin per mu due to overcrowded plants competing for nutrients and sunlight." Deep plowing was encouraged on the mistaken belief that this would yield plants with extra large root systems. Moderately productive land
7839-424: The means and modes of production. Some wealthier families who refused to join a People's commune might be labeled as rightists. Escape was also difficult or impossible, and those who attempted were subjected to "party-orchestrated public struggle", which further jeopardized their survival. Besides agriculture, communes also incorporated some light industry and construction projects. Harvests did increase. However this
7956-604: The means to make significant capital improvements in agriculture. Viewing human labor as an underutilized factor of production , the government intensified the mobilization of masses of people to increase labor inputs in agriculture. In November 1957, party leaders of communist countries gathered in Moscow to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the October Revolution . Soviet Communist Party First Secretary Nikita Khrushchev proposed not only to catch up with but exceed
8073-465: The mid-20th century involved the outright destruction of traditional temples in accordance with Maoist ideology. From the 1980s onward, public revivals have taken place. The Chinese believe that deities or stars, are arranged in a "celestial bureaucracy" which influences earthly activities and is reflected by the hierarchy of the Chinese state itself. These beliefs have similarities with broader Asian Shamanism . The alignment of earthly and heavenly forces
8190-425: The moon has been split. In his terminology, the myriad things are generated as effects or actualities ( 用 yòng ) of the supreme principle, which, before in potence ( 體 tǐ ), sets in motion qi . The effects are different, forming the "myriad species" ( 萬殊 wànshū ), each relying upon their myriad modifications of the principle, depending on the varying contexts and engagements. Difference exists not only between
8307-516: The movement of farmers from agricultural to industrial work, and weather conditions suppressed the food supply. At the same time improvements in medicine, infant mortality, and average life expectancy promoted by the Patriotic Health Campaign led to a greatly increased need for food. The shortage of supply clashed with an explosion in demand, leading to millions of deaths from severe famine. The economy, which had improved since
8424-433: The multiplicity of gods of nature and ancestors were viewed as parts of Shangdi, and the four fāng ( 方 ; 'directions') and their fēng ( 風 ; 'winds') as his cosmic will. The Zhou dynasty, which overthrew the Shang, emphasised a more universal idea of Tian ( 天 "Heaven"). The Shang dynasty's identification of Shangdi as their ancestor-god had asserted their claim to power by divine right;
8541-499: The myriad things, is notably explained by Zhu Xi through the "metaphor of the moon": Fundamentally there is only one Great Pole ( Tàijí ), yet each of the myriad things has been endowed with it and each in itself possesses the Great Ultimate in its entirety. This is similar to the fact that there is only one moon in the sky, but when its light is scattered upon rivers and lakes, it can be seen everywhere. It cannot be said that
8658-454: The north ecliptic pole and slithering between the Little and Big Dipper (or Great Chariot), represents the "protean" primordial power, which embodies both yin and yang in unity, and therefore the awesome unlimited power ( qi ) of divinity. In Han-dynasty traditions, Draco is described as the spear of the supreme God. Heaven continuously begets—according to its own manifest model which
8775-859: The north celestial pole in other cultures, including the Mesopotamian An ("Heaven" itself), and Enlil and Enki / Marduk , the Vedic Indra and Mitra–Varuna , the Zoroastrian Ahura Mazda , as well as the Dyeus of common Proto-Indo-European religion . Throughout the Chinese theological literary tradition, the Dipper constellations, and especially the Big Dipper ( 北斗星 Běidǒuxīng , "Northern Dipper"), also known as Great Chariot, within Ursa Major, are portrayed as
8892-411: The northern culmen of the sky and its spinning stars, and a more abstract concept of Yī (一 "One"), which begets the polar godhead bringing into existence the principles of Yin and Yang , the pivot san bao , then "the myriad of beings" and "the ten thousand things"; the more abstract Yi was an "interiorisation" of the supreme God which was influenced by the Confucian discourse. During the Han dynasty,
9009-490: The people and their work ethics by reducing the influence of Western Countries and reinforce his leadership legitimacy. Citizens in rural areas who criticized the system were labeled "dangerous". Later on, as more and more families link together to form people's communes, peasants started to lose individual identities, since families were from vastly different communities with different cultures views, political views, family and financial background, which created conflict regarding
9126-735: The period of the Second Five Year Plan which was scheduled to run from 1958 to 1963, though the campaign itself was discontinued by 1961. Mao unveiled the Great Leap Forward at a meeting in January 1958 in Nanjing . The Great Leap Forward was grounded in a logical theory of economic development and represented an unambiguous social invention. The central idea behind the Great Leap was that China should "walk on two legs", by rapidly developing both heavy and light industry, urban and rural areas, and large and small scale labor. The hope
9243-596: The polarity of yin and yang which characterises any thing and life. Creation is therefore a continuous ordering; it is not a creatio ex nihilo . Yin and yang are the invisible and the visible, the receptive and the active, the unshaped and the shaped; they characterise the yearly cycle (winter and summer), the landscape (shady and bright), the sexes (female and male), and even sociopolitical history (disorder and order). The gods themselves are divided into yin forces of contraction, 鬼 guǐ ("demons" or "ghosts") and yang forces of expansion 神 shén ("gods" or "spirits"); in
9360-494: The potent symbols of spirit, divinity, or of the activity of the supreme God regulating nature . Examples include: The Dipper is the Deity’s carriage. It revolves about the centre, visiting and regulating each of the four regions. It divides yin from yang, establishes the four seasons, equalises the five elemental phases, deploys the seasonal junctures and angular measures, and determines the various periodicities: all these are tied to
9477-567: The present, we have had no such indication." But Kennedy said that the US provided food for about half a million refugees in British Hong Kong. With dramatically reduced yields, even urban areas received greatly reduced rations; however, mass starvation was largely confined to the countryside, where, as a result of drastically inflated production statistics, very little grain was left for the peasants to eat. Food shortages were bad throughout
9594-557: The previous year, however, it was not heeded by the Ministry of Finance. In that year, the gross industrial and agricultural output grew by 21.3%, while the capital construction budget increased by 50% compared to the previous year, which led to an imbalance between production and demand. Such was the "small rash advance" (小冒進) at the start of the first five-year plan period. The issue had caused widespread social controversy. The faction of Li Xiannian , Chen Yun and others did not think it
9711-909: The proliferation of "folk furnaces". Mao was shown an example of a backyard furnace in Hefei , Anhui , in September 1958 by provincial first secretary Zeng Xisheng . The unit was claimed to be manufacturing high quality steel. Moreover, the experience of the intellectual classes following the Hundred Flowers Campaign silenced those aware of the folly of such a plan. According to his private doctor, Li Zhisui , Mao and his entourage visited traditional steel works in Manchuria in January 1959 where he found out that high quality steel could only be produced in large-scale factories using reliable fuel such as coal. However, he decided not to order
9828-402: The proportion of the harvest collected by the state to insure against further disasters. Moderates within the Party, including Zhou Enlai , argued for a reversal of collectivization on the grounds that claiming the bulk of the harvest for the state had made the people's food-security dependent upon the constant, efficient, and transparent functioning of the government. In 1957, Mao responded to
9945-413: The race to please superiors and win plaudits—like the chance to meet Mao himself—intensified. The state was later able to force many production groups to sell more grain than they could spare based on these false production figures. The ban on private holdings severely disrupted peasant life at its most basic level. Villagers were unable to secure enough food to go on living because they were deprived by
10062-400: The re-emergence of "rash advances", which further led to the reintroduction of policies and tendencies that had previously been overturned. Those who opposed Mao's policies were accused of not upholding the tenets of the "class struggle" under people's cult of Mao . Regarding agriculture, the Chinese government recognized the country's dilemma of feeding its rapidly growing population without
10179-490: The regime would get maximum benefit from rural taxation. The Anti-Rightist Campaign started on June 8th, 1957. The main goal was to purge "rightists" from the CCP and China altogether. It was believed that approximately 5 percent of the population was still "rightists" (Political conservatives sabotaging the revolution). In the early years of the New China, due to the lack of experience in financial and economic work, it
10296-512: The same Dì through phonetic etymology and trace their common root, through their archaic forms respectively *Teeŋ and *Tees , to the symbols of the celestial pole and its spinning stars. Other words, such as 顶 dǐng ("on top", "apex") would share the same etymology, all connected to a conceptualisation—according to the scholar John C. Didier—of the north celestial pole godhead as cosmic square ( Dīng 口). Zhou (2005) even connects Dì , through Old Chinese *Tees and by phonetic etymology, to
10413-454: The same as the Yellow Emperor, and received imperial sacrifices, for instance by Emperor Huan (146–168). In Han apocryphal texts, the Big Dipper is described as the instrument of Taiyi, the ladle from which he pours out the primordial breath ( yuanqi ), and as his heavenly chariot. A part of the Shiji by Sima Qian identifies Taiyi with the simple name Di (Deity) and tells: The Dipper
10530-669: The same paragraph if not in the same sentence. One of the combinations is the name of God used at the Temple of Heaven in Beijing, which is the "Highest Deity the Heavenly King" ( 皇天上帝 Huángtiān Shàngdì ); others are "Great Deity the Heavenly King" ( 天皇大帝 Tiānhuáng Dàdì ) and "Supreme Deity of the Vast Heaven" ( 昊天上帝 Hàotiān Shàngdì ). God is considered manifest in this world as the northern culmen and starry vault of
10647-435: The same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Celestial hierarchy . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Celestial_hierarchy&oldid=1138526649 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description
10764-402: The skies which regulate nature. As its see, the circumpolar stars (the Little and Big Dipper , or broader Ursa Minor and Ursa Major) are known, among various names, as Tiānmén 天門 ("Gate of Heaven") and Tiānshū 天樞 ("Pivot of Heaven"), or the "celestial clock" regulating the four seasons of time. The Chinese supreme God is compared to the conception of the supreme God identified as
10881-524: The starry vault, manifesting in the three forms of dominance, destiny, and nature. There are many compounds of the name Tian , and many of these clearly distinguish a "Heaven of dominance", a "Heaven of destiny", and a "Heaven of nature" as attributes of the supreme cosmic God. In the Wujing yiyi ( 五經異義 , "Different Meanings in the Five Classics "), Xu Shen explains that the designation of Heaven
10998-453: The start of the Great Leap, China's industrial output would surpass that of the UK. In the August 1958 Politburo meetings, it was decided that steel production would be set to double within the year, most of the increase coming through backyard steel furnaces. Major investments in larger state enterprises were made: 1587, 1361 and 1815 medium and large-scale state projects were started in 1958, 1959 and 1960 respectively, more in each year than in
11115-473: The supreme godhead, and is used to compose titles of divinity; for instance Dìjūn 帝君 ("Divine Ruler", Latin: Dominus Deus ), used in Taoism for high deities in the celestial hierarchy. In the Shang dynasty, as discussed by John C. Didier, Shangdi was the same as Dīng ( 口 , modern 丁 ), the "square" as the north celestial pole , and Shàngjiǎ ( 上甲 "Supreme Ancestor") was an alternative name. Shangdi
11232-523: The surge of less-educated radicals, the need to find new ways to generate domestic capital, rising enthusiasm about the potential results mass mobilization might produce, and reaction against the sociopolitical results of the Soviet 's development strategy." Mao ambitiously sought an increase in rural grain production and an increase in industrial activity. Mao was dismissive of technical experts and basic economic principles, which meant that industrialization of
11349-400: The tensions which existed in the Party by launching the Hundred Flowers Campaign as a way to promote free speech and criticism. Some scholars have retroactively concluded that this campaign was a ploy designed to allow critics of the regime, primarily intellectuals but also low ranking members of the party who were critical of the agricultural policies, to identify themselves. By the time of
11466-404: The time people realized, it was too late to correct statistics without angering Mao. The Great Leap Forward sought to revive folk technologies, including in the area of steel production. China's steel industry faced a shortage of imported iron and calls to increase production of "native iron" had begun in 1956. By mid-1958, the Chinese state began promoting indigenous metallurgical methods and
11583-466: The time, every little creation is also participated by one particular thing which was previously created by the Creator. That is to say, each creature plays both the roles of creature and creator, and consequently is not only a fixed constituent of, but also a promoter and author of, the diversity or richness of the world. The relationship between oneness and multiplicity, between the supreme principle and
11700-428: The universe upon a particular locality. Since humans are capable of centering natural forces, by the means of rites, they are themselves "central" to creation. Human beings participate in the ongoing creation-evolution of the God of Heaven, acting as ancestors who may produce and influence other beings: The involvement of an evolution in the divine creation hints that, although the Creator functions everywhere and all
11817-413: The various categories of beings, but among individuals belonging to the same category as well, so that each creature is a unique coalescence of the cosmic principle. The qi of kindred beings accord and communicate with one another, and the same happens for the qi of worshippers and the god receiving sacrifice, and for the qi of an ancestor and his descendants. All beings are, at different levels, "in"
11934-413: The wage bill, largely for construction workers, but no corresponding increase in manufactured goods". Facing a massive deficit, the government cut industrial investment from 38.9 to 7.1 billion yuan from 1960 to 1962 (an 82% decrease; the 1957 level was 14.4 billion). partly due to misreporting, or corruption at every level of the government where they'd overreport harvest and steel production, by
12051-466: The widespread famine which was being experienced in the countryside, as Mao sought to maintain face and convince the outside world of the success of his plans. Foreign aid was refused. When the Japanese foreign minister told his Chinese counterpart Chen Yi about an offer of 100,000 tonnes of wheat which was going to be shipped away from public view, he was rebuffed. John F. Kennedy was also aware that
12168-493: The world" in which yin, yang, and all forces are held in balance, and are associated with the four directions of space and the centre, the five sacred mountains , the five phases of creation , and the five constellations rotating around the celestial pole and five planets. During the Han dynasty (206 BCE–220 CE), the theology of the state religion developed side by side with the Huang–Lao religious movement which in turn influenced
12285-417: The worship of ancestors and god-kings, who survived as unseen divine forces after death. They were not transcendent entities, since the cosmos was "by itself so", not created by a force outside of it but generated by internal rhythms and cosmic powers. The royal ancestors were called dì ( 帝 ; 'deities'), and the utmost progenitor was Shangdi, identified with the dragon. Already in Shang theology,
12402-429: Was a common practice to include the fiscal surplus of the previous year in the budget of the current year. Because of the low level of budgeting in the fiscal sector and inaccurate estimates of economic development, revenues and expenditures were underestimated. However, no problems arose because the government usually managed to end the fiscal year with a surplus. In 1953, when China entered the first five-year plan period,
12519-434: Was abolished and all households were forced into state-operated communes. Mao demanded that the communes increase grain production to feed the cities and to earn foreign exchange through exports. Apart from progressive taxation on each household's harvest, the state introduced a system of compulsory state purchases of grain at fixed prices to build up stockpiles for famine-relief and meet the terms of its trade agreements with
12636-472: Was also exacted on people. Rural industrialization, while officially a priority of the campaign, saw "its development ... aborted by the mistakes of the Great Leap Forward". The Great Leap was one of two periods between 1953 and 1976 in which China's economy shrank (the other being the Cultural Revolution ). Economist Dwight Perkins argues that "enormous amounts of investment only produced modest increases in production or none at all. ... In short,
12753-526: Was appropriate to continue this practice, but they also had opponents. Li Xiannian finally decided to hold a collective meeting to discuss the issue, and after listening to the views of all parties, he decided to abolish the practice. Nevertheless, the controversy over the use of the fiscal surplus persisted, which brought another reckless "rash advance" to China's economic development in 1956. At that time, China lacked consideration in three areas: capital construction, employee wages and agricultural loans, making
12870-405: Was because of exceptional weather, not, which a lot of officials mistook, as the result of hard work of the peasants, creating further complications. (106) This lead to famine in the countryside since they were required to reach set harvest goal, leaving not enough food for themselves. Mao saw grain and steel production as the key pillars of economic development. He forecast that within 15 years of
12987-450: Was conceived as the utmost ancestor of the Shang royal lineage, the Zi ( 子 ) lineage, also called Ku (or Kui) or Diku (" Divus Ku"), attested in the Shiji and other texts. The other gods associated with the circumpolar stars were all embraced by Shangdi, and they were conceived as the ancestors of side noble lineages of the Shang and even non-Shang peripheral peoples who benefited from
13104-541: Was done in the name of discouraging excessive consumption. Besides these economic changes, the CCP implemented major social changes in the countryside including the banishing of all religious and mystic institutions and ceremonies, replacing them with political meetings and propaganda sessions. Attempts were made to enhance rural education and the status of women (allowing them to initiate divorce if they desired) and ending foot-binding , child marriage and opium addiction. The old system of internal passports (the hukou )
13221-406: Was introduced in 1956, preventing inter-county travel without appropriate authorization. Highest priority was given to the urban proletariat for whom a welfare state was created. The first phase of collectivization resulted in modest improvements in output. Famine along the mid-Yangzi was averted in 1956 through the timely allocation of food-aid, but in 1957 the Party's response was to increase
13338-521: Was left unplanted based on the belief that concentrating manure and effort on the most fertile land would lead to large productivity gains per-acre. Altogether, these untested innovations generally led to decreases in grain production rather than increases. Meanwhile, local leaders were pressured into falsely reporting ever-higher grain production figures to their political superiors. Participants at political meetings remembered production figures being inflated up to 10 times their actual production amounts as
13455-524: Was not collected in some areas. This problem was exacerbated by a devastating locust swarm, which was caused when their natural predators were killed as part of the Four Pests Campaign . Although actual harvests were reduced, local officials, under tremendous pressure to report record harvests to central authorities in response to the innovations, competed with each other to announce increasingly exaggerated results. These results were used as
13572-887: Was realized that Mao's policy of using a state monopoly on agriculture to finance industrialization would be unpopular with the peasants. Therefore, it was proposed that the peasants should be brought under Party control by the establishment of agricultural collectives which would also facilitate the sharing of tools and draft animals. This policy was gradually pushed through between 1949 and 1958 in response to immediate policy needs, first by establishing "mutual aid teams" of 5–15 households, then in 1953 "elementary agricultural cooperatives" of 20–40 households, then from 1956 in "higher co-operatives" of 100–300 families. From 1954 onward peasants were encouraged to form and join collective-farming associations, which would supposedly increase their efficiency without robbing them of their own land or restricting their livelihoods. By 1958, private ownership
13689-497: Was to industrialize by making use of the massive supply of cheap labour and avoid having to import heavy machinery. The government also sought to avoid both social stratification and technical bottlenecks involved in the Soviet model of development, but sought political rather than technical solutions to do so. Distrusting technical experts, Mao and the party sought to replicate the strategies used in its 1930s regrouping in Yan'an following
#137862