课程详述

COURSE SPECIFICATION

以下课程信息可能根据实际授课需要或在课程检讨之后产生变动。如对课程有任何疑问，请联

系授课教师。

The course information as follows may be subject to change, either during the session because of unforeseen

circumstances, or following review of the course at the end of the session. Queries about the course should be

directed to the course instructor.

课程名称 Course Title

古代中国宗教探源 In Search of Ancient Chinese Religion

授课院系

Originating Department

社会科学中心 Center for Social Sciences

课程编号

Course Code

SS099

课程学分 Credit Value

课程类别

Course Type

通识选修课程 General Education (GE) Elective Courses

授课学期

Semester

秋季 Fall

授课语言

Teaching Language

中英双语 English and Chinese

授课教师、所属学系、联系方

式（如属团队授课，请列明其

他授课教师）

Instructor(s), Affiliation&

Contact

（For team teaching, please list

all instructors）

Georgiy Grebnyev（Yegor Grebnev）葛觉智

南方科技大学人文社会科学荣誉学会 Society of Fellows in the Liberal Arts, SUSTech

yegor@mail.sustech.edu.cn

实验员/助教、所属学系、联系

方式

Tutor/TA(s), Contact

无 NA

10.

选课人数限额(可不填)

Maximum Enrolment

（Optional）

授课方式

Delivery Method

讲授

Lectures

习题/辅导/讨论

Tutorials

实验/实习

Lab/Practical

其它(请具体注明)

Other（Please specify）

总学时

Total

11.

学时数

Credit Hours

12.

先修课程、其它学习要求

Pre-requisites or Other

Academic Requirements

无 NA

13.

后续课程、其它学习规划

Courses for which this

course is a pre-requisite

无 NA

14.

其它要求修读本课程的学系

Cross-listing Dept.

无 NA

教学大纲及教学日历 SYLLABUS

15.

教学目标 Course Objectives

The students will:

 learn about various religious practices in ancient and medieval China;

 strengthen their analytical skills through the close reading of important primary sources;

 engage critically with modern theoretical works in religious studies published in English and Chinese;

 understand the lasting influence of ancient and medieval religious practices in contemporary society;

 understand the differences and similarities between religious traditions in different parts of the world.

16.

预达学习成果 Learning Outcomes

The course aims to develop the following knowledge and skills:

 develop independent argument, relying on one’s own understanding of theoretical works and primary sources;

 explain one’s individual point of view convincingly in writing in agreement with modern academic conventions;

 develop a sympathetic and understanding attitude to practitioners of traditional religions, without necessarily

sharing their beliefs.

17.

课程内容及教学日历（如授课语言以英文为主，则课程内容介绍可以用英文；如团队教学或模块教学，教学日历须注明

主讲人）

Course Contents (in Parts/Chapters/Sections/Weeks. Please notify name of instructor for course section(s), if

this is a team teaching or module course.)

Week 1: Introduction 引言 (2-credit hours)

 Course introduction: contents, assessment criteria, essay writing strategies

 Definitions of religion

 Religions and religious practices in Europe and China

 Sources for the study of religious practices

Week 2: Ancestral worship 祖先崇拜 (2-credit hours)

 Ancestral worship in anthropological observations

 Archeological evidence for ancestral worship

 Ancestral worship and religion: are they compatible? (the “Chinese rites” controversy in the Catholic church)

 Ancient and contemporary forms of ancestral worship in China

 Guided reading of select passages from primary sources

Week 3: Religious aspects of the Shang shu and Shi jing 《尚书》、《诗经》中的宗教细节 (2-credit hours)

 Gods, men and natural spirits in the Shang shu and Shi jing

 Types and functions of sacrifices

 Reconstructing ancient Chinese liturgies

 Guided readings of select passages from the Shang shu and Shi jing

Week 4: “Confucianism” as a religion 作为宗教的儒学 (2-credit hours)

 Religious aspects of Confucian classics (Lunyu 论语, Liji 礼记)

 Is there a belief system in Confucianism?

 The authority of Confucius and religious authority: similarities and differences

 The Mohist critique of the Confucian emphasis on ritual

 Guided readings of select passages from the Lunyu 论语 and the Mozi 墨子

Week 5: Spirits, demons and human spirituality 鬼神和人的魂魄 (2-credit hours)

 Types of deities and other non-human beings in pre-imperial China

 Ways of interacting with non-human beings: do ut des

 How many souls are there in a human being?

 Ideas of afterlife

 Guided readings of select passages

Week 6: The invention of immortality 永生的发明 (2-credit hours)

 Textual evidence for religious practices aiming at individual acquisition of supernatural gifts in pre-Han texts

 Qin Shihuang’s quest for immortality and its precursors

 The fangshi 方士 as experts in “religion” and other techniques

 The material cost of immortality (during life, in burial)

 Guided readings of select passages (Shiji 史记 and other texts)

Week 7: Religious scepticism in ancient China 先秦两汉时期的宗教怀疑论 (2-credit hours)

 Doubts concerning the efficacy of ritual and divination

 Economic criticism of ritual practices

 Political criticism of religious practices

 Was there an “atheism” in ancient China?

 Guided readings of select passages (Lunheng 论衡 and other texts)

Week 8: China’s first religious communities 中国最早的宗教群体 (2-credit hours)

 Chenwei 讖緯 and the proliferation of occult knowledge in the Han dynasty

 The role of millennial communities in the decline of the Eastern Han dynasty

 The theocratic state of Cheng Han

 The “church” of Cheng Han

 Integration of the Cheng Han religious leaders into the Jin state

Week 9: History and contents of the Taiping jing 《太平经》的历史与内容 (2-credit hours)

 Early layers in the received Taiping jing

 Social organisation of the religious community according to the Taiping jing

 The proto Daoist belief system as reflected in the Taiping jing

 Individual and collective religious goals in the Taiping jing

 Guided readings of select passages

Week 10: From humans to gods: deification of heroes in China 当人成神 (2-credit hours)

 Types of deified heroes in ancient China

 Super-natural beliefs concerning Confucius in the Han dynasty

 Deification of Guan Yu 关羽

 Temples to deified individuals: emergence and evolution of practice

Week 11: Advent of Buddhism 佛教在中国的传播 (2-credit hours)

 Earliest evidence for the existence of Buddhism in China

 Translation of Buddhist texts into Chinese

 How many “Buddhisms” entered China?

 Differences and commonalities between the Buddhist and indigenous Chinese religious practices and

communities

Week 12: Temple and palace: political dimensions of medieval Chinese religions “宫”与“庙”：中古中国宗教

的政治因素 (2-credit hours)

 The spacial configuration of palaces and temples

 Royal metaphors in the practice of Chinese religious communities

 Traces of royal empowerment rituals in Chinese religions

 Chinese religions as a source of authority and legitimacy

 Political patronage of religious communities

Week 13: Medieval religious synthesis 中国中世纪的宗教综合 (2-credit hours)

 Co-penetration of Buddhism and indigenous practices

 Religious orthodoxy and syncretic communities

 State policies towards religious communities

 Innovative religions and continuous revelation

Week 14: Structure of the Chinese pantheon 中国万神殿的结构 (2-credit hours)

 Types of deities in the Chinese pantheon by origin

 Types of deities by function

 The bureaucracies of Heaven and the underworld

 Regional variations

Week 15: Private religious devotion 个人宗教经验 (2-credit hours)

 Positive and negative evaluations of religious devotion in historical sources

 Private religious devotion in poetry

 Epigraphic evidence for private devotion

 Most common objects of private devotion (deities, immortals, etc.)

Week 16: Comparative observations on religion in China and the West 关于中国和西方宗教的若干问题 (2-credit

hours)

 Social and political functions of religions

 Religious tolerance

 Religious syncretism in China and the West

 Political and religious authority

18.

教材及其它参考资料 Textbook and Supplementary Readings

 Robert Ford Campany. “On the very idea of religions (in the modern West and in early medieval China)”. History

of Religions 42.4 (2003), pp. 287–319.

 Li Ling 李零. Zhongguo fangshu kao 中国方术考. Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 2006.

 Marc Kalinowsky and John Lagerwey (eds.). Early Chinese Religion (2 vols.). Leiden: Brill, 2011.

 Stephen R. Bokenkamp. Early Daoist Scriptures. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997.

 Erik Zürcher. The Buddhist Conquest of China: The Spread and Adaptation of Buddhism in Early Medieval

China. Leiden: Brill, 1959.

 Gil Raz. The Emergence of Daoism: Creation of Tradition. Abingdon: Routledge, 2012.

 Barend ter Haar. Guan Yu: The Religious Afterlife of a Failed Hero. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017.

 J. J. M. De Groot, The Religious System of China. Leiden: Brill, 1892-1910.

课程评估 ASSESSMENT

19.

评估形式

Type of

Assessment

评估时间

Time

占考试总成绩百分比

% of final

score

违纪处罚

Penalty

备注

Notes

出勤 Attendance

20%

课堂表现

Class

Performance

小测验 Quiz

课程项目

Projects

50%

小报告

Students will submit mini-reports

(200-500 words) sharing their

impressions on the contents of the

previous class. Failure to submit at

least 10 reports will negatively affect

the course grade.

平时作业

Assignments

30%

Students will submit at least one

essay during the term, answering to

one of the proposed questions

(possible essay topics will be

announced at most classes). Each

essay will contain no less than 2000

words and no more than 4000 words

(English). Students can submit more

than one essay, in which case only

the essay that has gained the highest

grade will be considered. Students

will give 10-minutes presentations on

the contents of their essays, followed

by Q&A.

期中考试

Mid-Term Test

期末考试

Final Exam

期末报告

Final

Presentation

其它（可根据需

要改写以上评估

方式）Others

(The above may

be modified as

necessary)

20.

记分方式 GRADING SYSTEM

 A. 十三级等级制 Letter Grading

 B. 二级记分制（通过/不通过） Pass/Fail Grading

课程审批 REVIEW AND APPROVAL

21.

本课程设置已经过以下责任人/委员会审议通过

This Course has been approved by the following person or committee of authority