Jìdiǎn 祭典
Canon of Sacrifices
by 范汪 (撰)
About the work
A single-juàn reconstruction of 范汪 Fàn Wāng’s (c. 308–372) lost Jìdiǎn 祭典 — also cited under the variant title Sìlǐ 祀禮 — a freestanding treatise on the sacrificial ritual division of the Wǔlǐ system. Fàn Wāng, an Eastern-Jìn court official who reached the rank of Ānběi jiāngjūn 安北將軍 and Xúzhōu cìshǐ 徐州刺史, was a recognised ritualist of his generation and the father of 范甯 Fàn Níng (the Chūnqiū Gǔliáng-zhuàn jí jiě author and named interlocutor of KR1d0102 Lǐlùn dáwèn). The CHANT reconstruction (CH2c1357) draws citations from Tōngdiǎn 通典 juàn 48 and 96, Běitáng shūchāo 北堂書鈔 juàn 146, Chūxué jì 初學記 juàn 26, and Tàipíng yùlǎn 太平御覽 juàn 851, 852, 971, 974, 975. The text title appears in the source as Jìdiǎn Fàn Wāng 祭典范汪 (i.e. “Fàn Wāng’s Canon of Sacrifices”), reflecting the encyclopedia-citation convention.
Abstract
The Jìdiǎn is one of the few Eastern-Jìn private-scholar sacrificial-ritual treatises to survive in lèishū citation. The surviving fragments cover four principal topic-areas:
(i) Husband-wife and brother seating-mat protocol. A general principle “fán fū-fù zhě jiē tóng xí” (all husband-wife share a mat) applied to all ranks, with brothers sharing a mat only as long as unmarried.
(ii) The greater/lesser zōng succession problem. A long passage (preserved as a continuous Tōngdiǎn citation) on whether the dà-zōng / xiǎo-zōng succession should follow the Zhōu zōngzǐ system or accommodate the post-Hàn xìng (clan-name) confusion. Fàn Wāng argues for retention of the dà-zōng system even in difficult-to-trace clan-name contexts, drawing on his interlocutor 范甯’s argument that family-continuation is more important than ritual-purity. The passage documents Fàn Wāng’s interlocution with his son 范甯 — historically significant evidence of intergenerational ritual-scholarship transmission in the Fàn clan.
(iii) Seasonal first-fruit offerings (jiànxīn). Fragments on the mèngxià xià gānchè 孟夏下甘脆 (early-summer offering of sweet-crisp [meats]) and zhòngxià jiàn jiǎoshǔ 仲夏薦角黍䬳 (mid-summer offering of horn-millet) cited in Tàipíng yùlǎn — important evidence for the canonical first-fruits calendar in pre-Táng practice.
(iv) Sacrificial vessels and offerings. Scattered citations on jìqì arrangements, paired with Chūxué jì and Běitáng shūchāo citations of Hàn-period parallel material.
The dating bracket (317–372) reflects Fàn Wāng’s Eastern-Jìn career documented in Jìn shū 75 (本傳, 范汪傳). No internal evidence permits tighter dating.
Translations and research
No substantial secondary literature located. The work is treated paragraph-by-paragraph in Tōngdiǎn-source-criticism and in surveys of Eastern-Jìn ritual scholarship.
Other points of interest
The Jìdiǎn’s recording of the 范甯 interlocution makes it one of the few extant Six-Dynasties ritual treatises to preserve an explicit father-to-son scholarly transmission, with 范甯’s later KR1d0103 Lǐyì dáwèn arguably developing his father’s zōng-zǐ doctrine.
Links
- Chinese Text Project — Tōngdiǎn: https://ctext.org/tongdian
- Chinaknowledge: http://www.chinaknowledge.de/Literature/Classics/sanli.html