Abstract:
The ceremony and propriety in the Tang Dynasty referred both to the “three ceremonies” which denote the basic idea and principle of ceremony and propriety and to the “new ceremony” which was introduced by the rulers of the dynasty to adjust to political necessity and social evolution. Thus the introduction of the system of respectful addresses embodied the idea and principle of traditional Chinese patriarchal hierarchy, many regulations in which had been cited from the ceremony and propriety, which here largely referred to the ancient norm of behavior represented by the “three ceremonies”. The ceremony and propriety and the system of respectful addresses in the Tang Dynasty were both contradictory and interrelated. And the interrelation between them was determined by the essence of the Tang system of respectful addresses and by that of the Tang ceremony and propriety.
