Ancient Funeral Culture (1) (Main Core Aspects, with slight differences in each dynasty)

Ancient funeral culture, centered on Confucianism's "respecting the end and remembering the distant (慎終追遠)", formed an extremely elaborate ritual system. Its core purpose was to regulate emotions with rites, clarify kinship relations, and consolidate social class order. 📑 Core Burial Method Classification Han Chinese tradition predominantly practiced earth burial, believing "entering the earth brings peace (入土為安)", and it best represented class differences. Minority ethnic groups or specific regions developed diverse burial methods: • Earth Burial: Primarily includes vertical shaft tombs, large stone tombs, brick-stone tombs, wooden chamber tombs, etc. • Cremation: Influenced by the introduction of Buddhism, it was popular in specific dynasties or regions. • Special Burial Methods: Include cliff burials (hanging coffin burials), water burials, sky burials, tree burials, and urn burials, etc.