Revere Heaven and Serve Thy People: Ploughing Ceremony and Construction of the Qing Dynasty’s Governance Philosophy in the 18th Century

• Published in: Frontiers of history in China Vol. 18; no. 1; pp. 110 - 133
• Main Authors: Wang Hongbing, Zhang Songmei
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Higher Education Press 01.03.2023
• Subjects: ploughing Ceremony, Revere Heaven and Serve Thy People, political ceremony, state governance, labor education
• ISSN: 1673-3401; 1673-3525
• DOI: 10.3868/s020-012-023-0007-1

In the Qing Dynasty, agriculture as the state’s foundation was gaining increasing attention. In the 18th century, the rulers put forward the governance philosophy of “Revering Heaven and Serving Thy People” to meet the need of state governance. Therefore, the Ploughing Ceremony with distinct characteristics of the time was reconstructed to encourage farming and reinforce governance. Rulers of the Qing Dynasty paid special attention to the Ploughing Ceremony and made effort to turn it into a political ceremony with all the people participating so as to establish the image of the saintly emperor and provide values and norms for better operation of the empire. At the same time, in order to solve livelihood problems, rulers of the Qing Dynasty had a craving to the pro-ploughing ritual. Therefore, diligence had become the common ideal and belief during this period, and this provides certain impetus for social and economic development. The Ploughing Ceremony of the Qing Dynasty as an important part of the development of traditional Chinese etiquette culture, helped to shape the national spirit of hard work, and left a deep imprint on the development and continuation of the Chinese civilization.