120 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I42 



been and still is the most important Chinese social and religious 

 custom. 



A basic idea in filial piety and ancestral veneration is that there is 

 a mutual dependence between the living and their dead ancestors. 

 After death the deceased need the same things as before — food, shel- 

 ter, clothing, money, tools, weapons, etc., and it is the duty of the 

 living descendants to provide them. In addition, the younger gen- 

 erations must treat their parents and all ancestors and elders with 

 respect, reverence, and love (Creel, 1935b, p. 175)- 



The deceased ancestors are actively interested in the welfare of 

 their descendants. If they have been provided with the things to 

 supply their needs, they help and protect their living descendants, giv- 

 ing them long life, wealth, happiness, and success. On the other hand, 

 if the ancestors are neglected, are not shown honor and respect, and 

 are not provided with the things they need, they become angry and 

 resentful and inflict punishment upon their living descendants. They 

 become demons. 



A very important question is. Do the Chinese worship their de- 

 ceased ancestors as gods, or merely honor and respect them as men? 

 Addison, in his excellent booklet "Chinese Ancestor Worship," asserts 

 that the Chinese do not worship the deceased ancestors as deities 

 (Addison, 1925, p. 52), but honor them as noble and exalted human 

 beings. This I have found to be the belief and attitude of most of the 

 more intelligent and enlightened Chinese in West China. For years I 

 inquired about ancestor worship only from the more educated Chi- 

 nese, and always received the same reply — the ancestors after death 

 are human beings, highly respected, but not worshiped as gods. 



One day I was talking to a servant, a Chinese who had no school- 

 ing and who was steeped in the popular ideas and beliefs of West 

 China. I asked this man, "Do the Chinese worship their deceased 

 ancestors as gods?" He replied, "Yes. We common Chinese have a 

 proverb, 'Ho ti shih jen, shih liao shih shcn.' " This means, "living 

 they are people, after death they are gods." Later the writer put the 

 question to many other common Chinese people of West China 

 and always received a similar answer. Scholars have also agreed that 

 the common, uneducated Chinese of West China worship their de- 

 ceased anscestors as gods, while reaffirming that the more enlightened 

 Chinese do not. 



One aspect of ancestor veneration concerns the respectful treat- 

 ment of parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents while they 

 are still alive. If they are old and helpless, they are loved, fed, 

 clothed, and sheltered. 



