试论中国跪拜礼仪的废除

跪拜礼是封建社会中尊卑贵贱等级制的重要礼仪表现形式。 1873年外国使臣以鞠躬或作揖礼觐见同治帝的事实 ,如同一个强有力的楔子 ,严重动摇了传统跪拜礼仪的权威与根基 ;西方国家礼制、礼仪书籍的传入 ,清廷出使官员对外国政治与外交礼仪的感知 ,均使国人对跪拜礼仪进行深刻的反思 ;资产阶级革命派不但对跪拜等旧礼俗进行了猛烈抨击 ,而且身体力行 ,以握手、鞠躬代替跪拜与长揖之礼。跪拜礼已深深积淀于民族意识之中 ,因此废除跪拜礼需要借助政权的力量。 1912年 ,中华民国政府以法律的形式正式废除在中国实行了数千年之久的跪拜礼。这既是辛亥革命的结果 ,同时又是国人对中西礼制长期比较、反思后的自然选择

A Brief Discussion on the Abolishment of the Proprieties of Worship on Bended Knees in China

Proprieties of Worship on Bended Knees was an important form of hierarchy , which was used to discriminate the noble from the civilians in the Chinese feudal society. The fact that foreign ministers bowed to Emperor Tong Zhi in the court in 1873 shook the basis and authority of the traditional proprieties of worship on bended knees severely. The import of western proprieties and related books , as well as the perception of foreign political and diplomatic manners by the ministers of the Qing Dynasty ,who had been abroad, made Chinese people reflect on the proprieties of worship on bended knees deeply. The bourgeois revolutionaries not only attacked the old proprieties critically ,but also practised new proprieties themselves replacing the worship on bended knees by shaking hands and bowing. In 1912,the government of Republic of China formally abolished the proprieties of worship on bended knees which lasted for thousands of years in the form of laws.