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HE most persistent type of religious worship in China is that offered to the spirits of Earth. The ancient Emperor Shun is said to have offered sacrifices to the hills in the wang ceremony, and later mythical Emperors in the lü cere-mony; the Duke of Chow sacrificed a bull on the shê altar in his worship of the powers of nature. There were also the fang sacrifices to the Four Quarters of the Earth, the yü sacrifice in prayers for rain, the chiao sacrifice to Heaven at the winter solstice, and to Earth at the summer solstice, as well as the offerings on the shê chi altars to the spirits of the Earth and grain which were set up in every feudal state. There were also lesser rites connected with the worship of nature, such as the tsu tien sacrifice and oblation offered by travellers on the night previous to the commencement of a journey, the pa sacrifice made by travellers for good fortune in their undertakings, the sacrifice to the ancestor of horses in the po ceremony which is referred to in "The Book of Odes," the sacrifice at the end of the year which was called cha in the Chow dynasty, and la in the Ch'in, and which was offered in thanksgiving for the harvest, the yo sacrifice in the spring and the ti sacrifice in the autumn, both of which were attended by the ruler and all the princes, the kuei sacrifice for averting evil influences and the no sacrifice for the same purpose.

The Li Ki or "Book of Rites" records that the princes offered sacrifices to the spirits of the Earth and of agriculture—shê chi. The early Chinese were an agricultural people and their thoughts naturally turned toward some deities to whose