Cheong-Ho Yi
Institute of Environment and Ecology, Korea University, Republic of Korea

The sacred trees of ancient chiefdom confederacies had started being incorporated into State Rituals of ancient empires in China Proper. Sa(社)-institution contains tree species, mode of thinking, precinct, and rituals. Sylvanism or sylvan folk religion which reveres grandiose tall tree and forest in ancient times appears to have started being institutionalized from the Wu (虞) chiefdom confederacy before Xia. The formal ritual seemingly had started being set up during the period of Xia (夏) with the divine entity of earth god as a local pine species (Pinus massoniana) located in the center of the precinct. The precinct may have been set up by an extensive ground one-step higher than the common plain with a grandiose tall tree in the center and it allowed many people to get together for public meetings. The question of when an altar was incorporated into the essential component of the precinct is still in need for eluciation. The succeeding Shang(商) (Yin 殷) had changed the species into cypress (Platycladus or Thuja orientalis) as the divine entity different from that of Xia.Though Zhou had chosen chestnut (Castanea mollisima) as their capital’s Sa, dukedoms and marquisdoms under the supreme Zhou may have used either the same species as that of Zhou or different species. In some cases, there were two Sa-precincts in a state, one of Zhou style and the other of Shang style, especially, in dukedoms like Sung (宋) and Lu (?), located in the eastern parts of Central Plains (China Proper) with the influence of the earlier periods. During Zhou period, Jik (稷) as the crop god appears to have been incorporated into the Saritual and precinct. Sa-precinct had a few functions. First, it had been used for revering Earth god which is the counter part to the Heavenly god revered by Suburb Ritual (郊祭) or Heaven Ritual in the ancient times of Xia, Shang and Zhou. When a new duke or marquis was crowned, a state ritual was performed at Sa-precinct. Second, Sa-precinct was a place of judgment where legal matters were solved and serious criminals were punished or even beheaded. Third, Sa-precinct was the place of military alignment either before waging a war with the state ritual for triumph or just for the solder disciplining. The first emperor of Han(漢) destroyed the Sa-precinct of Chin(秦) after he re-united China Proper after a turmoil. The Sa-precinct of Han in the capital Changan (Xian) may have had a Chinese elm species, as the sylvanism of his hometown Sa-precinct contained the elm species. He accepted the suggestion by the officials for Ministry of Courtesy and ordered to construct regional Saprecincts for local people in counties and dukedoms across the entire empire and let the people to revere Sa-deity at the local precinct. Different from Jongmyo or Taimyo which was mainly for the royal and aristocrat families, Sa-institution was set up for all the people under a heaven, not only for royal people, but also for common people. Thus, culturo-social values of Sa-institution harbor great underpinnings for modern people and need to be revitalized in a modernized form and mode of thinking as the cultural capital available for forest and environmental landscaping, conservation and afforestation in Northeast Asia and utilized in a sound and positive way for comprising of and contributing to green economy.