A Triple-narrative of “Dividing Heaven and Earth” and the Early Formation of Sacrificial-political Relation in Chinese Civilization

The term “dividing Heaven and Earth” (“绝地天通”) can be found in two classical texts,Guoyu Chuyu xia(《国语·楚语下》) and the Shangshu Lvxing(《尚书·吕刑》),which overlap and differ considerably.It has been the subject of numerous interpretations,which are unable to reach a definitive conclusion.This paper adopts the relation between sacrifice and political ruling,and the theory of sacrifice,as main approaches,attempting to distinguish a triple-narrative around “dividing Heaven and Earth”,namely the historical,genetic,and consequential-functional narrative.It tries to argue that “dividing Heaven and Earth” constitutes a “normative myth”,which outcome is a non-exclusive,vertical arrangement of sacrificial right as well as sacrificial objects,without dismantling local rituals.As a “symbolic differentiation”,this turn played a fundamental role in the formation of the sacrificial-political relation in Chinese civilization,meanwhile,it left behind a tension between vertical sanctification and secularization.