Editing Zhou dynasty (section)

====''Li''====
Having emerged during the Western Zhou, the [[Li (Confucianism)|''li'' ritual system]] encoded an understanding of manners as an expression of the social hierarchy, ethics, and regulation concerning material life; the corresponding social practices became idealized within Confucian ideology.

The system was canonized in the ''[[Book of Rites]]'', ''[[Rites of Zhou]]'', and ''[[Etiquette and Ceremonial]]'' compiled during the [[Han dynasty]] (202&nbsp;BC{{snd}}220&nbsp;AD), thus becoming the heart of the Chinese imperial ideology. While the system was initially a respected body of concrete regulations, the fragmentation of the Western Zhou period led the ritual to drift towards moralization and formalization in regard to:

* The five orders of [[Chinese nobility]]
* Ancestral temples (size, legitimate number of pavilions)
* Ceremonial regulations (number of [[Ding (vessel)|ritual vessels]], musical instruments, people in the dancing troupe)
'''Sexuality'''

Aside from ''Shi Jing'', the earliest Chinese poem anthology, where gender-ambiguity and same-sex affection both made an appearance, the Zhou Dynasty involved many recorded forms of homosexuality, including farmers and soldiers.<ref>Hinsch, Bret. "Passions of the Cut Sleeve." Academic Publisher. De Gruyter Brill, 1990. p. 18, <nowiki>https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1525/9780520912656/html</nowiki>.</ref> Bisexuality and/or homosexual practices often involved heterosexual marriage, foundational to kinship and social networks in the Zhou Dynasty and beyond in Imperial China, whereas male homosexuality was often "class-based," meaning these relationships involved economic and social benefits.<ref>Hinsch, Bret. "Passions of the Cut Sleeve." Academic Publisher. De Gruyter Brill, 1990. pp. 19–20, <nowiki>https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1525/9780520912656/html</nowiki>.</ref>