Soil and grain was a common Chinese political term in the Sinosphere for the state. During the Chinese Warring States period,ministers defied their rulers by claiming a greater loyalty to the "soil and grain".[1]
A similar concept to sheji is that of the earth deities Tudi and Houtu.[2] It is also linked to Sheshen or deities which are sometimes directly called soil (社)
Shejitan (社稷坛),the altars of soil and grain,were constructed alongside ancestral altars throughout ancient China. Under the Zhou,their use for formal sacrifice was theoretically restricted to the dukes who ruled the provinces of the empire,while the kings themselves offered their sacrifices to Heaven and Earth at the capital and sacred mountains. The emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties performed ceremonies of soil and grain to affirm their sovereignty at the Beijing Shejitan.
In other cultures
Korean monarchs of the Joseon dynasty did so at the Seoul Sajikdan.[3] It has also been rendered "gods of soil and grain" in English,owing to its associations of prayer and supernatural possibilities.[4]
↑ Yang, C. K.Religion in Chinese Society: A Study of Contemporary Social Functions of Religion and Some of Their Historical Factors (1967 [1961]). Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. page 97
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