section_path: Features/Worship and modalities of religious practice/Sacrifices
section_name: Sacrifices
paragraph_text: Sacrifices
  
  Classical Chinese has characters for different types of sacrifice, probably the oldest way to communicate with divine forces, today generally encompassed by the definition jìsì (祭祀). However different in scale and quantity, all types of sacrifice would normally involve food, wine, meat and later incense.
  
  Sacrifices usually differ according to the kind of deity they are devoted to. Traditionally, cosmic and nature gods are offered uncooked (or whole) food, while ancestors are offered cooked food. Moreover, sacrifices for gods are made inside the temples that enshrine them, while sacrifices for ancestors are made outside temples. Yearly sacrifices (ji) are made to Confucius, the Red and Yellow Emperors, and other cultural heroes and ancestors.
  
  Both in past history and at the present, all sacrifices are assigned with both religious and political purposes. Some gods are considered carnivorous, for example the River God (Chinese: 河神 Héshén) and Dragon Gods, and offering to them requires animal sacrifice.