Chinese Zhou ritual vessel

The Chinese Zhou ritual vessel, was designed to give offerings to ones ancestors. it was believed at the time that the fertility of the land, the temperance of the weather, and the ability to control disease were all the powers of ancestors and gods. The chinese believed that if they were able to offer enough food then they would be able to prosper. Their science and technology as advanced as it was, could not explain strange phenomena like drought or plague so they chose to think that their ancestors were the dominant factors in these events.