Sorry, late night turned into early morning and I got sucked back into the world of the diurnal.

Well, yeah, it's veneration. But 2500 years ago it was used as a basis for everything--laws, religion, corporal punishment. In other words, it translated the parent-child relationship into Emperor-subject/superior-inferior relationships. It was an insult to your parents to damage your body (which they had given you) so the worst punishments involved everything from tattooing to decapitation--the damage was the ultimate shame on your family. All kinds of funny details. The texts I was using had ministers reminding emperors of the wisdom and greatness of their ancestors all the time. Must have gotten a bit tiresome ;).