What are the categories of ancient Chinese temples and altars

Main Features of Ancient Chinese Altar and Temple Architecture

Temple architecture is obviously a kind of ritual architecture, architecture born out of the strict patriarchal ritual system of ancient Chinese society. In the ancient times, the productivity level was low, and people's production and life were often attacked by disasters and wild animals. Due to the limitations of the level of understanding, it was difficult for people to make scientific explanations, and they put their hopes on the protection of the gods. Over a long period of history, nature worship and ancestor worship were formed. In order to offer sacrifices to these deities, the establishment of a large number of altars, temples, shrines and other forms of architecture.

1. Sacrifice to heaven and earth

Sacrificing heaven and earth and other natural deities was a vital activity in the life of ancient people.

Most of the threats to the survival of early mankind came from natural disasters such as storms and lightning strikes. People believed that "heaven" was the supreme, omnipotent master who manipulated everything, and that the sun, the moon, the stars, the stars, the wind, the rain, the thunder, and the electricity each had its own god who governed the growth of crops and the misfortunes of the world. Therefore, sacrifices to natural deities such as heaven and earth, mountains and rivers became part of the daily life of early people. After the formation of the state, the kings or emperors preached the idea of the divine right of kings and compared themselves to the sons of heaven and earth, and were commanded by heaven to rule over the people, to enhance the legitimacy of the regime, and to strengthen the rule of their own regime. Sacrificing heaven and earth thus became an important political activity for all dynasties in Chinese history. And it developed into a specialized right of the ruling class. The Book of Rites stipulates that "the Son of Heaven sacrifices to Heaven and Earth, to the Four Directions, to the mountains and rivers, and to the Five Sacrifices," and that the vassals can only "sacrifice to the mountains and rivers and to the Five Sacrifices," and that the activities of the common people in sacrificing to Heaven and Earth are transgressing the bounds of impoliteness.

In order to express their respect and worship to the gods of heaven and earth, the rulers of all dynasties built corresponding buildings in their capital cities and held regular rituals. According to the principles of rituals regarding suburban sacrifices and the ancient Chinese philosophy of yin and yang, a pattern was formed in which sacrifices were made to the sky in the south, to the earth in the north, to the sun in the east, and to the moon in the west. The countryside is far away from the hustle and bustle of the city, which increases the solemnity and reverence of the worshippers. The buildings dedicated to heaven and earth, mountains and rivers that have been handed down to this day include the Temple of Heaven and Earth in Beijing, the Altar of the Gods of Jigi in Beijing, the Dai Temple in Taishan, Shandong Province, the Nanyue Temple in Hengshan, Hunan Province, the Xiyue Temple in Huayin, Shaanxi Province, the Zhongyue Temple in Dengfeng, Henan Province, and the Beiyue Temple in Hunyuan, Shanxi Province, among many others.

The Temple of Heaven in Beijing is a typical masterpiece. The Temple of Heaven in Beijing is the largest among all kinds of sacrificial altars and has the highest architectural regulations. The sacrificial buildings mainly include the Jaigong, Huanqiu, the Hall of Prayer for the Year of the Dragon, the Department of Divine Music, and the Sacrificial House. Ancient craftsmen used images, figures, and colors to ensure that the Temple of Heaven not only met the requirements of the rituals physically, but also spiritually to fulfill the needs of the emperor's rituals. Ancient Chinese believed in a round sky and a square earth, and therefore the images of the circle and the square were used extensively in the architecture of the Temple of Heaven. The culture of "nine" in the Temple of Huanqiu embodies the doctrine of yin and yang, and the repeated use of nine and multiples of nine coincides with the saying in the "Zhou Yi" that "nine and five flying dragons are in the sky, and it is good to see the adults", implying that the emperor is "the king of nine and five! "The Temple of Heaven Most of the Temple of Heaven buildings use yellow and blue colors to symbolize the land and the sky. The use of these symbolic elements, coupled with a large number of pines and cypresses planted in the Temple, *** with the creation of a solemn, noble and sacred mood, expressing the feelings of reverence and nostalgia for future generations. Ancient master craftsmen of the art of architecture, for China and even the world's architectural history has left a bright pearl.

2. Sacrifice to ancestors

In China's long feudal society, the patriarchal system has always been the basis of state rule. From top to bottom, lineage was valued and ancestors were honored. This reliance on blood relations to maintain interpersonal relationships, family interests and even national unity of the patriarchal concepts permeated the ideology of the ancients, from the emperor's ancestral temple to the common people's ancestral hall is not a material symbol of the patriarchal system and the inevitable product. The place where emperors worshipped their ancestors was the Ancestral Temple or the Imperial Temple. In accordance with the provisions of "left ancestor, right community" of the camp state, successive dynasties have built the Imperial Temple on the left side of the palace city, occupying an important position in the royal city. Moreover, the Rites of Zhou stipulates that "when a ruler builds a palace, the temple is the first, the stables are the second, and the houses are the last". This explains the importance of the ancestral temple in the state of the country. Sacrifice ancestors of the main hall is located in the central axis, the face of 11, heavy eaves hipped roof, located in the 3-story stone pedestal, which and the Forbidden City in the former dynasty of the three halls, the Changling mausoleum of the temple of respect, the temple of praying for the year of the altar of heaven, the same specifications, showing that the sacrifice of ancestors is a major event in the political life of the feudal state.

The Rites of Zhou stipulates, "In ancient times, the son of heaven 7 temples, the vassal 5 temples, the great doctor 2 temples, the scholar 1 temple, the common people sacrificed in the bed." After the Ming Dynasty, ordinary people had a special place to worship their ancestors, called the ancestral hall or family temple. Ancestral halls were sacred places for ancestor worship and symbols of ancestors. Zhu Xi's "family rituals" stipulates that "the gentleman will camp the palace, first set up the ancestral hall in the east of the main bed", and if there is a disaster or a theft by outsiders, "first save the ancestral hall, and then the family's wealth". Obviously, the ancestral hall has a sacred position concerning the fate of the clan. In southern China, such as Zhejiang, Anhui, Jiangxi and other places, most of the ancestral halls are traditional courtyard buildings. The main buildings are distributed on the central axis, with the front gate, the center guard hall, and the back bedroom, together with the left and right corridors and hips, forming a group of buildings with two entrances and two patios in the front and back. The function of the ancestral hall is firstly to enshrine and worship ancestors to achieve the purpose of honoring the ancestors and collecting clans. With the development and change of society, its function has been continuously expanded and extended, and it has become a place for clansmen to hold weddings, funerals, entertainment celebrations and religious activities, and it is a social place and a center of social activities for local residents.

Ancestral halls, in ancient feudal China, were a system to maintain the rites and laws, and a spiritual symbol of the family's honoring the ancestors. Through the construction scale, architectural image and decoration of the ancestral hall, it can show the social status and power of the clan in the local community. At present, the grand scale and ornate decoration of the ancestral halls mainly include the Chen Family Ancestral Hall in Guangdong, the Hu Clan Ancestral Hall in Anhui, and the Qu Clan Ancestral Hall in Jiangsu, where tourists can appreciate the ancient architectural style and excellent construction techniques of the ancestral halls.

3. Sacrifice to the Sages

There were many sages and sages born in the long ancient Chinese society, and people built temples and ancestral halls for them to express their admiration and respect. This kind of monumental buildings are of various kinds, including Confucian sage temples, generals and good ministers temples, literati temples and so on. They have the widest distribution and involve the widest range of objects. In addition to being built by order of the emperor or the government, a large part of them were built voluntarily by the people. Some of the more important ceremonial buildings of this kind are the Confucius Temple in Qufu, Shandong; the Guandi Temple in Xiezhou, Shanxi; the Wuhou Ancestral Hall and Du Fu Cao Tang in Chengdu, Sichuan; and the Yue Wang Temple in Hangzhou. These temples, which are open to the public, have preserved many poems, songs and paintings and inscriptions of the dignitaries and literati, and have not only become a concentration of local cultural relics, but also one of the best ways for tourists to learn about the history of a certain place, its customs and traditions.