What is a shrine? What is its origin?

Ancestral hall (cí táng) is a place where clansmen worship their ancestors or sages. The cí táng has many uses. In addition to the use of "worshiping ancestors", the house of the grandchildren usually have to handle the wedding, funeral, birthday, joy and other events, they will use these wide ancestral halls as the activities of the use. In addition, the clan members sometimes use the ancestral hall as a meeting place to discuss important matters within the clan.

"Ancestral hall" the name first appeared in the Han Dynasty, when the ancestral hall are built in the tomb, said tomb ancestral hall; Southern Song Dynasty Zhu Xi, "family rituals," the system of the ancestral hall, and from then on called the family temple for the ancestral hall. At that time, the construction of the ancestral hall has a hierarchical limit, the civil shall not set up the ancestral hall. To the Ming Dynasty Jiajing "allow folk are all United Temple", and later did the emperor or feudal lords of the family name can be called "family temple", the rest of the ancestral temple.

Expanded

The characteristics of the ancestral hall

The ancestral hall, in addition to being used to enshrine and worship ancestors, also has a variety of uses. Ancestral halls were also places where the clan chiefs exercised their clan authority, and where clansmen violated clan rules, they were educated and dealt with until they were expelled from the ancestral halls, so they could also be said to be the court of feudal morality; ancestral halls could also be used as a place for socializing in the family; and some ancestral halls had schools attached to them, where the clan members' children went to school.

Because of this, the ancestral hall building is generally larger than the residential scale, good quality, the more powerful and wealthy families, their ancestral halls tend to be more elaborate, tall halls, exquisite carvings, superior materials, become a symbol of the family's glory to the ancestors.

Most of the ancestral hall has a hall number, hall number by the clan or foreign calligraphy masters book, made of gold plaque hanging high in the main hall, next to the other hung with the origin of the family name, the glory of the clan, the women's chastity and other plaques, and also equipped with a pair of exquisite. If it is the emperor's royal seal, can make "straight Duk plaque". The specification and number of plaques in the ancestral hall are the capital of the clan to show off.

Some ancestral halls have flagstones in front of them, indicating that the clan members have been successful. Generally speaking, the ancestral hall of a family name, a shrine, the old clan rules are very strict, not to mention the foreign surnames, is the clan women or underage children, usually are not allowed to enter without authorization, or will be heavily punished.

Source Baidu Encyclopedia - Ancestral Hall