On the Sacred Grounds of the Worship of Past Emperors in Imperial China

• In Event: The Religious as Secular: Space, Ritual Practice, and Power Relations at Imperial and Confucian Sacred Sites

Abstract

In imperial China, dynasties in power worshiped past emperors of previous dynasties along with Heaven, royal ancestors, and Confucius. The worship of past emperors (Lidai diwang jisi) constituted one of the most important cults in imperial court. According to traditional Chinese political theory, the founding emperor of every dynasty received mandates from Heaven and found the dynasty through military conquest. The succeeding emperors in the dynasty offered worships to Heaven and their royal ancestors who had founded the dynasty. Therefore, the worship for Heaven and royal ancestors both pertain to the legitimacy of the sovereignty. On the other hand, the bygone dynasties not only had lost their mandates from Heaven, but their emperors also had no blood ties with the dynasty now in power. It is intriguing that this worship had a long history in China: according to recent studies, it dated back to the time of the Northern Wei and became institutionalized during the Tang and Song dynasties. Ming and Qing emperors continued to practice the worship of past emperors until its abolition in 1912.

What were the purposes and ideologies behind the worship of different dynasties? How did this ritual tradition come into being? In comparison with the fixed sites of the worships dedicated to Heaven, royal ancestors and Confucius, the sites of the worship of past emperors in different dynasties were unusually varied and unstable. This paper will examine the choices of the different worship sites of the Northern Wei, Tang, Song, and Ming dynasties and explain their political purposes and implications.

Author

• Yi-Fang Liao, Academia Sinica