Qing Dynasty Beijing Altar Building And Worship

The article expounds the sacrificial temples in Beijing and its research from the sacrificial history, structures, scenes, rite, music and dance in Ming and Qing dynasties and the performances of the sacrificial ceremonies and estimate of the sacrificial temples in Qing Dynasty.The worship of heaven has a long history in China. In Ming Dynasty, The Emperor Yong Le regarded Beijing as his birthplace, and made it the capital of Ming Dynasty. The large scale of construction of Beijing was initiated. The sacrificial temples, as a part of the whole construction in Beijing, was attached the great importance, which strengthened the emperor' power and made special effect on threatening the opposite sides. The enlarged Beijing city followed the layout of Nanjing(the first capital of Ming Dynasty), but it was more magnificent and more elegant than Nanjing. During the reign of the Ming emperor Jiajing in Ming Dynasty, he thought the worshipping of heaven and earth together was not accordance with the ancient ritual system. In the 9th year of the Emperor Jiajing(1530) he restored the ritual system to worship the heaven and earth respectively, which were performed during the beginning of the Ming Dynasty and built the Circular Mound Altar to worship heaven, the Temple of Earth, the Temple of Sun and the Temple of Moon. A series reforms of sacrificial temples performed by Emperor Jiajing formed the new layout of Beijing, which made the foundation of the sacrificial temples in Beijing. In Qing Dynasty, the emperors followed the system stipulated by the Emperor Jiajing as the institution. The Emperors Shunzhi kangxi and Yongzheng in Qing Dynasty were dedicated to construct some ritual systems and the worshipping institution according to their own understanding. All the emperors in Qing Dynasty attached great piousness tothe sacrificial activities. It's the invading staged by the imperialism, which destructed fatally the sacrificial temples in Beijing. In 1856, Anglo-French troop invaded Beijing and occupied the Temple of Earth. They robbed variety of sacrificial utensils and destroyed the main altar in the Temple of Earth which was the first disaster suffered by the sacrificial temples in Beijing. In 1900, eight allied forces invaded Beijing and occupied most the temples. The troop destroyed the temples a lot. After eight allied forces retreated, although the Qing dynasty was short of money, but the emperor still spent money on restoring the Temple of Ancestors, the Temple of Land and grain, the Temple of Heaven. But people's believe in Gods decreased greatly. In 1905, the Emperor Guangxun ceased worshipping ceremony of the Temple of Sun, the Temple of Earth and the Temple of Moon in person, and the temples was at the most desolate period after they were built.Sacrificial structures demonstrate one of the supreme wisdom of Chinesetraditions--Chinese philosophy, which is the perfect combination ofarchitectural technology and architectural concept. The sacrificial temples in Beijing embody perfectly the concept of location, Yin Yang theory and layout, which represent the highest level of ancient Chinese architectural art and architectural cultures. The best representatives of them are the Temple of Heaven, the Temple of Earth, the Temple of Land and Grain, the Temple of Sun and the Temple of Moon.The worshipping ceremonies played a very important role in Ming and Qing Dynasties. There were some specific ministries in charge of sacrificial temples and ritual ceremonies, which guaranteed very ceremony could be well organized. The worshipping ceremonies involved a lot of aspects: the emperor's parade, the scenes, the offerings to the Gods and etc, were complicated, which would demonstrate that the emperors were empowered torule the country by Gods. The emperors' respect and supreme were reflected through the worshipping. The sacrificial rite, music and dance, which reflected people's understanding of nature at that time, expressed people's respect and awe to the Gods and also expressed people's desire to be harmonious with huma...