Research On The Architecture Of The Earth God Altar, Beijing

The earth god eltar in Beijing is the very spot for emperors to perform the sacrificial rites to the earth god in the Ming and Qing dynasty. With its deep cultural meaning, it has high aesthetic values.By working up how the Chinese ancients concepts about the earth, and how every emperor used this ritual to assert his royal authority, this paper lay emphasis on the reason why the earth god altar was passed on as the body of worship culture.Furthermore, on the basis of historical records and site survey, the architecture of the earth god altar has been synthetically studied from the aspects of the architectural evolution, the way of layout, the design of space and structure, sacrificial rites in history, its actuality and protection in future. Thus, the values of the earth god altar , which is the elaborate works in the Chinese ancient times, have been profoundly reflected.