| From the Qin and Han to the Tang Dynasty, the emperor's ancestral temples (ATs) were not only places for worshipping their ancestors, but also symbols of state power. As Confucianism achieved an increasingly dominant position among the competing social ideologies after Emperor Wu of West Han implemented the policy of "respecting Confucianism alone", Confucianist writings on the king's AT rituals of the Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties (especially the "seven ATs" mode, the seasonal "sijiji" rites, the once-every-three-year "diji" and the once-every-five-year "xiaji" rites of the Zhou Dynasty) consequently became the basis of establishing the emperor's AT system from the Han to Tang Dynasty. Due to the impacts of various political, ideological, and academic factors in different periods, however, the emperor's AT rites experienced a dynamic process of evolution. The present dissertation, comprising five major chapters, attempts to conduct a general survey of the evolution of the emperor's AT system in the Qin and Han Dynasties, the Three Kingdoms, the Jin Dynasties, the South and North Dynasties, and the Sui and Tang Dynasties.The first chapter chiefly deals with the situation of the pre-Qin and Qin periods. Based on certain archeological discoveries and findings of relevant studies, this chapter first investigates the king's ancestor worshipping practices of the Shang and Zhou Dynasties. Classics concerning this, especially Confucianist writings, often do not coincide with existing findings. With the establishment of the Qin Dynasty and its assimilation of previous and other cultures, the Qin culture underwent a process of dramatic evolution. Despite its various notions of ancestor worshipping, ancestors did not occupy a significant status in its people's mind initially. Due probably to the influence of other regional cultures, especially the Qi and Lu cultures which had maintained most of the Zhou rituals, the Qin culture radically shifted its attitudes toward ancestors, as was reflected in the second emperor's adoption of certain Confucianists' suggestions for the "seven ATs" mode.Chapter Two focuses on the emperor's AT rites in the West Han Dynasty. In the early years of this period, the emperor's AT system shaped by Shusun Tong through a synthesis of pre-Qin and Qin rites contained not only traces of different regional cultures but also abundant elements from mass cultures brought about by rulers of ordinary origin. After Emperor Wu, Confucianism obtained an increasingly leading position among the various social ideologies. With the help of Confucianist officials, Emperor Yuan resolutely reformed the existing AT system according to Confucianist customs. As the application of Confucianism to politics was then in its early stage, the emperor's AT system during the reigns of Emperors Yuan, Chen, and Ai was in a process of constant alternation, often differing immensely from the Zhou rites as recorded in Confucianist classics.The third chapter explores the emperor's AT system in the East Han Dynasty. In the early part of this period, Emperor Guangwu followed ancient conventions and the practices of the West Han Emperors Yuan and Cheng in setting up ATs for Emperors Gao, Wen and Wu. Later, he established ATs for his recent four forefathers. Subsequently, however, he replaced these four ATs with those of Emperors Yuan, Cheng, Ai and Ping. After the reigns of Emperors Ming and Zhang, the mode of "different rooms in one temple" was adopted, which radically deviated from ancient and West Han practices. The East Han Dynasty both adopted the "sijiji" rites, and the "diji" and "xiaji" rites according to Confucianist writings, and retained many West Han AT rites in the form of additional "jiansi" rites. In the late years of East Han, a reform of the emperor's AT rites was carried out with the aid of Confucianist officials. Although writings on the emperor's AT system of that period differ greatly due to variousliterature transmission factors, it can be roughly concluded through an analysis and synthesis of the existing literature th...
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