On The System And Functional Significance Of Ancient Chinese Ancestral Temple

Ancestral temple is a place for sacrificing and commemorating ancestors. The ancestral temple system is a highly worshiped political and philosophical substance of Confucianists, especially the pre-Qin Confucianists. It will be helpful for having a comprehensive understanding of the sacrifice principle of "serving the dead as well as serving the lived" which is firmly inherited by ancient Chinese sages, the political and philosophical effects of the ancestral temple system, and its corresponding related ethic value of genealogy, if we take a careful look at the ancestral temple and its corresponding social and political system.Based on the continual researches on this problem from the political and religious society since ancient times, this dissertation tries to display the ancient Chinese ancestral temple system in full scale from three aspects.This first one is about the origin of the Chinese ancestral temple system, which focuses on the belief background of the ancient clan periods that gives birth to the temple system. As the materialization of the ancestor-worship concept, ancestral temple exists and evolves with a primitive formation. In the period of China’s slavery society, temple activities of a kingdom or an empire attempt to ask for blessings for decisions and actions from the spirits of their ancestors, and the temple activities gradually get connected with the patriarchal clan system of the ruling class.The second part is about the important research of the ancestral temple system and its corresponding activities. According to the ancient Confucian classics such as Li Ji (The Book of Rites) and Han Shu (History of the Han Dynasty), the temple numbers, regulations, and constructions of different ranks in different times are investigated, and the spirit tablet system of the ancestral temple, the temple formation principle which is usually called Zuo Zhao You Mu or Zhao Mu, and the system of moving the spirit tablets and destroying the temple, which is called Qian Zhu Hui Miao, are carefully and deeply studied. Spirit tablets are the symbols of ancestors’spirits, which show the simple and rational religious emotions of our ancestors. Zhao Mu is used to identify the close relatives and sort the elders and youngsters, which is closely connected with the ancestral temple system, or even its core factor. And Qian Zhu Hui Miao indicates the complete system of rites of China’s ancient times and the rational belief attitude of our ancestors.The ancestral temple activities are mainly divided into occasional prayers, conventional annual worships, and the temple music and dance of Han dynasty which is with the characteristic of typical ethic indoctrination. According to the relevant history materials contained in Confucian classics, various worship activities of the ancestral temple system are sorted and concluded. Through the investigation of concrete rules and laws, it is concluded that the ancestral temple system is mutually echoed with the national political system and has the important effects of uniting and gathering the clan and preserving the throne of the nation. And objectively, the ancestral temple system shows the filial piety of "carefully handle the death of parents and commemorate ancestors" of Chinese ancient people.The third aspect concludes the functions, meanings, and ultimate destination of the ancestral temple system from the three aspects of religion, patriarchal clan system, and ethics. As a tool of religious ideology, the ancestral temple system is used for strengthening the throne. As a part of the ancient patriarchal clan system, the ancestral temple system is used for strengthening the position of the direct line of descent. As a place of ethic indoctrination, after the influence of the thought of Cheng and Zhu and the influence of the political environment of Ming Dynasty, the ancestral temple gradually evolves into the ancestral hall of family, which encourages filial feelings. Hence, the conclusion of this dissertation if obtained:the ancestral temple system is actually a tool and a product of the throne, and at the same time it objectively shows the most typical ethic criterion of ancient Chines people, which is the filial piety. Although the material ancestral temple no longer exists, however, its modern evolution, i.e., the family ancestral hall, and its corresponding connotation of traditional culture, still have important values.