A Study On The Sacrifice And Belief Of North Marchmount During The Ming And Qing Dynasties

North Marchmount as the main Mountain of North in medieval times,on one hand,it indicates the direction of north by the impact of ancient concept called " Centre of China",on the other hand,it's the embodiment of ancient emperor(King)majesty and the moralization of etiquette in local politics.As a result,it becomes the main object to implement the national etiquette and music system.The worship to North Marchmount originated before the Qin Dynasty and was formed as a regular worship system in the tenth emperor of Han,However,it did not enact the specification of sacrificial system.During the Sui and Tang Dynasties,with the establishment of the "three worship" system,the sacrificial ceremony to the North Marchmount was finally established with the enactment of the " the etiquette system of Kaiyuan",it rectificated the worship chaos of the Wei and Jin Dynasties and was followed by past dynasties.During Ming and Qing Dynasties,the government inherited and reformed the North Marchmounts worship system,it mainly displays in followed 4 aspects:(1)the government removed the grand titles and lifted the position of “Shanchuan Tan” which was used to sacrifice located in the outskirts of the capital.(The worship to five Marchmouns was hold in the DiTan during the Jiajing periods).(2)There were some new changes in the music and costume for sacrifice and the fast ceremony also had mew content.(3)The date to sacrifice was changed to Qingming in the spring and Shuangjiang in the autumn.(4)The government reenacted the local(Kingdom)sacrificial system,the official memorial ceremony to the North Marchmount was enhanced.In addition,there was a tendency of the extension of the national etiquette in this period since the Tang and Song Dynasties,which had a great influence on the folk belief.It had been considerable development.During the Ming and Qing Dynasties,the worship to North Marchmount developed and spread widely with the unique function of military protection in Yanbei region.The most important performance of it was the building of lots of North Marchmount temple.At the same time,the prosperous faith to North Marchmount in Shanxi has played a great role in promoting the race of the North Marchmount cultural symbols,this was one of the important factors that the worship transfer of the North Marchmount.But at the beginning of Qing Dynasty,with the northern border gradually settled and secular beliefs were gradually mingled into the worship of North Marchmounts,so it made declination of the North Marchmount belief?...