Social altar

Social altar

Sheji altar is the name of the place for sacrificing sheji. It is located in the west of Tiananmen Gate. It is the altar of sacrificial society and jishenzhi in Ming and Qing Dynasties. Its location is on the right (West) of the Imperial Palace according to the regulations of "zuozu YouSHE" in KAOGONGJI of Zhou Dynasty. Both Zu and she are symbols of feudal regime. She is the God of land, and Ji is the God of five grains. They are the most important foundation of agricultural society. There are not only national altars in the capital, but also places for sacrificing the country in local cities at all levels.

The garden covers an area of about 360 mu. The main buildings include the altar, worship hall, halberd gate, God storehouse, God kitchen, slaughter Pavilion, etc. In 1925, Dr. Sun Yat Sen's coffin was placed in the hall of worship in the park, and it was named Zhongshan Park in 1928. The park covers an area of 240000 square meters. Sheji altar was announced as a national key cultural relics protection unit in 1988.

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Historical origin

Liang Haiyan, from the school of continuing education of the Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that under the concept of "father, heaven, mother and earth", Chinese emperors of all dynasties attached great importance to the construction and sacrifice of the altar. The sacrificial rites belong to the category of sacrificial rites. The sacrificial rites of the state in Jin Dynasty not only inherited the spiritual essence of the sacrificial rites of the agricultural nationalities in the Central Plains, but also paid attention to the practical activities of praying for rain. The sheji altar (Zhongshan Park) in Beijing basically retains the sheji altar left over from the Ming Dynasty. The top layer of the altar is covered with five colors of soil.

The five colors of earth are the most striking: yellow, green, red, white and black, symbolizing the five elements of gold, wood, water, fire and earth, as well as the East, South, West, North and middle. There is a square stone column in the center of the altar, also known as "Jiangshan stone", which symbolizes the eternal stability of Jiangshan. The stone column is half buried in the soil and then fully buried.

In history, the five colored soil in the altar of state came from all over the world, indicating that "under the heaven, is it the land of the king?". In ancient times, not only the tribute of the five colored soil was limited, but also the amount of the five colored soil was limited, so the thickness was different.

The ancients believed that the five directions were combined with the gods and things respected by the five sides: in the East, Taihao was respected, and the God of wood was assisted; in the south, Yan Emperor was respected, and the God of fire was assisted; in the west, SHAOHAO was respected, and the God of gold was assisted; in the north, Zhuanxu was respected, and the God of water was assisted; in the middle, Huang emperor was respected, and the God of earth was assisted. The positions of the five colors correspond to the five elements represented by the five gods.

architectural composition

The overall layout of the altar is slightly rectangular, with two walls inside and outside, covering an area of more than 160000 square meters. The inner altar wall is 266.8 meters long from north to South and 205.6 meters wide from east to west. It has a red wall and a yellow glazed tile top. The north gate is the main gate. It is a brick and stone structure of three gates. The yellow glazed tile top is 20 meters wide and 7 meters deep. In the Ming Dynasty, it is made of imitation wood and green glazed tiles. The three gates are arched.

In the East, South and West, there is an arch gate, which is also a brick and stone structure of huangliulixie mountain top. Its surface is 12 meters wide and its depth is 7 meters. It is decorated with wood like green glazed single arch and five step arches. According to the ancient theory that heaven is the sun to the South and the earth is the Yin to the north, society is the land and belongs to the Yin, so the main buildings in the altar are on the south. The northernmost is the halberd gate, which was built in the Ming Dynasty. It is 5 rooms wide and has yellow glazed tiles on the top of the mountain. It was originally made of three doors in the central column, but later changed to five rooms, all of which are separate doors.

In the early stage, the altar was set up separately, which was called Taishe altar and Taiji altar. It was dedicated to the God of society and the God of Ji (society is land, and Ji is grain). Later, it gradually merged into one and sacrificed together. This layout is based on the old system of the Imperial Palace since the Zhou Dynasty, that is, the layout of "zuozu (Taimiao) YouSHE (shejitan)" recorded in KAOGONGJI.

So far, it has experienced nearly 600 years of vicissitudes. Before the abdication of the last emperor Puyi, it was a place where the emperors of the Ming and Qing Dynasties worshiped Ji (the God of land) and prayed for a good harvest. After the abdication of the Qing emperor, the altar was idle and neglected to be managed. In 1913, the government of the Republic of China took over the altar and renovated it in a large area. During the "Cultural Revolution", the "colorful soil" of the altar was completely changed to loess for planting cotton. Only after the "Cultural Revolution" did it return to its original appearance.

Experience

In Tang Dynasty, it was an ancient temple in the East and north suburb of Youzhou city. In Liao Dynasty, it was expanded into Xingguo temple. In Yuan Dynasty, it was enclosed in Dadu city and renamed Wanshou Xingguo temple. After Zhu Di, the founder of Ming Dynasty, moved his capital to Beijing, he built it on the basis of Wanshou temple. Sheji altar is the place where the emperors of Ming and Qing Dynasties offered sacrifices to the land God and the five grain God.

This place was once the Xingguo temple in the north and east suburbs of Liaocheng and Jincheng. In the Yuan Dynasty, it was extended into the city of Dadu and renamed Wanshou Xingguo temple. In the Ming Dynasty, when Yongle established its capital in Beijing, Taimiao and sheji altar were built on the East and west sides of the Forbidden City. The altar was built in 1420, the 18th year of Yongle in the Ming Dynasty. It was the place where the emperors of the Ming and Qing Dynasties sacrificed to Taishe and Taiji on the fifth day of Zhongyue every year.

Before the Republic of China, the sacrificial function and the original symbolic meaning of the altar had disappeared after the revolution of 1911. In the third year of the Republic of China (1914), Zhu Qiqian, director of the interior, changed the altar into a central park, with a gate in the South (now the South Gate of Zhongshan Park) and a gate in the West (now the West Gate). In 1915, "Xi Li Ting", which was originally in the Ministry of rites, was moved to the park. In 1917, "eight pillars of Lanting" and "steles of Lanting", which were built in the reign of Emperor Qianlong of Qing Dynasty, were moved from the Yuanmingyuan site.

In 1925, after Sun Yat Sen's death, he stopped working in the hall of worship in the north of the altar. In 1928, he changed the name of the hall of worship to Zhongshan Hall to commemorate it. At the same time, the park was renamed Zhongshan Park, and some scenic buildings were added: in the East, there are songbaijiaocui Pavilion, Touhu Pavilion, Laijin Yuxuan; in the west, there are Yinghui Pavilion, Chunming Pavilion, Huaying building, tanghuawu, Shuixie, siyixuan; in the north, there are Maxim Pavilion, etc., to meet the new functional requirements.

In 1929, China Architecture Society was established in Zhongshan Park, which was a major event affecting the development of Chinese architecture discipline; in July 1942, Zhongshan music hall was built. The halberd gate was also changed into a movie theater, later into a revolutionary library, and now is the conference hall of the National Committee of the Chinese people's Political Consultative Conference.

After the founding of the people's Republic of China, the park has been repaired many times, and some large-scale cultural and entertainment buildings have been added. The most important one is the reconstruction and expansion of Zhongshan music hall located in the inner altar from 1957 to 1999, which destroyed the historical pattern.

Architectural symbol

Located in the northwest of Tiananmen Square in Beijing, the altar of state is opposite to the Taimiao Temple (now the Cultural Palace of the working people) in the northeast of Tiananmen Square, one on the left and one on the right, which embodies the design principle of "zuozu YouSHE" as the imperial capital. The altar is a square three-story high platform, built with white marble, symbolizing the saying that "the sky is round and the place is round". The altar is paved with five colors of yellow, East Green, south red, West White and North black soil, and the surrounding short walls are also covered with four colors of glazed tiles in the direction. The five colors of earth come from the tribute from all over the country, which means that "under the heaven, is it the king's earth", and also symbolizes the five acts of gold, wood, water, fire and earth, which are the foundation of all things.

Sheji was the God of God and grain worshipped by ancient emperors and princes. The emperors of Shang, Zhou and Qing dynasties all followed the rites of sheji. Emperors of all dynasties claimed that they were ordered by heaven and compared themselves to the "son of heaven", and the state symbolized the foundation of the country. Therefore, every spring and Autumn Festival, a grand ceremony was held in the morning of the fifth day of the second lunar month. In case of an important event such as an expedition, a teacher in charge, and a prisoner offering, a grand ceremony of the state was also held here. There are three walls around the altar, and there is a white jade gate on each side of the inner wall, which is called "Lingxing gate". In the middle is the "altar wall". Between the altar wall and the outer wall, there are the worship hall and the gate in the north, the God storehouse, the God kitchen and the slaughter Pavilion in the West.

Traffic information

1. 2, 4, 5, 10, 20, 52, 57, 22, 54, 120, 802, special 1 Zhongshan Park or Tian'anmen station, subway, 9, 17, 44, 48, 53, 59, 66, 110, 307, 803, 808, 819, 922, special 4, special 7, Tuanjiehu special line Qianmen.

Main attractions

The main buildings are the altar of the country, the hall of worship, the halberd gate, the peace defense square, the waterside pavilion, the Lanting tablet Pavilion, the tanghuawu Pavilion, the Xili Pavilion, the siyixuan Pavilion, the Yinghui Pavilion, the Hualang Pavilion, the Zaiju Pavilion, the maxim Pavilion, the Touhu Pavilion, the songbaijiaocui Pavilion, the Laijin Yuxuan Pavilion, the music hall, the Changqingyuan garden, the Yuyuan Garden and the Huifang garden, and the children's playground.

The indoor color painting is old, the Golden Dragon fangxinxuanzi color painting, and the outdoor color painting is the new Golden Dragon Hexi. There were 72 pieces of gold and silver plated iron halberds on both sides of the gate, which were inserted on wooden frames. In 1900, the "Eight Power Allied forces" entered Beijing, mistaking them for gold and silver halberds, and plundered them all.

Hall of enjoyment

The south of Jimen is the hall of enjoyment, also known as the hall of worship, which is now Zhongshan Hall. It was originally the place where the emperor took a rest when he came here for sacrifice or offered sacrifices when it rained. The building was first built in Ming Dynasty, with 5 rooms in width and 3 rooms in depth. It was built on the top of yellow glazed tile hill, with seven steps on the Dou Gong. The outdoor Hexi painting and the indoor Jinlong fangxinxuanzi painting are also the changes after changing the function. The hall is built in the Ming Dynasty without corridor. The angle beam of Xieshan intersects with caibujin and xiajinpurlin on the vertical column. This is the structural feature of the hall seat without corridor in the Ming Dynasty, which proves that the hall is still the original one in the early Ming Dynasty. The decoration of doors and windows is no longer an old thing. Now, there are three doors in the middle and three windows in the middle. Halberd gate with worship hall before and after even Bi, are standing about 1 meter high white

Chinese PinYin : She Ji Tan