(3) Rulers
Xuanyuan Temple,Shaanxi Province
The Chinese people have always venerated the rulers of past dynasties, especially those who made major contributions to humanity. Xuanyuan Temple in Shaanxi Province commemorates the most famous of these rulers, the Yellow Emperor,, who is said to have who lived between 3000 and 2070 BC, and who the Chinese worshipped as the First Ancestor of the Chinese nation. The In fact, Chinese people still refer to themselves as the "descendents of the Yellow Emperor and the Yan Emperor."
(4) Ancestors
Ancestor worship was by far the most influential folk belief of ancient China. Sacrifices to the ancestors were made throughout society, from theTaimiaoImperial Temple in theForbidden Cityto the ancestral halls of the common people. Ancestral halls often were where clan elders exercised their authority. With the exception of the Qingyitang Hall of Female Ancestors in Huizhou, almost all ancestral temples in China were dedicated to male forebears, reflecting feudal China's patriarchal and patrilineal code.
Taimiao Imperial Temple, Forbidden City, Beijing
Ancestral hall
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