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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 17 October 2022
This article examines the development of early imperial ancestral shrines by exploring the Liye and Yuelu 嶽麓 Qin slips, along with other excavated texts and historical documents. It argues that Qin Shihuang's 秦始皇 court was the first to specify the regulations for the early imperial ancestral shrine, a crucial part of which was the establishment of the Taishang huang 太上皇 shrines throughout the realm, making the imperial ancestral cult part of the daily local administrative affairs. The Western Han courts largely adopted the regulations stipulated by Qin Shihuang in their commandery and kingdom shrines until late Western Han, when ritual reforms brought the imperial ancestral shrines closer to what Michael Loewe calls the Reformist vision, entailing potential conflicts between bloodlines and the hereditary order of succession. By no means did the early empires simply continue in the stipulations for the imperial ancestral shrines the royal practices of the pre-imperial period; instead, the precedents transmitted to Eastern Han reflected two major ritual reforms, with local ancestral shrines and personal participation by the emperor key subjects of debates.
本文探討里耶、嶽麓秦簡與其它出土、傳世文獻，重述早期帝國宗廟的發展歷程。本文認為，秦始皇創立了帝國宗廟制度，其中重要的部分之一是在縣級行政區劃設立太上皇廟，使宗廟祭祀成為地方日常行政的一部分。西漢時代的郡國廟制度承自秦始皇。西漢晚期的宗廟改革，使帝國的宗廟制度更近於儒家禮制的規定，也將血緣關係與繼承關係的衝突帶回宗廟制度中。文章結論，早期帝國的宗廟制度並非前帝國時代的延續，而是經歷了兩次變革才變為東漢以後的形態，地方宗廟與皇帝親祭即其中的核心問題。
1. All dates are b.c.e. unless otherwise noted. All mortuary terms (e.g., Chamber of Rest) follow Michael Loewe’s renderings and explanations, as noted in the notes below, to obviate the need for unnecessary digressions.
2. On ancestral worship in Eastern Zhou, see Constance A. Cook, “Ancestor Worship during the Eastern Zhou,” in Early Chinese Religion, Part One: Shang through Han (1250 BC–220 AD), 2 vols, ed. John Lagerwey and Marc Kalinowski (Leiden: Brill, 2009), vol. 1, 237–79.
3. Loewe, Michael, Problems of Han Administration: Ancestral Rites, Weights and Measures, and the Means of Protest (Leiden: Brill, 2016), 1–107CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
4. For the period 197–40 b.c.e. in Western Han, see Michael Loewe’s The Men Who Governed Han China (Leiden: Brill, 2004).
5. The phrase “commandery and kingdom ancestral shrines” (jun guo miao 郡國廟) is common in the Han shu 漢書. See Han shu (Beijing: Zhonghua, 1962), 25B.1253, 73.3116, 3117, 3121. This article contrasts the “county and march shrines” of Qin with the “commandery and kingdom ancestral shrines” of Western Han, although both fall under the rubric of “local ancestral shrines.”
6. For details, see Loewe, Michael, Crisis and Conflict in Han China, 104 BC to AD 9 (London: Allen & Unwin, 1974; rpt. New York: Routledge, 2019), 154–92Google Scholar; Nylan, Michael, “Han Views of the Qin Legacy and the Late Western Han ‘Classical Turn,’” Bulletin of the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities 79–80 (2018), 73–122Google Scholar.
7. As both Qin and Han established shrines for Taishang huang, this article will label a shrine or shrines as “Qin” or “Han” in brackets, as necessary, to avoid misunderstanding.
8. Michael Nylan and Nicholas Constantino show that there was no ritual “system” in place during Western or Eastern Han times, although there were court rulings (zhi 制). See their “On the Rites in Mid-Eastern Han,” in Autour du Traité des Rites, De la canonisation du rituel à la ritualisation de la société, all about the Rites: from canonized ritual to ritualized society, ed. Anne Cheng et Stéphane Feuillas (Paris: Maisonneuve & Larose, 2021), 241–83.
9. For relevant examples, see Zuo zhuan zhushu 左傳注疏 (Shisan jing zhushu 十三經注疏 ed., 1815; rpt. Beijing: Zhonghua, 1980), 21.1867, 21.1869, 30.1943, 51.2110.
10. Archaeologists believe a building site at Majiazhuang 馬家莊 (No. 1) in Yong city may represent a Zhanguo shrine dating to the pre-imperial kingdom of Qin. See Shaanxi Yongcheng kaogu dui, “Fengxiang Majiazhuang yihao jianzhu qun yizhi fajue jianbao” 鳳翔馬家莊一號建築群遺址發掘簡報, Wenwu 1985.2, 3–31, 100.
11. Han shu, 19.742. For dao, see The Cambridge History of China, Volume 1: The Ch’in and Han empires, 221 B.C.–A.D. 220, ed. Denis Twitchett and Michael Leowe (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986), 475; China’s Early Empires: A Reappraisal, ed. Michael Nylan and Michael Loewe (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010), chap. 4 and p. 263.
12. All transcription and photos of the seven slips appear in Chen Songchang 陳松長, ed., Yuelu shuyuan cang Qin jian (si) 嶽麓書院藏秦簡 (肆) (Shanghai: Shanghai cishu, 2015). All Yuelu Qin slips are marked with two sets of serial numbers, the first being the number it was originally assigned and the second, the number referring to the edited and collated version included in the volume. Because some of the earlier published articles still use the original number, two sets of numbers are indicated in this article to facilitate cross-checking with other studies.
13. Chen, Yuelu shuyuan cang Qin jian (si), photos and transcription 201–2; transcription without notes 249.
14. The phrase “ci miao” 祠廟 is often understood as a single expression by scholars, but in the Qin-Han context, “miao” 廟 always refers to ancestral shrines, while “ci” 祠 means either a noun (a shrine) or the verb “to worship.” The meaning of “ci miao” here is somewhat uncertain, so I tentatively render it as “shrines [designated] to receive cult offerings,” hoping that future excavations will provide texts that will allow me to refine my tentative translation.
15. Chen, Yuelu shuyuan cang Qin jian (si), photos and transcription 201–2; transcription without notes 249.
16. Yuelu shuyuan cang Qin jian (si), 226n34. In 221, Qin Shihuang began to call himself “Emperor” and gave his father the title of “Taishang huang.” Shi ji (Beijing: Zhonghua, 1959), 6.236.
17. Hunan sheng wenwu kaogu yanjiu suo, Liye fajue baogao 里耶發掘報告 (Changsha: Yuelu, 2006) [hereafter Liye], 8. See also Robin D. S. Yates, “The Qin Slips and Boards from Well No. 1, Liye, Hunan: A Brief Introduction to the Qin Qianling County Archives,” Early China 35/36 (2012–2013), 291–329.
18. This does not follow Yates’s translation of lingshi, but rather that of Michael Loewe.
19. In Shi ji, the Chancellor (chengxiang 丞相) was responsible for “inspecting the cemeteries every season” (sishi xingyuan 四時行園), here “xing” means inspect also. Shi ji, 122.3142.
20. The remaining text is missing.
21. For the interpretation of this sentence, see Lu Jialiang 魯家亮, “Liye Qin jian lingshi xing miao wenshu zai tan” 里耶秦簡’令史行廟’文書再探, Jianbo yanjiu 2014, 47.
22. Chen Wei 陳偉, ed., Liye Qin jiandu jiaoshi (di yi juan) 里耶秦簡牘校釋（第一卷） (Wuhan: Wuhan daxue, 2012), 78. The full text of this imperial edict has been translated by Robin D. S. Yates, in Yates, “The Qin Slips and Boards from Well No. 1, Liye, Hunan,” 322–25. My translation differs from that of Yates.
23. NB: many scholars have overstated the remoteness of Liye, since it was an important military outpost; they also tend to fail to see that there were military rituals, as well as civil, to be carried out at such outposts.
24. If there is an ancestral shrine of Taishang huang in every county, the number of the shrines could be around one thousand. The number of counties in the Qin dynasty cannot be fully determined. Yan Gengwang believes that there were about 1,000, while Hou Xiaorong deduces that there were at most 800–900. See Yan Gengwang 嚴耕望, Zhonguo difang xingzheng zhidu shi 中國地方行政制度史 (Taipei: Institute of History and Philology, Academia Sinica, 1991), 35; Hou Xiaorong 后曉榮, Qindai zhengqu dili 秦代政區地理 (Beijing: Shehui kexue wenxian, 2009), 449–55.
25. The second half of the sentence is missing, and the translation here is the first half of the sentence.
26. Chen, Yuelu shuyuan cang Qin jian (si), 201. Translation tentative, because conceivably geng 更 means gengzu 更卒 (commoners who perform their duties in shifts).
27. The second character was originally read as bu 部, but Chen Wei correctly changed it to du 都. See Chen Wei 陳偉, “Yuelu Qin jian si jiao shang (san)” 岳麓秦簡肆校商（三）, March 29, 2016, 簡帛網 www.bsm.org.cn.
28. The meaning of the words 毋過月歸(?) is not clear, so I provide no translation here.
29. The last sentence is too fragmented to be translated.
30. Chen, Yuelu shuyuan cang Qin jian (si), 201.
31. Lu Jialiang calculated the day of the month according to the ganzhi 干支 sexagenary cycle. To make it easier to understand the intervals between inspections, the results of Lu’s calculation have been added to this translation. See Lu, “Liye Qin jian,” 44.
32. The remaining text is missing.
33. Lu, “Liye Qin jian,” 45.
34. Chen, Yuelu shuyuan cang Qin jian (si), 201.
35. Shi ji, 102.2753. Loewe has recently changed his Superintendents to Commissioners, due to changes in English of the connotations attached to those words. The tingwei 廷尉 was one of the ministers.
36. Shi ji, 6.241. See also Tian Tian 田天, Qin Han guojia jisi shigao 秦漢國家祭祀史稿 (Beijing: Shenghuo dushu xinzhi, 2015), 70–73; and Loewe, Problems of Han Administration, 182–84.
37. Zuo zhuan zhushu (Shisan jing zhushu), 5.1743.
38. Shi ji, 6.267, 269.
39. Guojia jiliang zong ju ed., Zhongguo gudai du liang heng tu ji 中國古代度量衡圖集 (Beijing: Wenwu, 1981), 65, 66.
40. NB: This article has modified the way the Zhonghua version punctuates the sentences.
41. Shi ji, 6.266.
42. This phrase can be found in several chapters of today’s Record of Rites (Li ji) and in Guliang zhuan, an Annals commentary, two Western Han compilations that plainly postdate Ershi’s time. We cannot know whether any of the passages in these two works represent pre-Qin or Qin teachings. See Li ji zhushu 禮記注疏 (Shisan jing zhushu), 12.1335, 18.1393, 23.1431, 46.1589; Chunqiu Guliang zhuan zhushu (Shisan jing zhushu), 8.2397. Most early commentaries agree with Zheng Xuan’s 鄭玄 (127–200) interpretation that “the seven shrines” includes three shrines built in honor of the first three ancestors of the ruling family and four for the most recent four male ancestors. If Zheng is correct, with each new accession to the throne, the earliest of the latter four shrines would be de-commissioned, to make room for a shrine of the most recently deceased ruler, but the other three shrines would be permanent. At present, no evidence exists to show that the Seven Shrines was applied before the Qin dynasty, though some would retroject the group back in time to Western Zhou.
43. Both Brashier and Li Kaiyuan 李開元 note the importance of this reform. See K. E. Brashier, Ancestral Memory in Early China (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Aisa Center, 2011), 104–7. Li Kaiyuan, “Qin Shihuang di yi ci xunyou dao Xi xian gao miao jizu shuo: jianji Qin tongyi hou de miaozhi gaige” 秦始皇第一次巡遊到西縣告廟祭祖說——兼及秦統一後的廟制改革, Qinhan yanjiu 10 (2016), 10–17.
44. Qian Xuan cited the examples of Lu and Jin states from the Zuo zhuan, which can also prove that the number of ancestral shrines within the Eastern Zhou states was more than that recorded in the ritual books. See Qian Xuan 錢玄, San li tonglun 三禮通論 (Nanjing: Nanjing shifan daxue, 1996), 446–47.
45. For example, “Starting from Fei Lian, he gave birth to Ji Sheng, and five generations later, to Zao Fu, and at that time the family moved to Zhao kingdom” (自蜚廉生季勝，已下五世至造父，別居趙). This refers to the five generations of Fei Lian, Ji Sheng, Meng Zeng 孟增, Heng Fu 衡父, and Zao Fu. See Shi ji, 6.175. “When the Changle Palace was completed, officials from the Chancellor down moved to Chang’an to handle their administrative affairs” (長樂宮成，丞相已下徙治長安). See Shi ji, 8.385.
46. See Li ji zhushu (Shisan jing zhushu), 12.1335.
47. Hunansheng wenwu kaogu yanjiu suo, Yiyang shi wenwu ju, “Hunan Yiyang Tuzishan yizhi jiu hao jing fajue jianbao” 湖南益陽兔子山遺址九號井發掘簡報, Wenwu 2016.5, 43, photo 40.
48. Kanli, Chen 陳侃理, “Sima Qian yu Guo Qin pian” 司馬遷與過秦篇, Lingnan xuebao (fukan di shi ji) 10 (2018), 152Google Scholar.
49. Li Kaiyuan and Chen Kanli have noted and discussed these two passages, respectively. See Li Kaiyuan, “Qin Shihuang di yi ci xunyou dao Xi xian gao miao jizu shuo,” 16n1; and Chen Kanli, “Sima Qian yu Guo Qin pian,” 150.
50. Additionally, in a paragraph attached at the end of the present version of “Annals of Qin Shihuang” in the Shi ji, Ban Gu 班固 (32–92 c.e.) presented a memorial that also mentioned that “Ziying . . . visited the seven ancestral shrines.” The “seven ancestral shrines” here also refer to the Seven Shrines set up by Ershi. Only Ban Gu’s evaluation of Ziying differs from that of Jia Yi (Shi ji, 6.292). Here I would note that Ban Gu’s Han shu, written during Zhangdi’s era, mainly focuses on the late Western Han reforms, insofar as those limited the number of important shrines that the Eastern Han ruling line could build, by precedent, and this, by Zhangdi’s era, had become a looming issue.
51. Or: let fall to ruin.
52. Shi ji, 6.284. While one anonymous reviewer of this article thought the justification for this reform might lie in Huidi’s lack of an heir, I believe that Huidi’s accession to the throne would weigh more heavily than his lack of an heir in most debates relating to the ancestral shrine hierarchy.
53. NB: in Jia Yi’s essay (here summarized), abolishing the ancestral shrines (huai zong miao 壞宗廟) heads the list of all the crimes of Ershi.
54. Shi ji, 8.382.
55. Han shu, 1B.68.
56. As is well known, the Han founder initially had little control over much of the empire nominally ruled by him, since the kingdoms had their own administrations, and considerable independence over affairs of state.
57. See note 6 above.
58. They were Ying Bu 英布 (d. 196) of Huainan 淮南, Lu Wan 盧綰 (d. 194) of Yan 燕, Liu Jia 劉賈 (d. 195) of Jing 荊, Liu Jiao 劉交 (d. 179) of Chu 楚, Liu Fei 劉肥 (d. 189) of Qi 齊, Peng Yue 彭越 (d. 196) of Liang 梁, Liu Ruyi 劉如意 (d. 194) of Zhao 趙, Wu Chen 吳臣 (d. 193) of Changsha 長沙, and Dai 代, which was under the jurisdiction of Zhao and thus had no king of its own. Han shu, 13.377–79, 14.397–406.
59. Chen Suzhen 陳蘇鎮, Chunqiu yu Han dao: Liang Han zhengzhi yu zhengzhi wenhua yanjiu 春秋與漢道: 兩漢政治與政治文化研究 (Beijing: Zhonghua, 2020), 72–107.
60. Shi ji, 8.392. Han shu contains basically the same information, except that it adds the fact that on the day of Liu Bang’s funeral, the officials and the prince returned to the Han shrine for Gaozu’s father, Taishang huang. See Han shu, 1.80. Lu Jia 陸賈 also blamed Ershi for the collapse of Qin dynasty, as we see from Wang Liqi 王利器, Xin yu jiaozhu 新語校注 (Beijing: Zhonghua, 2012), 1.28.
61. Of course, Liu Bang may have had additional reasons for his measure.
62. The Han administrative system and not a few Han rituals basically continued those of the Qin dynasty, and so these were inherited from the time of Qin Shihuang. See Chen Suzhen, Chuqiu yu Han dao, 38–72; Nylan, “Han Views of the Qin Legacy and the Late Western Han ‘Classical Turn,’” 80–101.
63. Shi ji, 8.392.
64. Han shu, 5.138.
65. See Shi ji, 9.399, 10.418, 436. And Han shu, 7.217, 8.238, 9.277, 10.301, 11.334, 12.347.
66. Han shu, 68.2945–46.
67. Han shu, 7.221, 12.357, 97B.4010.
68. Han shu, 7.229, 12.352.
69. Han shu, 3.96.
70. Han shu, 99A.4095, 99B.4113.
71. Han shu, 99C.4169. For Wang Mang’s accession to the throne, see the contribution by Béatrice L’Haridon in this volume.
72. Han shu, 43.2131.
73. Shi ji, 8.392.
74. Shi ji, 39.2725–26. We know the shrine at Pei was re-established in 190, and the first shrine between 194–190.
75. Shi ji, 10.436.
76. Han shu, 8.243. To add to this, a Western Han tile inscribed with the word “zongmiao” was found at the site of the Han Wei Luoyang imperial city in 2020, and archaeologists speculate that this indicates a Western Han local ancestral shrine was built there. The brief archaeological report has not yet been published; a short introduction can be found on Jan. 13, 2021, at Luoyanggang 洛陽網 (www.lyhand.com/n/1034435, accessed in early 2022).
77. Translations of these posthumous titles appear below.
78. Han shu, 73.3115. Zhou Zhenhe 周振鶴 estimates the number and location of the shrines in different commanderies and kingdoms; however, Zhou’s calculation is based on an estimate of the total number of ancestral shrines in 167. See Zhongguo lishi wenhua quyu yanjiu 中國歷史文化區域研究, ed. Zhou Zhenhe (Shanghai: Fudan daxue, 1997), 73–78.
79. Shi ji, 106.2834.
80. Han shu, 8.245.
81. Han shu, 72.3091, 81.3357. For example, Han Aidi (r. 4 b.c.e.–1 c.e.) avoided holding court in the main palace due to a series of unusual disasters. Likely Aidi was advised to avoid court, because to do so might strengthen Wang Mang’s hand. Moreover, several Han emperors declared their intentions to don mourning after fires broke out in the Chang’an ancestral shrines or their affiliated buildings (Han shu, 6.159, 7.230, 8.269).
82. Probably Jingdi and Xuandi responded with special solemnity, because both had faced severe crises at the beginning of their reigns.
83. Jiangxi sheng wenwu kaogu yanjiu yuan et al., “Jiangxi Nanchang Xi Han Haihun hou Liu He mu chutu jiandu” 江西南昌西漢海昏侯劉賀墓出土簡牘, Wenwu, 2018.11, 87–96.
84. Tian Tian, “Xi Han Haihun hou Liu He mu chutu zongmiao yi lei wenxian chutan” 西漢海昏侯劉賀墓出土宗廟 ‘儀’ 類文獻初探, Wenwu, 2022.6, 65–67, 74.
85. Li ji zhushu (Shisan jing zhushu), 12.1335.
86. Most scholars have construed the shrine worship as part of the patriarchal clan system. See, e.g., Yang Kun 楊坤, Liang Zhou zongfa zhidu de yanbian 兩周宗法制度的演變 (Shanghai: Shanghai guji, 2021), 3–17.
87. Zuo zhuan zhushu (Shisan jing zhushu), 31.1951. This translation follows Stephen Durrant, Wai-yee Li, and David Schaberg, Zuo tradition = Zuozhuan: Commentary on the “Spring and Autumn Annals” (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2016), 995, on 12.3(4) (slightly mod.). As readers may recall, today’s Zuo zhuan is not identical with the Han-era Zuo shi chunqiu, as confirmed by William Hung demonstrated long ago, in his “Combined Indices to the Titles Quoted in the Commentaries on Ch’un-ch’iu, Kungyang, Ku-liang, and Tso-chuan (Taipei: Chinese Materials and Research Aids Service Center, 1966), Introduction, and Pauli Wai Tashima, “Merging Horizons: Authority, Hermeneutics, and the Zuo Tradition 左傳 from Western Han to Western Jin (2nd c. b.c.e.–3rd c. c.e.)” (Ph.D. thesis, University of California at Berkeley, 2013).
88. Li ji zhushu (Shisan jing zhushu), 52.1629. On the zhaomu 昭穆 system, see Loewe, Problems of Han Administration, 4–7. Li Hengmei 李衡眉, Zhaomu zhidu yanjiu 昭穆制度研究 (Jinan: Qi-Lu shushe, 1996).
89. Decades ago, Jin Jingfang realized that Qin completely destroyed the patriarchal clan system, but he gave no explanation for Qin’s establishment of the ancestral shrines. Jin Jingfang 金景芳, “Lun zongfa zhidu” 論宗法制度, Dongbei renmin daxue renwen kexue xuebao, 1956.2, 222. Reference to the “three legs” makes use of the antique metaphor by which a stable realm is likened to a bronze tripod.
90. Meguro Kyoko 目黒杏子 suggests that the theory emphasizing the achievements of the emperor was not introduced before Aidi and Pingdi. See her “Zen Kan kouhanki ni okeru sōbyōsei no henyō” 前漢後半期における宗廟制の變容, Tōhō gakuhō 東方學報 95 (2020), 21–26.
91. Shi ji, 110.434. On the translation of this imperial edict and on mourning in general during the Han dynasty, see Brown, Miranda, The Politics of Mourning in Early China (New York: SUNY Press, 2007), 24–29Google Scholar.
92. Shi ji, 110.436.
93. For more examples, see Loewe, Problems of Han Administration, 40–45.
94. Han shu, 8.242.
95. See Chun qiu Gongyang zhuan 春秋公羊傳 (Shisanjing Zhushu), 1.2196.
96. Han shu, 63.2748.
97. Han shu, 8.243. There was some debate with Wendi as well.
98. This is how the relationship between the two was handled during the reform of Yuandi. See Han shu, 73.3120.
99. In mid-Western Han, the idea that the establishment of commandery and kingdom shrines could be used to commemorate imperial merit seems to have been the consensus view. During the reign of Zhaodi (r. 86–74), Liu Dan 劉旦, King of Yan 燕, submitted a petition alleging that Wudi was “so very virtuous and splendid” 德甚休盛 that local commandery and kingdom shrines should be established in his honor. While Huo Guang rejected this proposal, Huo offered Liu Dan great rewards for his suggestion (Han shu, 63.2751).
100. Loewe, Problems of Han Administration, 50–56; Brashier, Ancestral Memory, 130–41.
101. For example, Lin Congshun divides the development of commandery and kingdom shrines of Western Han into three parts. The third part treats the abolition of the commandery and kingdom shrines during Yuandi’s reign as a single phase. See Lin Congshun 林聰舜, “Xi Han junguo miao zhi xingfei: lizhi xingge yu tongzhi zhixu weihu de guanxi zhi yi li,” 西漢郡國廟之興廢——禮制興革與統治秩序維護的關係之一例 Nandu xuetan (renwen shehui kexue xuebao), 27.3 (2007), 1–8.
102. Han shu, 25B.1257–58.
103. Han shu, 73.3124. No attempt was ever made to restore the commandery and kingdom ancestral shrines, so far as we know.
104. Han shu, 25B.1264. See also Tian Tian, “The Suburban Sacrifice Reforms and the Evolution of the Imperial Sacrifices,” in Chang’an 26 BCE: An Augustan Age in China, ed. Michael Nylan and Griet Vankeerberghen (Seattle: University of Washington, 2015), 263–91. For a different view of many aspects of this story (discussed in detail in my earlier contribution in Chang’an 26 BCE), see Marianne Bujard, Le sacrifice au ciel dans la Chine ancienne: théorie et pratique sous les Han Occidentaux (Paris, EFEO, 2000), or the shorter English version: “State and Local Cults in Han Religion,” in Early Chinese Religion, Part One: Shang through Han (1250 BC–220 AD) (Leiden: Brill, 2009), vol. 1, 777–811.
105. Han shu, 25B.1258–59.
106. Han shu, 73.3121.
107. Han shu, 73.3116, 3121.
108. Han shu, 73.3121.
109. Han shu, 72.3079. For the expenses incurred with the commandery and kingdom shrines, see also Loewe, Crisis and Conflict, 179–82.
110. Han shu, 25B.1264.
111. The translation of 寢 follows Loewe, Problems of Han Administration, 9.
112. Han shu, 73.3116–17, citing Analects 3/12.
113. Han shu, 73.3117.
114. Shi ji, 10.436.
115. The word “governors” is omitted from the passage cited earlier from Han shu, so the translation put a question mark and square brackets there to indicate that. As there were imperial ancestral shrines in the commanderies, one might deduce that commandery governors were the likely people deputed to oversee the sacrifices at the ancestral shrines in the commanderies.
116. Editor’s note: This suggests that the princes had more power than the Han sources would credit them with.
117. For example, in his prayer speech, Kuang Heng repeatedly emphasized that “It is appropriate for the ancestral shrines to be in the capital and for the Son of Heaven to serve them personally” 廟宜一居京師，天子親奉. See Han shu, 73.3121.
118. This process has been discussed in detail by Loewe in his “The Imperial Tombs of the Former Han Dynasty and their Shrines,” in Divination, Mythology and Monarchy in Han China (Cambridge: Cambridge University, 1994), 267–99. For a discussion of the targets of gradual obliteration and the number of ancestral shrines, see Guo Shanbing 郭善兵, Zhongguo gudai diwang zongmiao lizhi yanjiu 中國古代帝王宗廟禮制研究 (Beijing: Renmin, 2007), 120–36. Qing scholars were extremely enthusiastic about the patriarchal clan system, and they discussed the number of ancestral shrines and their references in the Classics in the Western Han dynasty from the perspective of classical learning. For an overview, see Gao Jingcong 高婧聰, “Qing ren dui Zhou dai zongfa zhidu de yanjiu” 清人對周代宗法制度的研究, Gudai wenming, 2019.1, 102–12.
119. Han shu, 73.3120.
120. Wei Xuancheng did not say a word about the shrine of Jingdi, but from the discussion that follows, it is clear that the shrine of Jingdi was not abolished. See Han shu, 73.3119–20.
121. At this time there were in fact seven ancestral shrines preserved, namely the shrines of Gaozu, Wendi, Jingdi, Wudi, Zhaodi, Xuandi, and shrine of Huangkao 皇考. From Wei Xuancheng’s last memorial, he chose to focus on the arrangement of zhaomu, and the number of ancestral shrines was treated vaguely.
122. Han shu, 73.3125–27. Also see Brashier, Ancestral Memory, 130–41.
123. For the locations of the imperial mortuary complexes near Chang’an, see Chang’an 26 BCE, Map I. 06, 34. All these locations have been confirmed by the latest drills performed by archaeologists.
124. See also Loewe, Problems of Han Administration, 54–55.
125. Han shu, 9.292, 73.3117.
126. Han shu, 9.292.
127. Han shu, 9.293. While one anonymous reviewer of this article thought the justification for this reform might lie in Huidi’s lack of an heir, I believe that Huidi’s accession to the throne would weigh more heavily than his lack of an heir in most debates relating to the ancestral shrine hierarchy.
128. Han shu, 9.294.
129. Han shu, 9.297.
130. Han shu, 9.298.
131. Han shu, 9.298.
132. Han shu, 10.309.
133. With the matriline, only the cult site of the deposed Empress Wei was preserved. Shi Huangsun’s 史皇孫 real name was Liu Jin 劉進. The imperial line went from Wudi-Liu Ju (a.k.a. Li taizi 戾太子)-Liu Jin-Xuandi-Yuandi.
134. NB: This suggests either that the court reformers were pragmatic and not strict Confucians or that the Rites classics had relatively less authority in late Western Han than they would come to assume in late Eastern Han and the post-Han period, thanks in large part to Zheng Xuan.
135. Han shu, 73.3125.
136. During the time of Aidi, there were also discussions about restoring the ancestral shrines of Huidi and Jingdi, but they came to nothing in the end. See Han shu, 72.3082.
137. Hou Han shu, 2.142n.
138. Han shu, 73.3125.
139. Han shu, 73.3127.
140. Han shu, 12.357.
141. Because this observation is not relevant to the main line of reasoning advanced here, I direct readers to the clear statements made on this point in the authoritative Gongyang Commentary for the Annals classic. There Gongsun Yingqi 公孫嬰齊 was renamed Zhong Yingqi 仲嬰齊 after he became his elder brother’s heir (1.2196). The Gongyang Commentary explains the rule for the name change: “a person’s successor acts as the son for him” 為人後者為之子. By this rule, Gongsun Yingqi had to change his family name and he could no longer sacrifice to his biological ancestors in the Gongsun line. Earlier this essay cited the same line (“a person’s successor acts as the son for him”) in connection with Xuandi. Xuandi, as the successor to Zhaodi, could not properly offer imperial sacrifices to his own parents or grandparents by birth.
142. Zuo zhuan zhushu (Shisan jing zhushu), 18.1839. This event is also recorded in the Guo yu 國語. Loewe discusses the relationship between this event and zhaomu; see Loewe, Problems of Han Administration, 40–45.
143. Henry, Eric, “‘Junzi Yue’ Versus ‘Zhongni Yue’ in Zuozhuan,” Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 59.1 (1999), 125–61CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
144. The most well-known ones should be the “pu yi” 濮議 of the Northern Song dynasty and the “Dali yi” 大禮議 of the Ming dynasty, both of which stretched for a long time and shook the elite class.