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| THE STATE SACRIFICIAL SYSTEM AND SPATIAL MODEL IN ANCIENT CAPITAL——A Case Study of Changan in the Tang Dynasty |
| HUANG Fo-jun1,2, DUAN Han-ming1, ZHANG Chang-hua1 |
1. College of Urban and Environmental Science, Northwest University, Xi'an 710127, China;
2. College of Geography and Tourism, Xinjiang Normal University, Urumqi 830054, China |
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Abstract The state sacrificial system is the origin of the set of etiquette,which is the core of Chinese culture and has affected Chinese history about five thousand years. Confucianism, whether is a religion or not, has been to be a controversial cultural phenomenon on the religious study in thirty years in China. And it has confused many experts and scholars. In fact, Confucianism is a kind of urban religion. First, the worship groups are the old emperors and his officials, who only lived in the city; second, the object of faith is the highest god of Haotian Heaven; third, the scriptures are the theory of the Confucian. The state sacrificial system, a perfect heaven-earth-Ancestor rating system has developed and reached maturity in the Tang Dynasty. The state sacrificial system has formed urban capital-state-county system. So the Chang'an capital has its most perfect system of internal and external worship, where the main festival of worship is the highest god of Haotian Heaven on the south of capital, and the gods of the ancestors and the territories in front of the old royal city. But how to convey theirs functions? First, the royal city, known as Lagerstroemia Palace, is the center of the universe, which formed an enclosed area by the emperor wall. And the emperor, on behalf of the highest god of Haotian Heaven lived in it to deal with the things of the human being, but that cannot realize if the emperor don't dwell in it; second, the universe were divided into the Heaven and the Earth by the urban wall, and the Season Gods in front of the urban wall are worshiped all the year round, the symbol of Heaven & Earth operating, All of them are guaranteed by the mechanism of the perfect etiquette institution. In China, the city, determined by Confucianism, has a dual characteristics: the city is both a sacred space and the center of the rule. The state worship of Confucianism is the dominant culture phenomenon of the ancient capital, and it is the expression of the spirit space of the office class. So we can conclude that Confucianism is a kind of unique spiritual and cultural phenomenon in traditional Chinese city, the essence of ancient city is the place of Gods, of course the emperor, Heaven's son, is the great gods in the city.
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Received: 21 July 2011
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2012, Vol. 27 
