The Imperial Ancestral Temple, lying to the east of the imperial palace, the Forbidden City, is where Chinese emperors stored their ancestors’ tablets and worshipped them during festivals and ceremonies.
This ancient tradition of imperial ancestral temples is an example of how important ancestor worship once was in Chinese culture. The Imperial Ancestral Temple enjoyed a high status in the state. Different from the ancestral temples of commoners’ families, the Imperial Ancestral Temple has been divided into different halls of worship, each housing one late emperor.
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