Evidential research on the system of sacrifice the Three Sovereigns during Jiajing period

Abstract

History of Ming: Court rituals has two errors in the record of sacrifice to Three Sovereigns of Jiajing period of Ming Dynasty.First, the ritual time should be at middle winter (November) instead of middle fall (September). The correct construction process should be divided into two periods. One was to build Shengji palace for sacrificing to Three Sovereigns in 1536 according to the ancestral system of the Hongwu period. Then the old temple where the Three Sovereigns were sacrificed in Imperial Academy of Medicine was in ruins, so Emperor Jiajing ordered to rebuild and expand it in 1542. It was completed in July 1543, and named Jinghui palace, in which sacrificed to Three Sovereigns, too.