Jongmyo (shrine)

A Zongmiao (宗廟) or Taimiao (太廟) is an ancient Chinese ancestral temple dedicated to the ancestors of nobles and monarchs and their spirit tablets. Zong (宗) means ancestral and Miao (廟) means temple. The earliest known Zongmiao was discovered at Yinxu Palace and Temple Site in Anyang, Henan Province, China, and is yet to be excavated. At that time, commoners did not have the right to set up ancestral shrines, "The Xunzi-Liturgy" reads: "Therefore, those who have the world serve seven generations, those who have a country serve five generations, those who have five times the land serve three generations, those who have three times the land serve two generations, those who hold their hands and eat are not allowed to set up a temple, so the thick accumulation of the flow of water is wide, and the thin accumulation of water is narrow. "

In ancient China, the temple was regarded as a symbol of the country and was often referred to together with "Soil and grain," and destruction of the temple was often heavily punished. For example, the Tang Code treats the destruction of a temple as a crime of "treason".