Sacrifice to the Yellow Emperor in the Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties

In the Yellow Emperor's sacrifice ceremony during the Song and Yuan Dynasties, the sacrifice at the Yellow Emperor's Mausoleum Temple received great attention, and the Xuanyuan Yellow Emperor's Mausoleum Temple was listed as a key point for renovation and maintenance. In the fifth year of the founding of Emperor Taizu of the Song Dynasty (972), in compliance with the decree of Emperor Taizu Zhao Kuangyin, it was stipulated that the Mausoleum of the Yellow Emperor in Qiaoshan should be held once every three years. The Yuan Dynasty also attached great importance to the sacrifices in the Yellow Emperor's mausoleum. The "Yuan Dian Zhang" stipulated that the Yellow Emperor was the ancestor who created the world and the country should offer sacrifices. The Ming Dynasty also attached great importance to the Mausoleum of the Yellow Emperor and the sacrifices to the Yellow Emperor. When Zhu Yuanzhang came to the throne, he believed that Emperor Xuanyuan was not only the founder of medicine, but also the ancient ancestor of the Chinese nation. In the fourth year of Hongwu's reign (1371), the imperial court decided that the place to worship the Yellow Emperor should be located in the central county of Shaanxi (today's Huangling County). It also stipulated that a major sacrifice should be held once every three years. The emperor personally wrote the sacrificial text and sent ministers to Qiaoshan to worship. The Mausoleum of the Yellow Emperor in Qiaoshan is listed as a national holy place for worshiping the ancestors. It is required that the inscriptions, dates of sacrifices, names and quantities of sacrifices, and the names of the officiating and accompanying officials must be engraved on stones and erected for each sacrifice. He also dispatched Zhongshu Provincial Guan Gou to the Yellow Emperor's mausoleum to offer sacrifices. This sacrifice left the earliest sacrificial text in memory of the Yellow Emperor that has ever been seen. In the seventh year of Hongwu (1374), Emperor Taizu of the Ming Dynasty commissioned the construction of a seated statue of Huangdi Xuanyuan in the main hall of Xuanyuan Temple for the purpose of paying homage and offering sacrifices. Today, the Yellow Emperor's Mausoleum preserves the inscriptions of emperors such as Taizu, Chengzu, Xuanzong, Daizong, Yingzong, Shizong, Mu Zong, Shenzong, and Xizong of the Ming Dynasty who sent envoys to the Yellow Emperor's Mausoleum to offer sacrifices. The Qing Dynasty followed the customs of the Ming Dynasty and held national sacrifices at the Yellow Emperor's Mausoleum in Qiaoshan, usually once every three years. In addition, there were also temporary sacrifices. The sacrificial ceremonies in the Yellow Emperor's Mausoleum Temple in the Qing Dynasty were grand, large-scale and frequent, with 30 recorded ceremonies. During the Guangxu period, Taiwanese patriot Qiu Fengjia paid homage to the Yellow Emperor's Mausoleum after the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1899, and left a poem: "With a biography of heroes on my sleeve, I will climb the Yellow Emperor's Mausoleum at sunset." On the Double Ninth Festival in 1908, the Shaanxi Tongmen Association visited the Mausoleum of the Yellow Emperor and read a memorial in front of the ancestral mausoleum to express their determination to rejuvenate the Chinese nation.